by Shayna Ryan
As Will was an only child and his parents were working on a humanitarian project in Asia, Dottie stood in to represent his side of the family. Janie came too, though Joey was conspicuously absent, but that was all right with us. Janie and I had become fast friends since I moved to Maine and she’d often come over during the day with the kids to visit. She and I chatted and laughed like old friends while Dottie fussed over the little ones, each time not-so-subtly complaining that she wanted some grandbabies of her own to enjoy. When Janie pulled me aside after the wedding ceremony to express that Theresa would have approved of Will’s marriage to me, I broke down and cried. It was one the nicest things anyone had ever said to me.
Our wedding was small, casual, and absolutely perfect. Will wanted to get started on a family right away, and I couldn’t argue with that. It had taken only a few short months for me to fall in love with the area and I no longer missed city life. Living in the country had quieted me deep inside somehow and I was ready to take on the duties of becoming not only someone’s wife, but mother as well.
My business was still growing steadily and I was routinely making a full time wage with my graphic design work. It enabled me to work at home at the Inn, which made it easy for me to keep an eye on Dottie and lend her a hand when she needed it during the day.
On the weekends, in our spare time, Will and I worked on completing our private apartment on the second floor. On top of our own renovation project, I had been working to slowly revitalize the rest of the Inn bit by bit. I had to wait until our apartment was done for Will to be able to help me with the larger projects but in the meantime I worked on smaller things, like the gardens. Our plan was to reopen the Inn when it was back in tiptop shape, hopefully within two years. If we could reopen the third floor suites for guests we could have a steady flow of good income to support our family, and Dottie, on top of my graphic design business and Will’s job as a game warden.
Dottie looked forward to reopening the Inn most of all. She missed the days gone by of having guests year round and now that I was there to do all of the work she no longer could, her dreams could come to life once again.
“So are you really going to keep gardening out there, in this heat?” Will asked me as I finished my glass of ice water.
“Why not? You got a better use for me in here?”
“Oh, funny you should ask…” His hands slip up from my belly to cup my ever-growing breasts. They constantly enlarging due to the pregnancy, and neither us of were complaining.
“Get your mind out of the gutter, Will. We’ve got work to do!” I teased.
“All right,” he sighed, but he didn’t release my breasts. “Can you at least come keep me company upstairs? I’ve started painting in the living room and if you’d like to finish rolling the walls then I can start on the trim. But we’re coming back to this later.” He gave them one final gentle squeeze and released me.
“It’s a deal–for both the painting, and uh, the other bit later on.”
“You’re on!” He held out his hand and I took it, and together we headed upstairs to work on our home.
-Epilogue-
It felt like the whole town turned out to watch the unveiling of the new sign. Everyone lined the road in front of the Inn, anxious for the moment when we’d unveil the new sign and officially open the new and improved Brixby Inn.
Many of the townsfolk had embraced me as one of their own, once I came back to the Inn to stay. If I was good enough for Will, I was good enough for them, and now the term ‘city girl’ was strictly reserved for some good-natured ribbing. Those who were reluctant to accept me when I moved into town quickly changed their mind once Will and I wed and I was officially the warden’s wife.
The website I designed for the Inn had been up and running for weeks and we were already booking stays well into the start of ski season. After almost two years of working on it, we had restored the Inn to its former glory inside and out, and the beautiful pictures on our website represented it well.
Dottie stood next to me in front of the sign, and I balanced little Billy on my hip as Will made a short speech thanking the community for its support of the Inn.
“And now the moment we’ve all been waiting for, some of us more than others,” he paused to drop me a sexy wink, “I now present to you the newly redone Brixby Inn!” With a bit of a flourish, he yanked the sheet off to reveal the new sign carved out of white ash, with the name ‘The Brixby Inn’ painted in beautiful, flowing gold letters.
The crowd applauded and cheered, and after admiring the sign for a moment, folks began making their way to the front lawn for a community potluck dinner. Many of the townsfolk had pitched in and brought a dish to share and our little re-opening had swiftly turned into a town social event.
“Maybe we should do this every year,” Will mused and slung an arm around me.
“Maybe,” I agreed, “But you’ll have to hold one next year.”
“Hold one what?”
“Baby. I won’t be able to juggle them both at the rate Billy’s growing!” I replied with a twinkle in my eye.
“Both? You mean…you…you’re pregnant?” I thought his face might split in two, he was smiling so hard.
“You bet,” I grinned. “Come next spring, The Brixby Inn will be growing by one more.”
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Looking for other works by Shayna Ryan?
Contemporary western romance novellas:
Between Two Sisters http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CKF3F00
Broken Spirits http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D9D2SZA
Buy both together and SAVE!
Combo pack http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DTNGI60