The Way of Jayne, Part 3

Back home in her cabin, Maeve leaned against the closed front door and rested a second before pushing off into the kitchen. She hauled her bag onto the counter and removed her heavy salary, placing both jars on the counter. Twisting one container of liquid gold in her hand, she made it catch the light through the side kitchen window, smiling at the effect.

Her piebald familiar, Red Dwarf, purrrrruuuup’d softly as she jumped up near the woman’s elbow to get a closer look. Soft head with hard jaw hugged the jar’s lid, saucer eyes the shade of honey closing in joy at mom’s being home.

Deciding to prolong the effect of sunlight through honey jars, Maeve placed the richly glistening Cobb honey on the kitchen window sill, standing still a moment petting RD as the colors swirled and played in the sink.

“Honey from the Cobbs, Dwarflee,” she said to the cat pacing an eight inch counter patch, paws making kitty biscuits at each turn. “If I’d stayed in that shed one minute longer, there’d have been honey aplenty comin’ outta me and him such that can’t be kept in jars.” The cat didn’t care about the content of what Maeve was going on about, just purred louder at the smiling sound of her mistress’ voice.

Staying in the shed with Jayne woulda been something a girl his age would have had full rights to do. But the Cobb family practitioner was old enough to know she had no place there, no place doing what both she and Jayne wanted to do. She had to know what was better for both her and him. That was her job, the job his ma or pa shoulda been aware enough to do, matter of fact. Their falling down in parental duties meant she’d be the one to keep things proper.

Maeve spared a thought for Ma Cobb since pa was surely a lost cause, mated lifelong to drink. She’d barely noticed his wife sleeping peacefully in the living room rocker today when she’d left their house after dosing the babies. The woman looked pretty well zombified, but peaceful. Mayhap she was just worn out with