“Layla!” Adriana smiled brightly, patting the chair beside her. “Sit with me.”
Layla settled in beside her.
Riley could hardly believe how big the girls had gotten. They leaned in close, whispering and giggling just like she and Jade had always done. She hoped her baby would have a bestie she or he adored, too.
A few minutes later Savannah came through the door with Adam in her arms. At just over a year old, Adam was the spitting image of his father, Jack. Lacy followed her in, carrying Finn, who was almost a year old, as blond as she was, and as dark-eyed as Dane.
Christian and Dylan were all giggles and blast-off noises as they gobbled down pancakes at the table, while Jade and the other women joked about rocket ships and explosions. Riley soaked it all in. She gazed out the window at Josh, who was talking with Dane and Hal beneath the leafy umbrella of a large tree. Treat, Hugh, and Jack stood a few feet away, and in the distance, Rex was leading Hope toward them. She loved that Hal had brought Hope to the wedding. Hope was as much a part of their family as any of them. She wished Josh’s mother could see her beautiful family coming together to help prepare for their special day.
“Let’s go over the plans for today.” Max set a notebook on the counter beside Riley and began ticking off their to-do list. Although Jade was the matron of honor, everyone knew Max was the best organizer on the planet. Jade had worked with her to make all the arrangements, but with her new baby boy to care for, she was happy to let Max do what she did best. The men were in charge of building the canopy, fixing the railings, stringing lights, and making sure the terrace was baby-proofed.
“Hal offered to help keep the kids busy making wedding decorations while we cook and make your wedding cake,” Jade added.
“I saw all the cake pans. Your friend Molly really came through for you,” Savannah said, repositioning Adam on her hip. He clung to a fistful of her hair like a security blanket.
“Molly is awesome. And Josh is going to be so surprised. He thinks we’re doing a fancy sheet cake, not a four-tier real wedding cake.” Riley smiled, thinking about the day she had surprised Josh with the news of their pregnancy. They’d both gotten teary-eyed imagining what life would be like with midnight feedings, a crib in a nursery, and baby toys strewn about the living room.
Brianna set another pancake on Christian’s plate. “Last one, piglet.” She kissed him on the top of his head.
“Aw, Mom,” he complained around a mouthful of pancake.
“I swear he’d eat until there was no more food if we let him.” Brianna pushed her dark hair behind her ear and reached for Finn. “I’m feeling the urge for another baby. Maybe Finny will scratch that itch.”
“Why not let Hugh scratch it?” Savannah bounced Adam on her hip. Eyeing the children, she lowered her voice and said, “We’re thinking about trying for another. I want Adam to be close to his siblings.”
“Besides,” Lacy whispered, “trying is so much fun.” She’d secured her blond corkscrew curls at the nape of her neck with a blue clip that matched her eyes. “We’re not trying to get pregnant, but we aren’t not trying either.” Her eyes danced with excitement. “No bun in the oven so far, but maybe next month we’ll get lucky.”
“How about you, Ri?” Jade asked. “You said you guys were going to try right away.”
Riley’s confession was on the tip of her tongue, but she had another few weeks before she’d feel like she was out of the woods. The last thing she wanted was to make her friends worry about her pregnancy when they were in such high spirits. Not wanting to outright lie, she said, “I went off the pill.”
“You did?” Jade asked. “How did I not know that?”
“It’s not like she needed to ask your permission,” Savannah joked.
Jade looked at Riley, her eyes suddenly a little sad. “No, but there was a time when we knew everything about each other.”
Riley’s heart ached. There was a time when Jade would have been the first person she’d told about such a big decision. But their lives were busier now, and their priorities had shifted. Jade was married with a new baby, and Riley’s life had become one deadline after another. While she and Jade used to talk on the phone at least four times each week, they now texted only a few times a week. And the night Riley and Josh had made the decision that Riley would stop taking birth control was their monumental moment. Wasn’t that the way their lives were supposed to evolve? To mold and shape around the people they grew to love as much—or more than—their very best friend?
“It’s only a matter of time before we’ll be throwing you a baby shower, Ri,” Max said excitedly. “Maybe a triple one with Lacy and Savannah. How fun would that be?”
Before Riley could answer, Jade reached for her hand. “Maybe you’ll get pregnant right away. Our babies could be in the same classes and grow up as close as we are.”
Riley’s heartbeat sped up, and she had to fight hard not to tell Jade her news. But she and Josh had made a joint decision, and she’d never betray him like that.
“I hope so.” Her honest confession sparked a litany of hopeful comments.
Surrounded by sweet baby noises, happy whispers, and the warmth of family, Riley let her hand drift to her belly as she gazed out the window again, her eyes immediately finding her handsome fiancé. Josh turned, scanning the windows as if he felt her gaze on him. Their eyes locked, the electricity between them as hot as ever and the love carrying it as real and stable as the mountains they stood upon.
JOSH AND HIS brothers stood in the yard discussing the work that needed to be completed for the wedding. As Rex looked over the map Charlotte had drawn, which would guide them to the woodshed, Josh thought about the other things that needed to be done. Once they found the woodshed, building the canopy would be time-consuming but definitely doable. Rex and Jack were experts at building things. Fixing the railings and stringing lights around the terrace were a piece of cake, but making sure the terrace was completely baby-proofed? Josh didn’t know the first thing about baby-proofing, but it was about time he learned. First, though, they had to find the woodshed.
“Are you kidding me?” Rex stared at the map with an annoyed look on his face.
“It can’t be that bad.” Jack took the map from him and chuckled. “Okay, maybe it can be that bad. Heart tree? What’s a heart tree?”
Hal cleared his throat and reached up to pet Hope.
Treat snagged the map from Jack. At six foot six, he stood shoulder to shoulder with their father and had a solid few inches over each of his siblings. “Max would never let these directions pass without asking for an explanation.” He studied the map. “Snow White’s house? This is like a fairy-tale wild-goose chase. I have a feeling someone’s pulling our legs. Hold on. Let me check.”
Hal put an arm around Josh’s shoulder and leaned in close. “Your mother would get a kick out of this.”
“At her sons being totally perplexed?” Josh asked.
Hal shrugged. “She’d never ask for directions. She’d take that map and follow it to a tee, just to see what she could discover along the way.”
Treat pulled out his cell phone and called Max. “Sweetness, we’re having some trouble with these directions.” He paused, his brows lifted, and a small smile slid across his face. “Sounds good. Thanks, beautiful. How’re the kids? Okay. Absolutely. Put her on.” He lowered the mouthpiece and said, “Adriana wants to say something. Hold on.” As he listened again, his smile widened. “Okay, precious girl. I’ll let him know. Yes. Yes. Okay, love you, sweetheart.”
“Well?” Rex crossed his arms, his biceps twitching with impatience as Treat put his phone in his pocket.
“Adriana wants Hugh to know that Dylan wants a race car for Christmas,” Treat explained.
“That’s a boy after my own heart,” Hugh said. “Christian’s already got a little go-kart. I can have one made for Dylan.”
“Adriana also said she doesn’t want you to buy him one, because they’re too dangerous.” Treat put a hand on Hu
gh’s shoulder. “So before you go having anything made, I suggest you take it up with Max and Adriana. You’re liable to get an earful.”
“Come on, bro,” Hugh said. “Go-karts are a rite of passage.”
“Then you’ll have no issue with me teaching Christian to dive with sharks when he’s older?” Dane gave Treat an I’ve-got-your-back nod.
“That’s totally different,” Hugh argued. “You can’t control a shark.”
“Like you can control a race car?” Dane scoffed. “Give me a break.”
“We’re talking about go-karts, not race cars,” Hugh pointed out. “And why are you so persnickety? You drove them when we were young. Like I said, it’s a rite of passage.”
“There are no rites of passage once you’re married,” Jack reminded them. “Joint decisions, concessions. That’s the name of the happily-ever-after game.”
“Thank God Riley and I have the same beliefs about kids,” Josh said under his breath.
“That won’t matter,” Hugh said. “You could have a kid who wants to follow in my footsteps, or Treat’s, or Rex’s, or he could swim with sharks like Dane. You can’t control what kids want.”
“No, but I can control what I allow them to do,” Josh responded.
“All I know is, my boy’s never going anywhere near sharks or race cars,” Rex said. “He can sit his ass on a tractor or a horse. Can we focus now? Christ, Josh will never get married if we dick around all day. Treat, what did Max say about the map?”
“Apparently Charlotte told her we’d understand each landmark when we got there.” He shrugged. “We have a lot to get done. I suggest we split up.”
“Rex,” Hal said, his deep voice commanding all of their attention. “Why don’t you come with me and Josh to the woodshed. Dane and Hugh, string the lights. Treat and Jack, you’re on railing duty. Check the railings on all the terraces, not just this one. Always leave a place better than you found it. And when we get back, we can get started building the frame for the canopy and try to figure out what the heck is involved with baby-proofing the terrace.”
Treat nodded toward the others. “You heard the man. Let’s go.” He patted their father on the back. “You sure you’re okay trekking through the woods?”
It was no secret that Hal was still desperately in love with, Adriana, or that he believed he communicated with her through Hope. A few years ago he’d been hospitalized with heart-attack-like symptoms and had been diagnosed with broken heart syndrome, the symptoms of which mirrored those of a heart attack. They’d been as relieved as they were distressed by his diagnosis and had watched him a little closer ever since.
“Son, your mother and I spent so much time in these woods together I could navigate them blindfolded. When the day comes that I can no longer walk a trail, then you’ll be putting me six feet under. Until then, have faith that your old man can handle just about anything.”
“Hold up a sec,” Rex said with a pinched look on his face. “If you know the property that well, then you know how to get to the woodshed. Why didn’t you say something?”
Hal laughed. “Because your mother always loved watching you boys run in circles.” He strode forward and motioned for Rex and Josh to follow. “Let’s go, before the women come out here wondering why we’re slacking off.”
The scent of pine hung in the air as Josh followed his father through the woods, weaving around tall trees and spiny bushes. Twigs crunched beneath their feet, reminding him of his youth, when he and his siblings traipsed all over their family’s property.
Rex elbowed Josh and hiked a thumb over his shoulder just as Hope’s big body ambled around a tree. They both laughed. Hope had a way of sneaking up on them.
“You sure you don’t want to put her in the pasture by the barn?” Josh suggested.
His brother lifted his chin toward their father’s broad back. “He said she knows these parts as well as he does.” He arched a thick black brow. “Guess he was right.” They walked in silence for a beat, and then Rex asked, “You nervous?”
“About getting married? Not really. I just want everything to go smoothly so Riley gets the wedding day she’s always dreamed of. It’s bad enough that we have to hide out to get it.”
“She won’t,” Rex said with a serious tone. “No one gets a perfect wedding, except maybe Treat. I swear that man has the luck of the Irish. Hell, Jade and I got married in a hospital. There’s no way you’ll beat that. You’ll either get married on the terrace or inside a gorgeous resort. It won’t matter either way, because Riley will become your wife, and the moment that happens, it’ll outshine anything that goes wrong.”
Hope neighed, causing them both to smile.
Hal was quiet as they made their way through the long grass. They followed him around a large grouping of rocks to a steep hillside.
“Whoa, girl.” Rex reached his arm out behind them, stopping Hope from getting too close to the edge.
Hope stopped walking and pushed her head against the center of his chest. He stroked a hand over her cheek. “That’s a girl.”
Josh joined his father by the craggy outcropping. A bushy formation of gnarled and twisted trunks of a limber pine tree grew at an impressive angle, as if powerful winds were blowing it over the edge and it refused to fall. Branches stretched like knobby, aged hands tipped with spiky green needles.
Hal squinted against the sun, gazing out over the valley below. “This was one of your mother’s favorite spots.”
Rex stepped beside Josh, keeping one eye on Hope, who appeared happy to hang back beneath the cover of the trees. “It sure is beautiful.”
“So was your mother.” Hal lifted his chin toward the limber pine, a mannerism that Rex had honed so well, Josh saw his brother in the motion.
His father’s sun-kissed cheeks had a few more deep grooves than Josh remembered. A breeze caught Hal’s thick hair, and Josh noticed it had become more silver than black. It was easy for him to see his father as the strong man he’d always been and it was painful to acknowledge the harsh reality. Despite his outward size and strength from continuing to work the ranch, his father was aging. He was glad he and Riley were considering moving back to Weston. He’d like as much time with his father as he could get.
“This is the heart tree,” Hal said with pride in his eyes. “Your mother wanted to leave her mark everywhere we went. When Charlotte was little she used to call this the heart tree, and I guess it stuck.”
Josh scanned the tree again, and slowly an etched heart came into focus where two of the trunks had grown together, covering the upper-right arch of the carved heart. Inside the deeply grooved symbol of his parents’ love were their initials, with a plus sign between them. After everything he’d been told about his mother, and the pictures he’d seen of his parents, it was easy for him to imagine the two of them in this very spot.
“I wish she was here now,” Josh said honestly. “For you, Dad, as much as for me.” They’d never really talked about his mother’s passing, and the question Josh had been silencing for years rose to the surface. For the first time in his life, he didn’t try to quell the ache it carried or suppress his desire for answers.
Rex huffed out a breath, crossed his arms, and shifted his eyes over the ridge.
“Don’t worry, son,” his father said. “She’s always with me.”
“Do you think she knew?” Forcing the words from his lungs was harder than he anticipated. “You always talk about how Mom was spiritual and how she’s still around. But do you think she knew her life would be cut short?”
“Can we change the subject?” Rex grumbled.
“Sorry, Rex. I know you don’t like to talk about this stuff, but you knew her. I never did, and I’m left…I don’t know…trying to fill in the gaps, I guess.”
Rex ground his teeth together. “Point me in the direction of the woodshed. I’ll go get started while you two reminisce.”
“Re—”
Hal grabbed Josh’s arm and shook his head. “Rex, h
ead south until the roof comes into view and then cut left around the conifers. You’ll find the way. Hope’ll get you there.”
“Christ,” Rex said under his breath. He patted his thigh and made a clicking sound through clenched teeth, as if he were calling a dog. Hope ambled forward, and Rex mounted her. “I’ll see you two down there.”
“I didn’t mean to make him uncomfortable,” Josh apologized.
“You didn’t make him uncomfortable. Talking about your mother makes his mind go places he doesn’t want to be taken. That boy loves Jade and little Hal more than life itself. Thinking of your mother makes him think of losing them.” Hal put an arm around Josh’s shoulder and walked in the direction Rex had gone.
“If this is too tough for you to talk about, we don’t have to,” Josh offered.
“Talking about your mother is never tough. Her face is still the first thing I see when I wake up, and at the end of a long day, it’s the image I see when I close my eyes.”
“Don’t you get lonely, Dad?” For some reason, he’d been wondering about that a lot lately.
“Lonely?” Hal’s hearty laughter sailed around them. “I had six young ’uns to raise, and then each of you brought me a son or daughter-in-law to love like my own flesh and blood. And now we’ve been blessed with beautiful grandchildren. Son, there is no room for loneliness in my life, and that’s probably exactly what your mother had planned all along.”
Josh looked at his father skeptically. “So you do think she knew?”
Hal shook his head. “No, Josh. She couldn’t have…” He paused, his brows knitted, as if he were thinking over his response. A long moment later he said, “All I know is that my darlin’ girl is smiling down at us happy as a lark that our family has remained so close.”
Josh believed that with his whole heart.
A rustic, Tudor-style cottage came into view, and sure enough, it looked just like Snow White’s cottage with duo A-line roofs that sloped nearly to the ground and an arched door made of barn wood.
“Before we were married, your mother and I would come up to see our friends—Charlotte’s parents—and this is where we stayed. In separate rooms, of course,” he said with a smirk.
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