by Liz Isaacson
Celia swung her attention to the older gentleman at their table. She’d forgotten he was even there, but now she gave him a smile. He didn’t have family with him that day, and a nurse had pushed him to the table and introduced him as Darrel.
Zach chuckled and went back to the decorating. “You think so, Darrel?”
“Oh, I know a good thing when I see it. My Suzannah was such a sweet thing.”
Celia smiled then too, letting the old man take the conversation from serious things. But she kept them all close, tucked away inside her heart.
That night, as she knelt beside the bed, her head bent, she asked the Lord to guide her. “Help me take the first step,” she said. “And then another, and then another. Put my feet where they should be. Help my eyes to see.”
She didn’t know what else she could possibly ask for, and God had never led her somewhere she shouldn’t be. No, He hadn’t always given her exactly what she wanted. If that were true, Brandon wouldn’t have died.
But He had put people in her life right when she needed them. Friends. Family. Neighbors. Pastors.
And maybe, just maybe, He had put Zach in her life when we he needed to be there too. Until God told her otherwise, she was going to keep taking one more step. And then one more.
“And help me know what to say to Lennox and Mack.” She rolled her shoulders, feeling the weight of the last ninety-seven years there. “Help us all to forgive.”
Chapter Ten
Zach waited on Finn’s doorstep, wishing he could duck inside. But he’d already tried the doorknob, and it was locked. He’d heard the doorbell chime through the house, and still no one had come.
He clutched the cake Celia had made the day before, prepared to tell his friends where he’d gotten it if they asked. And of course, they would ask.
If they ever answered the door.
He shivered as a blast of wind shook the house in front of him, and he wondered if Mother Nature had missed the memo that said it was almost April. He and Celia had spent loads of time together at his house on the farm, and she’d even started coming out into the barns with him. She’d met all the horses and goats, and he’d even ventured down to Coral Canyon a time or two to spend a Saturday night with her.
They didn’t go out, but Celia could recreate any restaurant recipe from scratch, and Zach swore he’d gained ten pounds since he’d started seeing her.
She hadn’t said anything to her brothers, and Zach hadn’t gone to see Owen again. His brother had only texted once since the cookie decorating incident, and Zach had said that he wasn’t quite ready to be dating again.
It was partially true, and he and Celia were moving very slow. He didn’t mind, as she was busy with her job at the lodge and her daughter’s upcoming wedding.
Finally, the door unlatched in front of him, revealing Finn and Amanda. “Come in.” Finn backed up, a glow about his face that Zach hadn’t seen before.
“I brought a cake,” he said, handing it off to Amanda.
She looked at it and then him. “This looks amazing. What kind is it?” She started for the kitchen, and Zach followed her while Finn closed the door.
Zach fumbled for what Celia had called it. “Cookie Monster…and Cream.”
She nearly fell down she stopped so fast. “Cookie Monsters and Cream?” She turned back to him, her blue eyes razor sharp.
“Yes, ma’am.” Zach was supremely glad he wasn’t this woman’s son, though in that moment, he felt like he was. She could see every truth and every lie he’d ever told with those eyes.
“Where did you get this?” she asked.
“It’s a cake, dear.” Finn took it from her with a smile. “Why are you grilling him?”
“I’m not grilling him.” She loosened up and continued into the kitchen, leaning closer to Finn to whisper something.
Finn flinched, and Zach braced himself for the next question. He knew it was coming. Finn didn’t have too many subtle bones in his body.
“Are you seeing someone?” he finally asked, his eyes wide and filled with surprise.
And there it was.
“As a matter of fact,” Zach said. “I am. She made the cake.”
“I can’t believe she hasn’t told me,” Amanda said.
“You know who it is?” Finn looked back and forth between Zach and his wife.
“Of course,” Amanda said. “It’s Celia. She’s the only one I’ve ever seen make a Cookie Monsters and Cream cake.” Her fingers flew over her screen before Zach could explain anything. Amanda looked up. “How long?”
“Since the wedding,” he said.
“Of course. You were watching her at the wedding.” Finn’s face burst into a grin, and he nodded like Zach had done something miraculous by getting a woman to go out with him. He probably had, but it wasn’t like he and Celia went out that much.
“It’s kind of a secret,” he said as Amanda frowned at her phone. “Our families don’t get along. There’s been this feud for almost one hundred years.”
“Intriguing,” Finn said, and Zach wished he thought so.
“Feud?” Amanda repeated. “What does that mean?”
“It means we haven’t really told anyone we’re dating.” Zach shrugged out of his coat and hung it on a peg near the door that led to the garage. “So don’t feel bad she hasn’t told you. She hasn’t told anyone but her kids.”
“Confirmed,” Amanda said, lifting her phone. “Since the wedding.” She grinned at Finn and then Zach. “I’m so happy for you two.”
“It’s new,” Zach said.
“Why didn’t she come with you tonight?” Finn asked.
“She works up at the lodge on Sundays,” he said. “And I guess Vi Christopherson was having a big party because she finally brought her twins to church.” He looked at Amanda for confirmation on that too.
She nodded. “I took a gift to her yesterday, remember, Finny? We didn’t want to go today because it’s supposed to snow.”
“I can’t believe it’s going to snow again.” Finn looked out the wall of back windows, a dark look in his eyes. “It’s time to warm up.”
“Amen,” Zach said.
“Everything’s ready,” Amanda said. “Let’s say grace, and then I want to hear more about this feud.”
Zach looked at her, thinking maybe she could help. How, he didn’t know, but he added a silent prayer to the one Finn said over the food that there could be some solution to the feud that allowed him to keep Celia in his life.
“She knew as soon as I said the name of the cake.” Zach smiled at the horses in the barn, though he was on the phone with Celia. “I didn’t know I needed to rename the cake.”
She giggled, and Zach wished she wasn’t an hour away, staying the night in the lodge because of the snow. He wanted her eight inches away, on the other side of the wall at his house. Or better, in the same room with him.
The strength of his feelings surprised him, and he kept them under his tongue.
“Amanda’s not a gossip.”
“Good,” he said. “Because I’m pretty sure she knows every single person in Coral Canyon.”
“Nah,” Celia said. “She’s been gone a month and there are tons of new houses going in down here.” She laughed again, the sound muffled like she was trying to keep from being overheard.
“How was the party?” he asked.
“So good,” she said. “The babies are so cute. Vi and Rose and Lily are all named after flowers, and Vi kept that tradition. She named them Daisy and Amaryllis. She’s going to call her Mary.”
“Very cute,” Zach agreed. He measured out the medicine Queen Anne needed, listening as Celia talked more about the party.
“Amanda and Finn were smart not to stay,” she said. “The wind up here is crazy. We’ve lost power twice already.”
“Ouch,” he said. “Stay warm.”
“I will. Hey, I wanted to talk to you about something.” She barely had time to breathe before she added, “I want you to come to t
he lodge next Sunday.”
Zach stepped back over to the counter and stilled in his clean-up process. “You do?”
“Yes,” she said. “This place is really special to me, and I don’t see why I can’t include you in it.”
“How many people will be there?”
“A lot,” she said. “All the Whittaker boys. Their wives and families. The Everetts come every week too. Amanda and Finn.”
Zach started tabulating, but lost count after twelve. “So a lot.”
“Yes,” Celia said, a teasing quality in her voice. “I just said that.”
“They don’t all live at the lodge.”
“No.”
“So the potential for word to get around about us is big.”
“I’m going to talk to my brothers this week,” she said. “I’ve already called Lennox.”
Zach felt the air whoosh right out of his lungs, which made speaking difficult. “Wow,” came out a little strangled.
“So what do you think?”
Zach thought he’d like to see her. Watch that coyness he heard in her voice spread across her face. Kiss her as he said, “Sure, I think that would be fun.” He started cleaning up again, a low laugh coming from his throat.
“Great,” she said. “I think it’ll be fun too.” Their call ended, and Zach finished up in the barn. The trek back to the house only took a few minutes, because he practically ran to get out of the snow and the cold.
“Come on, Mother Nature,” he complained as he went up the steps two at a time. He burst into the house to the scent of coffee and paused. “Hello?”
“Dad, it’s just me,” a man called, and Zach’s heart burst with joy.
“Paul?” He closed the door behind him and the dogs and took a couple of steps before his son came out of the utility room. He looked good, with a lot of facial hair and a bright light in his eyes. Zach hurried over to him and enveloped him in a hug. “What are you doing here?”
He stepped back, sure his son was a mirage. He hadn’t seen him since Christmastime. “How did you make it through the snow?”
“My truck can go through anything.” Paul grinned at him, knowing that his mother did not like the truck. Zach had given him the money for a vehicle and told him to pick out one he liked, but he supposed the huge wheels were a little obnoxious.
“I forgot about that beast,” he said. “I’m surprised I didn’t hear you pull up.”
Paul laughed and headed for the couch. “The semester is almost over, and we have three study days right now. Mom said I should come see you, so I’m here to see you.”
“That’s great,” Zach said. “How’s school going?”
“Meh,” Paul said. “It’s okay.”
“You don’t like it.” Zach wasn’t asking. He knew the value of a college education, and he knew what hard work could do too. He knew sometimes a person had to muddle through something they didn’t like to have a future they did.
“I knew I wouldn’t like it,” Paul said. “But I’m not wasting your money, Dad. I go to class, and I study. Sometimes.” He grinned, because that was so Paul. He’d always been the kid in the tree, out on the baseball field, jumping from the bridge over the river.
Zach had always said they’d have to tie him to a chair to get him to stay in school, but he hadn’t used any ropes yet.
“How’s the farm?” Paul asked.
“Great,” Zach said. “Just great.”
“Lindsey said to get as much dirt on your girlfriend as I could,” Paul said next, absolute delight on his face.
“Oh, ho,” Zach said, chuckling. “She did, huh?”
“That’s right,” Paul said. “And hey, I started dating someone new too, so we can swap stories.”
Zach was sure his son’s stories would be completely different than his, and he wasn’t inclined to tell him about the trips to the senior citizen center or that he and Celia spent most of their time right there on the couch where he was sitting.
“You first,” he said, leaning back into the couch. “Oh, and if you’re hungry, a friend of mine sent home some leftovers. And I have cake.”
“I saw the cake,” Paul said. “And my girlfriend’s name is Poppy.”
“Poppy,” Zach repeated. “And you’re being safe with her, right, son?”
“Dad, come on,” Paul said. “We’ve had the sex talk.”
“I know, I know.” Zach grinned at his son. “It’s so good to see you. Talk to you in person.”
“I guess I should’ve called or something. Mom said I could just show up.”
“You can,” Zach said. “Nothing going on here, though if you’re still here on Tuesday, that’s when my girlfriend comes to make lunch.”
“She makes you lunch?”
“Yeah,” Zach said. “She’s my private chef too.”
Paul’s eyes nearly fell out of his head, and Zach laughed and laughed. He loved his kids, and he was so glad his son had come, even if it was only for a few days.
And he couldn’t wait for Paul to meet Celia.
Chapter Eleven
Celia stopped in the middle of the road, her brothers’ farm on her right and the Zuckerman’s farm on the left. It seemed strange that something so thin could keep the families apart.
She knew water rights had caused problems before, but she felt like it was time to put this feud to rest. For good.
“Help us all,” she prayed as she turned right and started down the lane toward the house where she’d grown up. Mack lived here now, and Lennox lived in the house on the right side of the lane. He’d built it with his own two hands during the months leading up to his wedding, and Ophelia was one of Celia’s favorite people.
But she wasn’t there to see her sister-in-law. She’d asked Mack and Lennox to be at the homestead that day, and she’d promised them an “amazing lunch” if they’d give her an hour of their time.
She carried in the grocery bags of buns, condiments, and other ingredients. Mack had a good grill pan she’d given him for Christmas a couple of years ago, and she’d have fresh, hot hamburgers on the table before her brothers came in from the farm.
“Larissa,” she called as she went through the front door. “It’s just me, Celia.” She went into the kitchen, but she didn’t see Mack’s wife. She sometimes volunteered at the library, and she had a part-time job at the bakery in town.
She set about seasoning the beef and cutting tomatoes and onions for the toppings. She hummed a hymn to herself, a constant prayer in her mind to help her talk to her brothers about the Zuckermans.
Mack came in the back door with loud stomping and said, “Wow, there’s so much snow out here.”
“Ridiculous, isn’t it?” she asked.
“Hey, sis.” Mack grinned at her and stepped over to the kitchen sink to wash his hands. Then he hugged Celia. “Lennox is a few minutes behind me.”
“Where’s Larissa?”
“Uh, she went to her mother’s.” Mack looked away quickly, but Celia saw it.
Concern spiked through her, but her throat felt stuffed full of words. “She went to visit her mother? Or she went to her mother’s?” Celia mixed together mustard and ketchup to make an orange sauce she knew Lennox particularly enjoyed. That way, she wouldn’t have to look at her brother, something Mack would appreciate.
“I’m not sure,” he said with a sigh.
“Where’s Claire?”
“School,” Mack said.
“So she’s still here.”
“Yes.”
Celia looked up and met her brother’s eye. “I’m so sorry.”
Mack’s jaw clenched, and his eyes filled with tears. “Me too.”
“Is…Larissa okay?”
“She stopped going to therapy,” he said. “Things have been getting worse for a while. I told her to do what she needs to do to be happy.” He turned away from Celia. “I didn’t think that meant cutting me and Claire out of her life.”
“And the other kids?”
“The
y’re doing okay,” Mack said. “Still in college. They say they talk to her.”
“Do you talk to her?”
“Yes,” Mack said.
“So maybe things will work out,” Celia said.
“Maybe,” Mack said, wiping his hand across his face as he turned back to her. “I love her, and I can’t stop loving her. I just want her to come home.”
Celia abandoned her work at the island. “I know, Mack.” She wrapped him in a hug, and everything ached for her older brother. “I know.”
Mack held her tight for several long seconds and then stepped back. “I’m just getting through one day at a time.”
“That’s all any of us can do,” she said. “I’ll pray for you.”
The back door opened again, and Lennox entered, along with a blast of cold air. “There he is,” Celia said, glancing at Mack to find her older brother’s mask back in place. Of course, Lennox knew about Larissa’s departure. He lived just down the road, on the same land. Ophelia was probably feeding Mack and Claire every night.
“You should’ve told me,” she said to him, knowing he’d understand without more details.
“Yeah? Like you told me you were dating again?”
“What?” Lennox splashed water on Celia he spun so fast from the sink. “You’re dating again? Who?”
“Yeah,” Mack said. “Who?”
Celia’s heart floundered in her chest. Mack knew who she’d been spending her time with. “That’s why I wanted you guys to come to lunch today,” she said calmly. “I started dating Zach Zuckerman several weeks ago.”
“Are you kidding me?” Lennox looked back and forth between her and Mack. “And you knew?”
“I heard a rumor,” Mack said. “And I don’t listen to too many rumors.”
“Well, I’m standing here saying it’s true. I really like him, and we get along great.” Celia tapped the plates. “Let’s eat while we talk. I want to know all about this feud between our two families.”
“Oh, that’s a boring story,” Lennox said, collecting a plate and starting to load one of everything on his hamburger. “Water rights they said we stole, but we bought them, same as everyone else in the county.”