Song of the South

A true country girl

“Thank you very much, Kinsey, for the tour of your farm.” Eric stated, giving her a warm smile

“The pleasure is all mine.” She sweetly replied

“Yes, and thank you for the food. I can’t wait to get back to the hotel and have some.” Bill added in

“If it’s not spicy enough for you, add some Jalepenos. Should give it a nice kick.” Kinsey replied

“I’ll email you in the next few days to discuss payment methods and times. Thank you so much for the tour and food.” Barry finally stated

“I’m just glad y’all liked the farm. Been in our family since the Depression.” Kinsey stated

They chatted for a few more minutes before Bill ushered to the two musicians back to their rental car. Eric slid into the back seat and into his own little world. Her sweet, southern accent was quite adorable. It wasn't fake or contrived. She was a true country girl who was all about family. Just the type of woman his mom would love for him to remarry. She loved Kellie. His whole family did. They understood the reasoning behind the divorce and they still thought of their ex-daughter-in-law as family.

Barry was quite excited. The fruits she had brought them were really some of the best home-grown fruits he’d ever tasted. Even Lori had been impressed. What he liked the most was that they only used natural stuff. When she said their fruits and veggies were home-grown she honestly meant it. Their farm was small-ish in comparison to the farms some of the grocery stores used. He couldn’t help but wonder if she got any help with everything or not.

She looked very tired when they arrived but was trying to be friendly and out-going. Shortly after the guests left, the school bus stopped at the end of their ¼ mile driveway. Daisy and Jesse walked from the bus to the house unless it was extremely cold or raining. She tried her best to have snacks ready for them but sometimes that didn’t happen. Such as now with her having to look after their sick father.

The baby was getting fussy again so as the older two came in from school, she was trying to rock him back to sleep. They had homework to do so she asked them to get on it. The two smaller children, Hayden and Bella, came back downstairs to see their bigger brother and sister. Kinsey needed to get dinner started even though it wasn’t evening time yet. She was very tired and knew she’d be getting up and down all night with the very fussy baby. Even though all five of the oldest children were in the kitchen, they could hear their father vomiting in the living room. It made Kinsey frown as he seemed to be getting worse again.

Daisy wanted to help cook dinner while Jesse wanted to go pick apples. Smiling at her little brother, she told him to take one of the smaller wagons and he could pick as many apples and pecans as he wanted. She knew he’d hitch the wagon to his bicycle but that was ok. She let Daisy pick out the potatoes and green beans, both fresh of course and not in a can, that would be going for that night’s supper. Kinsey finally got the baby to sleep, so she headed back into the kitchen to chop up the sausages for dinner. She was going to fry them with the chopped up potatoes and some onions. Green beans were going to boil with some chopped onions as well. Kinsey tried to keep the children eating good balanced diets.

As the sausages, onions, and potatoes were frying, she went to check on the baby and her father. Lane was sleeping just fine, still in the middle of the blanket where she had laid him. Her father was looking even paler than usual and she was quite concerned. He was the only thing keeping her mother from absolutely taking over the farm and ruining everything he had worked so hard to keep.

She was cooking supper and trying to help the older children with their homework so she didn’t realize there was someone outside scoping out their house. The baby had been very fussy so she had taken him to the doctor. Apparently he was suffering from Colic. She felt bad for the kid, he didn’t deserve what his mother, what their mother, had put him through so far.

A few days later Kinsey received an email from Barry. He thought direct deposit would be best for all parties. He just needed the right information to set it up on his end. He would pay once a month and deposit it directly to the farm account. She responded as quickly as she could so that everything was ready to go. Her father told her he was proud of her with the way she had handled the situation. It made her happy to know that he thought she had done good!

Kinsey was going to bed earlier and earlier. She was so tired! The young woman never complained about her situation. Family meant everything to her. Her Dad needed her, her siblings needed her, the farm couldn’t run itself, the crops couldn’t harvest themselves. She would never admit what a toll everything was taking on her. She had fallen behind on her studies but was determined to catch up. After dinner, she was letting the children watch a movie so she could get back to her studies.

Eric was sitting in his living room with his ex-wife, band mates and their spouses, and some childhood friends. They were having a nice dinner to relax from the short promotional tour. Kellie could see that her ex-husband’s mind was still elsewhere ever since he had come back with Barry and Bill from touring that girl’s farm. Lori was quite impressed with the quality of fruits that had been given to her husband. Obviously the girl whom Barry had talked about with the three small siblings had known how to grow crops! Lori thought she and her husband should sit down and teach each other all about their farming secrets!

Kellie still deeply cared for and loved her ex-husband. They remained close even after the divorce. They still did things together, retained their friends, and still considered one another’s family as their own. It was odd, to most of their friends, that they were still so close even after the divorce. It wasn’t because they had stopped loving one another, or because one cheated, or one did this, or one did that. They both wanted children. It wasn’t going to happen together.

They made the painful decision to divorce and find someone new to have children with. Their new spouses would just have to understand. As a matter of fact, they had made vows when they divorced that they got to have a say in the prospect future spouse of their ex. It hadn’t worked out so well in the two years they had been divorced but that wasn’t a deterrent for either of them. They knew one another well enough to know what they liked and what they needed in a partner. Kellie could see that Eric was a bit infatuated with the young woman who had brought them delicious fresh fruits.