Where They Belong: A Sweet Cheyenne Christmas Story (The Sweet Cheyenne Quartet Book 5)
Page 13
Serena was almost as excited as Annie, judging from her friend’s happy smile. “Oh, Annie, that’s amazing! I’m so happy for you!” She jumped out of her seat to hug the girl. Annie squealed with joy.
“Me! In school!” Her signs were rapid and jerky, but Serena had been communicating with her for years, and had no trouble understanding. “I can’t believe it!”
“The Superintendent is so progressive,” She had to finger-spell that, since she didn’t know if Wendy had ever developed a word for ‘superintendent’ or ‘progressive’, “to consider such a teacher. I can’t wait to meet this Mr. Carderock, and hear all about his plans!”
Ash cleared his throat. “About that…” Serena and her aunts turned to him. “We were hoping that Molly and Annie and the boys could stay with you in town. Mr. Carderock will arrive in two weeks or so, and since you never miss the big celebration…”
“Of course!” Cheyenne citizens always outdid themselves for the Fourth of July celebrations, with the picnic and parade and bonfire. “I can’t believe I almost forgot about Independence Day!”
“The best part of summer!” Her aunts’ proclamations were nearly simultaneous, and they both dissolved into giggles afterwards.
“I’m sure that the Double-S can survive without us for a few days. I’d love to spend a while in town, catching up with friends. Aunt Agatha, Aunt Agnes, what do you think?” She turned to the older ladies, unconsciously mimicking Annie’s hopeful gaze.
Her aunts glanced at each other, and one—Serena was pretty sure it was Agatha—said “We think that regardless of your plans for the Fourth, young lady, we’ll be in town. We’d love to have the Barkers stay with us, if the boys can stay with Molly, and Serena doesn’t mind sharing her room with Annie again.”
This time, Serena’s squeal matched Annie’s, and they hugged again.
Molly’s smile was content. “That is very kind of you to host us each year, Aunt Agatha and Aunt Agnes. Noah and Peter will be on their best behavior, and I know they will just love the celebrations. And staying in town with you will allow us to meet Mr. Carderock, and make sure he’s comfortable in Cheyenne before school begins again.” She gasped. “Oh, maybe he could be our guest at the celebrations. He’d probably enjoy seeing first-hand that we’re just as sophisticated as the cities back east!”
Serena nodded, but didn’t have high hopes. Molly and her sisters had come from Chicago, where they’d had a happy home before the Great Fire. She and Wendy had often mentioned how cosmopolitan Cheyenne was becoming, and Serena herself loved the city. But it was hard to imagine a dusty old British teacher being impressed by Cheyenne. Why, he was used to cities like London and New York; she was surprised that someone of his caliber was willing to travel west at all. He probably had a weak heart from years spent indoors, and wouldn’t be able to appreciate what they did have in their lovely city.
“Good!” Agnes nodded emphatically. “Let’s say that we’ll be in town on the twenty-fifth? That’s two weeks from now, and should give you time to welcome this teacher, and prepare for the celebrations. Serena, can you stand to be away from the ranch for so long?”
She almost groaned, acknowledging how excited she was to have the chance to be back in the city, and to ignore her duties on the Double-S. “Maybe by then I’ll have an idea of what to do with the ranch!”
“And hopefully Nate and I can come out and join you on the fourth.” Molly and Annie—and Wendy, when she was here—had always stayed with Serena and her aunts during the Fourth of July celebration. Ash and his brother had often come into the city for just the day and evening, to celebrate with them, not being able to take any more time away from their spread.
Serena found herself becoming giddy. The news of Annie’s new opportunities, and the anticipation of the big picnic, parade, and bonfire had her feeling like a girl again. The worries and thoughts of Cam’s kiss were positively pushed out of her head. She wanted to laugh… and so she did.
She was going to enjoy Independence Day, like she always had in the past, and fie on any of these new ‘grown-up’ worries. Her friends and family were all around her, and she was going to have a beautiful time, by God.
So she was grinning when Nate and the boys returned with three adorably wrapped gifts—a ‘horse’ carving from Pete, a set of beautifully monogrammed handkerchiefs from Annie, and a her own copy of Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho—and spent the rest of the afternoon surrounded by her loved ones.
And through it all, she didn’t think of Cam MacLeod—or his “just fine” kiss—once.
Don’t worry! You can read all about how Serena meets Annie’s new schoolteacher, and what she does about Cam McLeod in A Cheyenne Celebration!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Caroline Lee is what George R.R. Martin once described as a "gardener author"; she delights in “planting” lovable characters in interesting situations, and allowing them to “grow” their own stories. Often they draw the story along to completely unexpected--and wonderful!--places. She considers a story a success if she can re-read it and sigh dreamily... and she wishes the same for you.
A love of historical romance prompted Caroline to pursue her degrees in social history; her Master's Degree is in Comparative World History, which is the study of themes across history (for instance, 'domestication of animals throughout the world,' or 'childhood through history'). Her theme? You guessed it: Marriage throughout world history. Her favorite focus was periods of history that brought two disparate peoples together to marry, like marriage in the Levant during the Kingdom of Jerusalem, or marriage between convicts in colonial New South Wales. She hopes that she's able to bring this love of history-- and this history of love—to her novels.
Each one of the books in her Sweet Cheyenne Quartet has reached the Best-Sellers list on Amazon, and all are available in e-book and paperback formats.
Caroline is living her own little Happily Ever After with her husband and sons in North Carolina.
You can find her at www.CarolineLeeRomance.com.
Other works by Caroline Lee
The Sweet Cheyenne Quartet
A Cheyenne Christmas
A Cheyenne Celebration
A Cheyenne Thanksgiving
A Cheyenne Christmas Homecoming
Where They Belong: A Sweet Cheyenne Christmas Story
The Mothers of Sweet Cheyenne: A short story collection
Everland Ever After
Click the image to be taken to a listing of all the Everland books!
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