Chapter 25 More Than One
The rain had come through sometime during the night. Not a hard storm—just one of those slow spring rains that settled into the garden and stayed awhile. By morning, everything looked darker, richer. Water clung to the edges of the leaves, and the mulch along the paths held that deep earthy smell Rebecca always loved after a good soaking.
She stepped carefully through the garden with her coffee warming both hands, listening to the soft drip of water falling from leaf to leaf.
Most mornings, she tried to make herself walk the whole garden before stopping anywhere too long. But not this morning. Her eyes were already fixed on the marked plant near the bend in the bed.
Rebecca crouched beside it slowly. At first glance, it looked about the same as yesterday. The first streak still ran through the older leaf, pale and uneven, just enough to catch the eye if the light hit it right. But something else had changed overnight.
A second leaf had opened wider.
And this one had a streak too.
Smaller than the first one.
Softer.
But there.
Rebecca leaned in closer, brushing a drop of water from the leaf with the back of her finger. The streak feathered unevenly through the center, fading in and out instead of running solid.
Unstable.
But alive.
“Well now…” she said quietly.
Behind her, Sam stepped off the path carrying his coffee. “You out here checking on it already?” he asked.
Rebecca nodded toward the plant without taking her eyes off it. “Come look.”
Sam crouched beside her, studying the leaf carefully. It didn’t take him long anymore. “Oh yeah,” he said. “That definitely wasn’t there before.”
“Nope.”
For a moment, neither of them said much.
The garden around them stayed quiet except for dripping leaves and birds moving through the trees overhead.
Sam pointed toward the second streak. “So what does that mean?”
Rebecca sat back slightly on her heels. “It means the first one probably wasn’t an accident.”
Across the fence, Dave rested his arms along the top rail like he always did, already noticing where they were gathered. “That little thing still making changes?” he called out.
Rebecca looked over her shoulder and smiled. “More than yesterday.”
Dave nodded slowly. “That’s when it starts getting interesting.”
Rebecca looked back down at the plant.
A few weeks ago it had barely been noticed at all. Just another leftover sitting in a tray after the swap, roots drying out while people walked past it looking for something flashier.
Now she found herself checking on it before anything else in the garden. Not because it was perfect. Because it was becoming something.
Sam studied the leaves again. “You think it’ll keep going?”
Rebecca shrugged lightly. “Too early to know.”
Dave chuckled softly from the fence. “You say that every time.”
Rebecca laughed under her breath because he wasn’t wrong.
She reached down carefully and straightened the small marker beside the plant, pressing it a little deeper into the soil so the rain wouldn’t loosen it.
The morning light shifted through the trees overhead, catching both streaks for just a second before the shadows moved again. Rebecca noticed it immediately.
Two leaves now.
Not one.
Still not stable.
Still not ready.
But no longer easy to dismiss.
And somehow…
That changed everything.