by Annie Jones
“I didn’t tell them.” Sam looked at Polly. “I sort of stopped their talking about you except as Caroline’s teacher after…”
“This should be interesting,” Max said as he turned and headed back to his booth, motioning for them to follow. “C’mon, I need your help, old man.”
Max grabbed Sam by the arm and shoved him into the forefront of the three of them. Sam tried to look back to say something to Polly about how they should tell the girls about her twin but before he could, the triplets came rushing up to him, Juliette in pink, Hayley in green and Caroline…also in pink?
“Dad! Dad! Dad!” they called all together. “Miss Bennett is here, Miss Bennett…”
Hayley pulled up short. Juliette bumped into her back and Caroline into hers.
“Hi, girls!” Polly wriggled her fingers in a wave.
They looked from the real Polly to her twin.
Sam braced himself for them to break out laughing with delight to have learned that their new friend had something more in common with them. But nobody laughed.
Hayley looked at Juliette. Juliette looked at Caroline. Caroline looked at Hayley.
Sam shut his eyes as everything Polly had said to him on the night she suggested the girls had pulled “the old switcheroo” came flooding back to him. He took a deep breath. “You girls don’t want to tell me something, do you?”
“We only wanted to make you happy, Daddy.” Caroline broke first, running to hug him around the waist.
“You wanted us to do good for Parents’ Night so bad that you even said you’d break your rule.” Hayley charged in to take up the rest of the story and to join her sister in the death grip of a hug.
“I did the square dance for Caroline and she did the mobile and the collage for Hayley and me.” Juliette came flying, arms wide to complete the circle.
Only, for the first time since Marie had died, the circle did not seem complete to Sam.
Sam looked down on those three little redheads and realized there was something—someone—missing.
“How did you know, Daddy?” Hayley tipped her head back to look up and ask.
“I didn’t know. Miss Bennett did and I guess you can figure out now how she knew.” Sam turned his head to look Polly’s way. “I just now put the pieces together when I saw two out of three girls dressed in pink. Makes it easier to trade places last-minute, huh?”
Caroline and Juliette bowed their heads, their way of ’fessing up to the plan.
“I think I had a clue when I saw that Juliette had managed to make a collage and still have a full bottle of pink glitter and that Hayley had a complete mobile hanging in her classroom and a half-finished one hanging above her desk at home.”
He looked down at his daughters and his chest ached. What had he done? He had pushed his girls so hard to learn his way of coping that he’d forgotten to share with them things like waiting on the Lord, accepting God’s will and trusting that there is a time for every purpose under heaven.
That had to change. He had to slow things down and…
He lifted his eyes to meet Polly’s. “I don’t suppose you want in on this, do you?”
“Sam, I’m a twin and a teacher, but that hardly qualifies me to talk to your kids about the moral implications of trading places to fool people.”
Sam shook his head slowly and extended his hand, making a space within the circle of his arms. “I meant do you want in on this group hug?”
Polly hesitated for a moment. She looked to her sister, who actually lowered her cell phone—she’d been on nonstop talking to her staff in Atlanta—for a moment. Esther nodded to urge Polly to hurry up.
Polly did just that, running with her own arms wide to embrace the man and the family she had waited so long to find.
Sam pressed his cheek to her soft but wild hair and drew her close. The girls entwined them both in a tangle of small arms, red hair and a million joyous giggles. In that moment Sam knew that his time for grieving had come to an end.
He laughed softly, then tipped his head back and looked at the sky. He groaned. “I suppose I looked like a real fool to you, Polly. Barreling through life like that, not even taking the time to see what the girls had gotten up to.”
“No.” She stepped back and took a minute to look at Hayley, then Juliette, then Caroline. “You look like a father who wants what’s best for his daughters, but couldn’t quite figure out what that was on his own.”
“Maybe the problem is that I shouldn’t be on my own?” He took her hand and guided her free of the cluster of kids, grinning.
“Don’t you have a rule about that?” She smiled back at him.
“Hey, I make the rules.” He got her far enough away that he could give her a spin and put them face-to-face again. “So if I finally get smart enough to change the rules, then wouldn’t you say—”
“Sam?” She pressed two fingers to his lips.
“What?” he asked when she lowered her hand from his mouth.
“Stop while you’re ahead and just kiss me,” she murmured.
“I can do that.” And he did. He pulled her deep into his embrace and kissed her.
The girls squealed with delight.
The crowd cheered.
The fire-engine siren wailed.
And out of nowhere a little golden-brown dog with floppy ears, short legs and a long, low body came bounding toward them.
“Donut!” The triplets ran for him.
The dog began to jump and bark and wag his tail and loll his tongue as if he wasn’t sure which kid to start licking hello first.
Polly didn’t know where to look. The dog. The girls. Essie. Sam.
Sam won out simply because she wanted to take her cue from him. She was so happy about having shared this moment with him, but she understood more than anyone Sam’s fear of how much losing Donut again would hurt the girls. It was killing her not to run and hug the little guy.
“Hey, Donut.”
“Oh, Donut.”
“We love you, too, Donut.”
“Grover! Grover! Come back here!” Ted Perry came pounding through the crowd, his face red and the chain leash in his fist banging against his legs. When he saw the girls hanging all over the wriggling pup, he stopped in his tracks.
“See?” Angela Bodine, the lady firefighter, came up behind him. “I told you! That is a kids’ dog.”
“He’s these kids’ dog!” Caroline announced, looking up at the pair who were now walking toward the opening in the crowd where the redheaded triplets and little golden-brown dog were all over each other.
“I know. He cries all the time and tries to push his way out the door whenever I open it.” Ted sighed and shook his head. “Maybe I shoulda got a cat.”
Angela’s eyes brightened. “I love cats.”
Ted jerked his head up. He looked at Sam, then Polly.
“I think I know where you could have your pick of a litter,” Sam told him. “Don’t suppose you’d want to make a trade?”
Ted opened his mouth as if he was going to say no, then he caught Angela practically bouncing out of her boots.
Ted grinned, swung his gaze around to meet Sam’s and stuck his hand out to give Sam the leash and shake his hand. “You got a deal, man.”
“That’s old man, if you don’t mind.” Max slapped Sam hard on the back.
“He didn’t look so old when he was kissing the schoolteacher a minute ago,” Angela observed, then added, “You said something about kittens?”
“In the barn,” Max directed her absently, then looked up, saw her and offered her his arm. “I’d be happy to show you.”
Ted stepped in between the charmer in sandals and a barbecue apron, and the lady firefighter. “I think we can
find it on our own.”
Max threw up his hands. “Is every single lady in this town already attached to someone else?”
“Not every one.” Polly dipped her head toward Essie coming across the open space. She could see by the box in her sister’s hand that Esther had gone to the car to retrieve the hat Polly had picked out online long before she ever really believed she’d be standing here with Sam’s arm around her.
“Well, well, well.” Max rubbed his palms together. “Hello, pretty lady. Can I help you with that?”
“I don’t need help with this. Just hand it to my sister.” She pushed the box into his chest. “Then follow me back over to that grill area. Because you are in need of some serious help if you plan to cook actual food, mister.”
“I like her,” Max said as he handed Polly the box. “Can I keep her?”
Sam and Polly laughed and watched Max trying to corral Essie, who had already taken charge of the situation.
“Can we take Donut into the house and show him his new home, Daddy?” Caroline asked before she turned to Polly and added, “That is, if you aren’t going to take him home with you, Miss Bennett.”
Polly went all gooey at Caroline’s thoughtfulness. “Angela was right, sweetie. Donut will be happiest with kids around. I’d love for him to stay with you, as long as I can visit sometimes.”
“Anytime!” Hayley yelled to speak for the triplets and her whole family.
The other girls leaped up. They all called for Donut and began to run through the crowd toward the house.
“I really am glad Donut is going to have a home with you and the girls.” Polly hugged the hatbox close, not exactly sure what to do next.
He’d said he was ready to change his rules and did just that by letting the girls have Donut. But what did that mean for her?
The fire-engine siren sounded again. This time followed by a blare of microphone feedback, a fumble broadcast over a loudspeaker and then Gina’s voice. “I’d like to welcome you all to the Goodacre Organic Farm’s Annual Pumpkin Jump.”
She listed all the events, booths and performances as people gathered in a semicircle around her, listening. “And at last the time has come to open the main event of the day, the thing that this fest is named for—the big pumpkin jump on the main lawn!”
A cheer went up from the group. The girls, after leaving Donut safely in the house, rejoined Polly and Sam standing to the side. Max and Essie had wandered over from his burger fry booth, leaving a volunteer in charge.
“Are you going to jump this year, Daddy?” Hayley prodded.
“I, um, don’t you girls think that’s kind of embarrassing behavior for the local pharmacist?” Sam bent down to ask them eye to eye.
“You’re asking me?” Caroline stuck her thumb in her chest. “I’m going to have to do that square dance!”
Sam gave the three of them a stern look. “Yes, you are. And we’ll talk about the punishment for pulling the old switcheroo later.”
“Yes, Daddy.” They looked properly chastised for maybe three whole seconds before their faces brightened and they asked again, “Are you going to jump, Daddy?”
He turned to Polly. “Actually, I’d love to jump…if Polly is willing to take the leap with me.”
Polly’s heart raced. “You mean, into the leaves, right?”
“I was thinking more of…into the future.” He took her free hand in his, then reached for the hatbox. “Can I set this aside?”
“Actually, you can set it on your head, if you want. That’s not being flip, it’s just…well, look inside the box.” She bit her lower lip.
The girls gathered around.
He lifted off the lid, looked inside and grinned. He pulled out the vintage-style hat and put it on his head. The perfect fit.
“You look handsome, Daddy,” Caroline said.
Polly couldn’t have agreed more. There with the autumn leaves tumbling around them, the sights and sounds of Sam’s family’s home in full-on local celebration, he looked perfect.
“I like it!” Hayley cried.
“I like it a whole lot better than that awful cowboy hat.” Juliette crinkled up her nose.
“Me, too.” Sam laughed as he tugged the hat to put it at an angle over one eye. “I never did like that cowboy hat. How’s that?”
“It’s you! I got it for you to replace the… Wait!” What Sam had said just sank in. All these weeks she had worried and mulled over the meaning of what she had done to that hat and how Sam had reacted to it. “You never liked that cowboy hat?”
“You did me a favor by not stopping Donut from grabbing it. It was the start of all this.” He tossed the hatbox aside and opened his arms wide. “Marie gave it to me as a gentle reminder to not become like the rancher dad in her No, No, Donut story.”
“You mean the man who chased the little dog away and thought the dog could never learn?” Polly laughed.
“The man who had forgotten the power of God’s grace and the healing power of faith and forgiveness.” He came toward her, his arms still open.
“I don’t think that sounds like you at all, Sam.” She came into his arms again. “Maybe at one time. But now?”
“Now is what matters.” He closed his arms around her. “The past is out of our control and the future is in God’s hands. So what do you say, Polly Bennett? You going to take the leap? Are you going to marry me?”
“Yes,” she murmured as he pulled her close and kissed her in the way she had longed to be kissed ever since she saw him.
Polly wrapped her arms around him and kissed him right back. Kissed him with all the joy and confidence she had been missing for so long.
For the first time since this whole adventure began, Polly believed she had found everything she had been searching for since her own family began to unravel all those years ago. She had found the insight to forgive her parents their shortcomings. To reevaluate her relationship with her twin sister and to follow her own dreams to make herself feel productive and fulfilled. And she had found Sam.
“Marry?” Essie’s voice drew Polly back to the present. “After only knowing each other a couple of months? Isn’t that rushing things?”
Polly pulled away and looked up at Sam sheepishly. “Small towns, huh? People who are always there for you are also always there whether you want them to be or not.”
“Do you mind?” he asked.
“I love it,” she whispered. “And I love you, Sam Goodacre.”
“I love you, too, Polly. Now, hold on to your hat…or rather, my hat.” He thrust it out in the direction of Essie and Max.
They both reached for it and their hands touched. Suddenly neither of them seemed to have anything more to say.
Sam took Polly by the hand. “Let’s do this!”
They made the run without reservations and leaped without fear. Seconds after they hit the leaf pile and came up in a shower of red and yellow and orange and pale green leaves, three little red-haired girls joined them. Polly’s heart was fuller than she’d ever thought a human heart could be, and as she threw her arms around her future husband and daughters, she sent up a prayer of thanks.
* * * * *
Dear Reader,
My children have said for years that I should write a children’s book and title it No, No, Donut! just like the story in this book. They got the idea because it’s such a frequent phrase heard around our house about one of our dogs, of course named Donut. Of our own triple threat, Donut is the clown who always seems to get into mischief but is so full of love that just to look at him makes your heart sigh. He has taught us much about the nature of love, of giving of oneself fully and of knowing when to be humble in asking forgiveness. Isn’t it funny how a small mix
ed-breed mutt can be the source of such spiritual lessons?
That’s why I was so pleased to do a story involving a little lost dog, a family who needed healing and a heroine just trying to find out who she is and where she belongs. It has been great fun to create the Goodacre family and the character of Polly Bennett and to mix in a little of my own personal life with Donut, the dog who just wanted to be loved, as we all do.
Annie Jones
Questions for Discussion
Have you ever considered a move to start over as Polly Bennett did?
Sam Goodacre made some simple rule he thought would protect his daughters. Do you think it’s realistic that a single father would do that? Why or why not?
Do you think identical twins or multiples have a special bond that is different than the bond between other siblings?
Ecclesiastes teaches to everything there is a season. The characters are moving from one season of their lives to the next. Do you see how this has applied to your life?
The hero lives on his family’s farm. Have you ever lived on a farm? Would you want to? Why or why not?
The heroine thinks life has become too rushed. Would you agree?
The heroine also feels that not all children should be pushed, and they should be left to learn at their own pace. Do you agree or not?
The hero is attracted to the heroine early, but avoids a relationship to spare his children’s feelings. Do you think this is a wise choice?
One thing the hero has to learn is to wait on the Lord. Do you find this a difficult thing to do in life?
The characters enjoy small-town life despite some of the drawbacks. Do you think you would (or do you) enjoy life in a small town? Why or why not?
There is a small substory about being a cat person or a dog person—which are you?
The triplets exchange places and fool some people in the school. Do you think this is realistic or that someone’s individuality always comes through?
