A Moment Like This: A Contemporary Christian Romance Prequel Novella (The Grace Series Book 4)
Author: Stallings, Staci
Date: 2016-12-16

A Moment Like This

The Grace Series

Book Four

By: Staci Stallings

KINDLE EDITION

~*~*~*~

Spirit Light Publishing

A Moment Like This

Copyright © 2016 by Staci Stallings

Cover Art by Marion Ueckermann
www.marionueckermann.net

Author’s Website
http://www.stacistallings.net

Kindle Edition License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to eStore and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.

Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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Table of Contents

What Readers Are Saying

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Epilogue

Also Available from Staci Stallings

About the Author

*~*

To my family,

Damian, Stefani, Kayla & Andrew

Although my “moments” have

Been different than the one here,

Thanks for all the moments

Together that I will cherish forever!

*~*

Chapter 1

Caleb & Rachel

“Yeah, right there. Okay. Hold on. Hold on. Don’t move.” Caleb James carefully angled his side of the oven over so he could get the thing hooked up as Luke Baker and his two sons held it suspended on the dolly next to the cut-out hole in the cabinet. “K. Got it. Let’s push it back to the wall.” He took hold of his edge and guided them all forward until the stove slipped into the space. “Careful. Careful. Down.” It slowly slid right into the spot. “And done. That’s it. Yep. Good job, guys.”

“Ugh.” Luke took a step back before giving the finished product a good, long, hard look. He tested the countertop and nodded. “It’s about time. Done is about the best word I’ve heard all day.”

“You and me both.” Caleb pulled the dolly back across the canvas they had laid out so as not to scratch the hardwoods in the kitchen. He’d been hard at work remodeling Mrs. Murphy, his fiancée’s mother’s house since the beginning of December, which was a good two weeks in the rearview mirror now, and there wasn’t one single thing that had been easy about any of it. “You know a smart man would have warned me what I was getting myself into doing this.”

“A smart man would have given himself more than three weeks to get it done,” Luke said, teasing his friend. “Not that I didn’t think you were crazy before, but trying to get this in for your folks before New Year’s? I think I should have put in for hazard pay.”

“Tell you what, I’ll pay you double of whatever I was paying you before.” Caleb took a sip of his water as Luke did the same with his.

“So double of nothing?” Luke asked with a knowing grin.

Caleb shrugged. “Hey. Sounds good to me.”

“Wonder how the girls are doing.” Luke turned past the opening and disappeared down the hallway as Caleb thanked the two boys for their help. It really was a question what they would’ve done without the Baker family.

“Looking good,” he heard Luke say in the bathroom.

Following his friend down the hallway, Caleb heard them all talking as the light poured from the bathroom from the opening. At the door he put his hands up on the frame and surveyed the work in progress. “So it does actually come down then?”

“Yeah,” Rachel Taylor, his fiancée, said, wiping her forehead with the wrist holding the spray bottle, “with a whole lot of convincing.”

“A whole lot,” Sage Baker said as she stood from the far wall, ripping wallpaper up with her as she straightened. However, about a quarter of the way up, the paper angled off and left a large sharp tip still on the wall. “Ugh. Okay. I am about done with this stuff. Good grief. This is impossible.”

“I thought you said this was supposed to help.” Rachel held up the spray bottle to Caleb.

“I said I hoped it would help,” Caleb corrected her. “Always depends what they put it up with.”

“Well, whatever it was, this stuff is not helping.”

“Well, while y’all were in here acting like you’re working,” Luke said from where he was leaning on the sink, “we actually finished our project.”

Rachel stopped and looked not at Luke but at Caleb. His heart flipped over at the hope sparkling in her eyes. “Really? They’re in? For real?”

Caleb tipped his head and wiped it on his own forearm. “They are.”

It took only that for her to put down the wallpaper removal tools and slip past him. Caleb followed her, and Luke and Sage followed him.

When they walked into the near-finished kitchen, even Caleb had to admit the transformation was remarkable. The cabinets, the backsplash, the hardwoods, and the new appliances. It was hard to believe it was even the same space.

“Oh, wow!” Rachel went over and ran her hands over it all. “Oh! I can’t believe it. It turned out so good.” When her gaze came over to his, Caleb saw the tears as she put her hands up to her nose. “I love it.”

With a soft smile, he stepped over to her and wrapped her in his arms.

“It’s beautiful,” she said as she melted into the hug, and he could hear the tears.

“I’m glad you like it.” He loved the feel of her in his arms. It made sense in a way nothing else ever had.

“I think you’ve outdone yourself with this one.” Sage came over to admire the work. “This really is amazing.” She turned to her husband. “I want one.”

Luke laughed. “Of course you do.”

“Well, the cabinets were all Luke,” Caleb said even as he continued to hold Rachel and rub her back and arm. “It was really a team effort, I’ll tell you that for sure.”

A sniff and Rachel came up. “So what do we lack in here? Not much anymore.”

“The light fixture, which I can put up now, and a table.” Taking a half-step away from her, he put his hands on his beltline and looked around. “And then it’s on to either the living room or the bedrooms.”

“The boys and I can start pulling up that carpet in the bedrooms,” Luke said, standing with his hand on one of the upper cabinets. “We could get that out tonight, and then what would we lack in those? Getting the flooring down, painting, some lights that we could even do after if we had to.”

Rachel exhaled. “I hate that you guys are having to help so much.”

“Eh.” Sage waved her off. “Gets me out of the house for a change. Gives me something to do. I’m just glad Jane could watch the kids for a while.”

“I don’t know. That wallpaper might take more than a while.” One more exhale and Rachel put her head back as she lifted her hand. “Onward and upward!”

“So how are the wedding plans coming?” Sage asked Rachel when they were back to spraying and pulling down wallpaper.

“Not much time for any of that.” Rachel scoured into the paper and sprayed it. “Caleb’s parents are supposed to be coming in on the 28th. His mom said she got her dress today, so I guess that’s good.”

“Have you gotten yours yet?”

“Ha.” Peeling carefully Rachel took down a long strip. “Shopping? Who has time for that? I don’t know. I think I might just wear my flowery one and be done with it.”

“Oh, come on, you can’t do that.”

Rachel shrugged. “It’s not like it’s a big thing. I’ll probably just make the cake. Caleb can wear a suit. It’s not like we’re trying to impress anybody.”

That looked like Sage hated the way it tasted. “Still it should be special. You deserve special.”

“Just get me through the ‘I dos.’ That’s all the special I need.”

Chapter 2

Luke & Sage

“I just hate this for them.” With the boys already nearly sleeping in the back of the minivan, Sage and Luke headed back up to Ridgemount to collect their girls from the pastor’s house. “Rachel deserves a nice wedding. Caleb too. I mean, he’s done so much for the town and everything.”

Luke’s grin was both knowing and patient. “What’re you, their fairy godmother?”

Her face fell somewhere between a scowl and a pout. “I could be.” She shrugged. “I did the flowers for Jayc and Derek. How hard would it be to do a little more?”

“A little more? Like a dress and a cake and flowers and music? You do realize it’s Christmas, right? Not to even mention that we’re working over there like every, single night trying to get that house ready for guests.”

The fact that Ridgemount had nothing approximating a hotel had dawned on all of them about the time Caleb mentioned his whole family was coming for the wedding.

“We’re already putting Derek and Jaycee up when they get back, and Ryder and Jasmine will be staying with your folks over Christmas. My parents are full up to the gills with kids and extras.” He glanced over at her. “And in the middle of all of this, you want to throw a surprise wedding?”

“Well, it won’t be a literal surprise. I mean, they already know they’re getting married. I’ll just help things along a little. Embellish it for them. Upcycle it a little.”

With a smile as he turned into town, Luke retrieved her hand from the midst of her lap and kissed it as he shook his head. “Sage Baker, you never cease to amaze me.”

A grin slipped onto her face as love for him danced in her heart. “I just want everyone have a day as special as ours was.” She slipped her hand up and down his arm. “Is that so wrong?”

A second and he sighed. “Darlin’, what’d I ever do to deserve you?”

Her smile turned brighter still. “I think you ask yourself that every day.”

His laugh rang out between them. “That I do, darlin’. That I do.”

In no time they pulled up to the pastor’s house to get the girls. December was living up to its name, and in the interest of doing this quickly, they each got out and hurried to the door. When they were at the top of the stairs alone together, Luke grabbed her hand and rang the bell, but before anyone had the chance to get there and in the anonymity of the darkness, he bent and brushed his lips across hers in a gentle, warm kiss.

Surprise lit through her and she tipped her head. “What was that for?”

A mischievous glint flashed through his eyes. “Being you.”

Sage wasn’t sure that the light coming on above them right then was what she really wanted to happen. The door swung open to reveal the pastor in nightclothes and looking quite disheveled as Sage had come to know he was at odd hours of the night.

“Sorry we’re late,” Luke said immediately snapping back into normal husband-father mode even as he hopped from foot-to-foot in the chill.

“Well, come on in here. Get out of that wind.” With a harder push of the door, the pastor let them in and they did not argue.

All the way through the house, Luke’s hand stayed wrapped in hers, making Sage feel like a school girl again. Without her bidding it to, her mind and heart flashed back more than a decade before when she had walked this same hallway with Luke’s hand in hers as he steadfastly navigated them through one of the worst—and as it turned out best—summers of her life.

In the living room they found Jane holding Macy in the chair with Livvie asleep on the couch. The Mitchell’s two boys were clearly already in bed.

“Are you guys making any progress on that house out there?” Jane asked with concern.

“Some,” Luke said. “We finally got the kitchen done tonight. All we need now is a table, and that one’s off the list.”

“This New Year’s thing is getting rough on all of you.” Pastor Steve folded his arms as a scowl of concern etched on his face. The twinkling of the lights from the small Christmas tree behind him made him look like a giant.

“I don’t blame them none for the New Year’s thing,” Luke said, and he squeezed her hand and looked down at her.

“When you’re as in love as they are, there’s no use waiting.” Sage looked up at her husband, and her smile dragged his lips down to hers for one soft touch. She huddled in closer to him, and he put his arm around her. “By the way, that reminds me. I was talking to Rachel tonight, and they haven’t done like anything on the wedding.”

“Well, I imagine not,” Jane said, “what with her at the school and him working all over town all day and then them out trying to get that house done all night and every single weekend. When is there time to worry about a wedding?”

Luke’s gentle gaze came down and held on Sage.

“Yeah, I know. That’s why…” She looked up at him, and his amused smile took her in. “Well, I was thinking somebody’s got to put this thing together.”

The pastor grinned his understanding. “Let me guess.”

“They don’t want fancy,” Sage continued, “and I get that, but I think it should be something a little better than thrown together at the last minute, don’t you?”

“What do you have in mind?” Jane asked.

And just like that, Sage began explaining all the things her heart had been spinning inside her since she’d first asked Rachel the question. She couldn’t wait to call Jaycee who wouldn’t be home for another two days. Honeymooning at a time like this. What was her sister thinking?

Chapter 3

Derek & Jaycee

“For breakfast?” Jaycee West scrambled to the end of the bed where her now-husband Derek West held the small plate of delicious chocolate-covered strawberries. Taking one, she flipped over and grinned up at him. With a shake of her head, she bit into the scrumptious treat. “Mmm.” She closed her eyes, savoring the delectable delight. “You’re spoiling me rotten.”

Grinning, he crawled up to the headboard where she joined him. Once there, he wrapped her back under his arm. “That’s the idea.”

Settled down to the deepest part of herself, Jaycee relaxed into his embrace, really liking how casually wonderful he looked in the dark khaki cargo shorts and teal T-shirt. “So, what’s on tap for today, Romeo?”

His smile grew with the breath he took. “Well, one more day in paradise, I’m thinking we could either stay in all day.” Bending, he kissed the side of her neck. “Or I was thinking about doing something really out there.”

“Okay. Now I’m worried.” With that strawberry finished, she reached for another from the plate he still held.

“Smart woman.”

Munching, she thought through all he could be talking about. They had already been snorkeling, hiking, sight-seeing, and on a helicopter ride taking in the sights of the volcanoes in Hawaii. She was beginning to think that life with Derek was going to be anything but boring.

“Well, I’ve got two options,” he said, taking a small strawberry for himself and eating it before he continued.

“K. What’s that?”

“Parasailing.”

The strawberry went down the wrong pipe, and Jaycee nearly choked. “Or?”

“SUPping.”

She finished that one and got one more. The way this was sounding, she was going to need the sustenance. “Do I even want to ask what that is?”

Derek laughed. “It’s this new thing called Stand-Up Paddle Boarding. It’s like if kayaking and surfing had a baby.”

With a shake of her head, Jaycee looked up at him. Still more handsome than any man had a right to be, her husband she was learning, had an unrivaled adventurous streak. “Okay…?”

“They have lessons on the other side of the island. I checked this morning and had the concierge hold us a couple spots in case you weren’t into parasailing.”

Her eyebrows went up in concern. “And where exactly do we do this SUPping thing?”

“Well, you can do it practically anywhere, but I think we’ll start with one of the calmer bays. We could try the ocean though if you want to get really dangerous.”

She shook her head. “I think we left safe back at the altar.” Tipping her lips up in invitation to his, she accepted his warm, soft kiss and let the sigh of contentment slide through her.

“I’m not arguing,” he said as he transferred the plate back to the little nightstand before coming back to her. “You are definitely dangerous.”

SUPping turned out to be great fun for Derek, mostly because he got to watch Jaycee’s mini freak outs more than once as the little paddle boarding craft tested her balance and her courage.

“You know, I could get used to this,” he called to her as she carefully made her way across the glass-calm water only yards away from him. He had no trouble guiding his own vessel and watching her at the same time.

“Oh, yeah?” she asked as she worked to stay on her feet. She tipped once, barely catching herself.

“Yeah,” he said, taking in the sight of her, the loose black cover-up partially concealing her bathing suit underneath. “How about you?”

“I’m deciding.”

Amused, he couldn’t keep the love for her from overflowing his heart. “On what?”

“On just how sore I’m going to be when we get back.” The board tipped a fraction, and she tipped with it, struggling to hold her balance. “I’m glad we didn’t try the ocean. I would’ve been shark bait by now.”

“Yes, but you would be such cute shark bait.”

Turning her craft in front of him, she dipped the paddle into the water and flung it his direction, a move which drastically threatened her equilibrium.

“Hey now.” He brushed the water droplets from the front of him. “That was uncalled for.”

She pointed her paddle at him. “Then you should be nice.”

“I thought was being nice. I said you’re cute. What’s wrong with that? What, did you want? Gorgeous, heart-stopping, amazing, stunning, beautiful?”

“Stop.” She splashed more water at him. “You’re embarrassing me.”

“Shouldn’t be embarrassing if it’s true.”

Jaycee shook her head at him. “So, what’s after this, Romeo? You got plans for the evening?”

“I could think of a few things that would keep us busy.” His grin held all kinds of mischievousness.

“Oh, yeah? Anything in those plans about eating?” She was getting better, more stable, less balance-challenged now. He could always tell when that happened because once her current task was in hand, her mind would start lining up the next thing on the agenda. It was one of the things that had attracted him to her in the beginning—her ability to simultaneously handle life and line it out in front of her and him.

“What, the strawberries weren’t enough?” he asked, paddling close enough to be able to watch her and be mesmerized by her as he always was.

“My heart says yes, my stomach says no.” Going ahead of him, she wisped the paddle one way and then the other through the gentle water.

“How about steak?” And he laughed when she whipped her gaze over to his.

She shook her head. “I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?”

“What? I feed you chocolate, you feed me steak. I call that a win-win.”

Her laugh said she wasn’t mad. “They said there’s going to be a luau down on the beach tonight. I was thinking that sounded like fun.”

“Will they have steak?”

“You and your steak habit. I think you’re addicted to that stuff.” Coming around so she went past him the other direction, she caught his gaze and held it. “I think I should buy stock in the beef companies.”

“And you wouldn’t have me any other way.”

Softening, her gaze held him. “Well, you’re right about that.”

The gentle island breeze held nothing of December as Jaycee sat back next to him on the beach later that evening. His shirt was open, and she couldn’t deny what that simple fact did to her ability to stay pleasantly social with the others gathered there.

“Christmas in Hawaii,” she said as she watched the dancing fire. “I could get used to this.”

“Yep.” He put his arms all the way around her and tightened them. “What do you say, we chuck it all and just stay here forever?”

Snuggling up into his arms, she couldn’t disagree. “I’m with you on that one.” She closed her eyes, feeling the tinges of soreness from the paddle boards. “Ugh.”

“What?” he asked in alarm.

“My back. That one muscle is definitely not happy with me.”

Without asking, he put his hand on her back and the warmth of it melted into her. “This one?”

“Ugh. Uh, yeah. That one too.”

Carefully setting them both to swaying to the soft music that was wafting down the beach, Derek continued to work on her back. Usually on-point with everything, Jaycee had a hard time not relinquishing all control and just surrendering to the lulling movement. “Mmm. That’s good.”

He laid his lips next to her ear. “It’s supposed to be.”

“Mmm.” Her eyes went closed, and she gave up the fight. “You keep that up, and we’ll still be here tomorrow morning.”

Without reply, he let his hand smooth out over her back and hold there as the last shreds of holding herself up disintegrated. She took in a long breath, which settled her even further. “I never want to go home.”

“Doesn’t matter,” he said softly. “Wherever I’m with you, that’s where home is.” Another second, and he shifted just slightly. “What do you say? One more dance and we call it a night?”

Although part of her wanted to argue, another part didn’t. “Okay.”

When Derek helped her to her feet, he could hardly contain the feelings that zigged and zinged through him. Jaycee West. His wife. Without so much as moving from where they stood on the sand, he took her in his arms and pushed them to swaying. To have and to hold from this day forward… No doubt about it, he was the most blessed man on the planet.

Sunday afternoon came all too soon for both of them as they checked out of their room and headed back into real life.

“You’re sure you got the pre-boarding passes?” Jaycee asked as Derek drove to the airport, his hand in hers on the console.

“Verified them this morning.”

She sighed and put her head back before letting her gaze go over to him. “So have you thought anymore about Brent’s offer to produce a new show on H&H?”

They had both agreed to table the discussion until after the wedding and honeymoon. Unfortunately, that moment was now arriving with surprising speed.

Derek said nothing for a long minute. “A little bit.”

Concerned that he might think she was mad, she lifted her head and held him with her gaze. “You gonna fill me in, or is this some big, company secret?”

He smiled over at her. “I thought we were waiting until after the honeymoon.”

She let her gaze fall as she smiled as well. “Yeah, well, humor me. It’s not like I haven’t been thinking about it too.”

“Oh, really?” As they pulled up to a stoplight, he leaned over and kissed her gently. “Isn’t that against the rules?”

Jaycee laughed. “Hey, hon? I think we left the rules way back there.”

Squeezing her hand, he chuckled and drove on through the light. “So what’re you thinking? You got any brilliant ideas?”

“A couple, but I wanted to hear yours first.” She pulled her shoulders up to her ears as she looked over at him. “What’re you thinking about all of it?”

He checked her with a short look before exhaling. “Okay, this is completely off the grid, and honestly, I have no idea if it could even work, but the thing I keep getting when I think about it is Caleb.”

Confusion marred her face. “Caleb? But he’s not even with H&H anymore.”

“I know. And I know it’s a total long-shot. Except that it isn’t.” He shook his head. “Look, we know Caleb. We’ve worked with him. We’ve seen what he can do, and it’s downright amazing.”

“I’m not arguing with any of that, but he’s with Rachel now. In North Carolina.”

“I know.” Derek nodded again, his face growing serious under the dark sunglasses he wore to thwart the shimmering sunshine. “But I talked to him. I went to see the stuff he’s working on, and to be honest, I really think he’s the one.”

Slowly Jaycee ratcheted down her instinct to fight, to defend her friend from being hurt any more. The very fact that Rachel and Caleb had connected and fallen in love was a miracle. No way was she going to do anything to jeopardize that, even if it meant standing up to Derek to defend it. “We can’t ask him to do that. They’re getting married, and he’s just getting settled.”

Again, Derek nodded. “I get all of that. I really do, but it’s not like his show would have to be like ours is.”

Ours. Jaycee smiled at that word as it brushed across her heart.

“Plenty of the other shows are filmed in just a few locations, and,” he said as if he was holding the winning card, “I think we might even be able to talk Rachel into getting in on the fun.”

“Rachel?” Jaycee asked with more concern. “But she works at the school, and she has the kids to think about...”

“Caleb and I talked about it, and he said Rachel’s thinking about quitting and going to help him full time anyway. She’s already done a couple of pieces for the jobs he’s working on, and I have to say they’re remarkable. Not to even mention what she did on that ramp-bridge thing at the church. The way I see it, his show could easily be set in North Carolina. He could fix up old houses. It’s not like there aren’t enough of them in that area, especially with Gabriel.”

Gabriel. The hurricane that had literally changed the course of history for all of them. “So, how would this work then? He would get his own crew, and they would do the designs together?”

Derek glanced over at her. “You saw the footage. They’re magic on camera together.” He shook his head slowly and changed lanes. “Think about it, Jayc. This could be the idea we’ve been praying for.”

Praying for. The other thing that had literally changed the course of her life. She exhaled, wanting to argue but feeling how right this could be for all of them. “Okay. But what if they say no?”

He nodded twice. “Well, I think we’ve got to at least give them the chance to decide that for themselves, don’t you?”

Thinking it through, Jaycee had to agree. “When are you planning on telling them?”

“We’ve got a meeting with Brent on Wednesday to line out the next few shows. He had said he’d like for us to have a few options in mind for the new show by then. I think we talk to him first, and then we make the offer while we’re in Ridgemount over Christmas.”

“Right before their wedding?”

“I know. The timing ain’t great, but we’d better make the offer before he gets going too hard in another direction.”

Jaycee nodded. “You’re right. Boy, are they going to be surprised.”

Chapter 4

Eric & Dani

“They called from the bank about Attabury yesterday,” Danisha Richardson said as she slapped together a sandwich for her daughter and went to the pantry to get the juice. Morning in Raleigh, North Carolina had hit with an utter vengeance. Why mornings had to be so utterly impossible, Dani had no idea. “Looks like everything’s finally gone though. It’s ours.”

At the table her husband, Eric nodded over his orange juice. “About time.”

“Tell me about it. I can’t wait to call Mr. James so we can get going on it.” She added an apple and then thought better of the placement and rearranged all of it one item at a time. “The Christmas program thing is tonight. Six-thirty at the school.”

“Six-thirty?” Eric sighed and shook his head as he went back to his eggs, swiping across his NotePad that lay on the table even as he did so. “Why can’t they make those things at seven? And it would help if I wasn’t all the way out in Greensboro today.”

“Again?” Finishing the lunch, Dani rolled up the bag and hustled to the table where her daughter, Jaden was hunched over her cereal. One look at the twists, kinks and curls of her daughter’s natural hair, and Dani knew she should have taken the time to braid it the night before. Her mother would have a conniption tonight if it was anything less than Anglo-fied. Maybe the bow would be enough to tame it down a little though she wasn’t sure it would be. “Hurry up, Ja. The bus is going to be here any second.”

Without protest but dragging herself along, Jaden slipped from the table and wordlessly went to get her school things.

“I’ll be glad when it’s the 22nd,” Dani said, grabbing up the dishes and heading to the sink. “I talked to Mrs. McGuire down the street about watching Ja over the holidays. I don’t know what I’d do without her.”

“Um-hm.” His gaze narrowed at the screen.

“I’m just glad Christmas is on a Saturday this year.” At lightning speed, Dani put the dishes into the dishwasher and went over to retrieve Eric’s as well. “You done with this?”

“All except the coffee,” he said, still swiping.

“I talked to Mom yesterday for about five minutes.”

“Oh, yeah?”

The sigh hurt, but Dani was used to them by now. “They’re meeting with the lawyer on Tuesday to sort out the retirement money issues. They got the house on the market finally, not that she was overly thrilled about that, but what does she need with 4,000 square foot now that it’s just going to be her, you know?”

She shook her head as her hands flitted over the cabinets, wiping them down for the last time before she would see them again that evening. “I sure hope this part goes smoothly. I can’t take much more of them arguing all the time. Oh, and I talked to Mitchell the other day. Him and Kim are probably going to come down for a little of Christmas, but I figured, you know, with Mom boxing everything up, we probably should just have them all over here.”

“Whatever you think.”

“Of course, I don’t know how to do that exactly. I mean, I don’t think having Mom, Dad, and Celeste here all at the same time is a good idea. I can’t leave Mom out, but you know how she gets when Celeste is around.”

Movement at the window jerked her attention up. “Ja! The bus is here! Ja!” Waving to the bus driver for one more second, she tossed the rag into the sink to go find her daughter just as the child came out from the back, her backpack dragging along behind her. “There you are. The bus is here.”

Hurrying the two of them to the door, she grabbed her daughter’s coat and put it on her. “Now, you be good at school today, you hear me? Get your homework done because we have that program tonight.”

Jaden nodded.

“Okay. Off you go!” Dani turned her daughter and pushed her to the door as her mind kicked back into gear. “Oh! Your lunch!” She raced back into the kitchen, grabbed up the little sack, and ran back, following Jaden down the generous sidewalk to the edge of the cul de sac.

The child took the sack of lunch and head down, walked out to the bus. Dani waved again at the bus driver.

“Thank you!”

Opening, the bus door collected her daughter into its waiting jaws, closed, and let out a satisfied belch as it moved on. Dani afforded herself one more second to stand there as her hand went to the back of her neck, just below the tight bun, and rubbed. Her mind raced on ahead of her through the coming hours and over the to-do list filled with issues and problems. Another day in the dream she’s always thought she wanted to live, so why did it feel like such a nightmare?

The commute never got any better, and by the time he was headed in to Raleigh, Eric wondered if this was even worth it. His attention was split somewhere between the road and his phone. With nearly 12 years with SPE, the biggest civil engineering firm in the state, behind him, Eric had thought he would have moved up the food chain a little farther by now. Something more than a cubicle and being the one sent out to supervise the state jobs no one else wanted to deal with. Still, he knew he was lucky to have a job, owing mostly to the fact that he could straddle the line between infrastructure and construction. Construction design was his first love, but his background in infrastructure had certainly come in handy when the housing market crashed.

Glancing at the time on the phone, he calculated his day once more in his head. The meeting this morning to track the current phase and lay out the next of the Interstate bridge project, followed by the meeting in Greensboro with the firm that was actually doing the work. He would have to be out of Greensboro by four to have any prayer of making it back for Jaden’s concert-program thing. Four meant taking off early from the I-40 project, which meant questions he really didn’t want anyone to ask. It was always a fine-line between doing the job and not being there for his family. Still, he would rather push the company than Dani. She had enough trouble to navigate with her parents’ divorce and now the purchase of the vacation house out in Ridgemount.

As always, Eric couldn’t help but wonder how much either of them would even use the thing. If his schedule was crazy, hers was downright insane-asylum-producing. As the junior corporate attorney for Drake System, Inc., his wife represented the multi-billion dollar global resources company. She hobnobbed on a daily basis with some of the richest CEOs and CFOs in the country. Oil and gas, wind, solar—there wasn’t an energy source not represented somewhere in their portfolio. Her area of expertise, contract negotiation, put her on the frontlines of some of the biggest deals on the planet.

The traffic got thicker and thicker still on all sides of him until finally he put the phone down to concentrate on the final few turns. Downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. There was nothing like it in the whole world.

Problems and people. Dani’s days were a mix of the two such that from the time she hit the office just before eight until often well into the evening hours she barely had time to breathe much less think about anything other than work.

At noon, she texted Eric to make sure he remembered the concert. With him out in Greensboro working on the bridge reconstruction, Dani knew as well as anyone he might well forget. Text sent, she went back to the paperwork on the negotiations with the little city in Scotland. If the deal went through, Drake Systems would be stepping into the new world of solar paneled thoroughfares. Of course, if the research team’s calculations were correct, this new way of pulling solar power out of the sky could well be the wave of the future.

The future. Dani didn’t have the brain space to think farther than this contract. Christmas. The word went through her head like a shot, and she shook her head as it tipped to overload. Only little more than a week left. As it stood now, there would only be two presents under the tree. Distracted by the thought, she clicked over to run the search for the doll Jaden wanted. She hadn’t had five minutes to search for it since Ja had mentioned it two weeks before.

Clicking into the search engine, Dani punched in the name of what she thought it was and hit search. The four seconds it took to bring up the results list nearly yanked her attention away from the task. However, at the last second the doll came up, and with no more than a thought, Dani clicked the ‘One Click to Purchase’ button. Done. Thank goodness.

“Mrs. Richardson?” her secretary asked, beeping in on the phone from her desk.

Dani hit the button. “Yeah, Elise?”

“Your ten o’clock is here.”

She hit the button again. “Did we get the eighth floor conference room?”

“It’s waiting.”

“Thanks.” Leaving the paperwork for another time, Dani stood and straightened her gray business suit jacket and herself. Time to make the world go ‘round.

“The reroute has held up, so thankfully, we’re good on that count. It helps that we had two options to work with on that one,” Dan Rogers said, pointing at the maps spread out on the table as Eric nodded. “As of this morning we’ve completed the demo on the South Holden Bridge.”

“Recon will start Monday morning if all goes well with the removal over the weekend,” Paul White said from the other end of the table. “I don’t foresee any problems.”

“How are we looking weather-wise?” Eric asked.

“Good,” Carl Whatson said. “If it wasn’t for Christmas and New Years and then January, we could easily have this thing rockin’ and rollin’ by early February.”

“What’s the timeline on Project B?” Eric asked.

“Soon as A is complete, we’re ready to go on B,” Paul said. “Wish we could do them all at the same time. Sure would tidy things up around here.”

“You and me both,” Eric said. He looked at his watch. “Thank you, gentlemen. If there’s nothing else, I’ve got a construction meeting to get to.”

And just like that, the team for the Greensboro Bridge Reconstruction Project broke up. It was only eleven a.m. If Eric played his cards right, he could be in the audience before Dani even got there.

Headed to Greensboro. Dani read the text when she got back to her office, and she typed back simply. K.

With only one small breath, she got back to work, foregoing lunch so she had a prayer of leaving early.

“I know, Carly,” Dani said into the cell phone at five. She had meant to leave at four, but that hadn’t happened. Racing to her car, her gray heels clicking on the parking garage pavement, she fumbled with her briefcase to retrieve her keys from her handbag even as she talked to the babysitter who would now be tasked with getting Jaden ready. “I know. I’m really sorry, but I’ll be there. The dress is hanging in the closet. It’s the red one. Make sure she eats something first though. I don’t want her to get anything to get on that dress.”

At the car, she unlocked it and slid inside. How she did so many things at once, Dani hardly knew though she hardly noticed either. “Mac and cheese is fine if that’s what she wants. Yeah. I’ll be there as soon as I can. K. Bye.”

Flipping the phone to the passenger’s seat, she backed out and gunned it for the exit. Out into the traffic she went with a squeal of her tires, and only there, she had to wind down her panic. Five o’clock traffic. How would they ever make it to the school on time?

She yanked up the cell phone again and texted him. Where are you? Close to home?

The bleep of the text coming in raked across Eric’s already frazzled nerves. For as easy as the second meeting should have been, the drive out and back in had eaten up far too much time. He swiped the thing on and shook his head. Eyes on both the road and the phone, he texted back. I’ll make it to the school, but barely. Save me a seat!!!

A seat? This breath barely made it into her lungs. So much for him helping get Jaden ready. Dani shook her head hard and tossed the white-encased phone to the pile next to her. “Oh, Ja. I’m coming, baby. I promise. I’m coming.”

“Do I have to wear the bow?” Jaden asked as Dani slipped it over the out-of-control curls to hold them back. “It itches.”

“It doesn’t itch. It’s beautiful. Now I called Grandma on the way home. She’s coming tonight. You want to be pretty for Grandma, right?”

Putting her gaze down, Jaden nodded.

“Okay, then. Bow it is.” Shaking from the adrenaline, Dani went back to her room and reapplied her lipstick. No reason to look like a hobo. She straightened as she looked into the mirror. Tired was just going to have to wait. “Ja, honey. It’s time to go, or we’re going to be late!”

They made it to the school at 6:20. Okay, so Jaden was supposed to be there by 6:00, but who would even notice? It wasn’t like everyone else was in place either.

Dani found seats five rows from the front. She save a seat on each side of her and turned to watch the other families streaming in. The school district was the best in all of Raleigh. That’s why they had chosen it, so of course, the families now coming in looked picture perfect. It wasn’t lost on Dani just how perfect as her gaze snagged on the handbags the women carried. They were hardly knock-off quality.

No. They screamed of being bought in places like Paris and Milan and Monte Carlo.

Some day, Dani breathed to herself just as she caught sight of her mother. Trying to be nonchalant about it, she waved to get her mother’s attention. It didn’t work as well as she would have liked, so she waved again. If she didn’t get her mother’s gaze soon, she might have to resort to standing on the chair. Thankfully, her mother saw her and raised her chin slightly to indicate she no longer needed to call attention to herself, and with a smile down at the people seated behind her, Dani readjusted her suit jacket and resumed her seat.

As she waited for her mother’s arrival, she stole a glance at the screen of her cell phone. Nothing. Quickly she typed. It’s about to start. Where are you?

“Oh, there you are. This place is positively a madhouse.” Her mother swept in and sat in the seat next to her just as Dani managed to rescue her handbag from it. “Where is my darling granddaughter?”

“Second from the right, third row up, over on that side.” Dani finished the text, sent it, and put the phone away. If he was close, he probably wouldn’t text back anyway.

Her mother nodded. “And Eric?”

“He’s coming. I think traffic was crazy.”

“Well, at least he bothers to show up for his child.”

Dani exhaled. “Mom, do we have to do this here? Can’t we have one night without hearing how terrible Dad is?”

Shaking her head and folding her hands, her mother lifted her chin. “It’s not my fault he couldn’t make time for his family.”

This was truly going to be an exhausting evening, and Dani wasn’t at all sure inviting her mother had been the wisest move in the whole world. Although she understood, Dani knew as well as anyone that her mother could suck the life out of any event no matter how festive.

“What’d I miss?” Eric asked, sliding into the seat next to Dani, and she was sure he’d just saved her from saying something she really shouldn’t have.

“Nothing. I think the show’s just about to start.” Leaning over, Dani kissed him quickly. The last thing she needed was to hear her mother question the state of her marriage.

“Where is she?” Eric asked, scanning the tiny faces of the children.

“Second from the right…”

“Oh. I see her.” And he waved. Their little princess waved back, and as much as Dani hated to admit it, her mother was right. Eric was a good father. Much better than her own had ever been.

As the lights went down, she shook away from those depressing thoughts and clapped over them with others. Tonight was Jaden’s night to shine, and nothing was going to up-stage that.

“You did so good,” Dani said, hugging Jaden to her when they made it through the throng to collect her.

“You couldn’t even hear me.” Jaden’s little head hung low, the bow and hair about the only thing visible.

“Well, you certainly could have fooled me.” Eric sat on his heel and put his hand on her back. “I thought you were the only one we could hear. Sounded like the angels singing.”

The shy smile slipped onto Jaden’s face, and her gaze came up a fraction. “Did you really like it?”

“Like it?” he asked in horror that she could think any less. “I thought we were listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir you were so good.”

“Did you like it, Grandma?” Jaden asked, barely picking up her gaze.

“I did. I’m sure glad your mama told me to come see you.”

Dani tipped her head at her daughter who dutifully stepped over and put her arms around her grandmother.

“Thank you for coming,” she said softly.

Checking the night off as a success, Dani smiled. “Well, it’s about time for us to be getting on home. We’ve got another big day tomorrow.”

And with that, they headed out.

Back home, Jaden was in bed and asleep before either of her parents so much as changed out of their work clothes. In their own room, Dani set about taking off the day’s effects as the sound of the shower running poured through her. Hungry. She realized only then she was hungry. Pulling the soft white of her robe around her, she left the bedroom and tip-toed through the house bound for the kitchen. Cereal. Oatmeal. A Pop Tart and peanut butter.

She was so hungry, she would eat whatever she could find.

“Your mom seemed…” Eric came out, still drying off, but stopped when he realized he was talking to nobody. He looked first one way and then the other before arching his head to see if Dani was already in bed. “Dani?” Puzzled, he shook his head. “Where did she go?”

In the dark quiet of the kitchen, Dani wondered if the email had come in while she was at the concert. They didn’t need to be waiting on her if it had. Quietly as she spooned the peanut butter from the jar into her mouth, she opened the laptop on the table. It wouldn’t take long to just check.

Worried but trying not to be because he had learned this pattern, Eric slipped from the bedroom down the hall and then down the stairs. He saw the glow in the kitchen before he even got there, and he knew. With a shake of his head and a long sigh, he turned back for bed. If he interrupted her, that would only prolong her evening workload. Besides, if she wasn’t in bed, he could check his own phone feed before calling it a night. He needed to do that anyway.

And so, true to their routine, he checked in with work and was asleep long before she got to the other side of the bed. It wasn’t romantic or wonderful, but it was how life had become, and neither one of them had any real desire to change it.

Chapter 5

Luke & Sage

Patience was not among Sage Baker’s best attributes, but she had done her level best not to make the phone call that was burning holes in her willpower. Somehow she got herself to wait a full two hours after she finally managed to get the boys off to school, the girls fed, and Luke had gone out the door with one more long hug between them. Then came the interminable wait. The time difference was going to kill her. At eleven o’clock, she picked up the phone and dialed the number, tamping down the excitement that threatened to escape with each new idea that hopped into her mind. She had been up half the night before long after she should have been asleep thinking about everything. They couldn’t afford a lot of frills, but she was determined it would look like they had.

“This is Jaycee. What’s up?”

“Hey, little sis. So you are still on the planet? You didn’t call me.”

“Yes. I’m still here.” But the happiness came through the words with no filter. “We’re back in California for a couple days, trying to sort everything out before we head out there this weekend.”

“Oh. So, you’re coming in on…?”

“Friday. Late afternoon I think. I can check if you need me to.”

“No, no, that’s okay. That’s not why I’m calling anyway.”

“Oh?” Jaycee asked. “What’s up?”

“Well,” Sage hedged, wondering how much she should ask of her sister, after all she was still in honeymoon-mode herself, “I got to talking to Rachel the other day, and they haven’t done like anything on the wedding at all. They’ve been so busy working and trying to get that house ready for his family to stay in when they come.”

“But the wedding’s in less than two weeks.”

“That’s what I said. So I’ve been talking to Luke, and we want to help them out a little.”

Jaycee went quiet for a full three seconds. “And by help them out, you mean…”

“Throw them a wedding! Eep!”

Her sister laughed at Sage’s theatrics. She never had been good at keeping her excitement under wraps.

“And just how are we going to accomplish that?” Jaycee asked, and Sage knew by the tone in her voice that her sister was already spinning her own ideas on the subject.

“Well, I know that Caleb asked Derek to stand up for them, so I figured, it wouldn’t be that far out of the question for Derek to get the tux thing taken care of. They can get them over the holidays when y’all get here.”

“And decorations?”

“I have some of the white from yours left over and some navy too, and there’s Christmas stuff everywhere right now. I’m sure Jane has some extras we could use at the church if we needed it—bows and stuff like that. I could do finger food and punch for the reception. It’s not like we’re trying to feed a hundred people or anything. Fifty tops.”

“Does she have her dress?”

That jerked Sage’s heart up and held it. “That’s where it gets a little tricky.”

“Tricky? Either she has a dress or she doesn’t.”

“Well, she told me she was thinking about wearing that cute little flowery thing she has but…”

“For her wedding?”

“That’s what I said, although I tried to be a little nicer about it than that,” Sage said with a giggle. “But I got to thinking about it last night. I know Mom still has my homecoming dress out there at the farm.”

“She has all of our dresses.”

“Right. Mine was that creamy-white one with the big Cinderella skirt…”

“I remember it.” Jaycee’s voice spiraled down into thought.

“I’m thinking I could go get it, see if I needed to add anything to it to make it more wedding-y. It really was a pretty dress.”

“And what are you going to do, wave a magic wand to get her into the thing?”

Sage scoffed. “Now you sound like Luke.” She shook her head as the idea dragged up her enthusiasm. “No. I was thinking we could give it to her for Christmas at the party on Monday.”

“What if she gets something before that?”

“Well, first of all, I really don’t think she’s going to, and second, if she does, Livvie can always wear it to her prom or her wedding.”

“Livvie?” Jaycee asked in shock as Sage’s daughter was barely five.

“We’ll call that Plan B.”

Chapter 6

Eric & Dani

“Mom called today,” Eric said as day wound into night on the 22nd of December. To say he was exhausted would have been putting it mildly. “She decided to go to Yvonne’s for Christmas. I think Xander and Cale are going there too.”

Dani exhaled as she swiped off her make-up. “It’s too bad we’re having my family. We could’ve just pulled up stakes and joined yours this year.”

Laughing, he slipped down the feed on his phone. “I thought they stressed you out. All the kids and everything. Not to mention we’d have had to book the rooms six months ago to get anything decent.”

“Yeah, well, they’re better than all the drama. I talked to Dad today. He said he thinks him and Celeste will at least make an appearance though they’ll probably not come for the meal.” Slowly she put everything back in its spot and stood, her flowing blue satin gown skimming her not-quite-as-trim-as-it-used-to-be body. She ran her hand down over herself once as she gazed in the mirror. Thirty years old. How did the time go that fast?

She should start going to the gym after all she was still paying the monthly dues from last year. There just never seemed to be enough time.

“Your mom’s still coming though, right?” Eric asked.

“And Kim and Mitchell, I think. I need to call him tomorrow and make sure before we buy all of this food.” Turning off the vanity light, she came over to the bed and flipped the covers back. “I guess I’ll go try to get that done tomorrow after work. Mrs. McGuire’s going to watch Ja tomorrow, so I can just tell her I’ll be a little late picking her up.” She slid her gaze over to him. Him. Eric Michael Richardson. The guy who had stolen her heart twelve years before and never bothered to give it back.

She half-smiled at the thought even as the trek their lives had taken since then twined around her. He was a good man. Solid. Secure. And he loved them, both of them. She knew that to the depths of her being. Still, it was sad to see how the spark between them was only a dying ember of what it had once been. Time. Jobs. Family. Drama. Jaden. They had all conspired to snuff out the spark just a little more and a little more until there wasn’t much of one left.

But Dani couldn’t be unhappy her life. Not when she saw the rampant betrayals going on around her. Even her own father. That still twisted in her gut in ways she couldn’t quite put into words. However, though bedtime was often a mixed bag of times for them, they were both here every night, and she hoped that would always be the case.

“Good night,” she said, letting her gaze trail over him as latent love washed through her.

He hardly glanced over. “Night.”

A second and she ducked and rolled over. So she had traded smoldering romance for safety and security. She was thirty years old. It was time to get used to the fact that reality would never be what her fantasies of it had always whispered it should be. And with that, she let her mind spin through the coming day and the weekend after that. So much to do. So little time.

Behind her, Eric clicked off the light, plunging the room and the world into darkness save for the streetlights beyond the ample window. “Night.”

“Night,” she whispered, feeling him settle into his own world behind her. With a determined sigh, she closed her eyes. Be happy, Dani. It could be so much worse.

The next morning, Dani was up before the sun. She had to run Jaden to Mrs. McGuire’s by seven so she had any hope of making the meeting with the rights team at eight. “Ja, baby! Come on! Mommy’s going to be late!”

At the table Eric sipped his coffee and swiped over his NotePad, presumably checking through his own day’s craziness.

“I was thinking about it,” she said, gathering her things at the edge of the island. “If you’re going to be back before six or seven, you could get Ja from Mrs. McGuire’s.”

“Oh. Not sure about that. I’ve got to go over to Greensboro later. We’re scoping out the third phase today.”

Overwhelm slithered over Dani. “Today?”

“It’s gotta be done, babe. You want to eat next year, don’t you?”

She didn’t bother to respond with more than a shake of her head. Nothing to be done about it now. “Ja! Baby! Come on! It’s time to go!”

Coming from the hallway, Jaden verily dragged her feet. “I don’t feel good.”

“Oh, you’ve got to be…” Dani went over and felt the child’s forehead. “You’re hot.” She thought through her options. “Okay. Let’s give you some medicine right quick. That should make you feel better.”

She flew over to the cabinet and retrieved the medicine. “If things run too late for me, I may have to call Carly,” she said, dosing and giving the medicine with little thought to any of it. “I’ve got to get those groceries tonight. Tomorrow’s already Christmas Eve.”

Eric nodded. “K.”

With a sigh, she grabbed up her stuff and Jaden’s hand. “Okay. We’re outta here.” Racing over, she gave him half-a-kiss. “Have a good day!”

“You too. Bye, baby.”

“Bye, Daddy.”

The day never so much as found a lower gear. Dani called her brother at three to verify that he and his wife, Kim, would in fact be coming. They talked a bit about her parents, but not for long as Scotland called, and she had to go. In fact, she never really thought about home much again until she was headed out of work at six to go to the grocery store.

The place was an absolute madhouse. She knew she should have done this before now. Throwing things into the cart as she sped down the aisle, she calculated her estimated time of arrival back home. It wasn’t looking good. No. As she got to the frozen dinner rolls, she finally had to admit she was not going to be to Mrs. McGuire’s by seven.

Are you on your way home? Can you get Ja, or do I need to call Carly?

She pushed the cart a little farther and decided to grab a frozen pizza for the night. It wasn’t great, but they had to eat. Her phone beeped, and she grabbed it up.

Just leaving GB. Long day. Tell you about when I get there. Probably need to call Carly.

This sight actually hurt. Recalculating her time, she decided to instead call Mrs. McGuire. Maybe she could watch Jaden for just a few more minutes. “Hi, Mrs. McGuire, this is Dani. Hi. Yes. I’m just calling to say I’m going to be a little late to get Jaden. I was wondering if that’s going to be a problem. Oh, you can?” Relief. “That’s wonderful. I should be there by 7:15, 7:20 at the latest. Okay. Thanks so much. Okay. Bye.”

Quickly she finished up the shopping, and as she stood in the checkout line, her mind started skipping through her life and all she hadn’t gotten done. The house. Attabury. She hadn’t called Mr. James. She really needed to see if he had made a decision on remodeling it for them yet. With a shake of her head and knowing life wasn’t going to give her the chance if she didn’t seize this one, she placed the call.

Chapter 7

Caleb & Rachel

Pebble Beach. It was the color they had chosen for the main walls in the house. Beige with just a hint of mauve, it was neutral enough to encompass a wide range of tastes for buyers while being just a hint on the daring side.

Painting had never been one of Caleb’s strong suits. In fact, he was always plenty glad to leave the premises when the painters showed up. But this one he couldn’t farm out to anyone else, so after working on Clyde Hodges’ roof all day, he was elbow deep in Pebble Beach when his cell phone rang.

“You need me to get that?’ Rachel called from the bathroom where she was refinishing the sink cabinetry. Distressed white. That’s what they had decided in there. Yes, it would take a little more than simply stripping and staining, but Rachel was sure it would be worth it when they got the surround on the tub-shower retiled early next week.

“Nah. I got it.” Leaving the long roller on the edge of the pan, Caleb ran for the phone on the kitchen cabinet, thrilled that there was at least one working room after all this time. “Hello?”

“Oh, Mr. James? This is Danisha Richardson. I hope this isn’t a bad time.”

He wiped his forehead before glancing at his watch. “No, Mrs. Richardson, not bad at all.”

“Good. I’m just calling to touch base with you on the remodel. We got the loan and title and everything through last week, but I hadn’t had a chance to get in touch with you to see if you’re still interested in doing the work on it.”

Caleb nodded even though he had to admit the job scared him witless. “Well, we’ve talked about it some, but things have been kind of crazy around here. I don’t know if I mentioned it, but I’m getting married next weekend.”

“Oh, goodness! No. I think I missed that. Well, congratulations on the wedding.” Ms. Richardson paused as if unsure of where to go from there.

“Can you tell me a little about your timeline on the project?” Caleb asked, knowing he probably should let it go but wanting to see if he could make it work.

“Well, it’s just for a vacation home,” she said tentatively, “so it’s not like we’re moving there or anything.”

Thinking that through, Caleb narrowed his gaze at the information. “It’s going to be quite a project. I know we’re going to have to get an actual architect and probably an engineer involved. There’s too much structural to go in and start ripping stuff out.”

“I understand. I understand. I’ll tell you what, you said you’re getting married, what? Next week?”

Across the room, Rachel came in with a worried look, and Caleb tried to carry on the conversation and let her know everything was fine. “Yes, New Year’s Eve.”

“Okay. And then you’ll be gone, what a week? Two?”

He choked back the laugh. “Only a couple days. We’ll probably be back by that following Thursday or Friday at the very latest.”

“I’ll tell you what, you have my number, if I don’t hear from you by say the tenth or so of January, I’ll give you another call.”

“All right. That will at least give me a little time here. If you want, I can see about contacting some local architects about the project, and we’ll see what we can do.”

“Fantastic, Mr. James. I’m looking forward to working with you.”

“Same here, Ms. Richardson.”

“Enjoy your wedding. I’ll get back to you on the tenth.”

“Sounds good. Oh, and Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas to you too.”

And Caleb ended the call. He put the phone down and let out a long sigh. “That was…”

“Mrs. P’s granddaughter.”

“Right.”

“And she still wants to do the house?” Rachel filled tentatively in as she took a drink of water and surveyed him.

“Sounds like it. They’ve got the thing bought, the title transferred and everything. Looks like it’s a go.” However, he never really moved, and after a second, Rachel crossed the kitchen to stand toe-to-toe with him.

After a minute, she lowered her gaze when his didn’t come up. “Talk to me. What’re you thinking?”

Without really moving it, Caleb shook his head. “It’s a huge job. I mean, crazy big. There’s engineering stuff and probably architectural stuff. I mean you saw it, we’re going to have to practically gut the thing and start completely over.” He leaned on the wall, head down, his gaze never came up. “Not to even mention all the yard work. All those trees. They’re all going to have to come out. I don’t have a clue how to even give her a bid on the thing. I mean it could easily cost 200K, and I’m not sure even that will get it done.”

“Can Derek help you? With the bidding I mean? Could he come and look it over with you, help you with the estimate?”

Caleb’s gaze came up to hers then, vulnerable and overwhelmed. “I’d hate to ask him to do that. Bids on stuff like this can be really tricky because you never know what you’re going to find when you start busting down walls.”

Worried for him, Rachel never took her gaze away. “So what you’re saying is, we’re not sure it’s smart. It’s a big job. You need help, but you don’t want to ask for it.” She exhaled. “Well, then, about the only thing I know to do is pray about it. Maybe God’s got an answer we’re not seeing.”

For a split second, he looked like he wanted to argue. “That’s just it, I don’t even know what to pray for.”

“Well, neither did I when you went to California. I tried to pray for you to get the job, but my heart wasn’t even really in it.” Coming closer, she put her arms up over his shoulders. “So maybe we just pray that whatever God wants will happen.” Gently she laid her head on his chest, loving the soft rhythm of his heartbeat.

His hands came around her, sliding up and down her back. “Okay, God, I’m in. We’re in. Whatever You want, show us.”

Chapter 8

Derek & Jaycee

“Brent called today,” Derek said as he sat at the tiny round table in his California apartment going over the plans for the new season. Three days of meetings hadn’t settled anything in him. If anything, he was tilting on overwhelm in a bad way.

“Oh, yeah?” Jaycee sat at the peninsula, her own work spread out as she clicked through their options for the upcoming houses. She wrote down one of them and continued clicking. “Have they made a decision on Caleb yet?”

“Well, Brent said he hoped I have better luck than they did offering him the gig.”

Jaycee spun around. “No way. Seriously? They’re going to go for it?”

Derek’s gaze came up to her, sitting there with her hair still up from the day, her tailored suit looking like she’d just put the thing on. How she did that, he would never know. “If Caleb is game, the show’s his.”

Thinking through that, Jaycee’s eyes sparkled to life as she leaned down, her elbows on her knees. “And what do you think? You think he’ll take it?”

The sigh slipped through him as he turned the pencil in his fingers over and over again. Sitting back, he stared at it. “I honestly don’t know. I’m still a little in shock that he turned them down the first time.”

“But this is different. Right? This is you, and he can stay there, and Rachel could help.”

“I don’t know.” Derek’s gaze came over to hers and held. “A lot of things have to work out just right for this to happen. I’m not even sure what places there would be there to work on out there. And Brent’s not going to go the show-funding route like he did with mine. I mean, this is going to mean getting the homeowners on board with the cash, or helping them buy places or something. Not to even mention that he’s not even got a crew or much of anything out there. He doesn’t have tools. He doesn’t have contacts. We’d have to put together a new camera crew, and line up projects.”

Jaycee tipped her head in gathering concern not for the project but for him. “Are you worried about taking all of this on?”

He sighed, coming forward to put his forearms on the table before running his hand up and down his face. “I’d be lying if I said no.”

Half a nod, and she stood, came over two steps and slipped onto his lap where she laid her arms around his neck and hugged him to her. A second and his hand splayed across her back. Closing his eyes, Derek let her softness mesh into his overwhelmed soul. It felt better than he had ever thought it would. So simple. So profound. Not being in this thing alone.

Another second and she backed up and leveled her soft almond eyes at him. “Now you listen to me. You are amazing.” Her eyes held his gently. “With or without the show. With or without the producing thing. Okay? You only do this if it makes sense for you. If it doesn’t make sense, if it’s going to be too much, you can tell them no too.”

How did she know? A soft laugh and Derek smiled, feeling the answer land like a feather on the sand inside him. “No. I want to do it. I’m just not sure…”

Gazing at him, she waited until the words slipped into oblivion between them and faded completely. “Finish that. You’re not sure…?”

“I just don’t want to let anybody down. Not Brent. Not Caleb.” His gaze fell to the table for a second before he dragged it back up to hers. “Not you.”

Instead of whatever he had expected, she smiled. Her gaze went up to his hair, and she ran her hand over it. One moment and her eyes came back to his. “Let’s get one thing straight here right now. I did not marry you to tie you down, to make you feel like you couldn’t be the great Derek West. Okay? I want you to chase your dreams, and I want to share in those dreams, and for them to be our dreams. I know this thing is scary big. And believe me, if I didn’t believe in you so much, I would probably be freaking out. But I’ve seen you in action. I know what you’re capable of. I know your heart, and you are not going to do anything to let anyone down.

“That doesn’t mean we’re not going to have issues. That means when they come up, we’ll handle them together.” Her gaze burrowed into his. “Got it? We’re a team now, and I want that to mean something to you. I know it does to me.” Reaching down she took hold of one of his hands and pulled it up to her lips. “We’re headed out there tomorrow. You sleep on it tonight, pray about it. I think God’s got the right answer. Maybe we’re just not listening for it.”

His soft grin danced through him. “What would I do without you?”

She smiled and ducked. “Let’s not find out, okay?”

“Deal.” And he pulled her lips down to his.

Later as Jaycee sat at the little make-shift vanity in the bedroom, taking off her make-up and fighting to pray about his concerns, she remembered her conversation with Sage. Behind her, Derek was in the process of getting ready for bed, and she knew they needed to talk about this as much as all the rest of it. “Sage called today.”

“Oh, yeah? Is Luke cooking the turkey already?”

“I don’t think so. They’ve been trying to get Mrs. Murphy’s place ready for Caleb’s family next week. I think they’ve been over there like every night for a week.”

“Those two.”

“Tell me about it.” She put down her sponge. “In fact, Sage was telling me that Rachel is so busy with the house and Christmas, she doesn’t have any time to even plan the wedding. They’re ripping carpet out and painting and trying to get the lighting fixed and the bathroom redone.”

“And I’m sure Caleb has everything down to the centerpieces ready for New Year’s,” Derek said, clearly picking up on the rest of the story.

“I think he’s worse than Rachel.”

“I can imagine. So, what, are we all just going to show up at the church and hope they don’t forget?”

“Well, I think Sage is a little worried about something like that happening, and you know Sage. There is nothing she likes more than throwing a good party.” Taking the pin out of her hair that was wound up from the ponytail on her head, she let the ponytail sway down her back once again. “So she’s thinking about letting Rachel borrow the dress she wore in high school.”

“High school?”

“It really is an amazing dress. Perfect really. Sage was gorgeous in it.” With a shrug Jaycee put her gaze down onto the vanity rather than trying to hold her own gaze in the mirror. “Not that she’s ever anything other than gorgeous, but that night…” A second and she dragged in a ragged, ratty breath. “I always knew when I saw them that night that they were going to get married—Luke and Sage. She just…”

Without realizing he had moved, Jaycee glanced into the mirror and was surprised to see Derek standing right there behind her. “It must run in the family.”

Ducking again, she shook her head. “I wish.”

“You wish… what?” A second and his fingers twined up and through the ponytail at her neck, and he gently lifted it as he bent down to her.

“Der…” However, her protest got lost in the feel of his lips when they touched her just behind the ear, sending shivers the length of her. “What…” But that breath snagged in her lungs and then evaporated completely as his lips caressed their way across the back of her shoulder. Without warning, she was swept up by his hand now holding her other shoulder, pressing her back into his lips so she couldn’t have escaped if she had wanted to. Which she didn’t. At all. And with that, she forgot about the rest of the world and all its problems. They were just going to have to take care of themselves.

It was the next afternoon when they were on the plane to Denver before Jaycee brought up the wedding again. She hadn’t forgotten her last attempt. In fact, if she wasn’t real careful, her mind had a way of drifting off into replaying highlights from the night before. It was easier than not. Being with him had a way of overtaking every sane part of her so that hanging on to reality took real effort.

Thankfully, this wasn’t a working trip, so they had left almost all work-related things either at home or stored in their luggage. Thus, on this flight Jaycee was content to simply wrap her arm through his and put her head on his shoulder. Enjoying life. It was an amazing concept.

“So, back to the wedding thing,” she said softly. “Sage needs us, or more specifically you, to somehow get Caleb into a tux for the wedding.”

Sliding backward six inches, Derek looked down at her. “And how do you propose I do that?”

Jaycee shrugged. “Well, you said he asked you to be the best man, so be the best man. Ask him about it, encourage him, tell him y’all need to get it done, whatever.”

“He doesn’t know about Rachel’s dress?”

“Not until Monday, I think. That’s what Sage said anyway.”

He shook his head. “And I thought building houses was stressful.”

Chapter 9

Caleb & Rachel

With school out, Rachel went into full Christmas-preparation mode on Friday. She only had two days to get her house ready for a kid-friendly day of fun and laughter. Since it would also be Caleb’s first Christmas with them, she wanted it to be as special as possible.

She was five batches deep with Christmas cookies all over her counters when her cell phone rang. “Hello.”

“Rachel?”

“This is Rachel.” Turning the thing, she propped it between her shoulder and her ear as she went to work moving the cookies to the cooling racks.

“Oh, good. Hey, Rach. This is Jaycee.”

“Oh, hey, Jayc. Are y’all here already?”

“No. Not yet. We’re in Denver. Layover. Listen, we were wondering what you and Caleb are doing tonight.”

“Tonight? Uh.” The cookie stuck and nearly sent the pan clattering off the edge of the island. “Probably either getting ready for Christmas or painting. We’ve still got the two bedrooms and the bathroom to finish.”

“Yeah, we heard about that.” Jaycee paused a second and spoke off the phone before coming back. “Listen, I know Sage and Luke are getting ready for the weekend, and Derek really wants to come see the work y’all have done on the house. We were wondering if maybe we could come out and help for a while. That way we’re out of Sage’s hair. We could stop on the way in and pick something up for supper and meet y’all out there around seven or so?”

Rachel was transferring cookies and fighting like mad to figure out how to talk Jaycee out of this idea. She hated being such a burden on everyone. “Oh, Jayc, I don’t know. Y’all will be on vacation. Do you really want to…?”

“We’ve been on vacation forever. I’m afraid Derek’s going to get out of practice if he doesn’t pick up a tool again soon even if it is a paintbrush.” She giggled as Derek said something in the background. “Stop that.”

Rachel almost asked what, and then she realized who Jaycee was talking to. Finally, she sighed. “Caleb should be here for lunch in just a little bit. Let me talk to him, and I’ll let you know.”

“Okay. We’ll be in the air in an hour, so don’t wait too long.”

“I’ll try not to.”

Life was bearing down hard on Caleb by the time he pulled up to her house just after noon. He was glad she was out of school, so they could spend a little time together. Her mom’s house was coming along nicely, but it was taking all their free time and then some. The Hodges’ roof would get done by tonight if it killed him, and at this point, it just might. Working on roofs in December should be outlawed. Still it was work, and Caleb wasn’t going to turn down the pay.

“Wow. It smells amazing in here,” he said reflexively the second he made it through the front door. He came all the way through the living room where the kids were playing and to the kitchen where he found a mountain of cookies, and her smack-dab in the middle of them. “What’s all of this?”

“Christmas cookies,” she said as if that should be obvious.

“I know. For who? The whole county?”

“Well, we’re going to Mom’s tomorrow night.”

Caleb ratcheted up his eyebrows. “I thought that was just us.”

“It is.” She finished transferring two more and then put that sheet in the sink. “I thought I’d give some to Pastor Steve and Jane. And then of course Luke and Sage and Derek and Jaycee. I mean, what else are we going to give them, you know?”

Sitting down at the island, he perused the stack and took a star-shaped sugar cookie and bit into it just as she turned. “Mmm.”

“Hey!” Her face fell in horror. “Those aren’t even decorated yet!”

“They’re delicious. What is this, some secret family recipe or something?” He took another bite.

When she saw that it was pointless to talk him out of eating the thing since he already had, she swiveled her elbows onto the island and leaned down to him. “Secret ingredient. They’re made with love.”

“Mmm.” He finished that cookie and leaned over to kiss her. “My favorite ingredient.”

She returned the kiss and then stood, knowing both he and the children were hungry. With a spin, she took a good look at her kitchen and laughed. “Wow. I hope you want cookies for lunch. I’m not sure there’s room to make anything else.”

He grabbed a candy-cane shaped one and bit into it. “Fine by me.”

A hard shake of her head and a grin at him, and Rachel moved just enough things so she could set to work making sandwiches on the island. “Oh, Jaycee just called.”

“Let me guess. She said they’re not coming, and I can have all of their cookies.” For good measure, he grabbed a cookie with green and red M&M’s on it.

“Would you stop that? There aren’t going to be any left.”

He laughed at her. “I really don’t think we’re in danger there.” Coming around the island behind her as she made the sandwiches, he wrapped his arms through hers and hugged her to him. “So are they headed back?”

“Yeah. They’re in Denver. They should be here tonight around seven.”

Nodding he said nothing as his embrace pressed her to him. A second he managed to take another bite of the cookie.

“She said they want to come out and help tonight. With the house.” Slapping turkey on the bread, she folded it altogether and reached for more.

“They want to come help with the house?” he asked incredulously. “Why?”

“I think she’s been talking to Sage, and they’re tapped out on helping.”

That concerned Caleb, and he backed up and leaned on the sink as he exhaled. Reaching up, he scratched the back of his neck. “Man, I really wish we had about two more weeks in here.”

“Yeah, well...” She turned and handed him the plate. “You want water?”

Another sigh and he nodded. It didn’t matter. She was already getting it for him. Ten seconds and she was making lunch for the kids.

“We’ve got to get it done,” she said, her entire attention honed in on fixing the meal. “Tomorrow’s Christmas Eve and then we’ve got Mom’s and then Sage’s. That only leaves two days before your parents arrive. We’ve got to at least get that bathroom and two of the bedrooms done before then.”

As he stood there, Caleb saw what all of this was doing to her, not to mention to his friends. “Maybe we should push the wedding back a little. Give ourselves a little more time.”

But she shook her head. “We can’t do that. Your family’s already coming, and Jaycee and Derek. Besides, it’s not like we have to do anything major for it. It’s like you said, all we really need is you, me and the pastor.”

However, that didn’t help Caleb at all. He had wanted to give her the most special day ever, and now they were going to get a thrown-together few minutes just to make it official.

“Oh, by the way,” Rachel said as she headed to the other room to bring the kids to the table before dishing out their food. Caleb came into the dining area as well and sat down though it was hardly with formal flare. “I’ve been thinking about it. You asked Derek to stand up for you, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, I want to ask Sage, but then that leaves out Jaycee and Luke, and I don’t want to do that. So what if we ask all four of them?” With everyone else taken care of, she sat down to her own sandwich and practically inhaled the thing. “We don’t have to do all matchy-matchy dresses or anything. But I’d really like to have them all standing with us. What do you think?”

He wondered if she really wanted to know what he thought. Thankfully they were thinking the same thing. “Luke has done so much helping on the house, and Jaycee’s practically like a sister to me after working with her so long,” he said. “I totally agree about Sage, and I already asked Derek.”

“So, does that mean yes?”

He nodded though he wasn’t overly thrilled with how disheveled it all looked in his mind. “Yeah.”

“Great.” Two more bites, and she dusted off her hands. “Then we can ask Jayc and Derek tonight and Sage and Luke on Monday.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

The kids were back at Jane’s for the evening, and Rachel was thankful for that. They loved it there. The Mitchell’s boys were great with them, and Jane loved having them. The fact that she was leaning on everyone else to get this done was not lost on Rachel, but she saw no other option, so she tried not to think about it too much.

Caleb was hauling in the flooring when the sound of a vehicle on the gravel outside growled through the stillness beyond. “I bet that’s them,” he said as Rachel finished painting the trim around the door frame, the door sitting in the hallway. “You about done?”

“Just finished. You?”

“Give me ten more seconds.”

The back door opened and closed, and footfalls came into the kitchen.

“Hey!” Derek called. “Somebody here order a pizza?”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Caleb put down the box, meeting her in the hallway and walking with her into the kitchen, hand-in-hand. “Hey! ‘Bout time you guys show up!”

“Wow. Look at this place,” Jaycee said, admiring. “You guys have been busy.”

“Day and night. Day and night.” Caleb steered over to them, and hugs went all around even as Derek put the pizza box on the cabinet.

“It’s so great to see you,” Rachel said to Jaycee. “And look at your tan. Okay, now I’m jealous.” And they all laughed. “So, how was Hawaii? Did you get to sightsee or anything?”

“It was amazing. We even got to take a helicopter ride,” Jaycee said, the excitement streaming through the statement.

“Uh, can we pause the travel guide?” Derek asked. “I haven’t eaten since Denver, and I’m starving.”

“The more things change,” Rachel said.

“The more they stay the same,” Jaycee finished.

Chattering away, they got out the paper plates and mis-matched glasses that were left from the move.

“I’m sorry,” Rachel said. “We don’t have a table yet.”

“That’s okay.” Derek took his pizza and sat by one wall, and Jaycee followed him down. “We’re not picky.”

Caleb and Rachel sat against the wall perpendicular to them, and Caleb said grace before everyone dug in.

“Looks like you’ve made a lot of progress,” Derek said, his gaze sliding around the room beyond.

“Some,” Caleb said with a shake of his head. “It would sure be nice to have a couple more weeks here.”

Derek nodded. “Isn’t that always the way it goes?”

“So what are you going to do for furniture?” Jaycee asked.

“Well, I talked to the pastor,” Caleb said. “He’s got some pieces in that back room thing. He said whatever we want is ours.”

“There’s still a few things from my old place out in the shop,” Rachel said. “It’s not great, but it’s something. When they get here, the kids can sleep on the floor in the third bedroom. Sara says they’ll be fine, but we really need a couple of beds for the other two bedrooms.”

“And a miracle,” Caleb said, leaning over to her.

“Yeah, that too.” She let out a sigh and shrugged.

“So what else you got going?” Derek asked. “You got any projects on the go?”

“I just finished up a roof earlier tonight. I figured I’d take next week pretty much off from doing other stuff so I can get this one hopefully done and with the wedding and all.”

Derek nodded. “And after that?”

This exhale was long and hard. “Well, Ms. P’s granddaughter’s been calling about that one she bought. The Attabury house.”

“So she bought it then?” Derek asked as if keenly interested.

Caleb twisted his head. “She did. I’d have run away screaming from the thing, but she called the other night, and it sounds like the deal went through on it.”

“And you’re thinking about it?” Derek asked. “About doing it?”

“Thinking about it, but it’s going to need so much. I’m going to have to get an architect and probably an engineer so the thing doesn’t fall down around us. The landscaping alone is insane. You would not believe those trees.”

“I’d love to go out see it,” Derek said.

That yanked Caleb’s gaze up and Rachel’s heart with it. “You would? Seriously?”

Derek laughed. “You sound surprised.”

“Relieved would be more like it,” Caleb said with no small amount of overwhelm edging the words. “It would be great if you could even tell me if it’s worth thinking about.”

“I bet I can handle that.”

For a moment the conversation fell into silence, and Rachel knew that she needed to let her friends in on their revised wedding news. “So,” she said, jumping into the lull, “we’ve been talking, and we have… well, we have a favor to ask.”

“I’m not hanging nor taking down wallpaper,” Derek said with a dire edge to the words. “Anything else, the answer is yes.”

Rachel laughed, loving how he could make everything easier. Finishing with her plate, she set it to the side and ran her hand down Caleb’s leg. “Well, we’ve been talking, and I know Caleb already asked you to be the best man for the wedding.” She glanced at Caleb who smiled at her before her gaze went back over to Jaycee. “We’d really like it if both of you stood up with us.”

At that Jaycee’s gaze widened and she looked at Derek. “Me? Really? Well, I’d… I’d be honored.”

Peace brushed over Rachel. “Great. Then it’s settled.”

The next afternoon Caleb picked Derek up at Luke’s, and they headed out to Attabury. “I called Danisha earlier,” Caleb said. “I’d hate to get shot for trespassing.”

“Shot?” Derek asked with some concern.

“Wait ‘til you see it. You’ll understand.”

Chapter 10

Derek & Jaycee

“But you didn’t ask him yet?” Jaycee asked Derek when they were in the guest room at Sage’s getting ready for the Lawrences’ party on Saturday night.

“No. Not yet, but I’m telling you, that place could be the perfect one to start the show with. It is crazy bad, but if they could restore it, he’ll have every homeowner from here to Virginia beating down his door.”

“And he thinks he can do it?” Jaycee put on the necklace as her mind raced round and around through all the thoughts.

Derek laughed. “Only a crazy person would think they could do that one.”

“So he doesn’t think he can do it?”

A breath and Derek stepped up and put his arms around her. “Not yet.”

“Sage said you went out to Attabury with Caleb today,” Luke said when the Christmas feast had begun around the Lawrences’ table. “What’s that like?”

“One part bad. Nine parts horrible,” Derek said, taking a bite of the turkey. “Wow. This turkey is incredible.”

“Why thank you, Derek,” Jaycee’s mom said with a bat of her eyelashes. “You’re always so kind.”

“I’m surprised that place would even be salvageable,” her father said. “It was old when I was a kid.”

“That it is,” Derek said. “Caleb thinks it was built in the mid-to-late 1800’s. It’s been through a few renovations, if you call them that. At some point, someone put indoor plumbing in although it’s seen better days, and honestly, I’m surprised whoever took a bath in that thing upstairs didn’t find themselves on a short trip through the floor and in the living room.”

“Sounds like just getting the structural stuff taken care of is going to be quite a challenge,” Luke said, and he grinned. “You should tell Caleb I know a bang-up architect if he needs one.” Barely moving he elbowed his father-in-law.

However, instead of laughing, Derek straightened. “You know what, that is not a half-bad idea. He’s going to need somebody, and a local somebody would be a whole lot better than trying to get someone out of Raleigh.” He nodded once as he ate a piece of sweet potato. “Would you consider taking a look at it?”

Gregory, Jaycee and Sage’s dad, shrugged. “It wouldn’t hurt to take a look.”

“Even I have to say, that was pretty slick in there,” Jaycee said later when they were getting ready for bed at her sister’s.

“Oh, yeah? What’s that?”

“Talking my dad into helping with Attabury.”

“What?” Derek came over and slid into the other side of the bed. “It’s not my fault God’s got a good thing going here.”

“God, huh?” She got in on her side and clicked off the light as he slid over next to her.

“Well, somebody’s got a good thing going here, don’t you agree, Mrs. West?” And he turned her so her gaze came up to his. “Man, how do you do that?”

“Do what?” she asked, her eyes melting into his.

“Make me fall in love with you more every time I see you.”

Gently he laid his lips on hers, and Jaycee didn’t even argue.

The sun was already shining when Jaycee reached up out of dreaming and opened her eyes the next morning. Peace and happiness wrapped around her as her brain began recounting life as it was now hers to live. A blink and another, and the smile came to her without effort when she found him lying there, wrapped around his pillow, just looking at her.

“Good morning, love of my life,” Derek said softly so as not to jolt her into reality too quickly. He slid his hand over and slid his finger across her temple to brush away the hair there. “How’d you sleep?”

“Mmm.” Closing her eyes, Jaycee relished the feeling of being here with him. There were no other wishes on her list this Christmas morning.

Smiling even more as he watched her, he slipped his finger down the side of her face, brushing at the strands of hair, watching it as it did so. “Merry Christmas.”

“Hmm. Merry Christmas to you.” Arching her face, she invited his kiss and was not denied.

When he settled back on his pillow, he became serious. “You know, I had a thought last night.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?”

“Well, you know how we talked about how we’re going to have to come back here if Caleb takes this, right?”

Surprised and concerned, she nodded as she looked at him, having not expected this sudden detour back into real life. “Yeah?”

Derek’s gaze sifted through hers. “And you know how we decided not to do Christmas presents for each other this year.”

Now she was really worried. “Yeah?”

“Well, what if I want to get you something?”

She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Derek. We already talked about this, with the honeymoon, and everything...”

“I know.” He grinned. “But you know I like to spoil you, right?” Coming over to her, he kissed her again, and Jaycee had the thought that if he didn’t stop that, they’d be having a tough time explaining why they were late for church.

“You don’t have to get me anything.” Gazing up into his eyes, she let herself get lost there. “I’ve already got everything I’ve ever wanted.”

His smile lit deeper into his eyes. “Good. Then it’s settled. I’m getting you a Christmas present.”

“What?” she asked in frustration. Just when she thought she’d talked him out of something… “What could I possibly even want that I don’t have?”

For a full second, the secret in his eyes danced there. Then he lifted his chin and slipped his finger through the edge of her hair. “How about a house?”

True bewilderment jumped on her, and her peace scattered. “A house?” She let her eyes search his still dancing in merriment. “No, Derek. Come on. We don’t need a house. The apartment’s fine, and we’re not even going to be there that much especially if this deal goes through here. In fact, we’ll be out here a lot more than we’ll ever be in California.”

His grin coupled with a nod and then a lift of his eyebrows. “That’s what I mean.”

A second and she sat up, dragging the sheet with her. “Okay, now you are making no sense. Why would I want a house that I’m not even going to see 90 percent of the year?”

He tipped his shoulder. “We could call it a vacation house.”

“Are you kidding? We don’t have time to take care of the apartment we’ve already got! To be honest, we’d be better off buying something here than there.”

Slowly he nodded, and her heart fell into even more puzzlement. She started to voice the question but got stopped by the look on his face.

He narrowed his eyes playfully. “I’ll let you think about that for a second…”

The problem was that looking at him like that brought so many thoughts that had nothing to do with houses or California or North Carolina. Then, suddenly it dawned on her what he might be saying, and her heart jumped a foot. “Are you…? Wait. You’re serious.”

With a nod, the playfulness drifted away from his gaze. “They’re wanting to sell it, and we really do need a place so we’re not having to barge in on Luke and Sage every time we’re here.”

Deeper concern twined in her. “But… what if…? What if Caleb says no? What if he doesn’t do the show?”

Derek tipped his gaze. “He might not, and then you’re right, it wouldn’t make any sense at all.” A second and his gaze slid back up to hers. “But if he does…?”

Jaycee couldn’t stop the smile or the wonderment from swelling in her. “Okay, but on one condition.”

“What’s that?” And as if to make sure it was a condition he could live with, he arched his lips for her kiss. It wasn’t at all fair to her what that did, but she complied anyway. Warm and soft. Lands, if she got caught by the magnetism of him, she was going to forget every thought she’d ever had.

When she backed up and let her eyes fall into his, thankfulness for his love for her pressed into her spirit. “This isn’t just your gift to me. I want us to do this together.”

His smile graced his whole face and he nodded. “Deal.”

Chapter 11

Caleb & Rachel

Although the bottom of the tree wasn’t stacked with presents Sunday morning, Rachel’s heart overflowed with Christmas joy as she sat with Caleb on the floor and helped her children open the gifts. There was a toy tool bench for Rhett and a doll for Natalie. She put it in her Walk ‘n’ Ride and pushed it all over the living room. Seeing her children so happy was all the present Rachel needed, so when Caleb pulled one more from behind the tree, she put up her hands.

“Oh, Caleb, no. I didn’t even get you anything.”

He laughed. “You didn’t have to. I’ve eaten ten pounds of cookies. Besides, you can’t say no. I’ll be crushed forever.”

She shook her head at his theatrics. “Crushed, huh?” Leaning over, she kissed him. “You’re such a drama king.”

“And proud of it.” He gave her the little rectangular box. “Merry Christmas.”

Rachel took it though really she thought he shouldn’t have. “Thank you.”

His gaze never left hers. “You don’t even know what it is.”

“Doesn’t matter. I love you, so I’ll love it. Whatever it is.”

Caleb laughed. “Good to know, but you should open it anyway.”

Carefully she bent into the task of opening the little silver-wrapped box. When it came out of the paper, she found a dark blue box, and her heart hitched when she saw Taylor’s Jewelry on the box. “Caleb…”

“Open it.”

Two little lifts and the top of the box came off to reveal a silver charm bracelet with only one charm in the middle, two intertwined hearts. “Oh, Caleb, I love it.” Leaning over to him, she sealed her appreciation with a soft, lingering kiss.

“I’m glad.” However, instead of lounging there to watch her put it on, he jumped up. “But that’s not all. Stay right there.”

Her gaze followed him up. “What…?”

But he was already across the room and coming back, bringing Natalie with him. She squirmed to get out of his arms, but he held her fast. “No, baby girl. You’re gonna want to see this.” Going back to the tree, he reached under the skirt to retrieve two more presents. “Here we go.” Sitting down in front of her with Natalie on one knee and Rhett on the other, he gave one of the little boxes to Natalie. “Give it to Mama.”

Unsure, the little child held the gift. She looked at Caleb and tipped her head. “Mama?”

“Yeah, give it to Mama.”

In one motion she turned and practically threw the box at Rachel.

Sincere worry had overtaken Rachel, and she almost didn’t catch the thing. “Oh, Caleb, what did you do?”

“Now, you, Rhett,” he said as if he hadn’t heard her. “Give her yours.”

Instead of throwing his, Rhett stood and came over to her. He sat down on her lap and snuggled closer to her.

Tears she could hardly hold came over her. “Thank you.”

Rhett nodded, and with that and one more breath Rachel opened first one and then the other, getting the paper off of each first before she opened the boxes. When she saw the first one, a little charm of a boy with a baseball hat and bat, the tears came all the way up. “Oh.” She hugged Rhett to her. “I love it.”

Wordlessly, Caleb held Natalie and watched as she opened the second. A little girl holding a tiny flower. She started to say something, but the tears overwhelmed even that.

“Mommy sad?” Rhett asked, looking at her in concern, and Rachel laughed out loud.

“No. Rhett.” She hugged him tighter. “Mommy is very, very happy.”

Caleb grinned. “Merry Christmas.”

She smiled at him, the love gleaming in her eyes. “The best one yet.”

Luke and Sage were already in the lobby when Caleb and Rachel made it to the church.

Merry Christmases went around as the children compared present lists.

“Where’re Derek and Jaycee?” Rachel asked, looking around in concern.

“They got a little late,” Sage said. “They’ll be here.”

Picking her hand up from around Natalie because the bracelet was so unfamiliar and tended to catch on everything, Rachel jingled it trying to get it in a good place on her wrist.

“Oh? What’s this?” Sage asked, catching sight of it and then taking hold of Rachel’s wrist to admire the bracelet. “Wow! Someone went all out.”

Rachel couldn’t stop the smile or the love, and as Sage’s gaze came up to hers, her shoulders came up as tears blinked in her eyes.

With only a smile, Sage pulled her into her embrace. “I’m so happy for you.”

“He gave it to me this morning.” Holding her wrist up, Rachel showed her friend.

“Oh, two hearts and a little boy and a little girl.” Sage put her hands to her heart. “It’s beautiful, Rach. Eep!” And once again, she was being hugged.

“There they are,” Caleb said from where he was talking to Luke. He put out his hand to Derek who came across the lobby with his wife. “’Bout time you two show up.”

Derek shook his friend’s hand and looked at his watch. “We’re not even late.”

“For you, on time is late,” Caleb said with a laugh.

Each little family unit reconnected to go in.

“Oh, Rachel?” Jaycee asked. “Where’s your mom?”

“She said she had a little touch of something this morning. We were over there last night, and I think we wore her out.”

“That’s too bad.”

“I also think she’s conserving her energy for the wedding this weekend,” Rachel said as she and Sage climbed the steps into the church. “Last thing we want is for her to be sick for that.”

“Yeah, definitely don’t want that,” Sage said, and the conversation died between them as they went in.

“Merry Christmas,” Pastor Steve said from the pulpit when the readings had ended.

“Merry Christmas,” the congregation responded.

“As we break open the Word this Christmas morning, we find as we always do on this day, a family. A new family, with a new baby. A baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. We know the story, don’t we? Mary and Joseph travelling to Bethlehem because of a decree that everyone had to come and be counted.

“It does make you wonder, does it not, just how they were counting people. What, did you line up and go through some people counter like at the stadiums. One, two, three, four… Right?” the pastor asked, and several people snickered. “Because here’s Mary, pregnant and ready to have this baby any day now, and rather than stay home and tell Joseph to go on without her, she gets on a donkey and rides 80 miles! Can you even imagine that?

“Now maybe it’s because my wife and I don’t travel particularly well, but I can’t imagine that trip. Can you? Really. For a minute, imagine the strain this would put on each of them not to even mention the two of them. I can’t imagine this was a pleasant trip to begin with, and if Mary was at all strained so they had to stop, this could have taken up to a week. And we think preparing for Christmas is tough.”

More people laughed, and Rachel smiled and hugged Natalie closer.

“I think one thing we miss in the Christmas excitement is what this family has to teach us about… well, being a family. They did this thing together. We’re not told specifically that Mary had to be there to be counted, but she went. We’re not told where Joseph was with all of this, but he’s there. Whatever happens, they are together. And I imagine that there must have been a considerable amount of grace involved, right? Just like us in our relationships. Things come up that we have to deal with. They aren’t pleasant. They certainly aren’t fun. It would be easier than not to let them pull us apart. But I think what this story teaches us is that with God in the midst of you, you can make it through even the hardest times… all the way to the miracle God has planned for you.

“So, today, I want you to pay particular attention to the blessings of your family. Men, take Joseph as your role model, be there for your wife, for your children. They are your biggest, most profound blessings. And women, don’t try to make the trek alone. Let him lead the donkey, even if he won’t stop and ask for directions.”

The pastor was in high form in the humor department today, or maybe Rachel was just hearing the joy deeper now than she had in a long time.

“Let God knit you together in the miracle of His enduring love. Amen.”

“Amen,” Rachel murmured, and her mind went to Sage. She hoped they would get to talk about this sermon. She was starting to pay more attention because she had learned her friend would pull some reference out at some point in their discussions in the coming week. As she stood, Rachel smiled at that. Yes, she was infinitely grateful for her immediate family, but she was also grateful for the amazing friends God had somehow formed around her when she wasn’t looking.

Closing her eyes, she thanked Him for all the blessings of her life, and she took a breath and carefully placed the coming days in His hands as well. The house. The kids. Her mother. Even the wedding and Caleb. She was learning in concrete ways that God knew what He was doing, even when it felt like she was on a donkey riding 80 miles into the unknown. If she could just somehow remember that God had a plan, even in those times, somehow she knew miracles would be waiting for her just as God’s greatest miracle had been waiting for Mary and Joseph at the end of that most difficult journey.

Chapter 12

Eric & Dani

“Please don’t tell me they’re here already.” Dani had been racing around since before Jaden had even gotten up to open presents.

“Okay. I won’t tell you,” Eric said, wishing he didn’t have to lie. He hated what this was doing to his wife, and truth be told, he was not at all looking forward to today either.

The doorbell rang, and Dani’s face crumpled even as stoic came over her. “I don’t want to do this.”

He shook his head at her and sighed too. “I know.”

“Grandma!” Jaden came tearing down the stair and ran to the front door.

“At least someone’s excited she’s here,” Dani said, and with that, she put on her best holiday face and went to greet their first guest.

Eric chose not to join her just yet. Yes, he should, but he didn’t just the same. He heard the happy voices in the living room, but he knew they couldn’t last. As if on cue, he heard the second vehicle pull up at the curb, and worry smashed into him. How they would ever make it through this day without the uneasy détente shattering for good, he had no idea.

Taking the dressing from the oven, he put it on the cabinet with a thud when it about burned his hand through the potholder. More voices entered the house, and his anxiety level picked up. He tried not to wish they had gone to visit his family as that wasn’t an overly kind thing to think, but he did just the same. At the very least he needed to call his mother this evening. She should know he hadn’t forgotten about her.

“Now, Mom,” he heard Dani say, and he knew he was being less-then-chivalrous hiding out in the kitchen while she battled life. It said very bad things about his bravery, but he never knew what to say when the conflict with her family started. By the sound of things it already had.

And then as he was pulling out the green bean casserole, the drama found him.

“Well, Eric, isn’t it just like you to be the one cooking?” her mother said by way of greeting. “I wondered how we were going to have anything decent to eat today.”

Behind her mother, he saw the hurt go through Dani’s eyes. “Oh, Dani did most of the work. I’m just taking things out.”

“Of course you are,” her mother said as if they shared a private secret.

“Mom, you’re our guest. You can go relax,” Dani said, the polite words sounding like they were being dragged over glass, as she went to the refrigerator to retrieve the hors d’oeuvres. “We can get this. Really.”

“Celeste is your guest.” Her mother went over and started lifting pan lids. “I’m the Mama. Now let’s see what we’ve got here.”

“So, Dani,” Mitchell said when they were all seated in the dining room over the meal and struggling like mad to act like this wasn’t the most awkward, uncomfortable situation they could have decided to have together. God bless him, Mitchell was still trying to make this work, Dani thought. That was her older brother, never one to admit defeat no matter how bad the score looked. “Have you heard any more about the house?”

Panic slapped her hard, and she nearly choked on a green bean.

“House?” her father asked from his side of the table next to his now-girlfriend. “What house is this? Are the two of you moving again?”

The breath jammed into her lungs and threatened to strangle her. She should have thought to tell Mitch not to say anything. Then again, he should have known. But clearly he didn’t, and now here they were.

“I cannot believe you are thinking about buying that house,” her mother verily spat from the other side of the table. “Why anyone in their right mind would want to live in Ridgemount is beyond me.”

“Ridgemount?” her father practically retched as his fork dropped back to his plate and his gaze drilled into her. “What’s this about Ridgemount? You are not moving to Ridgemount.”

Her mother clicked her tongue at him. “It’s none of your business, Leo,” her mother said. “And lower your voice. This is not the time nor the place to be yelling at the children.”

“I am not yelling,” her father said clearly trying to rein his voice in, “and they are not children, Clarissa.”

“Leo,” Celeste said, putting her hand on his arm to try to calm the situation or at least him.

“What?” he asked, the anger boiling hot under the surface. “I simply asked why they were talking about Ridgemount.”

Knowing there was no good way out of this mess, Dani closed her eyes though they never really lifted from the table. “We’re buying a house there, Dad. A vacation house.”

“A vacation house? In Ridgemount? What kind of a vacation would that be? There isn’t a thing to do in Ridgemount. Why would you want to buy a house there? There is no way that can be a good investment. Have you seen that town? It doesn’t even deserve a dot on the map.”

Her mother’s head was down now, too, and even Mitchell looked both chastened and apologetic.

“We haven’t decided anything yet. We’re just looking into it,” Dani said, knowing 90 percent of her guests knew for a fact she was lying. “Would anyone like more gravy?”

“Well, that was a disaster,” Eric said later when their guests had finally, mercifully, vacated the premises, thankfully without any actual blood being spilled.

“Don’t start,” Dani said as she washed what was left of the pans from dinner.

“I wish I was Mitchell and Kim and could’ve left early,” he said, transferring the glasses from the dishwasher up into the cabinet. “The lucky ducks.”

His wife sighed, and Eric knew he needed to stop venting for her sake.

“Your dad sounded thrilled about the Ridgemount deal,” he said although he knew this was also a sore subject. “I’m not sure either one of them is too happy about it.”

Dani sniffed and shook her head. “This isn’t about them,” she mumbled as she put a pan in the sink with a clatter.

“What?” he asked though he was pretty sure he had heard.

She lifted her chin angrily. “I said, ‘This isn’t about them.’”

His work slowed. “Then who’s it about, Dani? Cause I know it isn’t about me.”

She shook her head again. “I know, you don’t understand.”

“Well, you’re right about that.” He didn’t understand, and although he had tried to be supportive, the tension from the day had frayed his ability to be patient. “I just don’t know where you’re going to get all of this time to remodel a house that’s practically falling down.”

“I’m not going to be remodeling it. I told you that. Mr. James is. All I’m going to do is make sure it gets done.”

“And pay for it,” Eric said. “Let’s not forget about that.”

“The money. Of course, you would be worried about the money.”

Bewildered, he put the last glass in and shut the dishwasher. “Of course I’m worried about the money. That place practically screams Money Pit.”

“Well, don’t worry about. It won’t be coming out of your account.” She put the last pan away and started wiping off the counters. “I’m going in to work tomorrow, are you?”

“Yeah. I’m supposed to be there early to go over Phase 4.”

Dani nodded. “Then I’d better call Carly and make sure she can come for Ja. She can take her to Mrs. McGuire’s.”

Chapter 13

Derek & Jaycee

As Derek and Jaycee headed to Rachel’s mom’s house to help Caleb and Rachel on Monday morning, Jaycee could hardly breathe through the excitement building in her. She squeezed her hand over Derek’s which was firmly ensconced on her thigh.

“Okay,” she said, “so what’s the plan? We can’t ask them about the house until he knows about the job, right?”

Derek nodded but said nothing.

“So what are you thinking about when to ask them? The sooner, the better, right?”

He nodded again, still not putting his thoughts into spoken words.

Jaycee sat for as long as she could take it and then heaved a hard sigh. “Are you going to let me in on what you’re thinking, or am I just supposed to guess?”

Glancing over at her, Derek exhaled very, very softly so that if she wasn’t watching as closely as she was, she would never have seen it. One thing that had surprised her immensely was how often he thought about things without saying anything. Maybe she had always thought he didn’t think about them at all, or maybe she just had never bothered to really pay attention. Whatever it was, she was beginning to learn that her husband had a to-himself life she had never really realized was a part of him.

“Well, part of me says just throw it out there,” he finally said. “Part of me says if we do this wrong, he’s going to turn it down without even bothering to think about it.”

“You really think he would do that?” she asked in surprise. “Even with you?”

His gaze came across to her and traveled up and down her for a second before returning to the road. “If it had been a choice between you and this…?”

Jaycee’s heart hitched in her chest and refused to move again. “You would have given up the job for me?”

The smile was soft. “The job has to fit with us, not the other way around.”

Somehow that really surprised her, and she put her head on his shoulder and ran her hand over his. A moment and she lifted her head as they turned into the driveway. “I really love the idea of this house. As crazy as that sounds.” Looking up the driveway, her mind spun with all the ways she could make it home. “I’d love to tear off this concrete here and put on a porch. We could put flowers over there and a swing.”

Derek laughed as he parked and looked down at her. “You’ve been thinking about this.”

“I have.” She shrunk into her shoulders. “I never thought we could have a place of our own, you know? Like this? I’ve felt so not-at-home for so long, I don’t know that I’d even let myself think about what having a home would be like.”

Looking at her, Derek reached up and slid the light brown hair from her face. “So, what you’re saying is, you want a house one way or the other?”

With a shake of her head, Jaycee beat back the emotions. “No. Not if it doesn’t make sense. I can wait, or maybe it won’t ever even happen, but if…”

Derek’s smile grew even softer. “Man, we’re going to have to work on this dreaming thing with you, aren’t we?”

Sadness washed over and through her as the truth brushed her heart. “I used to dream a lot before... Now? I guess sometimes it’s hard to let myself even go there because I know I’m going to be disappointed, so it’s better if I don’t even let myself think about it.”

Concern slipped into his eyes. “How many other dreams did you have before the accident and all the craziness of the job started?”

She laughed softly, wondering how much she could really tell him. After all, her dreams no longer just affected her life. “A few.” And she knew she should never have started this conversation because Derek West didn’t let things go even if it would be better for him if he did.

“Okay. So what are some of these dreams?”

Knowing they shouldn’t just sit out here and talk with work to be done, she glanced past him. “We really need to get in there. Caleb…”

However, Derek stopped her. “Caleb can wait.”

That jerked her breath to a hard halt. Work. It was her go-to excuse, and with him, it had always been an easy one to use. “Derek, we need to…”

His gaze fell into a deep seriousness. “No. Not as much as we need to do this.” He glanced back. “Five minutes.” When he looked back at her, his eyes searched hers. “I need to know, Jayc. I need to know what dreams you have, what I need to be thinking about. Me guessing? I don’t think that’s an overly great plan with designing a house or a life.” Collecting her back to his side, he put his arm around her gently but firmly, and she knew then she wasn’t getting out of this discussion. “Now, what dreams are chasing around in that head of yours?”

Nothing like being put on the spot. Jaycee thought through and around and past and back by the question, not at all sure where to even start. “Well…” She let that word hang there for several seconds on the off-chance he would give up because she was taking too long. “I’ve always kind of thought about moving back here someday.” Her laugh was soft. “Maybe when I retired? I really like this place. It’s slower and not as crazy. Not that I don’t like crazy. I just don’t like it all the time. And then I think, this place is probably too slow for me. I mean, what would I even do here, but then I think about Sage being here and Mom and Dad, and I can’t help but feel like maybe I’m missing out on that time of being with them.”

Without a word, Derek nodded.

A second and Jaycee shook her head. “And of course the thought of kids. I mean, I’m not getting any younger, and if it doesn’t happen soon, maybe it just won’t.”

One slow nod, and she wasn’t sure he was even still breathing anymore.

“Don’t get me wrong. I love the job. It’s just, sometimes I wonder, you know, what I’m giving up by focusing only on that.” Then she sighed. “I know, that sounds really cheesy and stupid. Gee, Jaycee, what do you want in life?” She mimicked a high-pitched voice. “Just a house with a little, white picket fence, some kids and a dog.”

He nodded again and then narrowed his eyes. “Where would the fence go?”

Jaycee spun and looked up at him in confusion. “What fence?”

“The white picket one.” Derek looked out beyond the windows. “Front yard or back?”

Thinking he was teasing her, she hit his chest. “That’s not funny.”

“What?” he asked, taken by surprise. “If you want one, I’m going to have to know where you want it put in, right? I mean I don’t want you to come home and it be around the wrong yard.”

Slowly what he was saying sank in to her consciousness. “Wait. You’re serious.”

He laughed as if that should have been obvious. “And how big of a dog are we talking about? Because I really don’t like those little miniature toy things. They’re seriously annoying. Just sayin’.”

Deep, profound love for him fingered through her as she came closer to him and laid her lips on his. Maybe her dreams weren’t as impossible as she had always thought. In fact, he was here. That, right there, should have been enough to convince her that anything was possible.

When the kiss ended, he pulled her into his embrace. “I think we need to talk to Caleb today. No sense in making changes we don’t want made with this thing.”

Joy danced up from her heart and came out her eyes. “This is crazy. I can’t believe I’m going to get to design my own home.”

Derek tightened his grip on her. “Believe it.” A second and he loosened his grasp on her and looked down at her. “And just for the record, your dreams are important to me. Okay?”

With a small nod, Jaycee closed her eyes as he kissed her forehead. “Okay.”

Chapter 14

Caleb & Rachel

Almost literally there was no end to the projects Caleb saw when he came out of the back bedroom to get a drink in the kitchen just before nine Monday morning. He’d been working since six, and still they were everywhere. One bigger than the last. It had felt for a while that they were making progress, but now with the wedding less than a week away, and his parents and sister’s family a mere two days from needing to occupy the space, he finally had to admit it, it simply wouldn’t be ready in time.

The floors were not in. Most of the walls were not painted. The windows he had so thought needed to be replaced probably never would be at this rate. Shaking his head at the impossibility of it all, he got some water, glanced outside, and saw the black truck in the golden morning light. Honestly, he should tell his friends not to even bother. There was no point in trying. He thought through his bank account and then through what it would cost to put his family up in Greely.

Affording it in the short term wasn’t so much the issue. It was what it could do to them long term that worried him. Never one to be overly frivolous with money, he could easily see that supporting a family on his income would be harder than he had envisioned. How Rachel had managed, he would never know. The pressure of it was unimaginable.

He watched as hand-in-hand Derek and Jaycee came up the sidewalk and then as hand-in-hand turned to her wrapped in close next to him. Caleb buried his gaze in his glass, sure he shouldn’t be watching such a scene without them knowing it. Taking another drink, his thoughts slid from the impossibility of the house to the upcoming wedding. In five short days, he would be a husband and a father. The thought still had ways of taking the courage right out of him.

When the backdoor banged closed, he heard the quiet voices, and he smiled in spite of the dreadful thoughts. They were spending their vacation helping him. Somehow in all of his equations around what fame meant for Derek in his off hours, this scenario had never quite occurred to Caleb.

“And…” Jaycee said as they came around the corner, and Derek snapped upright at the sight of Caleb leaning there on the sink. With only that, Jaycee stopped and turned as well.

Strangely a pallor of awkwardness wafted through the room, and Caleb knew then without a doubt they had better things to do. He needed to tell them that and let them go.

“Hey, Caleb,” Derek said, coming over to shake his friend’s hand.

“Hey.” Caleb shook Derek’s hand and half-smiled at Jaycee. His gaze slipped down to the glass in his hand and held there. He felt bad about dragging them all the way out here, making them feel like they should help. “You know.” He picked his gaze up to both of them. “This is supposed to be your vacation and everything.” His gaze slid back down as he shrugged. “I’m sure you guys have better things to do than…”

The crunch of the gravel outside whipped his gaze that direction, and his heart sank further. Rachel. How he could so badly fail all of them, he hadn’t a clue.

Slowly he let out a sigh, feeling the responsibility and how poorly he was handling all of it. “Listen, we really appreciate all you guys have done for us out here, but…”

The bang of the backdoor stopped his attempt at being reasonable for their sakes.

“Morning,” Rachel said brightly and then that dimmed when she caught the vibe in the room. With wisps of concern, she went over and put her arms around Caleb and a kiss on the side of his face. “What’d I miss?”

Caleb glanced at her, one second from admitting his utter incompetence.

“Actually,” Derek said before Caleb got the chance to get anything more out, and he glanced at his wife, “we wanted to talk with the two of you about a few things.”

“Oh?” Rachel said even more concerned, and she looked at Caleb as if he already knew what Derek was talking about.

“Yeah.” Jaycee put her hands in the back pockets of her jeans. “Look, we know this is kind of out of the blue, and we don’t want to make you feel like you have to make any decisions on the spot with the wedding coming up and all, but there’s something… Well, there’s something we’ve been wanting, needing to discuss with you.”

It was then that Caleb let go of the pity party he’d been having most of the morning. Whatever this was, it was serious, and from the sound of things, it was his friends that needed the help. “What is it?” he asked as worry snaked through him and he straightened from the cabinet. “What’s going on?”

“Well,” Derek said and he glanced down at Jaycee who looked up at him, “it’s a couple things really.”

Caleb was about to come out of his skin with concern as he put the glass on the cabinet and turned back to them. “Is everything all right?”

Putting his head down for a second, Derek then lifted his gaze to Caleb’s. “The truth is we’ve been meeting with Brent out in California about the new show.”

Without saying a word, Caleb nodded and crossed his arms.

“We’ve kicked around a lot of possible ideas, but none of them… Well, the truth is, I don’t really feel good about any of them. The premise is boring, the people are worse. I know I don’t want just okay or it’ll-do. I’m looking for blow-people-out-of-the-water amazing.”

Finally Caleb grinned in relief. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

Jaycee wound herself under Derek’s arm and put her hand on his chest. “Me either.”

“Good,” Derek said with a nod, and once again, his gaze trailed from his wife’s over to Caleb. “The trick is finding the right concept and the right person, or people…” He looked at Rachel and smiled. “…to pull it off.” He paused one more second and then lifted his gaze to take in both of them. “We want you.”

The words hit Caleb like two rifle blasts and sent him backward, reaching for the edge of the sink. “Me?” His thoughts spiraled and bounced on the edges of knowing he couldn’t have heard that right.

“Yes you,” Derek said, and then he looked at Rachel, “and you.”

Her gaze jumped over to Caleb’s in absolute panic, and he wasn’t far from where her spirit had landed. “What?”

Silence descended around them for five seconds.

“Derek, man, we really appreciate this, but I already told them no,” Caleb finally said, hurrying through the words before Derek could talk him out of them.

“We know.” Jaycee held up her hands. “But we’ve thought about this long and hard. The truth is, there’s no one like you, Caleb. With your dedication and determination to make things right. Derek’s name is going to go on the shows, and he wants someone in there he can trust. That’s you.”

“But I’m here,” Caleb said, folding his arms and glancing at Rachel again. Then he thought better of that and reached over to put his arms around her. “We’re here. I don’t want to go to California or Connecticut or Kansas. This is home for me now.”

“No, I know that,” Derek said quickly. “And we’ve talked about that too. I think we could do the show locally, here, or at least around here. There are lots of old houses to fix up, and Rachel, we want you to help him.”

“Me?” Somehow it seemed that she had decided they had forgotten about her. When they hadn’t, her eyes bugged out and her pitch went up through soprano and off the charts.

Derek took a breath. “I know. I get it. You never saw this coming, but…”

“The two of you, on screen.” Jaycee swooned and then laughed. “You’re the perfect complement to each other, and I’m not just saying that because you’re about to tie the knot.”

Rachel was still trying to swim out of the disbelief. “I don’t understand. They want me? Why?”

“We want you,” Derek corrected her. “The way I see this working is that Caleb does the big stuff, the structural, the dry wall, and you help him with the finishing touches—picking out the cabinets and refinishing the vanities, stuff like that.”

Rachel looked positively horrified. “But I don’t know how to be on TV.”

“You just were,” Jaycee said with a laugh, “and you were awesome. The two of you are a great team, and it shows.”

A second and Caleb straightened, taking his arms from around her and waving his hands in the air. “Okay, hang on, hang on. Wait. Stop. Whoa. Back the train up.” He took a breath. “You’re telling me that Brent Socroft after I specifically turned him down agreed that you could hire me for a different show?”

“I believe his exact words were, ‘I hope you have better luck with him than I did.’” Derek grinned.

“He did not say that,” Rachel said incredulously.

“He did so,” Jaycee said. “He absolutely did. I heard him.”

“Okay, but I’ve already got… stuff,” Caleb said, now trying to talk them out of this craziness. “I’ve got a bathroom and finishing this place and the Attabury. That is, if I even decide to do that one.”

“Well, there are a couple things on that list we need to talk about too,” Derek said, and with that, he reached over and gathered Jaycee into his embrace so that she was in front of him facing them with his arms draped over her and her hands up on his arms. “The truth is, if you take this gig, we’re going to need to be coming out here a lot to supervise things. So, we’re going to need something of a base of operations.”

Caleb’s thought train derailed. “What? Like a television station? I thought that was all done with satellites.”

Derek laughed. “The video part is. No, I’m talking about a place to be when we’re here. I don’t think renting a hotel room in Greely sounds overly wonderful, and we don’t want to out-stay our welcome with Luke and Sage either.”

Somehow Caleb couldn’t get his thoughts going in a logical direction again. “You could always stay in Raleigh or Wilmington. Those are only a couple hours away.”

“No. We were thinking somewhere closer. Like here in Ridgemount.”

“Ridgemount?” Rachel asked. “There aren’t many places to rent around here, and what’s here is pretty much taken.”

“We weren’t thinking about renting,” Jaycee said. “We were actually thinking about buying a place.”

“Buying?” Rachel asked even more stymied than before. “Wow. Yeah, not a lot of inventory for houses around here.”

“Oh, really?” Derek said. “That’s weird because I heard there’s one house that’s for sale. Of course, it hasn’t been put on the market yet, but I hear it’s supposed to be put on sale pretty soon.”

Rachel and Caleb looked at each other in utter confusion, and then, what Derek might be saying crossed both faces at the same time. A conversation passed between them at the speed of light.

It was Caleb who looked at them first. “We don’t… You guys don’t… We couldn’t ask you to do that.”

“Who’s asking?” Jaycee laughed and hugged Derek’s arms around her tighter as her gaze swept up and around the space. “We love it out here. It’s perfect for now and maybe even for later when we’re tired of being in Kansas too.”

That was too much for Caleb. He straightened all the way up and put his hands in the air, waving them again. “Hold up. Wait just a second here. Let me get this straight. You want me.” He stopped and looked at Rachel. “You want us to anchor a new show for H&H, produced by Derek, and you want to buy this house?”

“Yep,” Derek said. “Oh. And we think you should start the show with the Attabury place.” He looked down at Jaycee, grinned and nodded. “Yep. That’s pretty much what we’re saying right there.”

“You don’t have to give us an answer right now,” Jaycee said quickly.

Rachel’s gaze came over to Caleb. “It’s not even our house. It’s Mom’s.”

“I don’t know if there are enough places around here to fix up to make a whole show,” Caleb said.

“And there’s still so much work to do on it,” Rachel said. “The bathroom is in shambles, and the bedrooms are worse.”

Derek laughed. “You know, you guys don’t make very good salesmen.”

Jaycee patted his arm. “It’s a learned skill. Give them time.”

Chapter 15

Eric & Dani

By 2:15 on Monday afternoon, Dani’s whole body was on overload and tilting toward complete collapse. She hadn’t even had lunch yet, and after skipping breakfast to get Carly to the house since her parents couldn’t bring her, Dani’s stomach and head were complaining rather loudly. Blinking slowly as she worked on the company’s Scotland plans, she blew out a breath to keep herself going. “Ten more minutes.”

Her cell phone beeped in her desk, but she had vowed not to look at any more texts until she got this done. She’d been putting it off since before Christmas, and she knew that was long enough. The cell phone’s text beep went off again, but she pushed that from her consciousness. Why couldn’t everyone just leave her alone to work?

“You have lunch yet?” Tiffany Chavez asked, ducking into Dani’s tiny office.

“Lunch. What’s that?” Dani asked without looking up.

“Important. That’s what it is. Come on. I’m buying.”

“You’re buying sandwiches at Blue’s?” Dani pushed away from her desk, knowing she shouldn’t let herself get talked into this.

“And margaritas,” Tiffany said.

“Now you’re speaking my language.”

Eric texted her again, wondering where she was and why she hadn’t answered. Busy. As usual. He didn’t dare call her in the middle of the day, so he sent one more text and took the detour from Greensboro. It had been too long since he’d made this trip, and with yesterday having been Christmas, he couldn’t hardly justify being this close and not going.

He flipped the cell phone into the holder and put his hand to his mouth. The whole thing with Dani and her family had jangled deep into his spirit and refused to let go. He had known practically from their first meeting that they were a handful, but he had judged that Dani more than made up for the craziness of her parents.

Dani. Eric smiled ruefully at the thought of her that very first day outside his apartment, looking for her own in the complex that lived up to its name. Winding hallways and lights that only sometimes worked, elegant it was not. Maybe that’s why he had let his guard down with her. Had he known she came from money, he surely never would have, but in her oversized sweats, crazy kinked out hair and camo headband, she looked like every other college coed on the Wake Forest campus.

“You lost?” he had asked, seeing her once again pass by the little alcove he was using to study. It was a window and featured no roommates.

“No,” she said with a snap as if she thought he might chop her head off with his engineering textbook. “Just looking around.”

He nodded, knowing better but also knowing from experience when a lady has no intentions of letting you try to help her. Five minutes later, she was back, map in hand, still looking imminently confused. Trying not to rile her, he bent over his textbook and pretended to read even as his treacherous heart checked her out. He judged her to be a little more than 20, probably a junior or a senior. Graduate school was already kicking his tail by that time, and really he didn’t have time for a relationship much less partying or girl hunting.

With a scowl on her face she passed by yet again, and he made the mistake of glancing up.

“Okay,” she said with razors around the word, “first of all, stop looking at me like that, and second of all, I am not lost.”

Eric put both hands in the air without ever saying anything; however, instead of proceeding on her search, she stopped and looked at her map. She turned it one way and then the other and then back the first way. Finally she dropped it to her knees, clutched in her hand, and let out a growl that would have frightened wolves.

It took everything he had not to look up as his gaze slid back and forth over formulas he never saw. Second semester was already started, and the last thing he wanted to do was get behind. He made another mark on the paper even as she just stood there.

Her frustration seemed to fill the air around them so that he could hardly breathe.

“You know what?” she finally said as if to no one in particular. “I can just sleep in my car. Yeah. There’s a plan. What do I need an apartment for anyway, right?”

Because of the confidence in her voice, Eric thought she had to be talking to someone, but when he looked up, no one was there. He hesitated before deciding she had to be talking to him, and it was rude not to answer. “Uh, you know, it could be worse. You could be in the dorms.”

That, surprisingly, made her laugh. “Too late for that.” Looking genuinely tired, she came over and sat down on the little ledge next to where he was. She lifted her chin at his work. “What’s that? Calc?”

“Engineering.”

With a nod, she put her head down. “Close enough.” A second and like none of the previous time had happened, she put out her hand. “I’m Danisha.”

Again, he couldn’t be rude, so he put out his hand and shook hers. “Eric.” And he went back to his studies.

It was a minute or two before she chose to speak again. “Must be nice.”

“What’s that?”

“Knowing what you’re doing.”

That yanked his gaze up to her and stuck it there; however, the moment was so strange, he still didn’t know what to say to her.

With a half-a-smile that looked remarkably like she was about to cry, she shook her head. “It always sounded so good.”

“What?”

“Being on my own. Taking on the world. Being independent. Beating your way through the jungle and all of that.”

“That what you’re doing?”

This smile had more heart to it. “Always.” With a breath she put her head all the way back onto the window. “Just wish they gave A’s for faking it, you know?” A small jerk of her head and she lifted it again. “And then I realize I can’t even read a simple map. How am I ever going to get through this and then law school?”

That piqued his interest. “Law school?”

“Yeah,” she said softly. “Gonna go out there and make something of myself. Gonna prove to everyone I’m somebody. At least that was the plan.”

Closing the book on his arm, Eric tipped his head. “So what’s the story, Somebody? You lost or what?”

The smile became almost a grin. “If I said yes, would you think I’m an idiot?”

“No. If you said yes, I would think you were lost, and whether you want to admit it or not, we all get a little lost sometimes.”

“I don’t know,” Dani said over the salad and sparkling water at the little restaurant. They had decided to forego the margaritas in favor of keeping their jobs. “It sounded like such a good idea at the time. Buy the place, fix it up, own it, you know? But now…”

“Now?” Tiffany forked into her own salad with a crunch.

“Now it just feels hard, like why am I even doing this? What’s the point?” Tears stung the backs of her eyes like pokers in a smelting pot, but she would not let them fall. Tears were for weak people, people who were struggling. That wasn’t her. She couldn’t let it be.

“What does Eric think about all of this?”

Dani sighed dramatically. “He thinks it’s a waste of money, but that’s Eric. He thinks buying the good bread is a waste of money.”

“So, what’re you going to do?”

This sigh nearly took her down. “I don’t know. I really don’t.”

“Well, look who it is!” Coming out of the cute little pink-orange brick house and right into the narrow one-car driveway, his mother put out her arms for Eric. “I did not expect to see you today.”

He hugged her to him. “Thought I’d come by and say Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas to you too. Come on in. Come on in.” She led him up the little sloping drive and to the side instead of the front door. So many memories bound up in this house, and every time he came, it was like he remembered them all at the same time. “How’s everybody?”

“Oh, good as usual.” She went over and sat in her green chair that was a standing miracle since it should have fallen apart years before. “Grandkids are all growing up. How’s Jaden?”

A stab went through his heart when he realized he’d taken off to come here, but he would never have considered taking off to pick his daughter up early. “Good. We missed you at the program.”

“I sure wish I could have come. Too many fun things to do right before Christmas.”

Eric nodded and smiled. His gaze traced up to the little shelf where his father’s picture still sat. “Hard to believe it’s been 22 years today.”

His mother smiled and ducked her head. “Funny, I say that every, single year, and every year it’s as hard to believe as it was the one before.” Reaching over, she touched the picture and then kissed her fingers and laid them on it.

“Sure wish I remembered him better.”

“Me too,” she said softly.

His gaze stayed on the picture of his father in his dress blues. Strange how all those years ago had ways of being intertwined with his soul so he couldn’t tell what was memory and what was merely feelings. With a shake of his head, he dragged his thoughts back to his mother. “So, how are you?”

“Oh, fine. Fine. Played for Beverly in church last weekend. She went to see her grandkids.”

“You played for Christmas?” Eric asked in surprise, and his mother laughed.

“Now, come on, you know me better than that. No. Week before last. I went to Yvonne’s for Christmas service.”

“Ah.” He grinned at her. Never the outgoing type, his mother had nonetheless raised four kids nearly by herself. Her husband, his father, had been killed when Eric was only ten. Yvonne, the oldest of the four, picked up the slack for her mom the best she could, but with three younger brothers, that wasn’t always easy.

“How’s Yvonne?”

“Oh, same as always. Everything was right as rain down to the red and green napkins. That’s one thing about my kids, not a one of them didn’t grow up to do life bigger and better than I ever thought it could be lived all those years ago.”

The truth was, he was proud of that, proud of making his mother proud.

“And how about you?” she asked. “What difference are you making in this old world?”

Eric smiled as the age-old question brushed his heart. “Building bridges over in Greensboro. We’re about half-finished with the first one, and we’ll start the demo on the second probably the end of this month.”

The pride shone in her eyes. “That’s my boy. Your daddy would be so proud.”

Ducking so the emotion wouldn’t show, he closed his eyes for a second. He felt her concern even before she voiced it.

“How was Christmas?”

“It was good,” he said without lifting his head, which he knew he should but couldn’t.

His mother thought that through. “You have Dani’s family over?”

“Yeah.” The word was a breath.

“Things haven’t gotten no better on that front I take it.”

“It’s tough, you know?” He picked up his gaze and then himself as he went over to the window and looked out onto the street he had memorized years before. “With her dad with Celeste now, her mom’s pretty much itching for a fight all the time.” He dropped the curtain, knowing the outside would never really be all he had hoped it would, and he leaned there.

“And how’s Dani?”

The laugh really wasn’t. “Chopping down jungles as usual.”

It was how he had first described his new girlfriend the first time he’d told his mother about her. At the time, he thought Dani brave and exciting. Now, he wasn’t so sure what he felt. “She bought the house. That one in Ridgemount.”

His mother nodded very slowly, assessing him more than the purchase.

“I just keep thinking the last thing we need is one more thing to do, you know?” He shook his head. “What do we even need a vacation house for? We hardly use the house we’ve got.”

“Have you talked to her about it?”

“She won’t listen to me. She’s hell-bent on getting that place and fixing it up. Not that that’s even possible. You should see it. Nobody should pay good money for that place.”

“Maybe it’s not about the money.”

“I know. You’re right. Dani’s always got this thing about proving herself. Drives me nuts sometimes. I don’t know why we can’t just live.”

“Lots of life is about making peace with who you are and how your life has turned out. You know I love Dani, but I think we both know she’s never really been at peace with things.”

“I know. I thought, I had hoped…”

“Hoped?”

“I wanted to be enough for her. Then I thought if we got the house, this house, that would make her happy. Then Ja and this new job… but it’s like no matter what I do, no matter what new, bigger thing we get or do, it doesn’t make her happy. And the truth is, I’m getting kind of tired of trying.”

“I’ve learned a lot of lessons in this ol’ life, but one of them I know for sure is you can’t make somebody else happy. Their happiness is not your responsibility.”

“But she’s my…”

“Wife. And you’re her husband. But her happiness is not between you and her. It’s between her and God.”

Eric swiveled his head in frustration.

“No. Now hear me out. I’m just gonna guess that you two haven’t been attending services.” She held up her hands. “And that is not a judgment or a condemnation, just an observation. Services on their own don’t fix anything, but making God important does. There were a lot of years in through there I thought I didn’t have time for the Lord, and boy, did I pay for that arrogance. Not ‘cause He was mad at me but because by removing myself from His presence, I removed myself from His help and provision too. I tried to do it all on my own, and let me tell you, that was a mistake from the get-go. You kids, this house, all the craziness and turmoil I was bouncing off of. It about nearly took us all down.

“Then a good friend of mine suggested we come back to the church. I thought she was crazy. Sunday was a good day to try to right the insanity our world was. But she kept after me and kept after me, and eventually, I went, we went. All together. I’ll never forget you boys, all arguing about why you had to go and whinin’ about why you didn’t want to. We very nearly didn’t make it for the beatings.” She laughed, and so did Eric. “I can’t say that one service changed things because it probably didn’t. I didn’t get no bolt of lightning from the sky revelation or Holy Spirit revival or nothing like that. But when we kept going, and I kept listening, and then I started to put some of the things into practice with you kids but mostly with myself, things started to change.”

“I don’t think Dani would go even if I wanted to,” he said.

His mother shook her head. “You’re not listening to me, son. This is not about Dani. It’s not about fixing her or figuring her out or nothing like that. It’s about you, where your heart is, where your spirit is. If you make it about her, you’re doomed before you ever even start. You remember when I said her happiness is not your responsibility?”

Eric nodded slowly.

“Well, that goes for you too. Your happiness is not her responsibility.”

Concerned confusion slipped onto his face, and his mother smiled in understanding.

“Your happiness is between you and the Lord, Eric. It ain’t Dani’s to give or to take. When you think it is, you set her up as an idol, and that will never work. You have to decide where you are with God and what you’re going to do about it. If Dani comes along, great. If she doesn’t, that’s her side of the street.”

“Is this how you were with Dad?” He didn’t want to ask, but he needed to know.

“Oh, laws, no.” She laughed like that was hilarious. “That man and I had our share of squabbles, Lord knows. We didn’t see eye-to-eye on much of anything. No, most of the peace I have today didn’t come from being at peace most of my life. It came from finally surrendering all those things I got wrong all those years to God and letting Him deal with them. Your daddy and that time maybe most of all.”

Taking a breath, she looked at him. “The truth is, I was angry at God for a whole lotta years. I cut myself off from believing in Him because of what I thought He did to us.”

“Daddy?”

“Yeah. I told God over and over how He should’ve done that night different. If only your dad hadn’t been assigned to that road, if only he just hadn’t pulled that car over, if only, if only, if only… And I blamed God for all them if only’s. The good news is, God didn’t turn His back on me, even when I turned mine on Him. He patiently waited for me to come back and to see that He wasn’t the one who had done it at all. All He ever wanted to do was hold me and comfort me and help me through all that. It wasn’t a short road, but eventually I did get it, and when I accepted what God wanted to give me, ah…” She shook her head and smiled. “It changed my whole life.”

“I wish I had that… that peace.”

“You can,” she said softly. “But you can’t have what you don’t accept. God is right there, but if you don’t acknowledge Him and give Him some time to speak into your life, it’s as if He wasn’t there at all. You have to make that decision. He’s not going to make it for you and force anything on you.”

“But I really don’t know about going back to church…”

“Then don’t start there. You’ve got a Bible, don’t you? Then use the thing. Pick it up. Read it. Spend some time with the Lord—inside a building, outside a building, in your living room. It don’t matter where you start. The point is that you do start.”

All day long, Dani had wrestled with what to do about Attabury. When she thought about just selling the thing, her spirit jangled. When she thought about renovating it, her thoughts when to Eric and her spirit jangled harder. He didn’t understand. Not that she really did herself, but he really didn’t understand. If she could just do this, then maybe…

Her cell phone beeped and with a start she grabbed it up and swiped it on. “Hello?”

“Hey, babe,” Eric said, and the soft moniker touched her.

“Hey, where are you?”

“Out at Mt. Airy.”

Confusion and anger pummeled her. “Mt. Airy? You went to visit your mom?”

“I did. I texted you that a couple of hours ago.”

The texts. She stuffed the anger, knowing it was her own fault even as she steeled herself for what she knew was coming. Her glance at the clock confirmed it was nearly five. “What time will you be home?”

“Well, it will be a while. I’m going to stay here and eat with her. If that’s okay.”

Anger boiled, hot and searing up in her, but she held it down with all of her strength. “Of course. Yeah, that’s… fine. I’m probably going to be a little late getting out of here anyway, so I’ll pick up some Chinese or something before I get Ja.”

“Great. I’ll be home later then.”

Dani whacked back the hurt. “Yeah. Okay. I’ll see you later.”

“K. Love you,” he said.

Dani wanted to scream at him, but even as she sat there, she knew she was being irrational. “You too.”

When she hung up from the call, anger filled everything such that she could hardly see anything else. Finally her gaze fell back to her work and she went back to it, vowing she didn’t need Eric or anyone else. She would buy Attabury, and she would fix it up with her bare hands if she had to.

Her phone beeped again, and she wanted to throw the thing through the window. However, she clutched that back and answered it as if nothing at all was wrong. “Danisha Richardson.”

“Ms. Richardson, oh, good. I’m glad I caught you. This is Caleb James.”

She smiled at the synchronicity although she knew it was only a coincidence. “Yes, Mr. James, I’m surprised to hear from you.” And then she realized he might be calling to tell her a flat-out no. That wouldn’t surprise her today. “I hope this isn’t bad news.”

“No. No. Not bad at all. Well, I hope so anyway.”

That raked through her and she narrowed her gaze and leaned forward. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“Well, something’s come up over here, something that could change the project quite a bit.”

“Oh?” It’s fallen down, been run into and over by a truck, been set on fire and left for ashes.

“A friend of mine, well, the guy I used to work for, with on H&H, he’s starting up a new show as the producer. You might have heard of him. Derek West?”

Of course she had heard of him, but worry over where this was going raked into her. “Yes?”

“Well, they’re exploring the idea of starting up a new show with me, out here, doing houses, and we thought maybe you would consider Attabury being our first project.”

Although Dani was sure she was supposed to be saying something, she couldn’t quite figure out what that was. “Attabury? For a television show?”

“Yes. We’d at least like to talk to you about it.”

Once again, she got nothing out.

“The wedding’s Saturday, but we were wondering, hoping actually, that you and your husband could come out here on Friday to meet with us. Derek’s in town right now, and it would save them a trip having to come back.”

Her eyebrows reached for the ceiling. “Friday?”

“I know, you’re busy, and this is short notice…”

“Uh, well, I’m going to have to check my schedule and with Eric.”

“That’s fine. Just call me back when you decide if it will work. Whatever time you can is pretty much okay with us during the day. We’ve got things that night though…”

“Oh, yes. Yes. I understand. Let me check, and I’ll get back to you.”

The meal and time with his mother had done a lot to settle Eric’s rattling spirit, and by the time he headed home, he had made up his mind to do what she had suggested. Dani wouldn’t understand, of course, but if he just didn’t make it too obvious, maybe she would be so focused on her own life, she wouldn’t notice his.

“Dear Lord,” he prayed with the radio off, something he hadn’t done in a very long time, “I know it’s been a while, and I know that’s my fault. I’m sorry I’ve kind of forgotten about You, and I’m going to try to do better. Lord, there’s just so many things going on right now, with Dani and her family, and the job and Jaden. I don’t even know where to begin to unravel it all. So I guess just show me that—how to unravel it, what I need to do. Show me the steps, Lord. I don’t want this to fall apart, but I feel like it is, and I feel like it’s my fault, like I should know how to fix it, but I don’t. Honestly, I don’t know what to do about any of it. It all just feels so… overwhelming.”

He stopped the confession because if he kept going, he wasn’t sure he could contain the emotions. With a shake of his head, he let out the smallest of breaths. “Lord, the truth is, I need help.”

Chapter 16

Luke & Sage

At six-thirty when Luke got home, he found Sage in the kitchen surrounded by every pot and pan they owned.

“Something smells good,” he said, noticing the short skirt of her dress. Going over to her, he put his arms around her and kissed the side of her neck. “Something looks good too.”

She batted him away. “Stop that. They’re going to be here any second.”

“Maybe a few more than that. I stopped by Mrs. Murphy’s on the way home just to see if they needed any help. Let me tell you, they need more than help. That place looks like a bomb went off in it.”

That sent worry cascading down her face. “Did you talk to them about the tuxes?”

“No. I don’t think anybody there is too worried about that right now.”

Shaking her head and stirring the green beans, she added some seasoning and closed the lid. “I got the dress from Mom’s when we were out there today. It’s hanging in the bedroom. Be careful. We can’t let it get messed up. I’m thinking about adding some beading across the top of it if I get a chance. There’s just so much to do.” She checked on the turkey. “That’s at least ready. I got a few of the flowers done today too. Well, at least kind of done so she can see them and let me know if that’s what she wants. I don’t know what I’m going to do if Rach doesn’t like the colors I have. I guess I could run to Wilmington tomorrow and see what other colors they have.”

Luke leaned on the cabinet and watched her, running around, trying to fix life for everyone. Suddenly she spun on him.

“Derek and Jayc should be here any second, and they’re going to need the bathroom. You need to go get ready. Wear that gray and blue shirt I put out on the bed. It’s ironed.”

Knowing how much thought and care she had put into making tonight special for their friends, Luke stood and went over to her rather than to the back. Gently he put his hands and then arms around her, tucking her next to him. “I love you.”

He had expected her to bat him away again, that she didn’t surprised him. Instead she exhaled hard.

“I just want everything to be perfect.”

As tenderly as a butterfly alighting on a spring daisy, Luke turned her to him and kissed her before hugging her to him. “It will be.”

It was strange to Luke what seeing that dress again did for him. It hung next to their closet, just as beautiful as the night Sage had worn it to their Homecoming dance senior year. He hadn’t expected its return to his life to have the impact it did. However, the second he walked into their bedroom to find it hanging there, he smiled at the memories. In fact, one of the memories didn’t even have to be recalled. It was forever immortalized in the collage of them now hanging over the bed.

Her so young and beautiful. Him so young and such a dork.

He laughed at that. As much as some things changed, others never did.

Not wanting to be late, he grabbed up his jeans and the pressed shirt and headed to take a quick shower. “God, please make tonight special for Sage.”

Chapter 17

Caleb & Rachel

“You ready?” Caleb asked as he cleaned Rachel’s kitchen, which would be his kitchen in a matter of days. She’d been upstairs getting ready as he cleaned and straightened everything he could find downstairs. He had called it quits at Mrs. Murphy’s at six-fifteen, thinking Rachel would be ready when he got here, but he found her fighting to get the kids ready instead.

“Uh, yeah. I just want to grab the cookies for all of them, and we’ve got the two presents for Liv and Aidan under the tree still.”

In the interest of simplicity, they had opted to do a gift exchange for the kids and nothing for the adults other than good food and being together.

“How’d the house go after I left?” she asked, gathering things quickly before gathering her children as well. “Come on. Time to go see the boys.”

Rhett hopped to his feet as Rachel helped Nat to hers.

“Come on, Miss Ma’am. Time to go.”

“Okay. We’ve got to get that bathroom done tomorrow though. There’s just no way around that. The rest of it is livable, not great but if we can get the floor down and a little furniture in there, it won’t be awful. The paint may have to wait.”

They headed out the door, and Caleb scooped up Natalie.

“Did you check the stuff out in the shop?” Rachel asked as they settled the kids in the back.

“Derek did. He said we can probably make some of it work. I was going to go over to the church, but I never got that far. That tile in the bathroom was fighting me tooth-and-nail all day.”

Once inside the car, Rachel glanced over at him. “What did Jaycee think of it?”

“Oh. I think she liked it. They both did.” He started the car and headed out. “Did you get a chance to call your mom?”

Rachel shook her head. “We barely had time to get ready. I’ll try to stop over there tomorrow on the way out to the house. It’s just so crazy, you know? That they would even think about buying it.”

“Yeah, but the good thing is, we wouldn’t necessarily have to finish it to get it sold if they do. Of course, we’d finish it so they could move in, but if that works, it could be the answer to a whole bunch of prayers.”

Her words skidded to a stop, and reaching across the seat, Rachel took his hand. “What about the other thing?”

“The show?” he asked as if he didn’t know, which he did. It had been on loop in his head and heart all day long. Thinking about it and praying about it and thinking about it some more. It hadn’t been out of his thoughts for more than minutes at a time.

“Yeah? What do you think?”

“Well, I called Danisha Richardson today to see if they can maybe come out Friday so we can talk about it with Derek, but if she’s not on board, I think that’s going to be a tough one because I’m already kind of committed to doing Attabury. I’d hate to just leave her high and dry.”

With a half nod, Rachel’s gaze grew even more serious. “But you’re thinking about it?”

Caleb thought through it all, and there was no reason to lie. “Yeah. I am.”

Fear didn’t touch the feeling those two words brought up in Rachel. Derek and Jaycee said he could do the show here, but good intentions had a way of going awry. Worse, they wanted her to help, and she had no idea how that would work. She wasn’t a contractor, not to mention the fact that she already had a job. She couldn’t just quit.

When they pulled into the Bakers’ driveway lined with Christmas lights, she tamped down all the disparate emotions and focused on getting them all out of the car and into that door. Life was coming at them so fast all of a sudden, and she just wanted to tell it to slow down already. However, with no control over any of it, she forced life over the thoughts and feelings and followed him up the back walk.

Huddling closer to him to keep out the decided chill, Rachel showed Natalie the lights on the roof. They hadn’t had time to do any on their house, but next year,… Her heart jumped at that thought. Next year. Only five days away now. Yes, next year would change everything.

“Hey! You made it,” Luke said, greeting them with a swing of the door. “Merry Christmas.”

And just like that, they were welcomed into the warm embrace of friends.

Hellos and Merry Christmases came at them from every direction as they followed Luke into the warmth of the kitchen.

“You can put your coats in the boys’ room,” Luke said, and Caleb gathered them all up to do just that.

Sans the coat, Rachel stepped over to Sage and handed her the box that looked wholly inconsequential compared with the massive meal her friend was preparing. “Merry Christmas.”

“Oh, Rach,” Sage said, turning in surprise. She took the box and opened it. “Cookies? You didn’t have to do that.”

“She’s been baking for three days,” Caleb said, coming back in and sweeping Natalie up in his arms. “Please take them or we’re going to turn into Oompa Loompas.”

“Well, thank you.” Putting her arms out, Sage dragged Rachel into a long hug.

“What’s left?” Luke asked coming in with a clap of his hands from putting the Christmas presents under the tree in the living room.

“Oh, uh.” Sage’s gaze swept over the pans and pots simmering and steaming. “I think we’re about ready.”

“You don’t have to tell us twice,” Derek said, stepping up. “Tell us what to do.”

In no time the kids were in the living room around the two kids’ tables—one for the littlest and one for the bigger kids. The adults had taken up places around the kitchen table with only the addition of Natalie and Macy. Luke offered a prayer of Thanksgiving for all of the blessings of the year, and when Caleb squeezed Rachel’s hand, her heart filled, overflowing with gratefulness. When the prayer ended, everyone dug in and passed the food around the table until Rachel’s plate was heaped.

“So when’s your family getting in?” Sage asked Caleb though it was only in their general direction.

“Wednesday. Mom and Dad will be here around noon. Sara and her bunch will be in that evening.”

“What’s the plan for the wedding rehearsal?” Sage asked, and Rachel glanced at Caleb unsure what his answer would be. They hadn’t really discussed that.

“Oh. I didn’t… Do we need a rehearsal?” He looked mildly stunned when he glanced at Rachel. “I figured we’d just show up and say our vows.”

Pastor Steve cleared his throat. “It’s been my experience that a rehearsal helps.”

Next to him Jane started laughing. “Trust him. He knows.” She covered her mouth as her gaze fixed on her husband.

“Why do I think there’s a story there?” Luke asked.

And with that, thankfully, the focus shifted to the pastor and his wife.

“Let’s just put it this way,” Jane said, putting her hand on her husband’s shoulder as she continued trying not to laugh. “By the time we got to the rings, his best man was fetching ice and cold compresses.”

“Oh!” Sage sounded like she had been shot. “You didn’t.”

Sheepishly Pastor Steve ducked. “Well, it wasn’t like I planned it. Just know that locking your knees is a very bad idea.”

The whole table burst into laughter as Pastor Steve then went on to regale them with stories of grooms who passed out, flower girls who stole the show, ring bearers who fell asleep during the ceremony, and mothers-in-law who practically forbade him from marrying the couple altogether.

“Well, thankfully, we don’t have to worry about that,” Rachel said, putting her hand over Caleb’s.

“How is your mom anyway? Is she any better?” Jaycee asked.

Rachel sighed her worry down. “A little, but this last cold snap really didn’t do her any favors. I think the move was harder on her than she thought it would be.”

“She’ll be all right for the wedding though, right?” Sage asked.

“She’s working on it.”

When the meal was finished, everyone including the older boys pitched in and in no time the kitchen was cleaned. Luke hustled everyone into the living room for the opening of the presents, and in no time there was ripped wrapping paper, bows and ribbon everywhere, and happy children playing with new toys.

“Well, that was a success,” Jaycee said, plopping down next to Rachel on the couch. A second and she put her hand over on Rachel’s knee. “We’ve only got one more surprise.”

Confused, Rachel looked at her friend. “One more? What’s that?”

“Eeep!” From across the room, Sage jumped up and clapped her hands three times, her face beaming with excitement.

“What’s going on?” Rachel asked in growing worry as Jaycee stood and took her hand to pull her up. Glancing over at Caleb on the other side of her, her worry and confusion transferred to his face as his gaze followed her up.

“Hey, don’t look at me,” he said, his eyes wide. “I know nothing about this.”

“Come on, Jane.” Sage pulled the older woman up with her. “You get to come too.”

The men were all looking at them, some in puzzlement, a couple in complete understanding.

“I get to come?” Jane asked in surprise as she followed Sage over the boxes, around the kids, and through the wrapping paper.

“Yep. This is going to be fun. Come on.” Sage never let her hand go as she with Jane and Jaycee with Rachel met at the far door. “We’ll be back.”

And with that Rachel was dragged from the room.

Caleb looked around at the men, stunned. “What was that all about?”

But Luke and Derek had already taken control of the living room situation and used the women’s departure to huddle with Pastor Steve across the room who nodded his understanding and with that, they all turned to Caleb. His eyebrows went up another five notches. “I’m not going to like this, am I?”

Standing with her friends in Luke and Sage’s bedroom, Rachel put her hand up on her other elbow. “What’s going on? We said we weren’t getting each other gifts.”

“Yeah, well, this one is special,” Jaycee said, and she angled her just a touch more back the way they had come as Sage went to the closet door where she stopped and turned.

“We all know how hard it’s been for you to get here,” Sage said slowly. “And we know you weren’t thinking about doing up your wedding all fancy. But we got to thinking, and we’ve decided we think you deserve more than just a quick trip down the aisle. So…”

With that, she moved something in the room behind Rachel.

“What did you guys do?” Rachel asked with worry.

“We just used our imagination a little, that’s all,” Jaycee said, holding onto Rachel so she wouldn’t run or turn.

Rachel let out a long breath to calm her fluttering nerves. “Really. Y’all didn’t have to do…”

“Are you ready?” Sage asked.

“Ready,” Jaycee replied, barely containing her own excitement.

With that, Jaycee turned Rachel. There stood Sage holding up a hanger from which flowed a beautiful white dress with tulle on the skirt and satin and sparkly things that looked like diamonds on the waistline. Rachel’s eyes jerked open and her knees turned to jelly.

“What?” she asked, and then she deflated. “What?” Then their plan seeped into and over her heart. “No. You guys... You didn’t… I can’t… This… This is too much.”

“Well, actually, we cheated a little bit,” Jaycee said with a grin.

“It was my homecoming dress,” Sage said, her eyes dancing like swirling ballerinas. “It’s been at Mom’s. We just rescued it from closet obscurity.” She ran her hand under it and held it out. “What do you think?”

Rachel swallowed, trying to get the tears to stay down. She couldn’t accept this gift although her heart desperately wanted to. “Oh, Sage…”

“No. Now, no Oh, Sageing me.” Taking the dress, Sage laid it on the bed. “I don’t want to hear that, you hear me? Now, you are at least going to try this on, so we can see if it fits.”

“No. I can’t accept this. I can’t take your dress.”

“Then we’ll consider it your something borrowed.”

With Jaycee pushing gently and Sage taking her hand and pulling her over, Rachel came over to the bed where the dress lay. It looked like a dream.

“I remember when you wore this,” she said softly. “I thought you looked like a princess.”

Sage collected her friend in her arms. “And now you will too. I was thinking…” And Sage launched into explaining her plan to wedding-ize the dress.

“But we’ve got to get the house done,” Caleb said, trying every way he could think of to get out of the hair-brained idea of going the next day to procure tuxes. Tuxes? He was just going to wear his nice jacket. That would be good enough. How was that not good enough? “I don’t have time to be going out getting all shined up.”

“Well, you don’t want to look like Lurch at your wedding, do you?” Derek said.

“It’s one day,” Luke said, and his voice was soft but firm. “But believe me, it’s a day you’re going to want to look back on and remember forever.”

“But we weren’t going to…” Caleb tried again.

“The girls are taking care of Rachel,” Luke said even more firmly. “You’re our project, and Sage would kill me and bury me in the backyard if you show up looking anything less than charm school ready.”

“Charm school?” Caleb asked in concern. “Now I’m really worried.”

“We’ll get the clothes part together,” Derek said with a laugh. “Rachel’s going to have to work on the rest.”

Chapter 18

Derek & Jaycee

It was nearly midnight when the final goodnights were said and the guests left the Bakers’ residence. This Christmas had been one for the record books in Derek’s mind. When Sage and Luke also vacated the living room with their sleeping and sleepy children, Derek and Jaycee wished them all a good night as well as they sat on the couch, his arm around her, the Christmas lights twinkling from the tree in the darkened living room.

Jaycee snuggled in closer under his embrace, and Derek didn’t mind that at all. “So, y’all are going to Raleigh tomorrow?” she asked as she brushed her fingers across his hand that came down and around her.

He so loved just being with her, and he wished they could do that more often. “Yeah. I think we’re going to have to hog-tie Caleb to get him into a tux though, but we’ll see.”

“Rachel is a knock-out in that dress. Once Sage upcycles the top of it a little, wow,” Jaycee said. “Believe me, Caleb is going to be glad he put in a little extra effort.” For a moment the night simply wrapped around them. “It’s so weird how much has changed since last year.”

“I know. I think I spent last Christmas eating warmed up Thai food and watching old re-runs of Barney Fife. It sure didn’t feel like this.”

“Hmm. Nothing feels like this.” With that, she tipped her head backward, and understanding completely, he lowered his lips onto hers. The warmth of her, the feel of her drilled into him, all the way down to the deepest middle of him. He was absolutely the most blessed guy on the planet, and he wouldn’t trade this moment for anything.

When her kiss deepened, dragging him in to her charms, his mind went with it for a moment, spinning out of his control into the safety and dangerousness of her. And then, for a split second one memory cut through it all. Gently he ended the kiss and pulled her back to him as her hand slid across his chest and her head rested on his shoulder. His heart filled his entire being as he contemplated starting the coming discussion. He had taken so many leaps of faith already, he would have thought this one would be easy. It wasn’t.

One more breath, and he nodded to get the words going. “You know when we were talking about what we’re going to be doing with our future?”

Jaycee nodded without saying a word.

“Well.” Derek had to take another breath to get the words to keep moving. “I think you were right.”

“About what?” The question came out in a squeak as her hand continued without hesitation.

“About not waiting.”

Her hand slowed and then stopped. He tightened his arm around her as if thinking she might flee if he gave her the chance.

Jaycee’s heart skipped and then settled as her mind asked just what he meant by that. No. He couldn’t be talking about what she thought he was. “On the house?” she asked, giving him an out if he wanted to use it.

“Yeah. That too.” But then he turned her gently to him so she was looking right into his eyes. He had the distinctly unfair advantage that she couldn’t really think straight when he did that, and at that moment, Jaycee knew it more than she ever had. “But that’s not all,” he said softly.

Her mouth went cotton dry, and she was pretty sure her heart stopped beating completely. “Okay…?”

“Look, Jayc, I know this is a big step,” he said as the lights twinkled, making the room around them dance, “and I really want us to make it together.”

She nodded, never breaking away from his gaze, which held her fast.

“What do you say we stop not trying?” His eyes searched hers for the answer.

Panic and disbelief flashed through her. “Are you…? Are you serious?”

A second and his smile slid from his lips up into his eyes. “I am.”

Never in all his life had Derek realized just how big of a leap that would be, but when Jaycee was asleep in his arms later, tucked in the sheets and blankets, he didn’t go to sleep for a long time. Instead, his mind kept replaying the question What if….

One thing was abundantly clear to him almost immediately, if it happened, he was going to need way more help than he’d ever thought possible. Running his hand gently over her back, he took a breath and closed his eyes. God, You’re gonna have to show me how to do this…

Chapter 19

Eric & Dani

“You’re up early,” Dani said when she found Eric in the living room chair with the lamp light on at 5:30 on Tuesday morning.

“Just wanted to get some reading in.”

Concern tipped her gaze as she looked at his chosen reading material, and a slither of worry snaked through her when she realized what it was. The Bible. She pushed that down under the day’s schedule and the scowl she put on her face. “You going in to work today?”

He never looked up. “Yeah.”

She couldn’t help but let the confusion come up; however, the last thing she was going to do was ask. That might invite an argument she really didn’t want to have. “Okay. Well, I’m going to go shower.”

“K.”

Eric felt her leave the doorway. Even so, he waited a full 30 seconds before he looked up to make sure she wasn’t still standing there. Distance. It was there every time she came in the room. He hated that, hated how her world seemed so disconnected from his. Hated how even the desire to connect with her had left him completely at some indeterminate point in the past. However, he didn’t know what to do about that, so he bent his head and kept reading.

“We’re supposed to meet with Mr. James in Ridgemount on Friday at ten in the morning,” Dani said as she whipped up toast and scrambled eggs for Jaden.

“Friday? Why can’t we do it Saturday? You know I’ve got the bridge project.” At the table, Eric barely looked up from his NotePad as he scrolled through the day’s headlines.

“And I’ve got Scotland. Ja!” Her hands worked at warp speed, grabbing up utensils and pouring milk for her daughter. Checking her watch, she knew they were late again. “Jaden! Honey, this is ready.”

Taking all of it to the table, she put it at her daughter’s place and went back to the stove for her own coffee and toast.

“We’re going,” she said without a trace of happiness. “Whatever you have to do to get off, do it.” Anger was starting to creep over her patience with him. Yes, this project was her idea, and yes, she knew perfectly well what he thought of it. But if they were going to do this, they were going to do it as a couple—whether he liked it or not.

Turning, she realized her daughter still hadn’t come to the table. “Jaden! Hurry up. This is getting cold.”

Finally the child appeared at the doorway.

“It’s about time,” Dani said, inhaling the last of her toast and the coffee. “You’d better eat that right quick. I’ve got to drop you off in ten minutes if I’m going to have any prayer of making the Scotland meeting on time.”

Without being obvious about it, Eric glanced up from his reading. The headlines were all the same—death, destruction, the ups and downs of the stock market. They were enough to make him want to crawl back in bed and give up. He didn’t. He couldn’t. But he wanted to.

Glancing over at the bowed shoulders, he wanted to say something to his daughter. She sat forlornly, or maybe it was just tiredly, over her eggs. She ate slowly, with quiet, subtle, almost indecipherable movements.

“So, Ja, you having fun on your break?” he asked, taking a sip of his orange juice.

The little shoulders shrugged and then sagged back.

Beating back the frustration, he took another sip. “Wish I could have a break.”

Thankfully he’d said it only into the orange juice because Dani picked right then to stride back in. “Have you seen the water bill? I could’ve sworn it was on my desk with the others.”

Eric shook his head and went back to his NotePad. “Haven’t seen it.”

“We need to get that set back up on the auto-pay thing or we’re going to wake up one day without any.” She sorted back through the mail on the counter, trashing most of it.

“I thought it was.”

“When the city changed over to the new accounting system, ours got messed up. They sent the notice a couple weeks ago that we’d have to redo it online.” Giving up, she went over and stuffed three things into her briefcase. “I’ll get it done today. You ready, Ja?”

One small, slow nod and the child slid from the chair.

“Well, don’t just let those dishes there,” Dani said with no small amount of frustration. “I’m not your maid.”

Not wanting to, Eric sensed his daughter’s quiet surrender, and he straightened. “I’ll get it, Ja. You go on with Mom.”

Quite panic coursed through the dark eyes when Jaden looked up at him.

“It’s okay,” he said softly. “Go on.”

Jaden looked up at her mother, hesitating.

“Fine.” The word was short and filled with irritation. “Whatever. We need to get going.”

With her daughter trailing her, Dani headed for the door but stopped when she got there. “Clear your calendar for Friday. We are going to Ridgemount.”

And with that, the two of them left.

Eric didn’t like the bubbling aggravation in his gut. He stood and took first his dishes and then Jaden’s to the sink. As he rinsed and then put them into the dishwasher, he heard the car back out of the garage. Another day, another dollar. He wondered if Dani would even notice if he left or if she would only miss the paycheck and what it could buy her.

Standing at the sink, he put his hands on it and bowed his head over his shoulders. “God, something’s got to change here. I can’t take this much longer.”

Chapter 20

Caleb & Rachel

They took Derek’s crew cab rental, figuring that would give the three of them plenty of room. Caleb still thought this was a bad idea, seeing how much they had to get ready on Ms. Murphy’s house for his family who would be landing in North Carolina in just over 24 hours, but so far, he hadn’t been able to talk either of them out of this excursion. So finally, he decided it was better to go along with things and get it over with.

“I thought while we’re in Raleigh, we could swing by Beacon and see about some furniture,” Derek said from his position in the driver’s seat.

“Beacon?” Caleb asked, knowing all the nuances of what that meant. “I thought we were just going to go with the pastor’s stuff and whatever Rachel had.”

“They’re having a New Year’s Eve blow-out through the weekend, and Jaycee and I talked about it. We could get a few things now, basic stuff. A couple beds and some living room stuff. Maybe even a table and chairs.”

Worry smacked into Caleb. “But you don’t even own the place yet. What if you decide not to buy it?”

“If she’s selling, we’re buying. That’s not even an issue anymore.” He glanced in the rearview mirror as in the passenger’s seat Luke looked over at him. “Saying that, have you guys talked to Rachel’s mom yet?”

Caleb sighed. “Rach was going over there this morning. I think they were going to talk about it.”

“Awesome.”

“Well,” Rachel said when her mother finally opened the door to find the three of them bundled on her porch, “I wasn’t expecting you to answer.”

Her mother laughed. “Who’d you think it would be, the Easter Bunny? Oh, get in here, it’s freezing out there.”

“Go.” Rachel pushed Rhett a couple of steps. “Get on in.” Carrying Natalie herself, she came in and proceeded to take hoods off of heads.

“I sure wish the weather would cooperate for this weekend,” her mother said, going back over to her chair. “It would be nice not to be in the deep freeze.”

“I hear you there.” Rachel pulled off the two little coats and smoothed down the hair now fried by static electricity. “Where’s Genevieve?”

“She went out for groceries. She should be back in half an hour or so.”

Finally finished, Rachel still stood at the front door with the kids.

“Come. Come in. You don’t have to just stand there.” Her mother waved her to the couch. “I’m glad you came by. I know how much you have going this week.”

With a hard sigh, Rachel sat down on the couch. “It’s just been crazy. The guys are going to Raleigh today.”

“Raleigh?” her mother asked in surprise. “All-day bachelor party?”

Rachel laughed softly. “I wish.” She smoothed her own hair down. “Actually, they’re going to get tuxes, I think.”

“Tuxes? Wow. I didn’t realize this was a formal affair.” However, a light had gone on in her mother’s eyes at the thought.

“Well, it wasn’t until Sage got ahold of us. She’s doing some flowers, and I think I’m going to wear a dress she had.”

The smile in her mother’s eyes slid to her face. “I know you are going to be absolutely beautiful.”

However, Rachel’s sigh spoke of how difficult that would be to pull off in the midst of the swirl of life they were now living.

“And the house?” her mother asked. “Aren’t his parents coming in tomorrow?”

Rachel nodded. “They should be here around three o’clock, I think. Then his sister will be here tomorrow evening sometime.” Her heart hitched at the thought of all that could change between now and then. “Actually, that’s what I came by to talk with you about.”

“Oh?”

What were the right words for this? Rachel truly had no idea, and how had she suddenly become an adult? She had no real accounting for it. “Well, actually, Derek and Jaycee have kind of a proposition for you.”

“For me?” Her mother’s voice dropped into worry and confusion.

Natalie came over to be picked up, and she burrowed into Rachel’s chest. Looking down, Rachel slid her hand across her daughter before looking back up at her mother. “They came the other day, and apparently they’d like to buy the place, your place, out at the farm.”

Deeper concerned confusion dropped into her mother’s eyes. “The home place? What would they want that for?”

“Well…” The story fell down three more flights of emotional stairs. “They’ve offered Caleb a job.”

That did nothing to resolve the worry in her mother’s eyes. “A job…? With the…?”

Rachel nodded, fighting not to let her own trepidation surface though she couldn’t deny it was there. “Derek is producing a show for H&H, and he wants Caleb to be in it.”

“But I thought Caleb turned that down.”

“He did, but now they’re saying they want to do something locally, here, with houses around this area.”

“So he wouldn’t travel then?”

“No,” Rachel said, praying that would, in fact, be the case. “The show would come here, and so would Derek and Jaycee. At least for a while until it gets going.”

“But why would they buy a house? Wouldn’t it make more sense to rent one?”

This part was harder for Rachel. “Honestly? I think they want to help us out. Then again, there aren’t that many houses around here for rent, and the way they do things, they could well fix the place up and sell it when they get ready to move on.”

The seriousness never left her mother’s face. “How soon would they be willing to buy it?”

“As soon as the papers can be signed from the way they talk.”

A text beeped into Caleb’s phone as he stood with a gray tuxedo jacket on surrounded by five mirrors. Did they really need that many? “Hang on,” he said, going over to the little pile of his things. He grabbed it up and swiped it on.

If D&J want the farm, it’s theirs. Mom says she’s ready when they are.

Caleb raked in a long breath, ratcheted his shoulders around in the jacket as he read through the text once more before dropping the phone back to the little padded bench. His gaze went up as the other two came out of their respective dressing rooms. “Looks like we’ll be taking a side trip to Beacon today after all.”

Chapter 21

Derek & Jaycee

Although they had worked together for three years, Derek was not wholly prepared for the difficulty-level of shopping with Caleb. The tux decision, which had been relatively easy when they had gone for his wedding, was anything but with his friend. The first issue was the price, the second was that he couldn’t get Rachel’s opinion on anything.

“I don’t know,” he said about the fifth one he’d tried on. “White? I don’t think I’m really a white kind of guy. Besides, is her dress white or is it like champagne or something? I don’t want to clash.”

“Tell you what,” Luke finally said in exasperation, “let me call Sage. I’m sure she’ll have an opinion.”

Caleb continued to stand in the five-way mirror, turning this way and that before shaking his head each time.

“Yeah, hey, darlin’…” And Luke stepped off to the side.

“I don’t know,” Caleb said for the millionth time that morning. “I’ve got that black jacket. I could just…”

Derek took a long, slow breath to calm his agitated patience. “Okay, what am I missing here? When we did this for mine, you were not half this high maintenance.”

A second and Caleb deflated. “I just want it to be right, for Rachel. What she wants, but this? It feels… over the top.”

“You’re not at peace with it?”

“No.”

With a nod, Derek glanced around. “Okay. What was the best one so far?”

“The black wasn’t bad. At least I didn’t stick out like a sore thumb in it.”

“Okay.” Turning to the salesman, Derek said, “Could we get the black one again? Yeah, the first one.” He looked back at Caleb. “Vest?”

The decision was the longest of Derek’s life, but he and Jaycee had worked with the preacher for their wedding, and he was learning how to just back-off and give life a chance to sort things out.

“I think I liked the silver one the best, but I don’t know if…”

“Okay,” Luke said, coming back from his conversation with his wife, “Sage says black, probably bow-tie or Euro if you like that better.”

“Bow tie,” Caleb said, sounding far more solid.

“Black or silver?” Derek asked as the salesman brought the first one back over.

Caleb shook his head as if he didn’t know, so Derek grabbed up the ties they had tried so far.

“This one?” Derek held up the jet-black tie.

“Maybe.”

He put it in the maybe stack he’d just created. “This one?”

One look and Derek knew that one was out, so without waiting for his friend, he said, “No” and put it to the other side. He held the next one up. “This one?”

“That’s not bad.”

“No.” Derek put it in the no pile. “This one.” He held up the three-toned silver with black diamonds one.

Caleb stopped, stood, and tipped his head. “I actually kind of like that one, but isn’t it…?”

“Great,” Derek said. He picked up the silver vest from earlier and put them into Caleb’s hands. “Go put it on.”

“Shouldn’t we see…?”

“Just put them on,” Luke said from the other side of him, and when Caleb finally took the clothes and left, Derek and Luke widened their eyes at each other in barely withheld frustration. Luke leaned in closer. “When he comes out, Sage says if it’s close to take a picture and send it to her.”

“Well, that’s the first good idea I’ve heard all morning.” Derek shook his head and crossed his arms. “Give me a wall to knock down any day.”

“Who knew he was going to end up being so picky?”

“I should have.” Putting his hand to the back of his neck, Derek inhaled hard. “Perfectionists are great until they have to make a decision they don’t want to make.”

About that time, Caleb stepped out, and with one look Derek knew they had a winner. Coming over, Caleb stood into the circle of great reflection and took a long slow breath. Derek waited a full 30 seconds before he asked the question.

“So?”

Caleb put his head one way and then the other. “It’s not bad. I just don’t know…”

“What Rachel will think,” the other two said at the same time.

“Well, I don’t want her to take one look at me and run screaming from the exits.”

Luke laughed. “I don’t think we’re in danger of that happening, but Sage said we could take a pic and send it to her. That way she can see if it works with the dress.”

Finally Caleb took a real breath and nodded.

“That work?” Luke asked.

A quick nod from Caleb, and Derek had to hide the smile. Love. It would do crazy things to your head and your heart.

“Great,” Luke said when he got the picture. “Don’t worry. Sage is great with these things.”

Since the guys had gone shopping, Jaycee and the women knew there wasn’t a moment to lose on the house that would have guests very soon. So they met at Ms. Murphy’s old place at ten about the time the guys got to Raleigh. So, they were knee-deep in painting the second bedroom when Sage went into the kitchen to take a phone call.

Keeping Rachel occupied as she had learned to do with homeowners, Jaycee kept one ear on the conversation in the kitchen as well. When Sage returned, she silently told Jaycee with one breath that she was frustrated. Whatever it was, Jaycee was smart enough to keep it from Rachel until she went out to the garage for more paint.

“What was that about?” Jaycee asked, being very careful to keep her voice low.

“The guys. Caleb’s freaking out about the tux,” Sage said as her phone beeped again. She drew it out and swiped it on. Tipping her head, she considered and then showed Jaycee the picture. “I kind of like that one. Don’t know that I would’ve gone with the silver, but…”

Jaycee nodded. “I like it too. It looks good on him.”

With one more nod, Sage ducked to her phone and typed furiously just as Rachel came back in.

“Are you thinking about using this for the master?” Rachel asked, picking up another gallon of the paint.

“Oh. I don’t know,” Jaycee said, getting slung the other direction so suddenly she almost didn’t hold on.

Rachel shook her head as she poured more paint into the pan. “I thought we had another can, but I think this is it. We could probably get a different color for the bedroom if you’d rather have something else.”

It was strange decorating someone else’s house that would be hers very shortly. “I don’t know. I guess I need to ask Derek.”

“Well, we’ve got to get this done today. Maybe they can pick some up on their way back. The hallway could use a coat too, and I don’t know what you’re wanting to do with the mudroom.”

Suddenly the decisions started piling atop Jaycee. “I guess I could call Derek and see.”

The call from his wife came in about the time the salesman brought out the tuxes for the two groomsmen.

“Hello?” he asked as Luke went into the dressing room to try his on.

“Hey,” she said, and with that one syllable, he knew they were working.

“What’s up?”

“Uh, what were you thinking about the paint for the master? We ran out of this for the second bedroom.”

“Ran out?”

“Well, we’ll have enough to finish this up, barely, but we’re going to need more for the master if we’re doing it in this color. And I didn’t know what you were thinking for bedding. Are we just going to make-do for this weekend and then try to get something or what?”

Luke came out, and Derek was thankful to see the outfit wasn’t a total disaster.

“Listen,” he said, realizing they were waiting on him now, “can I call you back? We’re about to get a decision made on these things, and then maybe we can swing by a paint place and a furniture store.”

“Furniture? You’re going to get something today?”

Derek exhaled and put his hand to his head. “That’d be easier, don’t you think? Just get a few pieces? Unless you want to be here when we do.”

Her reply didn’t come immediately. “No. You’re right. But send me pictures.”

He smiled. “You don’t trust me?”

“Send me pictures.”

For as easy as decorating a house had always been, Derek was completely unprepared for how difficult this idea might turn out to be for their own house. Sure, he had been to furniture stores a myriad of times with homeowners. This, however, was in a completely different realm of difficulty altogether.

“I think we need to start with tables,” Derek said when they got to the showroom, faced with so many options of so many different kinds of furniture, he wasn’t at all sure just where to start.

“Price range?” Luke asked, looking at one living room combination and arching an eyebrow. “Wow. Who shops here, the Queen?”

“Uh, something reasonable,” Derek said, glancing at a few prices as well as the three of them walked deeper into the showroom.

“Can I help you, gentlemen?” a salesman asked as he came over to them.

Derek took a breath. “We’re looking for some pieces for a home. Living room, dining, couple bedrooms.”

The youngish salesmen’s gaze slip-slid among the three of them. “An entire home?” Dollar signs flipped through the young man’s eyes. “Okay. Any particular style you’re going for? Vintage? Modern? Wood? Metal?”

Somehow in all the excitement, Derek hadn’t really thought to discuss these types of details with Jaycee. Knowing he should, he put up his hand and dug out his phone. “Can you give me a sec?”

“Oh. Sure thing.”

Jaycee’s cell phone rang about the time they finished painting the second bedroom. Rachel’s room was next and with the dark wall paint, it was clear with one look they were going to need three buckets of Killz too. “Hey,” she said, answering because she knew it was him. “Can you add Killz to the list? We’re going to need it for this next bedroom.”

“Uh, yeah. Sure. Listen, we just got to the furniture store, and…”

She heard the hesitation and it both puzzled and worried her. “And?”

“Well, I don’t know. I guess I’ve never really done this before.”

With a laugh, she rolled her eyes. “Never done it before? Derek, you’re an expert at this. Everybody in America wants you to do this for them.”

“Yeah, but they aren’t you.”

Softness for him settled gently on her heart. “I’m sure I’ll love whatever you get.”

“It’s not that.”

It was then that she heard the undertones of his concern. Taking the phone out to the living room, she sat down against one wall. “What’s going on?”

The breath he let out was audible. “I mean, I did my place back in California, but that was easy, metal and industrial. I thought that was me, but maybe it was just that space. I don’t think that stuff would look right here at all. Plus, it’s all angles and metal edges. I don’t think we want that.”

“Okay, so what would be better? For here? Think about it, what do you see in this space?”

“I’m not sure what I’m thinking will go with the paint that’s already there.”

Jaycee pulled down the anxiety and just listened. Yes, this was different than all the others, but at the same time it wasn’t. He knew, she just needed to give him the space to get there from here.

“The beige is okay, but I’d like it to have a little more gray to it, silver-blue.” He stopped for a second. “Let me send you a picture of this sofa-loveseat combo I’m looking at. It won’t go great with what’s there, but…”

“K. Send it.” When she took the phone from her ear, Jaycee closed her eyes and said a prayer for clarity for him. This couldn’t be easy, choosing for both of them. She would’ve hated even trying to do that. In fact, she wouldn’t have tried. The picture came in of the two pieces he was looking at. They were a deep gray with silver streaks. Stuffed with wooden legs that showed between the bottom and the floor. “I like that. Is it comfortable?”

“Luke said you can sleep on it.”

She laughed. “Or you can.”

With that, he laughed, and she could tell he was relaxing.

“Do we want a recliner?” he asked. “There’s one here that’s a bit darker gray. It’s got nickel nailhead detailing.”

“Sounds nice. Send me a pic.”

And so, the next hour and a half was spent discussing and bouncing pictures from him to her. They decided to repaint the living room once the guests went home. It wouldn’t be terribly different, just a little more gray to the taupe rather than beige. The two bedrooms of furniture weren’t overly difficult, but when they got to the master, nothing really looked quite right.

After four tries with no success, Jaycee took a breath. “Okay, let me ask you this, don’t think about what’s there. What do you see in that space?”

Interestingly, she was learning all she had to do was untether him from the realm of reality and let his imagination go. It was cool how he could create so easily when she did that, and the love for him in her grew every time she heard him like this. He described his vision for the room in detail, and she loved every stitch of the plan.

“But they don’t have anything like that here, and we’re really running out of time especially if we have to go get the paint.”

She nodded, seeing all of the issues. “What if we set up one of the other bedroom’s set in the master for now. We could do pallets in that other one for the kids just for this weekend. That would give us a little time to figure that one out.”

A second and he laughed. “Have I ever told you you’re a genius?”

Jaycee’s smile overtook her being. “Never hurts to hear it every so often.”

Chapter 22

Luke & Sage

When the guys pulled into what would soon be Derek and Jaycee’s, they got out and each got two paint buckets from the back. It was a good thing Luke had taken off of work for the whole day because at this rate, he might have to take tomorrow off as well. He followed the other two in, glad they had stopped for food on the way home.

“We’re back,” Derek called to the women as he trekked through the house. The kitchen looked nearly showroom ready minus the table and chairs of course, but Luke knew as well as anyone what waited for them on the other side of those walls. “Hello?”

Jaycee was the first to appear from the back hallway followed by Rachel. They were both covered in paint splatters in two different shades.

“Well, it’s about time,” Jaycee said to her husband though she didn’t really appear terribly upset. “Nice of you guys to show up.”

“Hey, someone had to get the paint,” Derek said, and he planted a kiss on his wife’s lips, being very careful not to touch the rest of her.

Luke loved to watch the two of them together. They were so in love. It was then that he counted and came up one woman short. “Hey. What’d y’all do with Sage? She up on a ladder somewhere?”

“No she went up to grab us something for lunch,” Jaycee said. “This kitchen is gorgeous, but Caleb eats like a squirrel.”

Next to his fiancée, Caleb put his hands on his beltline. “That’s because I haven’t been eating more than breakfast and a few takeout meals here. I was trying to keep the place looking new, and trust me, dishes are not my strong suit.”

Rachel leaned over to kiss him. “I’m trying to teach him, but he can be a little hard-headed when he wants to be.”

They all laughed.

“So,” Jaycee said, bending and examining the paint before she gave up and just sat on her heels, “what’d you bring us?”

On her way back out to the farm, Sage called Jane. The poor pastor’s wife was swimming in kids, and Sage felt badly about that. “Hey,” she said softly, “how’s everything?”

“Good. All the boys and Steve took Rhett over to Greely for the afternoon, so I’m just hanging out here with the girls.”

“Are they being okay?” Guilt always hung around when she wasn’t taking care of her own children.

“They’re angels as usual. Oh.” The syllable sounded like a jolt. “I was going to tell you, we went over to the church this morning and dug out some of the flowers. I’ve got two big sprays of white and green. I thought we could use those in the front. And I’ve got some more holly we could either hang or put on the pews. It’s got the little red balls in it, so it looks really festive.”

“Do you mind leaving it out? I think I may try to get over there with Rach tomorrow to look at it all. We’re just super-busy trying to get this house done.”

“No problem. It’ll be here when you get here.”

“Great. Thanks so much, Jane.”

“Good luck with getting the house done.”

“Yeah. Thanks. We’re going to need it.”

Luke got put on flooring duty in the bedroom the women had finished painting. With the furniture to arrive the next morning, they didn’t have a second to waste. Carefully pounding in the fitted pieces with the mallet, he was less a participant to the conversations around him as an eavesdropper.

The others were scattered throughout the house. The two women were in the hallway painting with the new color they had gotten at the store. Presumably it would be the same color as the living room eventually although at the moment they didn’t have time to change that color. It was like playing musical wall colors with no music to it.

“Wow,” Derek said, coming in the bedroom where Luke was working. “You want a job?”

“I don’t have four already?” Luke asked with a laugh.

“I’ve got people working for me that have been there three years.” Derek sat on his heels to inspect the flooring. “They can still mess up a project like this.”

“Yeah? Well, it ain’t done yet.” Luke hammered another board in place. “How’s everything else going?”

“Bathroom plumbing’s back together finally,” Derek said, going over to bring another box of pieces. “So at least for now, all plumbing works.”

“Hallelujah. That’s good news.”

“Tell me about it. I was afraid we were going to have to dig an outhouse.” Pulling the pieces free, Derek handed Luke one and then started laying them out ahead of him.

“So what all do we lack?”

“Well, for this phase just getting ready for tomorrow not much. The floors in the bedrooms and hallway, the painting in the hall and the other bedroom and master. Once the girls are finished in the hall, they can help Caleb with those rooms. Eventually we’ll replace all the doors and frames. They’ve gotten pretty beaten up over the years. And we’ll do the windows too. But that’ll be later on.”

“I guess that means y’all are really buying the place then.”

Derek handed him another piece. “That’s the plan. We’re going to go talk with Ms. Murphy tomorrow morning and iron everything out. I hope we can close on it by the end of January. I don’t think that should be much of a problem. At least I don’t expect it to be.”

Luke mulled the question he’d been wanting to ask ever since he’d heard, and finally he decided it was now or never. “So, why this place? I would’ve thought y’all would get something a little closer to Hollywood.”

The answer didn’t come immediately although Derek continued to hand him pieces. “Remember when we talked about growing up a couple months back?”

Yes, Luke remembered that conversation in his shop very well. A lot had changed since then. “Yeah?”

“Well, I think it’s time.”

“For?”

Slowly Derek nodded. “Being a husband, putting down roots for a family, not just winging it.”

“Family?” Luke asked though he kept his head down as if he hadn’t really heard the word.

“Scares me to death if you want to know the real truth. I mean, me? Yeah, I could take care of myself, but this? This is a whole new ballgame.”

Luke knew very well what his friend meant. He’d been in that ballgame for quite a while now. “You’ll be fine. Jayc has got a good head on her shoulders. She’s not going to spend you out of house and home.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about.”

“Oh, yeah? What then?”

The last of the flooring was taking shape as Luke heard Sage’s voice in the hallway talking to Rachel, something about holly or berries. Something like that.

“Honestly, I never really thought of myself as dad material, you know?” Derek said, his voice falling well below the hearing capability of anyone other than Luke. “I mean, you guys, you and Caleb? You’re great with kids. What if I stink? What if I mess them up? What if I’m like my old man and can’t hack it?”

Although he wasn’t trying to be mean, Luke laughed softly and shook his head. “Don’t sell yourself short there, Derek. Those kids, when they come…” He shook his head again, knowing he couldn’t really explain it. “Remember your wedding?”

As the last of the pieces went into place, Derek nodded.

“It’s like that, only deeper.”

“How do you mean?”

“When you have kids, you make a covenant with God and with them although unlike with Jaycee, you make the decision for them.”

“The decision?”

“You enter into a relationship with them, but they don’t really get a say in that until later on. But you make a commitment to them, just like you did with Jaycee, to love them and protect them and to show them God’s love for them. To be there in the good and the bad and everything in between. You agree to become unconditional love for them.”

Derek’s eyebrows went up as he handed Luke the last piece. “I’m beginning to think this love thing is a whole lot more complicated than I ever thought it’d be.”

Luke laughed. “Oh, yeah, it is. And you’re just getting started.”

Chapter 23

Derek & Jaycee

By the time dinner arrived, not a single one of the six of them looked more than half-alive. In every room that Derek went to inspect, his friends were busy—painting, laying the floors, finishing cabinets and installing mirrors. How they would ever be ready for guests tomorrow, he had no idea. This took the insanity of remodeling to entirely new heights.

With a glance at his watch, he left Luke laying the floors in the master and went to find his wife. She was knee-deep in repainting the re-installed trim in the third bedroom.

“How’s it going?”

“Ugh.” She sat back and wiped her wrist over her forehead. “I think I’m going to bleed this color before I’m done.”

He laughed and came over to sit down on the floor with her, putting his hand out and rubbing her back.

“Oh, gee, don’t do that. You’ll put me to sleep,” she said, melting into his touch.

“What’re you thinking for dinner?” he asked, his hand still rubbing. “I thought maybe we could order some pizzas for everyone out of Greely.”

She nodded and swiped her forehead again. “Probably better. Who knows how long this is going to take, and we’ve really got to get most of it done tonight.”

Derek let out a breath and nodded. “The furniture’s supposed to be here by ten in the morning.”

“Oh, yay,” she said, but there was no enthusiasm to it. “More fun.”

“Dig in,” Derek said to all of them as he put the pizzas and drinks on the kitchen cabinet later. “Sorry we don’t have chairs, or a table, or anything else.”

“Hey, you got food. That’s all that matters,” Luke said, grabbing a slice and taking a generous bite.

Like a herd of half-starved animals, they descended on the food, most of them not bothering with plates. In small units, they found places to lean against the cabinets as Sage and Rachel sat on the floor with no questions or ceremony.

“Hand me that cheese,” Rachel said, reaching up to Caleb who did as she had asked.

“So, what’s the game plan?” Luke asked as he got another piece. “I know I’ve still got to lay the hallway, and we have to get the baseboards in the other two bedrooms too.”

“And paint it,” Jaycee said as she joined the other two women on the floor and leaned back against the cabinet with a whack.

“I called Pastor Steve,” Derek said, eating his own slice of meat lovers. “I think I’m going to run over to the church and see what he’s got for end tables. He said he’s got a couple lamps too, which would be a good thing.”

“What all are you getting tomorrow?” Rachel asked.

Derek let out a sigh. “A bed for the master that will eventually go down in the third bedroom. Then we got a queen for that second bedroom. We figured we could put out pallets for the kids in the third bedroom for now. We got a couch and loveseat and recliner for the living room, and a table and chairs for in here. I know there’s at least one end table out in the shop.”

“There’s also a double bed out there,” Rachel said, “but I don’t know how good of shape it’s in.”

And just like that, they collaborated on how to get the furniture that would be needed once the initial work was done.

Going through the house once more after Luke and Sage had left, Derek and Caleb made final notes for the push the next day. In the kitchen, Jaycee wiped down the counters as Rachel dust-mopped the tile floor.

“So is this weird?” Jaycee asked, having not had time to gauge Rachel’s emotional state through all of this.

Rachel didn’t look up, just kept her gaze on the little sweeper. “A little.” She sighed. “Okay, a lot.” She shook her head. “Just strange watching it all change right in front of me and knowing it’s never going to be like it was before.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No.” Rachel’s gaze came up to hers. “Don’t be. I’m glad it’s going to be in good hands, and maybe I’ll get to come out and visit sometimes.”

“You’re welcome any time you want to come.”

This smile was fuller but held even more sadness. “Thanks.”

“It’s strange,” Jaycee said as she and Derek headed away from the now darkened farm house back to Luke and Sage’s later that night.

“What’s that?”

“I used to think we were doing the home owner’s such a favor, going in and redoing their houses, but now…”

Arm on the steering wheel, he glanced over at her. “Now?”

Jaycee shrugged. “There’s so many memories, and once they’re gone, they’re… gone. You know? It’s like, even now. I look back and I can’t believe everything that’s changed so fast. And in a week, Caleb and Rach will be married and that too will just be a memory.” She squinted. “It’s almost like I can see how quick it all passes, how what is real today will just be a memory tomorrow. Sometimes I just want it all to slow down for a second, let me catch my breath.”

Derek smiled and lifted his arm for her to slide under. He kissed her head. “There’s that poetic soul.”

She smiled and raised her shoulders. “Sometimes she just seeps out.”

“Yeah? Well, I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I kind of like having her around to remind me what’s really important.”

Putting her hand on his thigh, Jaycee looked up at him and smiled. “This. This is really important.”

One quick kiss and he nodded. “Don’t ever let me forget that.”

She snuggled closer. “I won’t.”

Chapter 24

Caleb & Rachel

Caleb followed Rachel to the pastor’s house where they collected the sleeping children.

“Goodnight,” he called to Jane as he waved after putting Rhett into Rachel’s car.

“Night,” Jane called back and disappeared back into the house.

Going around the car, Caleb caught up with a weary-looking Rachel. He really hoped that the house would be done-enough tomorrow, and she could start focusing on the upcoming wedding. The way this was, he could tell all of it was wearing her out.

At her car door, he took her in one arm and slid his hand through the hair on her other shoulder. “I’ll see you at the house?” he asked.

Bone-chilling tired went through her gaze. “You don’t have to. You really should get on back.”

“I will.” He nodded. “But I’m not going to leave you to get these two in by yourself.”

She nodded and leaned forward so that the top of her head met his collarbone with a thump. A cold wind brushed by them, and Caleb pulled her backward and opened her door.

“I’ll see you there.”

With the kids in bed, Rachel clomped down the stairs somehow without making a single noise. How anyone could be so tired, she had absolutely no clue. The way she felt it could be March before she woke up again.

At the door, Caleb put both arms around her and pulled her to him. She put her arms around him and laid her head on his chest. He felt so good, she could have gone to sleep right there.

“How’re you?” he finally asked, ducking his head slightly to look down at her.

“Exhausted.”

Nodding, he laid his head on hers. “Me too.”

With the last of her strength, she rubbed her hand up and down his back. “Jane’s going to watch the kids again tomorrow. I can be there around eight.”

His embraced tightened. “You don’t have to. We’ll just be moving furniture when it gets there.”

“Yeah, but I need to get that last wall finished up in my old room. If you’d have told me twenty years ago that dark paint would be such a problem, I’d have chosen something else.”

He laughed and snuggled closer. “It’ll work. By tomorrow night, we won’t even have to worry about it for at least a couple of weeks.”

“Oh!” She came up off of him, wild-eyed with panic. “Did you call the hotel? I was going to…”

The smile on his face tripped across her heart. “You really think I’m going to forget to make those reservations?”

She put her gaze down, shy now at the implications.

He dragged her back into his arms and tightened them. “It’s not the honeymoon suite. I think every one of them has been booked for like three years.” Shaking his head, he snorted. “I think we’ve got to get better at planning ahead.”

However, Rachel just brushed his back. “Long as I’m with you, we could live in a hole.”

His laugh lifted her sagging spirit. “We could have Derek come decorate it. We’d have the best hole in the county.”

Rachel couldn’t stop the laugh as she pulled back and looked up at him. “I love you, you know that?”

He smiled and winked. “I think I heard that rumor somewhere the other day.” And with that, he laid his lips softly on hers.

The next morning, Caleb was up with the sun in the second bedroom rolling on the gold-toned paint. He’d made sure to open the back door in case help arrived, which it did just after eight.

“Looking good,” Derek said, coming in with no fanfare.

“Hey! Reinforcements,” Caleb said as he got more paint and rolled it on. “Jaycee come with you?”

“Nah. She’s coming with Sage in a while. I think they’re finishing up the flowers for some wedding or something.” Derek shrugged. “I don’t know. Women. You know how they are about that stuff.” He looked around. “Rachel not here yet?”

“Not yet. She was pretty beat last night.” Caleb rolled more paint into the side corner. “I hope she’ll take at least a little break this morning, but we’ll see…” He stepped back to survey the wall and then went back to finish one part. “You heading over to the church?”

“I was thinking about it. You about done with that? I could probably use a hand.”

“You could get Pastor Steve to help you.”

Derek laughed. “I’m sure he would love that.”

Finally finished, Caleb stepped back for good. “That’s okay. I’m going to have to let this dry anyway.”

Taking the roller from him, Derek headed out as Caleb got the pan.

“I think I’m going to have to wave the white flag on the baseboards in there,” Caleb said. “It’s not like it’s major. We can get it later. I don’t think Sara’s going to stone me if it’s not done.”

In the mudroom, they carefully washed everything out.

“So besides the furniture, what do we lack?” Derek asked. The question was more rhetorical than anything as he wasn’t really talking to Caleb, more going through the project for himself.

“We’ve got to finish laying the flooring in the master,” Caleb said as if they were one-and-the-same person thinking the job through. “That shouldn’t take more than an hour. The trim in the second bedroom and master, but that’s not major. Finishing the closets would be nice, but I don’t think we’re going to have time to even touch those. I wish we could’ve gotten the cabinets in the bathroom completely done. That would be one less thing for y’all to do when everybody leaves next week, but I’m afraid that’s out too. So what’s the plan anyway? Are you and Jaycee staying here for a while next week?”

“Well, we’re headed back on Monday for some production meetings. I’m hoping we can get the go-ahead from the Richardson’s for Attabury on Friday,” Derek said. “That way we can map that into the schedule as well.”

Paint handled, they headed out to Derek’s pickup.

“Do I need to be there for that?” Caleb asked.

Derek grinned. “I don’t know. Is that a yes?”

They got in on opposite sides of the pickup, and Derek glanced at his passenger only once as he started the vehicle.

Twined with everything else were the thoughts of the show, and Caleb had come to the conclusion that if it could work, he wanted to try. “I’m not going to lie. This is like jumping off a bridge with no bungee cord, but…”

Derek glanced at him again when he didn’t continued. “But?”

With a short shake of his head, Caleb let out a breath. “I think my answer is yes as long as this thing with Attabury works.”

“What if it doesn’t?”

“Then I think God just told me no.”

The sun was up when Rachel rolled over, feeling like her whole body was one, giant aching mess. “Ow. Ugh.” She laid her wrist over her eyes to block out the waves of pain. The short breath dragged her back down into sleep, and she let it for a moment.

How was she ever going to get herself moving again?

Her heart lurched as her mind skipped across what today would bring. New furniture for the house. His parents. His sister and her family.

Sage had offered for them all to come out to her house for dinner later, and Rachel wondered how many times she could take advantage of her friend’s hospitality. Food. She realized with a snap that Caleb had next to nothing at the farm. They couldn’t welcome his whole family here and drop them out in the middle of nowhere with nothing to eat.

Letting out a hard breath, Rachel thought through her bank statement. It would have to go on the credit card. After the wedding and the honeymoon, they could sort it all out. Because right now, that life almost didn’t look real from here. One more close of her eyes and she forced herself up. Time to be productive.

“How’re you holding up?” the pastor asked as he held the door for the two of them to wrestle the two end tables free from the menagerie of mixed-and-matched furniture in the back room of the church.

“Don’t ask,” Caleb said, and he looked at Derek. “Got it?”

“Yeah.”

“K. Let’s go. One, two…”

They lifted the thing and hefted it over several other pieces to the door.

“How’s Rachel?” the pastor asked.

“Probably about as good.” Caleb followed Derek down the little hallway, past the ramp that when it was in place went up to the church, and out the front door. They loaded that one and headed back in. “I think she’s bringing the kids over for Jane to watch again today.”

The pastor nodded. “That ought to suit Jane to a T. She loves those babies.”

Back in the room, they located the second end table, covered in random decorations. Derek cleared it off as Caleb stood back watching, his hands on his hips.

“You all needing any help with the house today?” the pastor asked.

On either side they lifted the thing.

“At this point, we need all the help we can get,” Derek said. Going out into the hallway, they were followed again by the pastor.

“Well, what if me and the boys came over to help?” he asked. “You know me and this stuff, but I’m sure the boys would love it.”

“Bring them over,” Derek said. “We’ll put them to work.”

“You too,” Caleb said. “How are you with carrying furniture?”

The pastor laughed as they loaded that one in and headed back for the lamps.

“Well, for you two, I might be willing to at least come lend some moral support.”

The two of them laughed, and Caleb clapped the pastor on the back.

“At this point, we could use all the moral support you’ve got.”

Thankfully the pastor and his boys had arrived by the time the furniture truck did at just after ten o’clock. Caleb paired off with Aidan, and Derek with Pete. Table, chairs, love seat, bedframes, recliner pieces. The mattresses and boxed springs took all of them, and even the pastor had to help with the couch.

As Derek went out to finalize the paperwork with the furniture company, Caleb stood in the living room amidst the craziness. His parents would be here in less than three hours. How were they ever going to get all of this put together?

“A little help here please!” Rachel’s voice called from the kitchen, and Caleb headed that direction without bothering to question it. At the cabinet she swung four bags of groceries up onto it and let out a hard breath.

“What’s all of this?” he asked as the fear snaked up into his chest.

“Well, we can’t just leave them out here with nothing to eat, can we?” She stepped over and kissed him lightly. “Come on. There’s more in the car.”

Groceries, furniture, the last of the baseboards going on as people in every room snapped pieces of furniture together. It was like being in a beehive of activity. Caleb went to one room and helped until he was sure they could handle it, and then he ran to the next. He helped Derek place the living room furniture before heading in to help the pastor with the bedframes.

“So what are we putting on these beds anyway?” the pastor asked as he sat on the floor tipping and turning a side rail back and forth. “You got a closet full of bed linens somewhere?”

Panic ripped through Caleb just as Rachel came in.

“Groceries are done. What can I do?” she asked, and he turned to her, his eyes wide and worried.

“Do you have stuff for the beds?” he asked, his voice echoing with shell-shock.

Her eyes widened as well. “Oh no. Uh. I didn’t think of that. I have a couple sheets and blankets at home.”

“That’s done,” Derek said, coming in as well. He took one look at them and stopped. “What’s wrong?”

They turned to him, neither saying anything for a long moment.

“What are we going to put on the beds?” Caleb finally asked. “You didn’t get anything, did you?”

“Reinforcements have arrived,” Jaycee announced happily. She stopped at the pallor that had descended on the room. “What’s up?”

Derek looked down at her, and Caleb decided he needed to let them at least discuss it. Was it his place or not? He couldn’t clearly tell anymore.

“We didn’t get bed linens,” Derek said. “We talked about it, but I didn’t even think about it when we were doing the furniture.”

Worry cascaded down her face for one brief second. Then she exhaled and nodded. “Tell you what. Y’all get this done, and Rach and I will go find some.”

“Where?” Derek asked.

She just smiled. “Trust me.” She winked at him. “I’m magic, remember?”

And with that, the two of them left.

When they got into Derek’s black pickup, Rachel thought she might have climbed to the top of the world.

“Wow,” she said, “you can see everything from up here.”

Jaycee laughed. “I wish he would’ve gotten something a little more sensible. I hate driving this thing.”

“Might as well be driving a truck.”

“No kidding.” Jaycee maneuvered the thing around and headed out. “So, how are things? You ready for all of this?”

“If I said, ‘yes,’ I’d be lying.” Rachel wrapped her arms around herself. “I mean, I can’t wait to marry him, that’s a given, but everything else… the wedding, his family, the house. It’s all a little overwhelming.”

With a nod, Jaycee glanced at her. “How about the show?”

Rachel had left that thought out on purpose. She was trying very hard not to think about it. “I’m glad for him,” she finally said.

“For you?”

Tipping her head, she thought that through. “For me… I don’t know. I mean, if it works like you guys said it would, being around here, it wouldn’t be too bad. But I’m still not even sure how I fit into any of it. I mean I’m not the camera girl kind of person.”

“Oh, you might be surprised,” Jaycee said.

“I don’t get that, why you would say that, what that even means.”

Jaycee let out a long breath. “Look, I’ve seen some of the footage, Rach. I can’t explain it, but you and Caleb, together, you’re… sparkles and light. You’re fun to watch together. I don’t know if that was because we were getting to see you two fall in love or what, but when you watch, you can’t deny it’s something really special.”

“Maybe it won’t be like that now.”

As Jaycee turned into her mother’s driveway, she smiled. “Or maybe it will.”

“How can one person be this bad at putting things together?” the pastor whined from his spot on the floor. He lifted his glasses to get a better view of the pieces. “I can feel myself sliding back pre-paradigm-shift here, and it is not fun.”

Caleb came over and sat on his heels. He took one look at the thing, took it from the pastor and turned it over and then tilted it. “It goes in there.”

“That’s what I mean!” Frustration crawled into the pastor’s voice. “How do you and Derek see that? I’m over here turning it up and down and sideways, and nothing works. You come in here, and… well, of course, it goes like that.” Shaking his head, he fitted the two pieces of the bed onto the foot. “I’m telling you, give me something like this, and I jump all the way out of peace and right back into ‘I’ll never make this work. I’m such a failure.’”

Sitting down on the floor, Caleb reached for two other pieces and fitted them together. “Can’t be that bad.”

“Oh, it is. Trust me. It so is. I feel just like I used to at my grandpa’s. He could do anything, put anything together. I wanted to be just like him, but things never worked for me like they did for him.” Leaning back to take a few second break, the pastor shook his head. “I’ve never been able to do this stuff.”

“Yeah, but you can do other things, way more important things than putting a bed together,” Caleb said. “Just think, if it wasn’t for you, Rachel and I would never have made it this far.”

“And if it wasn’t for you and Derek, my house would be falling down around me about right now.”

“See, we need each other,” Caleb said, bringing his piece over to fit it with the pastor’s. “It all works together.”

“Huh.” Not following his piece of the bedframe because Caleb was handling it now, the pastor put his hands down and just watched. “It’s funny. I just read something like that the other day, how when you do things God’s way, all of the pieces just fit like they’re supposed to, how all the words go together—like grace and hope and joy and love. It’s not this or that. It’s all of it at the same time.”

“Sounds interesting.” Caleb fitted another foot onto the bed frame. “Wish I could read stuff like you do.”

“Who says you can’t?”

Caleb laughed. “Believe me, Pastor, reading is not on the list of things I do well.”

However, the pastor shrugged. “I think you might like this one. It’s about the patterns in life and how when you find God, you can break out of those patterns. Paradigm shifts, you know?”

With a nod, Caleb righted the frame that was now altogether. “Paradigm shifts.” He laughed. “Is it me, or do I somehow keep getting into these discussions when I’m with you? I don’t even know what paradigm shift means.”

“Yes you do. You just don’t know you do. A paradigm shift is how you’re here in this room with me getting a bed ready for your family so they can come watch you get married. It’s a life-hinge that once it occurs, your life will never be the same again.”

Widening his eyes, Caleb nodded. “Seems like you specialize in those.”

The pastor smiled and shrugged. “God specializes in those. I’m just along for the ride.”

“Hello! Anybody home?” a voice called from the kitchen, and Caleb’s head jerked up as absolute horror crossed his face.

“Mom?” he asked the air. Letting the parts of the bed frame he still held down to the floor, he fought through the confusion as he turned and headed for the kitchen. Sure enough, his mother and father were standing in the middle of it amidst the table and chairs no one had bothered to arrange. Utter shock pounced on him. Going over, he hugged them both though shock trailed his every movement. “What are you doing here? I thought you said three.”

“Yes, well, your mother needs to learn to read,” his father said with teasing in his voice as he righted their suitcases.

“I do not. I just got our times mixed up with Sara’s. They’ll be here at three.”

That did nothing to calm Caleb’s heartrate. “What? I thought they were coming tonight.”

“They are,” his mother said decisively. “At three.” She smiled as she glanced past him. “I see you’re not alone.”

When Caleb turned, he found Derek, the pastor and both boys in a half-ring staring at them wordlessly.

“You should introduce us,” his mother said, leaning in to him.

“Yes. Yes, I should,” Caleb said as he fought to get life back to right underneath him. “Mom, Dad, this is Derek West. Pastor Steve and his two boys, Aidan and Peter.”

Handshakes went around the room.

“Rachel went with Jaycee, Derek’s wife, to get some things.” Caleb put his hand over the back of his head. “We’ve been working like mad to get the place ready, but time kind of got away from us.”

“Well, for heaven’s sake,” his mother said, “we came to help, not to sponge. Tell us what we can do.”

They’d only been gone a little over an hour as they put together a potpourri of blankets, sheets, pillows, and comforters from practically everyone’s house. They had cleaned out Jaycee’s mother’s linen closet as well as Sage’s. The final stop was Rachel’s place for the extra pillows from the kids’ rooms.

“This should be interesting trying to get everything back to the right houses,” Rachel said as Jaycee angled the truck back into the driveway of the old farmhouse. “Remind me never to open a bed & breakfast.”

“I’ll make a note of that. Hm,” Jaycee said, looking ahead. “Who’s here?”

“Don’t know.” Rachel puzzled over the little car in the driveway. “You expecting someone?”

“Just Luke but he doesn’t get off work for another four hours.”

Rachel checked her watch. “Rats!”

“What?”

“We didn’t get lunch for the guys.” She put her head back on the headrest and growled. “I knew I was forgetting something.”

Putting the truck in park, Jaycee shut it off and hopped all the way down before opening the back to haul out their loot. “’s okay. It’ll give us an excuse to leave again.” She kicked the door closed. “I thought working on the show was bad. It doesn’t even come close to this insanity.”

As she followed her in, Rachel laughed. “And you want me to sign up to do this too?”

“Don’t ask. Whatever I’ve got is probably contagious.”

Together, arms filled with bed clothes, they trooped into the back door, through the mudroom and into kitchen.

“Here they are!” the woman standing there exclaimed as if she’d just found the good china. “Rachel!”

“Mrs…. James?”

Without pretense the woman came right over and hugged her which didn’t work too well with all of the batting between them.

“What…?” Rachel started in shock. “I thought you weren’t coming until three.”

“Surprise,” Caleb said, coming in from the back, and by the look on his face, it was as much of a surprise to him as her. He stepped right over to her and kissed her on the cheek, his eyes saying just how much of a surprise this was, and it got more the longer he looked at her.

Suddenly Rachel understood he was trying to apologize without saying anything, and graciousness slid over her. It wasn’t all fake though she did have to reach for it. “Oh, Mrs. James, this is Jaycee West.”

The handshake really wasn’t. “Nice to meet you.”

“And what’s all of this?” his mother asked.

Wishing she was a better hostess, Rachel ducked.

“We kind of forgot about the bed things in all the chaos,” Caleb answered for her.

“We did a little scavenger hunting,” Jaycee supplied. “It’ll get y’all through the weekend anyway. Sorry we didn’t plan a little better, what with buying the house and trying to get it all finished and the furniture…”

“Buying?” his mother asked.

“Bed in the master’s together,” Derek said, coming in with what looked like half the town. “Oh, good. You found something.”

“Yeah,” Caleb said in answer to his mother’s question. “It looks like Derek and Jaycee will be buying the place when all the craziness settles down.”

“Oh!” his mother sounded so pleased. “That is wonderful. Oh, I know what a load that takes off of these two.”

“It’s a great house,” his father said to Derek.

“Great place to raise a family,” his mother said, and Rachel seriously thought Caleb might have a heart attack. “Do you two have kids?”

“Oh, uh,” Jaycee said, glancing at Derek and then down at the floor.

However, Derek never even winced. “Not yet. Had to let the ink dry on the marriage license first.”

“Oh, yes,” Caleb’s mom said. “You were the ones that Caleb was in the wedding.”

“That would be us,” Derek said, never losing his smooth ways with people.

“So,” Rachel said, jumping in before this could get any worse. “I forgot to get something for lunch. What are you thinking? I know we’re going to Sage’s tonight.”

“We don’t have to go anywhere,” his mother said, “I’m perfectly capable of making dinner for us.”

“No worries,” Jaycee said, her hands now in her back pockets owing to the fact that Derek was holding all of the bed clothes. “Sage has dinner all under control. But we could run get sandwich stuff for now.”

“Oh,” Rachel said. “I got some earlier. We could use that, and I’ll go get more later.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Caleb clapped. “What do you say, you all get the sandwiches ready, and we’ll finish up these beds.”

Rachel nodded, thankful the whole thing hadn’t gone flying off the rails. “Works for me.”

The house was mostly ready by the time Sara and her family showed up at five. Caleb had long-since given up on trying to figure out the timing of anything. He had the sense that like the pastor had said earlier, he was now just along for the ride. Heading over to Luke and Sage’s with Rachel and the kids later, he settled back in the driver’s seat and took a long, slow breath, glad for the reprieve from the day’s chaos.

A moment and Rachel put her hand over on his shoulder and rubbed there. “Crazy day, huh?”

He laughed softly. “You have no idea. I’m surprised I’m still in one piece.” Coming out of his own world, he put his hand over on hers and let his gaze stay on her a second longer. “How’re you?”

She let out a small laugh of her own. “I’m not sure. Ask me in February.”

Gratefulness for their ability to connect like this even for a few seconds, Caleb nodded. “Are we going to survive this?”

Instead of levity, her eyes slipped into seriousness. “What do you say we just forget it all and elope?”

This laugh was even heartier. “Oh, they would love that.”

She joined in the laugh. “They would probably draw-and-quarter us.”

“Not exactly my idea of a romantic way to spend the honeymoon.” In Luke’s driveway, Caleb parked the car and shut it off. Cars and pickups were already scattered across the space. However, instead of getting out, his gaze went over to her and held. “I just want this to be special for you. I’m sorry it’s gotten so crazy.”

However, holding his gaze, she simply smiled. “Hey, I’m the one who always wanted to be part of a family, remember? I think this comes with the territory. Besides…” She glanced beyond him to the house. “…I’m not going to complain. I love these people, and they love us. Some craziness comes with the territory.”

His eyes softened as his heart did too. “Have I told you lately that I love you?”

“Once or twice, I think.”

“Well, in case I forget to say it…” He laid his lips on hers softly, relishing their warmth and sweetness. When he backed up, he slipped his arms around her. “I can’t wait until Saturday.”

She shook her head. “I’m just enjoying now.”

It was a good point, and one Caleb returned to time and again throughout the evening. When their gazes would catch or their hands would touch, when he caught a glimpse of her playing with the kids or talking with Sara, Caleb understood ever deeper just why she had captured his heart so thoroughly. She was one-of-a-kind.

“Thought I’d bring you this,” the pastor said as he sidled up to Caleb before dinner. “We’re going to have to take off right after dinner, and I didn’t want to forget.”

Caleb took the book and puzzled over it. Spiritual Wholeness. “What…? Oh, you didn’t have to…”

“No. I wanted to,” the pastor said. “I can get my own copy.”

“But…”

“Call it an early wedding present.” The pastor shrugged. “And maybe a little of me hoping we have a chance to talk about paradigm shifts and life on the other side of New Years.”

With a smile, Caleb put his arms around the pastor and patted him on the back. “Thank you. Really. For everything.”

“You’re very welcome.”

Chapter 25

Luke & Sage

“I can see why Caleb has talked non-stop about this place,” Caleb’s mother said as she helped Sage finish preparing the meal. Everyone had learned within an hour of her being on the ground in Ridgemount that Dee James had no intentions of simply being a guest that expected everyone to wait on her.

According to Jaycee, Dee and her husband Tom showed everyone without saying a word just where Caleb got his work-ethic and heart. Painting trim, reinstalling baseboards, finishing floors, putting the beds together—there was nothing the two of them stuck their noses in the air over tackling. In fact, it was pretty clear within the first hour of their arrival that they fit right in.

Sage was slightly less sure about Sara and her husband and kids, but it didn’t feel like tension followed them around either, so she had finally relaxed about the evening and the weekend.

“You are all just amazing,” Dee said, scooping out the potatoes into the serving dish. “That house… and they said you’re doing the flowers for the wedding?”

Softly, Sage giggled as she positioned the roast and sliced it. “I’m trying, but with everything going on, I hope they don’t just have to walk down the aisle with stems and petals.”

“Well, what do you need, dear? Sara and I are totally free tomorrow. Tom’s got the bachelor party tomorrow evening, but…”

“Oh!” Sage’s heart jerked, and she dipped her head to check the kitchen behind her. “I was going to mention that we haven’t really given Rachel a shower or anything. I feel kind of bad about that…”

Dee’s face lit with excitement. “Say no more. We’ll do it tomorrow night while the guys are doing their thing. Do you have any decorations? A cake maybe?”

“No.” She could feel her eyes widening. There already wasn’t enough time to get the things done she had committed herself to doing. She still had to finish upcycling the bodice of the dress.

But Dee didn’t look phased at all. “Don’t worry. We’ll get it put together. I’m so happy for these two, I could just about burst. Rachel is so perfect for Caleb. I knew it the first time he started talking about her on the phone.”

Sage’s mind went back to a night, standing in her living room when she had faced off with Caleb over Rachel and told him in no uncertain terms he’d better not hurt her friend. “Rachel has been through so much.”

“You’ve known her for a while then?”

“Since high school, but we didn’t really hang out in the same crowd back then. I always liked her though, felt real bad for her when everything went down with her dad and then with Nathan.” Nathan, Rachel’s first husband, a guy Sage had always thought highly of until she learned the rotten details surrounding their marriage and his treatment of Rachel. Sage wouldn’t wish his death in the military on anyone, but he certainly hadn’t done his wife any favors while he was alive. Forgive me, Lord, she thought as she did every time she thought of the rat, I know I’ve got stuff I’m not proud of either.

“Who do you think we should invite?” Dee asked as she finished tossing the salad.

“Uh, well, you and Sara and Rach of course. Me and Jayc and Jane. Maybe my mom. Rachel’s mom…”

“Is she any better?”

“Rachel said a little bit. I hope she can get there by Saturday.”

“Me too. We were supposed to run by there tonight, but I think Rachel was concerned about stressing her out before the festivities.”

Sage nodded. “She’s been really fragile since the move, probably even before the move, but definitely after. I wish there was more we could do.”

“Honey, you all do any more for them, and you’d be living their lives for them.” Dee laughed and then grew pensive. “Sometimes the best thing we can do for others is just to walk the walk with them. From what I’ve seen, you all do that with each other with every breath you can. That’s something special.” She ducked closer. “And if I don’t get another chance to say so, thanks for taking such good care of them. It’s a mom thing to worry. Makes me glad to know I can put some of that worry aside and know they’re surrounded by good people.”

It was amazing how good Dee could make a person feel. “Well, I’m starting to see just why they are such wonderful people.” And with that, Sage hugged the woman she had only just met but already felt so very close to.

“Okay. Let’s feed these hungry, wonderful people.”

Sage laughed and swiped at her eyes. “Haha. You’ve got it.”

Luke had never seen his house so bursting with people. They were wall-to-wall and then some. If the kids could have gone outside to play on the go-carts, it would have helped. As it was, his boys and Zane and Sara’s two were in the middle of a spirited game of spoons in the now-clean kitchen as the adults and little ones fanned out in the small living room.

Checking on the chaos in the kitchen one more time and warning Jeremiah to keep an eye on things, he went to join the others in the living room. In one corner, the women sat laughing and talking, in the other, was a serious discussion among the men. He chose the serious one though it didn’t look like nearly as much fun.

“We’re meeting with them on Friday,” Caleb said as Luke sat down in one of the myriad of folding chairs he had brought in from the shed for the occasion. “She called today to confirm it. Eleven o’clock. I really think we need to walk the property, get a feel for the amount of work we’re looking at, what we can do show-wise, and what they’re thinking money-wise.”

Derek nodded. “I can’t say this is going to be a slam-dunk. I mean, I’ve seen the place. Honestly it’d be easier to knock it down and start over.”

Caleb’s dad nodded as well. “Why don’t they? What is there that’s worth saving?”

Looking at each of them, Caleb shook his head. “I don’t really know, but she seems really set on Attabury. It’s this house or nothing from what I get from her.”

Luke shivered. “Sorry. That place still gives me the willies. When I was a kid, my sister and her boyfriend thought it’d be hilarious to take us kids out there on Halloween. Old Mrs. Attabury had either just died or was about to. I’ve never forgotten how scared I was. I think I hid in the backseat and refused to come out. Least that’s what I remember of it.”

“She must’ve been something else, old Mrs. Attabury,” Caleb said with a laugh. “Rachel tells the same kinds of stories.”

“Well, the woman was like a hundred and ten, and from the stories, she had a rifle she wasn’t afraid to use.” Luke’s eyes got wide. “You might want to have the pastor go out and bless the place before your start. Yeee.” He shivered again, and it was no act. Just the thought sent his spirit on edge.

“So what’s the story about it?” Caleb’s dad asked. “A house don’t get a reputation like that for no reason.”

“Well,” Luke said, and he glanced at the others, thinking they would surely think him in need of mental help after this, “the story I always heard was that the Attaburies, Mrs. Attabury’s husband’s family were slave owners way back in the day. Mom says she still can kind of remember Mrs. Owens, Ms. P’s mom working out there although I really think she was paid and stuff by that time. I don’t know.” Luke shrugged. “Maybe it’s just got some bad memories around all of that stuff.”

“Maybe that’s why it’s so important to Ms. Richardson,” Derek said, crossing his arms.

“Why?” Caleb asked in confusion.

“Well, think about it, her great-grandmother would’ve been one of the last servants there… Maybe it’s a righting the wrongs of the past kind of a thing.”

Everyone nodded.

“At least that would make some sense,” Luke said.

Caleb tipped his head. “Well, I guess we’ll find out on Friday.”

Chapter 26

Caleb & Rachel

The new couch at what would soon be his “old” place wasn’t half-bad, but Caleb didn’t stay on it very long when he woke up Thursday morning. He was up before the sun, cooking up breakfast for the whole crew when Sara made her way out of the second bedroom and next to him at the counter.

“Well, look at you,” she said with a grin. “Who knew my little brother could cook?”

“Your little brother can do a lot of things,” he said in return. “Who knew you could get up at this hour?”

“Force of habit, I think. Houses don’t sell themselves, you know.” She went over and poured herself some coffee.

“How’s that going anyway?”

“Oh, up and down. It’s great for a while, and then we hit a lull.” Blowing on the steam, she took a sip. “Wish it would be a little more steady and predictable, but it is what it is.” She took another sip. “How about you? Mom says you and Rach are going to make a go of the TV show thing.”

He tipped his eyebrows. “Sounds like we’re going to try anyway.”

His sister had always had the ability to see right through him, ever since he had smashed his mom’s flowerpot, and Sara took the blame. She could tell with one look just how his life was going. “You freaked out about that?”

Over the sizzling bacon, he sighed and put his hands on the counter. “I wouldn’t be, you know? If it wasn’t for…”

“Rachel and the kids.”

He nodded. “Does that ever get any easier? Do you ever get to a place where you can breathe and know they’re going to be okay?”

She smiled softly. “If there is, I haven’t found it.” Letting out a breath, her smile faded into thoughtfulness. “Zane and I’ve spent many nights up trying to figure out how to make the money-thing work and the scheduling thing work, and the life thing work. Best advice I can give you is, hold onto Rachel. You’ve got to work as a team because if you ever get crosswise and start working against each other, it’s gonna come apart.”

“Well, that’s comforting.”

Sara shook her head. “Come on. You know that. Think about the show. You have to work together. What would happen if the electric guys started undermining the plumbing guys, or the carpenters decided they didn’t care what happened with the people flooring, they were going to do it their way and everyone else could just deal with it.”

A second and Caleb nodded. “It would be a mess.”

“A marriage would be worse. You’ve got to work to stay on the same team, talk to her, especially about the awful stuff, be there for her, especially when it’s easier not to be. As much as you can, stay on the same page about stuff. The only way you make this work is together.”

He smiled, nodded, and hugged her. “Thanks, sis. You always know what to say.”

She laughed. “Not that it’s ever done either one of us much good.”

Rachel went to visit her mother the next morning, hoping the kids would not add more stress to her mother’s day. She warned them before they got out of the car that they needed to be quiet because Grandma wasn’t feeling well.

Thankfully when she got in the little house, it was better than she’d feared.

“Well, you look much better,” Rachel said when she sat on the couch, her mother in the chair.

“I finally feel like I’m going to live again.” Her eyes were soft and loving. “Did Caleb’s family get in okay?”

“They did.”

“I’m so sorry I wasn’t up to having them over yesterday.”

“Well, they were sorry they didn’t get to meet you, but they sent their love and prayers that you’ll be feeling better.”

Her mother grinned. “Their prayers must be helping.”

“I’ll be sure to tell them.”

Although her mother didn’t come to the evening festivities and they ended up with the children as well, Rachel was touched that her friends and Caleb’s family had thought to throw her a small shower. They had a cake and everything.

“When did you have time to do all of this?” she asked as she was led into Sage’s living room and given the cake to hold for photos. “You guys were here all day doing the flowers!”

“Not all day,” Sara said, waggling her knee to the side mischievously.

Understanding, Rachel lifted her chin. “You said Paige had homework.”

“Well, it wasn’t homework exactly.”

All the women laughed.

“She’s sneaky like you,” Rachel said to Dee who demurred.

“Me? Whatever do you mean?”

Again they all laughed.

“Okay, enough of that,” Sage said, cutting through it all. “We are all standing around accusing each other when we could be eating cake!”

Jaycee came to take the cake from Rachel. “Let’s eat.”

As it turned out, there was far more than just cake on the menu. There was a full spread and presents too. When they sat Rachel on the couch, cameras again ready, she shook her head. “You people…”

“But you love us,” Jaycee said, going to the stack.

“And you wouldn’t have us any other way,” Sara said, taking a seat between the presents and Rachel.

“Eep!” Sage clapped. “I can’t believe we pulled this off.”

Dee laughed. “With you in charge, I think we could’ve pulled off a coronation with six hours notice.”

Even as Rachel laughed, her heart burst with love for these women. They had become her family. Seeing her tears, Jane who had sat next to her on the couch reached over and patted her shoulder.

“In case this isn’t obvious,” Jane said. “You’ve got a lot of people who love you.”

Rachel nodded and the tears started for real then. “Thank you… all.”

“Ahhhh,” they all said as Jane hugged Rachel.

A second and Jaycee laughed. “Okay, people enough of the mushy stuff! It’s present time!”

Across town at Gregory and Emily’s, Sage and Jaycee’s parents’ house, the men were gathered for a spirited game of Texas Hold ‘Em. The game was hardly cut-throat, in fact, they could’ve been playing for M&M’s and it would have been just as much fun.

As they played, Caleb glanced around, and he couldn’t help but think how grateful he was to God for bringing these people into his life. There was his father who had taught him so much about being a man, his brother-in-law who was showing him how to work out a marriage, his pastor who despite his objections to the contrary knew far more about life and how to live it than Caleb would ever have thought one person could possess, and his two best friends in the world. Just how that had all happened, he wasn’t at all sure, but throughout the evening, he would feel it again and know that God had truly blessed him far beyond anything he could have ever asked for or imagined.

And in two days, he would be a husband and a father. Sometimes life truly had head-snapping propositions in mind. This week was proving to be one of those times.

Chapter 27

Eric & Dani

“Yeah, don’t worry about it,” Dani said into the phone on Friday morning as they hustled around getting ready for the trip to Ridgemount. “No. No. It’s okay. We’ll just take her. No, Mrs. McGuire. Really. It’s fine. Okay. We’ll see you next week. Okay. Thank you. Bye.”

She clicked the phone off and let out a hard breath. “Mrs. McGuire is sick. Flu bug or something.” Going over she verily threw the dishes in the dishwasher. “I don’t believe this. Carly went out of town with her folks. We’re going to have to take Ja.”

“It’s only a couple hours,” Eric said, knowing he was going to get reamed for being practical.

“It’s two hours there, two hours home, and what are we going to do with her while we’re talking with Mr. James?”

Eric held the fact that he wanted to say maybe they should scrap the whole idea altogether in check. “So we bring her some colors and a few toys. She’ll be fine.”

Dani shot him a non-too-pleased look before glancing at her watch. “Well, we don’t have time to do anything else. Ja!” She slammed the dishwasher and started wiping down the cabinets. “You’re going with us, baby! Grab you some things to bring!”

It was going to be a long day.

The trip to Ridgemount in their gold-toned Infiniti proved exceedingly quiet. In defense against the accusations and frustrating thoughts parading through her head, Dani flipped on the radio and the air for good measure. She hated taking trips with the two of them. Since this was her vehicle, Eric let her drive, and in the backseat, Jaden always felt a million miles away. Not that Eric in the front felt any closer.

He was busy on his NotePad. If she asked him something, he would answer but that was it. With a sigh she didn’t let out, she focused on the road and forced her mind to calculate the miles versus the time to get to Ridgemount. They would be on-time or early barring any unforeseen issues. The meeting was supposed to be at eleven.

Without so much as thinking about it, she calculated the time it might take them to get through the meeting. By two, they could surely be headed back. Two hours home meant being home by four.

A fleeting thought of her grandmother alighted in her mind, but she shook her head almost without realizing it. They didn’t have time to stop by on this trip. Maybe next time, though even from here, that looked less-than-probable. She thought back and then farther back to the last time she went to her grandmother’s house. Jaden had only been about five at the time.

Dani still remembered how uncomfortable the tiny house made her feel, how her own mother had sneaked out of going after her father’s funeral saying she had to clean the church center and deal with all the food. Her grandmother needed someone to take the food and flowers to her house, and Dani had complied.

Her heart fell every time she thought about that house. No one should have to live like that, and she could hardly believe her mother ever had. No, her mother had married up. Way, way up. A lawyer. A businessman. A pillar of the community.

Until he ran off with his secretary and left them all high and dry.

The thoughts overran her ability to hold them, and she reached down and turned the radio up just a little louder. A second and Eric’s cell phone rang. He reached up and without a word turned the radio almost all the way off. White hot anger coursed through Dani. He was working. She should be working. Maybe he was right. Maybe this wasn’t even worth it.

Tears stung her eyes, but she would not let them fall. No. She was going to go through with this whether it broke her in half or not.

“Hey, Joe,” Eric said into the phone, “did you get the cost estimates on…”

She didn’t hear the rest of the conversation. All she heard was the shattering of her heart. This wasn’t what she thought it would be. He spent more time talking to them than he ever did talking to her, and she didn’t miss the tone in his voice either. He sounded so happy, so enthusiastic. No, when he talked to her now he just sounded depressed and frustrated. That thought didn’t help her mood at all, and she glanced into the back at Jaden to keep the annoyance down.

Head down, her daughter was coloring without so much as glancing up. Jaden. Maybe she was doing this for Jaden. So her daughter would at least never have to wonder if she was good enough in this world. Yes, Dani decided as she put her gaze back on the road with renewed determination, she would do this for Jaden. That was the best reason of them all.

Eric couldn’t call his knowledge of Ridgemount, North Carolina extensive. He’d only been there a few times. Once when they were dating for some family get together thing. Once just after they were married to check on his grandfather-in-law who was ill at the time, and the last time when the man had passed away. He couldn’t say he was in love with the place or that he hated it. It was more like a passing thought on the way to much better things.

And now he was here again because he owned a house here. A house that was falling down, that they had driven by, and Dani had said she would love to own someday and fix it up. At the time he thought she was kidding. He no longer thought that.

At the last turn on the other side of the town, she went right and just beyond the town right again. Eric was trying hard not to pay attention because each mile she drove made his heart sink just a little more.

“Mommy,” Jaden said in the back.

“Yeah, baby?”

“I need to go to the bathroom.”

“Oh, baby-girl, not now.”

Smack in the middle of nowhere, Dani pulled up to what surely had to be a bad joke. This couldn’t be the place they had bought, could it? It looked far, far worse than Eric even remembered. However, out front where they parked on the road stood two pickups and three men.

“That must be Mr. James,” Dani said, pulling up and parking, and Eric’s heart fell even further.

“What’re we going to do about Ja?” Eric asked. It was clear there were no bathroom facilities in the area.

“I don’t know. I guess we ask them,” she said, and her irritation was clear. She shut off the SUV, smoothed down her hair that was in a tight bun at the back of her head, checked her lipstick, and popped her door open.

Eric looked in the backseat. “Hang on, baby girl. We’ll get you to a bathroom.” With that, he opened his own door and slid out.

The chill of the sea air washed over them as they headed across the little road with no traffic to the three men standing there. The middle one held his hand out to Dani.

“Ms. Richardson,” he said.

“Mr. James,” she replied, shaking his hand.

“I’d like to introduce you to Derek West,” Mr. James said, turning to the younger of the other two.

“Please call me, Derek,” the tall man with the smooth voice said.

“And this is Mr. Gregory Lawrence,” Mr. James continued. “He works for an architectural firm around here. I thought he could give us some insight as well.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” Dani shook each hand in turn, and then seemed to remember Eric. She turned to him. “This is my husband, Eric.”

They all shook hands.

Eric had the horrible feeling that Dani might forget Ja if he didn’t speak up. “Uh, before we get started, we brought our little girl along, and well, she really needs to use a bathroom?”

The three of them looked at each other in concern.

“Rachel’s at home,” Mr. James said. He looked at the others. “I could take you over there, and we could be back in like ten minutes.”

When Dani hesitated, Eric nodded. “We’d better hurry if you don’t mind,” Eric said.

“Don’t mind at all.” Without more debate, Mr. James headed with Eric to the SUV. “We could take yours, that way she won’t have to get out, and we don’t have to deal with the car seat thing.”

“Works for me,” Eric said, hustling back to their vehicle. “We’ll be right back.”

And with that, Dani Richardson was left alone on a deserted country road with two albeit nice-looking gentlemen by herself. “Well,” she said, dragging her training and chin up as she surveyed them both, “they said you’re an architect? Eric is an engineer. He’s working on a project out in Greensboro right now.”

The shorter and older of the two, Mr. Gregory she-couldn’t-remember-his-last-name nodded. “Then they might not need me after all.” He looked at Derek and smiled. “I think I just got called along for the ride anyway. These two are really the experts at remodeling.”

“So, tell me a little about your plans for the place,” Derek West said, and Dani had to choke back how surreal this suddenly was. Sure Mr. James had told her about Derek West, but it was one thing to think about meeting a television star. It was another entirely to meet with him and be expected to have a normal conversation with him as if he wasn’t a fixture in every living room across the fruited plain.

“Well,” she said summoning her best businesslike voice and demeanor, “we want it for a vacation home, so we’d like it not to look like a haunted house when we come to stay.”

They all laughed, and she relaxed a bit just as a small silver car pulled up on the other side of the road and stopped. Her gaze went that direction with the other two.

“Oh, good,” Derek said, waving at the young woman who stepped out. “They must have finished shopping.”

“Hey,” the young woman with long almond-brunette hair said as she hustled over to them. “Sorry I’m late.” She came right to Derek and kissed him, sending Dani back a space and a half.

“Jayc,” Derek said, “this is Danisha Richardson.”

The young woman held out her hand. “Oh. Hello, it’s so nice to meet you. I’m Jaycee West.”

West. Ah. Jaycee West. So she must be Derek’s wife. Dani’s breath let out slowly as she shook the woman’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Ms. West.”

“Oh, goodness.” Jayce laughed and glanced up at Derek. “That’s a little weird. Please call me Jaycee.”

“Jaycee,” Dani said.

“Jaycee’s my assistant and right hand woman,” Derek said, putting his arm around her.

“And wife,” Jaycee said with a grin. “Don’t forget that.”

“Oh, yeah,” he said, grinning back. “That too.” He kissed her again.

Mr. Gregory stepped in front of them. “You’ll have to excuse them. Newlyweds and all of that.” He rolled his eyes as if he was exasperated.

Dani laughed again. “Oh, my. How long?”

“Three weeks,” he said as if marriage was a disease. “We expect this phase to wear off any day now.”

But Derek smiled down at his bride. “Not likely.” She snuggled in under his embrace, and he kissed her hair.

“I should warn you now,” Mr. Gregory continued, “there’s going to be a lot of… what do the kids call it now? PDA? On this job. You’re going to be dealing with these two, and the two who are going to be doing most of the work who are getting married tomorrow. You might want to bring your boots for all the mush because I’m afraid you’ll be wading through a lot of this.”

Although Dani laughed, secretly her heart ached just a little. Marriage hadn’t turned out like that for her and Eric. That was probably her fault although his part in it couldn’t be discounted. “It’s okay. I think I’ll live.”

“Hey, Rach,” Caleb said as he went right up the porch of the cute little house and into the door with Eric and Jaden trailing him.

“Yeah?” A young woman with chestnut brown and red hair came into the living room from the kitchen. Two children played on the living room floor in the sunlight.

“Bathroom emergency.”

“Oh, gracious!” She came over and put her hand out to the little bathroom next to the stairs. “Please. It’s all yours.”

“Thank you,” Eric said and turned Jaden for the little room. Going over with her, he pushed her gently inside. “It’s okay, baby girl. I’ll be right here.” With that, he closed the door and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He’d already come to the conclusion on the short ride over that Caleb was a down-to-earth kind of guy, amiable and kind. It was one of those instant friendships formed in the heat of an emergency. Now that the door was closed and the emergency was hopefully taken care of, he stood facing two very concerned faces.

“Eric,” Caleb finally said, “this is Rachel, my fiancée.”

“Oh.” Eric smiled at her. “Nice to meet you.” He shook her hand. “Thank you for this. Poor Ja. We got to Attabury, and…”

“Oh, gosh,” Rachel said. “Say no more. That place gives me the creeps just thinking about it. You couldn’t pay me to go in and use the bathroom there. I’d have nightmares for months.”

Eric laughed. “Well, that’s pretty much my thoughts too.” Then he realized how that must sound. “Dani’s heart is set on it though, and what’s that they say? Happy wife, happy life?”

Rachel’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Caleb. “You should remember that.”

He smiled at her. “Believe me, I’m taking notes.” The kiss was barely a peck, but it dragged Eric’s gaze down to the meticulously amazing hardwood floor. In fact, the more he looked, the more he realized everything about the house, save for the cadre of toys in the living room, was pristine. It truly was beautiful, like something you would see in a magazine. Rachel must be an immaculate designer.

The door behind him opened, and Jaden, gaze down, stepped out and went right to his pant leg. He put his hand over her and brushed it across her back. “Better?”

She nodded but never said a word.

“Okay. Good.” He picked his gaze up to them. “Thank you, again.”

“You’re welcome,” Rachel said, but worry crossed her face as she gazed down at Jaden. “You know, you all are going to be busy talking flooring and windows and sheetrock in a big old, musty house. That’s not really a place for a sweet, little girl to be. Maybe Jaden can stay here for a while and play with my kids.” She glanced over her shoulder. “We’ve got movies upstairs if she’d rather do that.”

“Oh,” Eric said, his hand tightening on his daughter’s shoulder as his mind snapped to what Dani would think of that idea. “I’m sure she’ll be fine.”

However, Rachel’s face fell further. “Really,” she said, her voice going much more determined and serious even as it became softer. “I’ve been out there, and it’s no place for kids. Besides, that would give you all plenty of time without worrying about where she stepped or what she was up to.” When she saw his continued hesitation, she added, “It’s really no trouble. I’m here all day, and the kids would love to have someone new to play with.”

Seeing that he wasn’t going to talk her out of this, Eric considered and bent to Jaden. “What do you think, Ja? You want to stay here and play?”

His daughter’s gaze stayed down but finally she nodded very slowly. Pulling her into a hug, he nodded. “Okay.” He stood. “We’ll be back as soon as we can.”

Rachel held her hand out for Jaden’s, and after a second, the little hand crossed the gap and latched on. “We’ll be fine. Take your time.”

Chapter 28

Caleb & Rachel

On the trip back to Attabury, Caleb decided to get a little better feel for the second member of the couple he would be working for. “Don’t worry about Jaden,” he said because he sensed Eric’s unease over the decision. “Rachel’s great with kids. In fact, she’s an aid at the pre-K here.”

Eric nodded.

“So, I guess this whole thing must be a little overwhelming for you,” Caleb nudged carefully, not sure just where Eric stood on the whole thing. He had expected a bulldozer after having spent time around Dani, but Eric was not that in the extreme opposite direction. Quiet. Reserved. Almost shy. Those would have been better words for him.

“Well, to be honest, it really is Dani’s dream, not mine. I don’t know, what do you think? It’s a lot of money to be spending on a house that looks like it should be condemned and knocked down.”

Caleb couldn’t disagree. He’d said as much on more than one occasion. “Why do you think it’s so important to her?”

Tipping his head, Eric sank in the seat. “Don’t say this to anybody, but I think it has to do with her family and how they were treated in that house.” He shrugged. “Dani’s mom is…” He shrank even more. “Well, she’s not the most pleasant person on the planet, mother-in-law jokes aside. She’s just very… defensive about her time here.”

“Growing up here,” Caleb clarified.

“Oh, so you know about that?” Eric asked, glancing over.

Caleb nodded. “I know her mom some. We worked on her house after the hurricane. She’s a nice lady.”

“I wouldn’t know.” Eric jerked up in the seat. “Not that I have anything against her. It’s just that well… we haven’t spent much time around here. That’s one reason this whole thing is so… out there to me. Dani never wanted to spend five minutes here, and now she wants a vacation house here?” He sighed and settled again as the house and little knot of people still standing next to the road came into view. “I don’t know. Part of me thinks maybe it’ll make things a little better, and part of me thinks we’re probably wasting our time.”

He pulled up, and all Caleb wanted to do was say keep going so we can talk. Every word Eric spoke was like he was threatened with torture for just saying it, and Caleb could tell there was far more to this story than Eric was saying. As they parked and got out, he started watching his potential homeowner. He couldn’t explain it exactly, but the understanding that this might not just be about fixing up a house came over him.

Walking up, Caleb saw the panic go through Dani’s eyes when she looked at Eric. “Where’s Ja?”

The breath was hardly there, but Caleb saw it just the same. “Rachel,” Eric turned to Caleb, “Caleb’s fiancée is going to watch her for a little bit.”

Deeper panic shot through her dark eyes.

“It’s okay,” Jaycee said, and Caleb was so grateful for her he could’ve hugged her. “Rachel’s great. In fact, she’s probably going to be helping with Attabury if you decide to do it.”

Crossing her arms, Dani clearly was trying not to be rude at her displeasure over the situation.

“Rachel’s amazing at restoring things,” Derek put in. “Believe me, your house couldn’t be in any better hands than hers and Caleb’s here.” He clapped Caleb on the back before looking up at the daunting structure beyond. “What do you say we go take a look at the place?”

“Let’s do it,” Caleb said, and with that, they all turned and headed into Attabury.

At 11:30 just as Rachel was pulling sandwich makings from the refrigerator, the doorbell rang. Checking on the kids as she went through the living room, she strode to the door, and her eyes went wide when she saw who it was. Be cool, Rach. Be cool.

Swinging the door open, she smiled. “Dee! Sara! Oh, look, and you brought guests.”

“We did,” Dee said. “We hope you don’t mind, but I’ve been wanting to get over here and see the house. It is just lovely on the outside.”

Rachel wished they had given her ten minutes of notice so she could have thrown all the junk into a closet. But short of slamming the door in their faces, that wasn’t an option anymore. “Come on in. Come on in. It’s a mess just to warn you.”

“Eh.” Dee waved that away. “It’s called lived-in.” She ducked to Rachel as she passed by her. “It’s better that way anyway.”

“We brought you something.” Sara held up a pan.

“Yum. It smells delicious.”

“Lasagna,” Sara said. “Mom’s been cooking since five this morning.”

“Wow. Well, come on in. Make yourselves at home.”

In trooped Dee, Sara, and the three kids.

Dee and Sara’s gazes were sliding this way and that as Rachel took the hot pan and headed for the kitchen.

“This is just beautiful,” Dee said.

“Caleb did this?” Sara asked in awe.

Rachel laughed. “Well, him and about forty other people.” She set the pan on the island and came back.

“This fireplace is amazing,” Sara said. “Just like something you’d see them do on TV.”

That piqued Rachel’s interest. “So you watch the show then?”

Sara smiled. “Never miss it.” Her eyes softened. “Don’t tell Caleb, but I’m really kind of looking forward to this new show. At least then I’ll be able to see my baby brother once in a while.”

Dee’s gaze slid over to the children in the living room and confusion traced there. Rachel understood with one glance.

“They’re meeting with the Attabury homeowners this morning. Jaden is their child.” Rachel shook her head and crossed her arms. “Believe me, Attabury right now is no place for a child.”

“Ah.” Dee raised her chin and went over to the kids. In quick succession she introduced them all. “And Jaden,” she asked when the introductions were made, “how old are you?”

“Ten,” the tiniest little voice ever said.

“Ten? Why that’s right in between Paige and Ky. Paige will be twelve in two months, and Ky just turned nine.”

Jaden’s eyes came up to the other two, and her smile was tinier than her voice.

“I bet the three of you can watch these littler ones while we go look at the house,” Dee continued. “Don’t you think you could do that for us?”

Paige and Ky immediately nodded, seeming to grow a few inches with the responsibility. A second and Jaden’s gaze slid up to them again, and she nodded very, very slightly.

“Great!” Dee said as if they had just won an award. “You all are so awesome!”

And Rachel laughed as she looked over at Sara who smiled as well. Dee hadn’t changed a bit.

“Watch your step,” Caleb said as he led the group around to the back door. The front wouldn’t open, and he was afraid to force the issue. “Some of these floorboards are rotten, looks like they got wet at some point.”

Carefully they each went through the back door, coming into the kitchen. It was large and a mix-match of ancient and merely old. An open hearth was still on one side flanked with more modern appliances on the other. However, the appliances themselves were half-a-century old or better.

“I say we take a quick tour of the place,” Caleb said, having no idea where to even start, “and then we can talk this thing through.”

Heads nodded though most of them looked positively shell-shocked.

“This is so beautiful,” Sara said as they climbed the stairs on the little impromptu tour. “This railing is to die-for.”

It was strange how easily Rachel’s heart and spirit went back to the day she had climbed these steps with Caleb before that railing was even in place. How could she ever have envisioned this moment at that one?

“Oh, look at this!” Dee exclaimed when they got to the little alcove at the top of the stairs. “Oh, I could sit here for hours and read and read.”

“And read and read and read,” her daughter said with a laugh.

“Sorry, I didn’t get a chance to pick up.” Rachel went in to the little space and jerked up the small blanket and three books there.

“Seriously, Rachel,” Sara said with a shake of her head. “We’re not the house police. Trust me, I would kill for my house to look half this good after I had cleaned it.”

“It’s just with the kids,” Rachel said.

“Trust me, honey, my kid was named Caleb,” Dee said with a laugh. “There has never been nor will there ever be a child who can disasterize a living room faster than that one could.”

Rachel laughed despite the feeling of being on trial. “I hope he’s not as bad now.”

The women chuckled. “Looks like you’re about to find out.”

Quickly Rachel shelved the three books and folded the blanket. “Maybe you should have warned me.”

Dee grinned. “No way. You might have called the whole thing off.”

However, at that moment, Rachel knew she would never do such a horrible thing. “I think I’ll take my chances.”

Reaching over as they went to see the kids’ rooms, Sara gave her a hug. “I’m so glad I’m going to get a sister out of this deal, not to mention one I actually like.”

Rachel squeezed back, and neither felt the need to let go. “So I’m not an only child anymore?”

“Nope.” Sara grinned. “Not anymore.”

“The ceiling is clearly sagging,” Mr. Lawrence said as he inspected it.

“We’ve got a major bow right through this area,” Eric confirmed. “We’ll probably have to put in some kind of stiff back.”

“Or a beam of some kind.”

“Won’t that cut down on the ceiling height?” Dani asked as Caleb took in the whole discussion.

“You might get away with tucking it into the rafters,” Mr. Lawrence said, glancing at Eric.

“We’re going to have to gut it anyway,” Derek said. “All of the sheetrock will have to go. None of its any good.”

“What do you think the studs behind it look like?” Caleb asked.

“That’s anybody’s guess,” Derek said. “But we’ll probably be looking at reinforcing at least some of them.

“I think the first thing is going to be getting that tub out of upstairs,” Eric said, coming over from his task of inspecting the ceiling. He turned and looked at the staircase. “If the stairs will even support us going down them with it.”

Caleb let out a long breath and put his hand on the back of his head. “So, I’m hearing all of the plans, but I really think the first bridge we’ve got to cross is if we’re going to do this thing and how we’re going to do it.” He looked at the others who looked back at him but said nothing, and he realized this was his deal to make. “So, first question is, are you two still interested in taking this on, and if so, are you interested in us filming it for the show?”

Dani looked over at Eric, who looked back at her. He didn’t look convinced though he did look far more willing than he had when they’d gotten there.

“It’s a big project,” Eric finally said. “I mean, we’ve talked numbers for remodeling it, and I think we can swing it.” His gaze slid up and around the room. “I know this is throwing spaghetti on a wall, but I’d really like to help at least with the engineering stuff to cut down on costs.”

Nodding, Caleb took that in before looking at Mr. Lawrence.

He held up his hands. “I’ll do whatever you need me to do.”

However, Eric shifted. “No. I didn’t mean it like that. I meant…” He glanced at Dani and then back at Caleb. “I’m interested in helping.” His gaze went to Mr. Lawrence. “Maybe we could get together this next week and work on how to do it, bounce some ideas around.”

Mr. Lawrence nodded. “That works for me.”

Again Caleb nodded before glancing at Derek. “And the show?”

Dani and Eric looked at each other, and a conversation went back and forth between them. Finally she turned. “I think we’re in.”

Chapter 29

Eric & Dani

Eric was still reeling from the meeting as he and Dani separated from the group and walked to the SUV. He got in on the driver’s side as she crawled in the other side. His skin felt like a breath in the wrong direction would explode the fragile hold he had on his composure. Starting the vehicle, he looked all ways up and down the road as well as at the others who were still standing at their vehicles talking.

“So,” Dani said as he pulled onto the road and turned around.

“So,” he said barely glancing over at her.

She waited six more seconds before looking over at him. “Is this crazy?”

When he had actually walked into the house, he had thought she had lost her mind, and maybe she had. However, enough of the dream had rubbed off on him in the last two hours that he was no longer staunchly against the idea. “Probably.” He smiled as he headed down the road back to town. “But what’s life for if we can’t be a little crazy once in a while?”

Her eyes twinkled with glimmers of moisture. “Thank you.”

Just why that touched him, he didn’t know, but it made him reach over for her hand. “I really think the show is going to be cool. I mean, if it all works out and everything.”

“Were you serious about helping with the engineering?”

His gaze swung over to hers in surprise. “Yeah. What? You thought I was kidding?”

“No.” She let her gaze drop. “Just surprised.”

Eric couldn’t really explain it exactly, but being around the others made him want to be around them more. If he could lend a hand to help, so much the better. “You do know this means lots of trips to Ridgemount.”

She nodded. “Guess I really hadn’t thought about that.”

“Eh.” He shrugged as he turned toward town. “It’ll give us a chance to get to know some people around here. Maybe that won’t be such a bad thing.”

“Maybe not.”

Dani was lost in her own thoughts that swirled through the memories of the meeting. From this vantage point the whole thing looked impossible, and if Eric had given the slightest hint he wasn’t on board, she could well have talked herself out of it at this point. However, he didn’t, and she wouldn’t give up if he was willing to try.

At a little house on the corner of a town street, the cutest house on the block by far, Eric pulled up behind a white car and parked. Dani’s eyes went wide. “Is this where you left Ja?”

“It’s Caleb’s fiancée’s house. Did you know they’re getting married tomorrow?” Eric asked as they got out.

“That’s what they said.” Her spirit let go of a little of the worry. “I can’t believe they thought today was a good day for a meeting.”

Together but not touching, they walked up the little sidewalk and onto the porch.

“I love these window boxes,” she said. “They’re so homey.”

Eric glanced at them as he rang the doorbell. “I like the trim. It really looks nice with this paint color.”

“Oh, look who’s here,” the young woman who answered the door exclaimed when she saw them standing there.

“Daddy!” Jaden jumped up from her chair at the table and raced toward them, throwing her arms around Eric.

“Ja!” He hugged her and then stood.

“Come on in,” the young woman said, and when they entered, they found themselves on display for everyone seated around the table. “We were just having some lunch. Do you want to join us? We have plenty.”

“Oh,” Dani said, her eyes going wide. “We couldn’t…”

“It’s really good, Mommy,” Jaden said, plastering her back next to her daddy’s legs.

“Dee made it,” the young woman said, leaning in to them. “It’s amazing. Trust me.”

Dani wasn’t at all sure just what that meant. “It’s… it’s okay. We can get something on our way back. It’s really all right.”

At that, the young woman started and held out her hand. “I’m sorry. I’m Rachel.”

“Dani,” she said and shook the hand only for a second.

“Dani. And you’re Eric, right?” Rachel asked.

“Right.”

“We really hate to barge in like this,” Dani said, her whole spirit recoiling from the scene.

“Eh.” Rachel waved at them. “I’m getting kind of used to it by now. Please, come on in. Jaden needs to finish her lunch anyway.” She held out her hand for the little girl who with one quick glance at her parents took it and went back to the table.

“Looks like you invited the neighborhood,” Eric said, perusing the group.

“Oh.” Rachel laughed. “Family in town for the wedding.” Quickly she went through the introductions ending with her soon-to-be mother-in-law Dee. “And this is Dee who got up early this morning to make this delicious lasagna for us. Are you sure you won’t have just a bite or two? It’s an hour before you’re even going to get to a descent food place if you’re going back to Raleigh.”

Once again, Dani glanced at her husband. She’d been doing that a lot since they’d gotten here. He looked at her, and his eyes said he thought it would be okay. “Uh, well, if you don’t think it’s too much trouble.”

At that, the whole table seemed to jump into action. Dee and her daughter Sara and Rachel all moved to make room and get their meal. Dani’s heart jumped with them.

“We’d hate to put you out.”

“Oh, no trouble. No trouble at all,” Dee said. “Here, you can have our spots. We were just sitting around chatting anyway.”

“We have breadsticks too,” Rachel called from the kitchen. “Would you like one?”

“Uh, yes?” Dani had no idea.

“We’ve got tea and lemonade and water,” Sara said as she cleared the old dishes from the table. “What can I get you?”

Dani’s head started to spin. “Uh, tea is fine.”

“Sweet tea?” Eric asked when Sara looked at him.

“Got it.”

The sounds in the kitchen around the wall increased as did the voices. Looking over at Eric, Dani fought to figure out how to extract herself from this crazy dream she was clearly in the middle of.

“So, who do we have here?” Eric asked Jaden, indicating the others at the table as his daughter retook her seat.

One by one, their daughter named the children who ranged in age from just older than her all the way down to one who was still in a high chair.

“Have you been having a good time?” Eric asked.

“We played duck, duck, goose with Ms. Dee.”

“You did?” he asked as if she’d said they built the Sears Tower.

She nodded. “I beat Paige once.”

“She did,” Paige, the oldest, said, “she’s very fast.”

Jaden kicked her feet and grinned.

“Jaden,” Dani said in horror. “We don’t fidget at the table.”

Her daughter’s eyes instantly lost their shine, and her head bowed. “Yes, Ma’am.”

“Here we go,” Rachel said, coming in with two plates. “Lasagna ‘a la Dee. Best meal you’ve ever had.”

“Thank… thank you.” Dani sat and picked up her fork, staring at the steaming concoction.

“One sweet tea and one regular tea.” Sara put the glasses in front of them. “Can we get you anything else?”

“Uh… no.” Dani could hardly find the words. “This looks… great.”

Eric was having as much trouble processing all of this as his wife clearly was; however, at least he’d spent five minutes in the house. She hadn’t.

“So,” Sara sat down on the other side of the table as the children began to finish and leave, “you’re the ones doing the house, right?”

“Hm. Um. Yes.” Dani took a drink.

“Oh, I should mention that Caleb is my dopey little brother.” She put up her hand. “Don’t get me wrong. He’s great with houses. Just please don’t think he represents our whole family.”

“He seems very nice,” Dani said.

“He has his moments,” Rachel said. Then she softened as she looked around. “But believe me, he can work miracles. You should have seen this place before he got his hands on it.”

Choking on the noodle, Dani glanced up. “He… he remodeled this house?”

“Remodeled?” Rachel asked. “He practically rebuilt the thing. You know the hurricane that went through here, right? Well, it was a dump before that, but the hurricane about took it out for good. But Caleb and Derek…” She shook her head and grinned. “You seriously couldn’t be in any better hands than theirs.”

As the others talked, Eric let his gaze go to the workmanship evident in every piece and corner of the house. Had he not known it had been remodeled, he never would have guessed. Although it had an old house feeling, in the workmanship and details it looked built-from-scratch.

At that moment the door opened and in walked none other than Caleb James himself. His gaze swept the house now bursting with activity and people. “Wow, looks like we’re having a party.” With a grin, he went right over to Rachel and planted a kiss on her head. “I think I missed my invite.”

Rachel’s hand went up onto his that rested on her shoulder. “Your mom made lasagna.”

“Lasagna? There any left?”

“It’s on the island.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” And with that, he headed around the corner.

“Some things never change,” Sara said, shaking her head and laughing.

As the conversation continued, Eric had to admit he really liked how just baseline comfortable they all were together. It was the same vibe he had felt at Attabury, one he had not been a part of for a long time.

Caleb came back and joined them though mostly he ate, Eric couldn’t help but be curious. So much activity, and yet Caleb didn’t seem bothered by it or worried about it at all.

“So what else do we need to get ready for tomorrow?” Sara asked as Eric and Dani quietly finished their meal. “Sage and I are meeting at the church tomorrow morning to do some of the flowers on the pews and stuff. Jaycee might come too. She wasn’t sure what you all were doing tomorrow. What time is everyone planning on getting to the church for the wedding?”

“Wedding’s at seven,” Rachel said, “so, like six or so. I don’t want the kids to have too much time to get crabby. If we have them up there too long, that’s pretty much a given.”

“And you’re doing the cake?” Sara asked, and Rachel nodded.

“I’m just doing a simple one. It’s not like we’ve got a 100 people invited. It’s just going to be family and a few friends.”

Dee nodded. “Do you have a photographer?”

“A photographer?” Rachel glanced at Caleb. “Oh. No. I didn’t really plan on that.”

“I brought my camera,” Sara said. “I don’t mind taking some pictures.”

“Well, I don’t want you to have to do that,” Rachel said. “You’ve got enough to keep up with. Your kids, my kids.”

“Besides,” Caleb said, “it’s not like we’re going to be posing for a cover or anything. A few pictures here or there…”

That’s about the time that Eric caught that his wife was looking at him, staring would have been a better word for it. He looked at her in confusion, but she widened her eyes and tipped her head at the conversation. Suddenly he knew what she wasn’t saying, and he shook his head in panic. Her gaze said yes. His replied no. They didn’t even know these people. She couldn’t be serious.

“Hm,” Dani said before Eric could think of a way to stop her without saying something out loud. She turned to the others. “You know, Eric used to take pictures in college.”

What was she thinking? He couldn’t believe she was going to tell them, like this.

“It was just a side thing. Passing fancy, really, but he’s pretty handy with a camera,” she said. “Not that he’s ever shot weddings or anything major. Mostly posed stuff for fun.”

“I just took a few classes when I first went to school,” he said dismissively. “I’m really not…”

“What would you charge?” Dee asked, and Eric’s eyes nearly shot out of his head.

“Charge?” He gulped. “Oh. Uh. Nothing. I wouldn’t charge anything, but…”

“Great,” Dee said with no more discussion. “We have our photographer.”

“We’ll see you tomorrow night,” Rachel said as the three of them bundled up by the door before going out into the winter chill.

“What? About four or so?” Dani asked, and Eric really wanted to ask what in the world had gotten into her.

“Four’s good. Just come here first. It’s not like there’s a big plan.”

“Okay. We’ll be here.”

“Oh, and bring Jaden,” Rachel said, patting Jaden’s shoulder. “We’d love to have all of you.”

“Thank you,” Dani said, and although it made no sense, Eric saw the glimmer in her eyes once again. He couldn’t account for it no matter how hard he tried.

“Thanks for everything,” he said and turned his family for the curb and the SUV. Somehow he managed to get them all into the vehicle before he let the freak-out into his voice when he got in himself and closed the door. “What in the world was that?”

“What?” Dani asked as she snapped her seatbelt on.

“What? I’m not a wedding photographer!” He started the vehicle, checked the street, and pulled out.

“You heard them. They don’t have anybody else.”

“That doesn’t mean it needed to be me.”

She sighed. “I know. Listen, I’m sorry. It’s just… they’ve all been so nice to us, and I just wanted to find a way to pay them back. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have…”

Hearing the sadness return to her voice, Eric sighed and dragged his frustration into check. “No. It’s… It’s okay. It’s just been a really long time since I’ve done any real photography.”

“That’s not true. You did that set of Ja a couple years ago. Those were amazing. And you did the ones of me when I was pregnant with Ja.”

Although he knew it was deadly, Eric’s thoughts took him back to that special day. So many hopes and dreams all wrapped up in just a few hours. He let out a breath. “You really think I can do this?”

When her gaze came over to his, it tore his heart right out. “I really do.”

A second and he nodded. “Okay. But I’ve never done a wedding before. You up for being my assistant?”

She grinned and the sparkle came back to her eyes. Without another word, she dug into the glovebox and came out with a paper and pen. “What are you thinking for the poses, shots, whatever they’re called? I always love the ones of her looking down and him looking at her. I think those are so romantic.”

Eric shook his head and put his hand to his mouth, his elbow on the windowsill as they headed out of town. How had he gotten talked into this?

Chapter 30

Derek & Jaycee

Everyone gathered at Luke and Sage’s on Friday night for one, last meal together before the big day. Despite the cold, Derek had agreed to grill burgers with Caleb and Luke keeping him busy at the grill. With so many people to feed and Luke’s grill not being big enough to accommodate all of the food at once, they were forced to do the meal in stages. That meant doing one set and retooling for the next.

Inside the women were busy serving the potato salad Sage had made along with beans and brownies. It would have been nice if they could have done a picnic in the back, but only Derek was fool enough to be outside as the temperature dropped.

“You frozen yet?” Caleb asked, coming out with the third set of fresh burger meat.

“It gets any colder, you can call me Elsa.” Derek removed the cooking burgers on the grill to make room for the new ones. “So how do you think it went today?”

Caleb nodded as he held the plate. “Good. In fact, I think they’re coming back tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? Before the wedding?”

“Actually for the wedding.”

One patty slid sideways off the spatula, and Derek had to chase it down. “They’re coming for the wedding?”

“Well, long story short, Mom and Sara think we have to have someone to take pictures, and apparently Eric is like a good amateur photographer or something.” He shrugged. “I’m not asking.”

Derek transferred the last patty and took the plate of new ones from Caleb to put on the grill. “Good plan.”

Laughing Caleb took the plate and headed back in.

As he stood over the grill, Derek shook his head. Life. It was such an enigma. There was no rhyme or reason to it sometimes. “Well, God, seems maybe this wasn’t a random thing after all. Can’t wait to see where we go from here.”

When the majority of the party left sometime after ten, Jaycee made sure to help her sister clean up from the fun. The Christmas tree still stood in the corner, winking the brightly colored lights in a kaleidoscope of peace and joy across the dimly lit living area. At the little piano that stood on the wall, she stopped with cups and the last of the debris in her hand.

Her smile turned upward as her heart turned over inside of her. Lined on the instrument were frames of various makes and sizes, each holding a precious memory. A freshly added one was of her and Sage, at her wedding only a few weeks before. Both smiling. Both radiant in their love for each other.

It hadn’t always been that way, and Jaycee now realized how very different life would have been if she had gotten her way all those years ago. That picture, smiling back at her, was a miracle unto itself. It gave visual testimony to what the pastor always said, God still works miracles every day. She would never be able to be grateful enough for that, and standing there, looking at one miracle, she dared to ask God for another.

Flanking that miracle were visual proofs of all the others in Sage’s life—the kids, their mom and dad, Luke. Jaycee’s heart surged for how very far her sister had come, and she was sure not a single step of it had been accomplished by anything less than faith. In fact, her sister had become her touchstone over the years, praying for her when her life fell completely apart, and then as God put it back together, piece by piece. She was quite sure it was her sister’s prayers that had convinced God to hold onto her, even when she let go of him.

“Anything else?” Luke asked, coming in the room, and Jaycee spun, her eyes going wide at having been caught. However, he simply smiled.

After all they had been through, he still held a very special place in her heart.

“This is it,” she said, lifting the few things she held.

Nodding, he came over and gave her a hug.

She let him for a moment and then backed up in surprise. “What was that for?”

He shrugged. “Nothing. Everything. Just cause you’re you, and I’m me. Do I have to have a reason?”

Jaycee laughed at that. “Same old Luke.”

He grinned back at her. “Same old Jaycee.”

For that one moment they simply stood and regarded each other. She wouldn’t have it any other way.

Chapter 31

Caleb & Rachel

It’s here.

Those were the first two words that flashed across Rachel’s mind as she came out of the gauziness of sleep Saturday morning. Although she had a myriad of things to do, she allowed herself one more moment to breathe in the day. So many obstacles to getting here, so much heartache, struggle, hopelessness, helplessness. So many nights alone and mornings spent wondering how she would ever make it through the day in one piece. And now, somehow she was here. Hours from tying her life to the man of her dreams.

She grinned at the thought. “God, why did I ever doubt You?”

“Nervous?” Sara asked, coming into the kitchen in what was now their mini-routine.

Caleb laughed as he turned from cooking breakfast. “Should I be?”

She slipped over to the counter by him and let her gaze slide over him. “No. It’s gonna be great.”

With the cake finished, Rachel turned her attention to herself which was a much bigger challenge. Luke’s sister, Hannah, had agreed to come and do her hair, but that meant she had to be ready for her arrival. In the living room, Aidan and Pete were keeping her children entertained. They were such good boys, so much like their parents in their quiet manner and sweet natures.

“I’m just going to go up,” Rachel said, pointing up the stairs. “If Hannah gets here…”

“We’ll let her in,” Aidan said with a grin. “I think Pete can manage opening a door.”

“Hey!” Pete said from the floor, and Rachel laughed.

“Okay, as long as you think you’ve got this.”

“We’ve got it. Don’t worry about us.”

Getting everyone at Mrs. Murphy’s through one shower suddenly looked like a bigger challenge than Caleb had realized it would be. Living as a bachelor for most of the last 14 years, he’d forgotten how challenging the simplest things could get to be when you multiplied it by eight. His mother told him to take his time, but his mind calculated the time and number of people without even trying very hard. So he cut his time in the bathroom down to the bare minimum, and showered and shaved, he decided it would be better to dress in the bedroom where the kids had been sleeping.

“I’m out!” he called to the rest of the house as he traipsed down the hall in his sweats.

“Well, that was quick,” his mother said, meeting him as she came the other direction.

“Yeah, tell everybody I don’t know how good the hot water heater is here. If they take too long, somebody could wind up with only cold water left.”

She grinned. “Always my practical kid.” Hugging him, she disappeared into his embrace. “In case I don’t get to tell you later, I’m proud of you.”

Somehow he hadn’t realized he would get blindsided with the emotions right there in the middle of the hallway. “Thank you for everything.”

A nod and she backed up, swiping at her eyes.

“Oh, no,” he said in horror. “Don’t start that already.”

His mom laughed. “Go get ready. I’ll be fine.”

However, he hugged her once more and kissed the top of her head. “I love you.”

“Love you too.”

“Thank you for doing this,” Rachel said as she sat in her bedroom. Luke’s sister Hannah was just as spritely as she had ever been. Now married with a child, living in Greely, she was the picture of happiness.

“Are you kidding me? I live for this stuff.” She worked Rachel’s hair one way and then the other as she put in stuff that felt mushy and cold. “Always thought I should’ve done this for real. It would be a whole lot more fun than spreadsheets and tax numbers.” Working the other way, she went back for more stuff.

“Is my hair even going to move after this?”

“Not if I can help it.”

“Good to know.”

Somehow Caleb had managed every other part of the confusing bits and pieces of the tux, but the cufflinks were about to do him in. “That’s it. I’m done with these things.” Taking them in hand, he went out to the living room where Sara and Zane were. “Okay. Whose stupid idea were these things?”

Zane laughed at him as Sara got up and went to help him. “It’s a conspiracy, man. Those things and ties and cummerbunds. Don’t get me started. I think they were all designed by women so they’d have an excuse to help us get ready.”

“Tell me about it.” Caleb put his arms out for his sister. “These things are impossible.”

“Stop being such a drama king.” Reaching up, Sara bopped him on the head. “This is nothing compared with what we go through for you guys.”

“I seriously doubt that,” Caleb said.

“No, dude,” Zane said, his voice brooking no argument. He shook his head and bugged out his eyes. “It’s frightening what they do. It really is.” He shivered. “Instruments of torture, things that will burn your hand off if you touch them. And the make-up. Oh, the humanity! There’s no end to the make-up.”

Sara shook her head. “You two are pathetic.”

“Sorry,” Hannah said as the curling iron heated just a bit too close to Rachel’s ear.

“Wow. When you said, ‘Stay still,’ you weren’t kidding.”

Hannah laughed. “Almost finished.”

Rachel glanced at the clock that was quickly sliding down to three-thirty. Her mind skipped through the hours ahead, where they had to be when, who was going to be where. At that moment the doorbell rang, and she fought not to jump. “Who in the world would that be?”

“Perfect,” Sara said, stepping back from her brother, and tears came to her eyes just as they had his mother’s.

“Oh, no. Don’t you start that too.”

The knock sounded on the bedroom door though it was open. Turning and bending to see who it was, Rachel found Aidan standing there apologetically.

“Uh, the photographer is here?” he said though it was far more like a question. “They wanted to know if there’s something you need them to do?”

“Oh, goodness. I’m coming.”

“One. More. Second.” Hannah released the curling iron which dropped a perfect curl coming down from Rachel’s temple. “I can do the baby’s breath later if you want.”

“Yeah. I’d better get some other things ready.”

“If you need help…”

Rachel let out a breath. “I think you’re my guardian angel.”

“Guardian angel, at your service,” Hannah said, saluting her.

“I think I’m going to head on up to the church,” Caleb said. “I was wanting to talk with the pastor if I get the chance.”

“Okay,” Sara said. “We’ll see you there. Oh, don’t forget your suitcase.”

“Good point.” He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “See you there.”

“Oh.” Dani’s face melted into awe and sweetness as Rachel came down the stairs. “You’re so beautiful.”

“Wait!” Eric said, putting up his hand which stopped both Rachel and Hannah on the stairs. “Don’t move.” He retrieved a serious-looking camera from his side, angled it up, and snapped the picture.

Rachel laughed. “This isn’t…” She looked down at herself as he snapped another. “I’m not exactly ready yet.” When she looked up again, he got one more. “I feel like a movie star.”

Dani grinned. “Well, you look like one.”

Reaching back, Rachel squeezed Hannah’s hand. “Thanks to my guardian angel.”

With that, they came down and everyone went into last-minute-detail-mode. Quickly it was decided that Hannah would head over to the church with Rachel to help her finish getting ready. Aidan and Pete would stay with the three kids. Jane would come around five to feed them one last time and bring them to the church around six. Sara would be here to get the cake in an hour or so.

Never in her life had Rachel felt carried along on the wings of so many wonderful people. “Okay. Let’s do this thing!”

At the church, Caleb headed not inside but to the little residence on the opposite side of the parking lot. He loved that little house. It represented where he was going, not where he had been.

“Caleb,” Jane said in surprise when she found him at her door, “come on in.”

“Is the pastor around?”

“Hang on, let me get him.”

He followed her into the living room and waited only a few minutes before Pastor Steve came out. The two men shook hands.

“This is a surprise,” Pastor Steve said. “You want to go in my office?”

“Do you mind?”

“Absolutely not.”

Caleb turned his steps back down the hallway and went into the space that felt like life after a spring rain. Going in as well, the pastor shut the door.

“Something on your mind?”

With a grin, Caleb lifted his eyebrows, and the pastor laughed.

“Okay, that was a dumb question,” Pastor Steve said. He motioned to the chairs by the window. “You okay? Everything… all right?”

Sitting down, Caleb rubbed his hands together. “It is.” He let out a breath. “Just needed a few minutes to get everything right in here, with me. It’s nervous but not the kind I expected.”

“Oh? How so?”

“Well, I thought I’d be worried about if she’s the right one for me. But that’s not it. I’m… well, I’m worried about if I’m the right one for her. Can I really do this? A husband? A father? What if…?”

“You can’t be what they need you to be?”

Caleb nodded. A second and the pastor did as well.

“Well, I was going to save this for the sermon, but…” The pastor shifted. “We’ve talked about this, how God’s love requires so much more of us than we are capable of giving. That is true nowhere more than marriage. A forever commitment is just something that normal humans cannot make on their own. In fact, when God made a covenant with Abraham, He put Abraham into a deep sleep, and He ultimately made the covenant with Himself. Abraham was a good man with the best of intentions, but he was human, and God knew that.

“God knows you have the best of intentions, Caleb, but He doesn’t expect you to love Rachel and the kids on your own strength. He knows you need Him.” The pastor shook his head. “You’re not in this thing alone. You never have been. You’re not even in it with just Rachel. If you really want this marriage to be about fighting the good fight, finishing the race, and keeping the faith together, then it has to start and end with God. He has to be the Alpha and the Omega of your marriage. His is the love that will bind you together so that no man, including the two of you, can ever tear you apart. When you get that part right, life is still going to be life, but it won’t shake you and break you apart. Hold onto her and let God hold onto the two of you. That’s the best advice I could ever give you.”

A moment and Caleb nodded. “Just checking, but you’re not like planning on leaving or anything any time soon, are you? Because I don’t think this is the last time I’m going to show up on your doorstep.”

“You’re welcome any time.”

“Oh! I love the hair,” Sage said the second she came into the little bride’s dressing room, the gown in one hand and a box of corsages and boutonniere’s in the other.

“Whoa,” Rachel said, taking in her friend’s grayish-silver full-length dress. “Wow.”

“I was trying to find something that wouldn’t clash with the guy’s vests.” She hung the white gown on the hook, set the box down on the floor, straightened, and ran her finger down the loose ringlet sliding down the side of her face. “Is it too much? Jaycee said it was okay.”

Rachel laughed. Her friend seemed more nervous than she did. “It’s beautiful, but we might have to get a fan for Luke.”

Sage giggled. “He’s already seen it.”

“Oh, yeah? How’d that go?”

Swatting at her friend, Sage shook her head, but the blush said it all. “You’re terrible.”

“Uh. Huh.” Rachel grinned. “That’s what I thought.”

“Enough about me. We need to get you into this thing. I saw the photographer people out there. He’s taking pictures of like everything.” Sage went to work, unzipping the plastic around the mesmerizing dress. “They really seem nice.”

“They are. I think I’m going to like working with them.”

At that Sage straightened again and stopped all movement. “Wait. Does that mean you’re doing this thing with Caleb and Derek?”

A second and Rachel smiled. “They talked me into it.”

“Eep!” Sage clapped like a little kid and bounced on her feet. “This is like so awesome. Ahhh! I’m so excited for you!”

At one time in her life Rachel would’ve argued, but she couldn’t find a single one anywhere in her. It truly was awesome in every detail.

It was at that moment that Sage pulled the dress from the bag, and tears sprang to Rachel’s eyes. “Oh, Sage.”

Sage wobbled her head back and forth, clearly fighting the tears herself. “Do you like it? I just added this to the top…”

“It’s gorgeous.”

“Eep! I was hoping you would say that! Come on. Let’s get you in this thing.”

However, instead of going into motion, Rachel stopped, overcome with the need to let Sage know how very grateful she was. “Sage… Sage.”

Only the second one stopped her friend’s butterfly-like motions. “What?”

Closing her eyes as the tears collapsed her strength to hold them, she stepped forward and put her arms over her friend’s shoulders, pulling her into a hug. “Thank you. For everything.”

The hard sniff told her Sage was now crying too. When Rachel backed up, Sage put her hand to her nose and stomped her foot.

“Darn it. I was going to get through this without crying.”

Rachel laughed, sniffed, and swiped at her tears, trying not to mess up Hannah’s make-up job. “Yeah. Good luck with that.”

Chapter 32

Eric & Dani

“Get some of the tree,” Dani said as she stood, watching her husband focus in on the little navy and white flowers on one of the pews. Decked out in all its Christmas finest, she had found a new appreciation for the little church. She’d been in it a few times over the years, but it had never looked quite so magical as it did today. “You can use them as backgrounds.”

“Good idea.” Eric went over to the Christmas tree, and Dani smiled and ducked her head. It had been a long time since she’d seen him like this. It brought back memories of their earliest days together when they would go out hiking—just him and her and the camera. True, the first couple of times she was a little high maintenance with her heels and whining about the cold and how far it was back to the car. But when she’d finally decided he was worth the effort, she’d fallen in love with those simple moments together.

As she watched him now, she wondered where those had all gone. Down a hole of work and house and life details. It was sad to realize that simple time was over and would never be a part of them again.

Commotion at the back of the church yanked her attention that way, and she smiled. It was Caleb and Derek and another guy she didn’t recognize, but they were all in tuxes, and the picture they made was coming down the aisle talking together was perfect. “Eric,” she whispered, and when he turned, she lifted her chin. “Get a shot of them.”

With only that amount of prompting, he did. He checked the picture and showed it to her.

“That’s a good one,” she said.

“Eric, Dani,” Derek said as the three men came all the way down the aisle to them. Handshakes went around.

“Thanks for coming,” Caleb said, and his usual calm nature was undergirded with a nervousness Dani could sense without trying.

“You mind if we get some of the three of you?” Eric said. “Before everything gets too crazy.”

“Uh. Yeah,” Caleb answered for the others. “Sounds good.”

Just after six, Jaycee came striding down the aisle right to Dani. She ducked closer as if to mask her words from the guys. “Rachel’s kids just got here and her mom. We wondered if you wanted to get some shots of them in the dressing room.”

“Oh. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Good idea. I’ll get Eric.”

“K. Thanks.”

In the small dressing room, they found Rachel resplendent in a white gown, dotted with crystals at the waist and on the neckline. Her hair which was just up before now had wisps of baby’s breath twined in the back of it. She was seated on the floor, the magical dress fanned out around her, shoes and coats and other things surrounding her as well, and seemingly in the middle of near chaos, she simply held her baby girl and little boy on her lap as she talked to them softly.

One look and Dani’s heart melted. “Eric, Eric, quick.” Grabbing for him, she pulled him into the room so he could get the picture. He did. One, two, three of them.

At that moment, Jaden skipped from amidst the women and over to her mom. Dani sat down on her heels and hugged her daughter. “Isn’t she pretty?”

Jaden nodded wordlessly.

“She looks like a princess, doesn’t she?”

Again her daughter nodded, and Dani put her arms around her and hugged her. “She’s getting married today. Did you know that?”

The nodding stopped although Dani was sure her daughter was taking all of it in just as she was. When the little conversation on the floor ended, Eric stepped forward. “Would you like some pictures of you and the bridesmaids?”

“Oh, that would be great,” Rachel said as with help, she got to her feet. “But aren’t the guys in the church?”

“We can fix that,” Dani said. “Come on, Ja. You can be Mommy’s assistant.” And with that, she took her daughter’s hand and they went out to get everything ready.

Epilogue

Caleb & Rachel

The whirlwind of pictures ended sometime around 6:45 when everyone realized seven was just around the corner. However, just as they were being banished from the church back to the groom’s room in the front part of the church, Caleb managed to snag Eric. “I need you to do something for me.”

“Name it.”

“Um, knock, knock,” Eric said, reappearing at Rachel’s dressing room door.

“Is it time?” Sage asked in panic as her gaze jerked up to the clock.

“Not yet,” he said very carefully. “I have had a special request.”

Sage, Jaycee and Rachel frowned.

“What’s that?” Jaycee asked.

“Well, Caleb would like a couple more pictures before we get started. But it’s going to take a little doing.” He swallowed. “The guys are right outside, and they’re ready. But he wants this to be so he doesn’t see you, like you wanted. So, you’re going to have to trust me and just do what I say without really questioning it.”

Still confused, Rachel nodded. “Okay.”

Outside the door, Caleb waited with Luke, Derek and the pastor. He shouldn’t have sprung this on her, not like this. But it wasn’t planned. He hadn’t even thought about it until five minutes ago. When the door opened, his gaze jerked up to it and his heart did too.

“Okay,” Eric said, holding the door open but not all the way. “We’re going to set this up, so everybody needs to listen so it doesn’t take forever.” He held his hand out inside the room. “Rachel, you come here.”

Caleb’s heart sped up until it felt like it might come out of his chest. Behind him, Derek clapped him on the shoulder and nodded his support.

“Caleb?” Eric put his other hand out and Caleb stepped forward to the door. “I think you should face the door and put your head on it. Close your eyes. Okay, now, no looking. Take her hand. Yeah. Right here.”

The touch of Rachel’s hand sent a wave of emotions flooding through him.

“Good. Yeah. Just like that. Okay. Let me get that one.” He clicked a few times. “Great. Okay. Now I want the rest of you to come in around them.”

Their friends huddled into the space, and Caleb was sure his heart was going to burst.

“Good. Good. Now.” Eric came forward and picked up Rhett. “Let’s put you, big man, right here.” He stood the child next to Caleb’s pant leg. “And you Miss America, right here.” A second of putting Natalie by Rachel, and he stepped back.

“Perfect. That’s perfect.”

“Pastor,” Derek said right next to Caleb, making him jump, “would you mind taking a moment and offering up a private blessing out here?”

“I’d be honored.”

And so eyes closed, holding only her hand, surrounded by his friends, Caleb listened to the pastor’s words.

“Heavenly Father, we come before You today on this joyous occasion. You know all the roads it took for us to be here together for this amazing couple. Lord, we ask You to be with them today as they make their vows to each other in a few minutes. But mostly we ask Your guidance, help, and blessings for them and on them from this moment forward. May they always know they are not alone, that they have not just each other but two amazing families, and friends who love them more than they can ever put into words. We thank You, Lord, for this precious moment You gave us to be here together, to pray for Caleb and Rachel, Rhett and Natalie, as they step into this new life You had planned for them from the very start. We thank You, and we praise You. In Jesus’ Holy Name, we pray. Amen.”

“Amen.”

Rachel was left wiping away the tears and hoping she wouldn’t totally dissolve all of her make-up. Her hand felt empty and cold when the prayer broke up, and Caleb had to go with the others to the church. Yes, they would be together again, face-to-face in less than ten minutes, but now, her heart wanted to be with him so badly, she wasn’t sure she could make it that long.

Back in the bride’s room, everyone was wiping away tears and sniffing.

Sage grinned through hers as she did one more once over of Rachel. “Okay, now dry those tears.” She could have stood to take her own advice. “We’re going to wait until they are in the church, and…”

“Rachel?” Dani said at the doorway.

“Yeah?” Rachel tried to call back, but the tears wouldn’t let her voice say them very loudly.

“It’s time.”

Since they were in the back, the three men simply followed Pastor Steve to the front. No use for formality at this point. Caleb counted heads in the church. Only the most important were present. The pastor and his family. The Lawrences. Luke, Sage and their kids. His parents and Sara’s family. And then off to the far side, he caught sight of Ms. P, and he smiled at her. Presumably they hadn’t sent her an invitation, she just knew and showed up. In fact, her timid smile said as much. He smiled back so she would know she was more than welcome.

At the front of the aisle he took up his place by the pastor who smiled at him and nodded. In fact, everywhere he looked, there were smiles and even a few tears. He took a long breath and let it out slowly. This was it. The paradigm shift to end all paradigm shifts. Closing his eyes, he felt what it was to have her hand in his once again, around that door, and he breathed his own prayer for her and for himself. “God, You’ve gotten us this far, help us to go the distance.”

With Sage holding her bouquet, Rachel walked up the ramp to her mother who stood in a navy and silver dress at the back of the church waiting for her. Eric clicked pictures before skirting around and up the steps. At the top of the ramp, they stopped, and Sage handed her the flowers before giving her a hug.

“Love you,” Sage whispered.

Rachel nodded as she watched Jaycee inside start down the aisle. Coming around the back, Jane appeared at the door to help as Sage stepped away as well. Only a moment stood between her and her future now, and she couldn’t believe how fast it all seemed to have happened. Looking at her mother who glowed with happiness, Rachel smiled back. So many trials, so much heartache, so many moments that she thought she wouldn’t live through, and now here they were. Mother and daughter for one last heartbeat together.

“You look beautiful,” her mother whispered with tears shimmering on her lashes. “Absolutely beautiful.” Reaching over from her walker, she patted Rachel’s hand. “Are you ready?”

There was no hesitation at all. She nodded, and a rush of gratefulness for all her mother had done to get her here washed over her.

Her mother tipped her head and smiled mischievously. “Well, we’d better go then. He’s waiting.”

Rachel picked up the side of her gown and stepped forward, walking with her mother to the center aisle. Behind her Jane closed the ramp doors, and in front of her Eric snapped a picture.

“Here we go,” her mother said, and with that, Rachel’s gaze swept down the path that would take her right to Caleb standing at the end of that aisle. Their gazes locked and his took in all of her in as if he couldn’t believe this moment either. He shook his head as his face slid into disbelief and awe.

Yes, she walked next to her mother, but her eyes were only on him. No worries. Nothing holding her back from giving her all to him. This was as right as anything that had ever happened in her life, and every piece of her spirit cherished the steps she took until they her stopped right in front of him.

His smile held wonder and amazement, hers hope and love.

“Beloved,” the pastor said, “we are gathered tonight in the sight of God to witness the joining of these two lives, Caleb and Rachel. Matrimony is a sacred bond, a holy covenant that should never be entered into lightly. So first I ask, who gives this woman to be married to this man?”

“I do,” her mother said, lifting her chin and having with no qualms at all to her voice.

Rachel turned and hugged her before stepping back so Caleb could hug her as well.

However, instead of letting him go, her mother held on when he started backward. “Be good to her,” she said, leveling her steely gaze at him.

He nodded. “Always.”

With that, her mother took Rachel’s hand and put it into his. It was the same hand she’d held at the door, the same one that had held her on the nights when she cried because she could no longer hold her past on her own, the same one that now offered her a future with him so she would never again be alone again. Confidently though skirting disbelief, she took his hand, and tears slipped up into her eyes as she looked at him. He smiled and then grinned, just before tears of happiness slid into his own eyes.

“You ready?” he asked, and she nodded.

Taking the hand she had given him, he looped it under his arm and together they stepped forward, flanked by Derek and Jaycee on his side and Sage and Luke on hers.

The two steps taken, Rachel gathered her breath and willed her dancing spirit to settle down.

“And now we will hear a short reading,” the pastor said.

Chairs appeared for the couple and though they sat, they never let go of each other’s hand. In no time the readings were finished and the pastor took to the podium. He looked at the two of them, shook his head, and took a breath.

“I’m going to try to get through this,” he said, “but I’m not promising anything.” He backed up, sniffed once, composed himself, and stepped forward. “Tonight we come here to celebrate with Caleb and Rachel. We gather to celebrate their lives and their love, their journey to get here to this new beginning. Tonight we also celebrate the beginning of a New Year, and in many ways that is very fitting.”

He paused, seeming to shift gears. “Marriage as defined by today’s world has become something of a destination, a goal if you will. In fact, if you watch social media, you’ll see people who post pictures of themselves in romantic locales, sipping drinks or kissing their spouse, and they use the hashtag, relationshipgoals. Relationship ‘goals’ as if experiencing a certain type of moment or a special moment together is somehow indicative that you’ve ‘made it’ in a marriage or a relationship. But tonight, I want to challenge the two of you to think of this night not as a goal, or a destination, or an ending if you will, but instead as a new beginning, a launching point, the first step on a brand new journey that will take you places you never knew you could go. Places God is calling you to go as a couple—to bring good into this world together, stronger together than you were apart.

“For that’s what marriage is, a journey together. Marriage is both a mystery and a miracle. A mystery because none of us really understands how or why a certain man falls in love with a certain woman, and why she returns that love. That is a mystery to us. A miracle because the root word of miracle is ‘acle’ or from God or of God, and ‘mir’ is the act of seeing. So a miracle, is something that allows us to see God in our world.

“That’s the primary reason I believe that a marriage is more than just the vows you will say to each other up here tonight. It is more than the culmination of the two of you being in a relationship together. In fact, this night is about something bigger than the two of you. It’s about a miracle God is working in our world through the two of you, and what that miracle means for all of us.

“Of course that’s not what the movies and books tell us. They say the whole goal of a relationship is to make it here to say your vows, and what happens after that, well, that’s not nearly so important or interesting. But tonight I want to challenge the two of you to make this a real beginning of something truly amazing. That from here forward, until death do you part, you both live your marriage as a miracle of God so that together you become a light unto the world, bringing the light of your love into the very real darkness that is our world. See the joining of your souls as an honor, a privilege, and a responsibility to bring His light into the world.

“If that sounds daunting, you’re right. It absolutely is. That’s why I said marriage is not to be entered into lightly. Make no mistake, this is a big deal. Because tonight you don’t just have a mustard seed of faith, you are daring to plant it! You are putting it in the ground, watering it, nurturing it, and believing that God will make it grow. But even that is not an easy process. The seed in the darkness of the earth must break out of its shell, push roots down, and reach up through the darkness in order to break out and find the light, so that it can grow and become what God meant for it to be.

“That is the faith you are showing us tonight. That is the faith you have shown me… ever since I’ve gotten to know the two of you.” He’d done so well, Rachel had thought he would not get choked up again. She was wrong. Gripping the sides of the podium, the pastor stepped back once again and shook his head. He closed his eyes and swallowed. Then he opened his eyes and looked right at the two of them. “I would be lying if I said I have not been touched and changed by watching the two of you. I know just getting to this moment has taken more courage and love than most of us will never be challenged to have or give.

“Caleb, we’ve talked many times about going to God and asking Him for the wisdom and love to know how to be the man this family needs. Keep doing that because He will be right there with you every step of the way.”

In her hand, Caleb’s tightened as he nodded at the pastor. When she glanced at him, Rachel knew he was having as much trouble as the pastor was.

“And Rachel.” The pastor stopped, choking up again as she looked up at him and smiled, thinking he was being kind in including her in his comments. “Your graciousness and your courage is just off-the-charts amazing. You have given everything time and again for your family and for all of us. You have given selflessly, above and beyond what most of us will ever be asked to give. I want you to know, here and now, publicly how very grateful we all are to you for the life you’ve led and for the lessons about faith, courage and love that you’ve taught us all.” His gaze swept the crowd. “I know I will never forget them, for you have truly inspired me.”

Sniffing twice, he breathed that down before smiling. “And now, if I could have the two of you come forward…”

He stepped away from the podium and back over to the center. Caleb helped her up, and the chairs vanished courtesy of Derek and Luke. A moment and they stood before the pastor, only seconds from joining their lives together.

The pastor looked at Caleb, and strangely, not a modicum of doubt lingered anywhere in him. He stood, chin up, ready to take on this challenge though he had no idea where it would lead. What he knew was that God did know, and he fully trusted the Alpha and Omega of their love.

“Caleb and Rachel, have you come here freely to join your lives in Holy Matrimony?”

When Caleb’s eyes brushed hers, his heart flipped. “We have.”

“Then please join your right hands and repeat after me.”

Rachel handed off her flowers, and love radiated from her when she turned back to him.

“I, Caleb,” the pastor prompted, “take you, Rachel, to be my lawfully wedded wife…”

The words were the easiest Caleb had ever said in his life as he looked into her beautiful, serene eyes. “I, Caleb, take you, Rachel to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, for richer or poorer, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, to love, honor, and cherish from this day forward all the days of my life.”

He grinned at her, and she grinned back as she squeezed his hands. A breath and she was saying the words back to him. However, although they had been easy for him to say, deep in him, he knew the profound courage and belief in him it took for her to make those vows, and as he watched her say the words, he prayed once again that God would help him be the man who lived up to that trust and courage.

“I, Rachel, take you, Caleb to be my lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, for richer or poorer, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, to love, honor, and cherish from this day forward all the days of my life.”

The pastor paused one second. “May we have the rings, please?”

Derek produced one on one side, and Sage from the other. The pastor blessed the rings and gave Rachel Caleb’s.

Every time she looked at him, his heart nearly somersaulted out of his chest. “Caleb,” she said, her voice clear and strong. She slipped the ring on his finger and then pulled her gaze back up to his. “Take and wear my ring as a sign of my love and faithfulness. In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

With his on, he willed himself not to fumble her ring because his fingers were no longer taking messages from his short circuiting brain. Caleb took her ring and a long, slow breath. He knew this was important to get right, so he took another breath to gather his wits before he looked at her. “Rachel, take and wear my ring as a sign of my love and faithfulness. In the Name of the Father…” He let out a breath as overwhelming emotions tumbled over him, taking his words with them. “… and the Son,” he said, doggedly determined to get through this without breaking down completely. “… and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

He wasn’t at all sure the amen was supposed to be there, but he said it anyway. Relief poured over him. He’d made it through it. Only then did he truly see what the pastor had said. This wasn’t the end at all. No, now the real journey had just begun. His smile meshed with hers as joy danced between them.

“Friends and family,” the pastor said, his voice overflowing with happiness, “it is my honor and my privilege to introduce to you for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. Caleb James.”

Applause broke out around them as the flash of the camera went off like a strobe light.

“Caleb,” the pastor said with a grin, “you may kiss your bride.”

Gazing at her, Caleb suddenly wasn’t at all sure just how one was supposed to do this so he let his heart do it for him. His hands came up and cupped her beautiful, trusting face. “I love you.”

She smiled at him and nodded. “Love you too.”

A heartbeat and his lips touched hers, a question, a request. In the next, he dragged her into his arms, twisting her sideways and tipping her so when he stopped, if he didn’t stay standing, they would both have been in the floor. She never so much as faltered or tried to catch herself. Instead, she simply held onto him and returned the kiss that would begin their lives together.

The applause and catcalls were the only things that brought Caleb back to reality, and he took two more kisses before righting them both. Once back on solid ground, he kissed her once more because he never wanted to stop. When he finally backed up, she slipped under his arm for a hug he would never forget. The two were now one. She was his wife. From here until eternity she was Rachel James. He loved that name almost as much as he loved her.

Wave after wave of happiness engulfed him as he basked in the hug, wishing it could last forever. His gaze slipped out to their friends and family and landed on Rhett and Natalie. The leap of his heart nearly burst it into pieces. Letting her go for only a moment, he sat on his heels and held his arms out for them. In the bench, Jane led them to the aisle and let them both go. Rhett went right to Caleb who swept the child up into his arms. Natalie toddled her way to Rachel. In only a moment, their little family was complete. It was the moment he had lived his whole life to get to, a moment he would never forget.

For he of all people knew, a moment like this only happened once in a lifetime, and he would spent the rest of his life being grateful for the abundant blessing of having lived it.

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A Sneak Peek at the Finale of The Grace Series…

Raising Attabury

Chapter 1

As the new little family turned from the front of the church and headed to the back, Caleb holding Rhett, Rachel holding Natalie rather than her bouquet, Eric Richardson snapped pictures as if his existence depended on it. The joy on those face, the love, the peace. One part of him wanted to capture it all on film, another deeper part ached to affirm that that kind of love was still possible in the world.

And then they passed him, and he was snapping pictures of the others—Derek and Jaycee, recent newlyweds themselves, also still so in love. They were followed by Luke and Sage who held not only her small bouquet but Rachel’s larger one as well. Sage’s face radiated with the same love and joy Rachel’s had. Snap, snap went the camera, and Eric didn’t even bother to look down to check the photos he was getting. He didn’t have time or he would miss each piece of new evidence coming past him. Each pointed to an existence he had begun to believe was nothing more than a trick of hormones or a myth at best.

Yet here it was on full display for all the world, or at least, him to see.

As the families made their way out the back double doors, he quickly went to the side, around the back, and out the doors. On the top step, he started taking pictures again. He should have gotten a bigger memory card. This one was going to be full in no time. Maybe his wife Dani wouldn’t mind going to get another though he wasn’t sure one could be found in tiny Ridgemount, North Carolina. The fact that he’d somehow lost Dani in the past few minutes didn’t even register as he worked to capture the hugs and happiness of the wedding party and the bride and groom in the lobby.

It was okay. He didn’t need to worry. Dani was perfectly capable of taking care of herself.

Watching the wedding’s end had swept Dani Richardson’s heart away with it. Caleb and Rachel were so obviously in love, and their friends and family could not have been more supportive. She shook her head as they all headed out to greet the newlyweds. Eric had gone too, leaving her and her daughter, Jaden, in the church. The church, still all dressed up for Christmas though it was now New Year’s made her heart slip and slide through memories long since forgotten of Christmases past when her family came here to visit her grandmother.

They hadn’t done that in years…

Her attention swung to the other side of the church, and her heart catapulted into her throat when she caught sight of none other than the woman herself. Her grandmother. Instantly Dani’s head and heart started frantically writing a list of excuses as to why she was here and hadn’t bothered to go to see the woman. She was older now, much older than Dani remembered. However, there was still the spark of happiness in her eyes though it too had dimmed.

“Well, hello there,” her grandmother, the woman everyone in Ridgemount called Ms. P, said. She looked somewhere between shocked and confused though she was clearly trying to hide both. “This is a surprise.”

“Hi, Grandma,” Dani said, and she leaned in for a barely-touching formal hug. “It’s great to see you again.”

“You too.” Her grandmother’s eyes slipped down to the little child now huddling back into Dani’s skirt. Not moving even a centimeter, her grandmother smiled down at her. “Well, look at you, child. Oh, my stars. What a beautiful little girl.”

“You remember Jaden,” Dani said, nudging her daughter from her leg though the child was clinging there as if her life depended on it. Realizing Jaden’s fear, Dani sat on the little pew and put her arm around her daughter. “Jaden, this is your great grandma. She’s my mama’s mama.”

The little dark eyes slipped up though the body did not move.

“You should give Great-Grandma a hug.” Dani tried to get her daughter going that direction, but the reluctance was obvious.

“Oh, you don’t have to do that, child,” her grandmother said. “I’m just happy to get to see you again.” True to her word, she simply gazed at the child for a long minute. Then, it was as if she had remembered where they were and why. “So, what brings you here? I didn’t know that you knew Caleb and Rachel.”

Well, the same could really be said for Dani too although it was her grandmother who had hooked her up with Mr. James and his now wife in the first place. “Oh, well. We’ve been working on Attabury with them.” Dani stood and straightened her skirt. “Just getting a feel for what we can do with it. We were out here yesterday, and they mentioned needing a photographer. Eric volunteered. You know he used to take pictures when we were in college.”

“Oh, yes. I remember that well. So that was Eric then? The one taking pictures?”

“Yes, Ma’am. That was him.”

“And how are the two of you doing? Are you still in Raleigh?”

“We are. We’re doing well. Eric has a good job with the state, and I’m working at a law firm there.”

Her grandmother smiled, hints of pride and sadness sprinkled on her face. “I knew the two of you would be good together.” Her gaze slipped back down to Jaden. “And what grade are you in by now?”

Dani’s gaze went down as well. “Can you tell Great Grandma what grade you’re in?”

“Second,” came the quiet, reluctant answer, and Dani was proud of her daughter’s bravery in answering the question.

“Second grade. My. My. My. Well, you are about the prettiest little second grader I’ve ever done seen.”

The smile was shy. “Thank you.”

“Dani!” Eric’s hushed but excited call jerked her attention to the back. “I’m going over to the community center with them.”

“Okay.” She waved to him. “We’ll be right there.”

“Oh, my goodness,” her grandmother said hurriedly. “I did not mean to keep you all.”

“No, you’re not…”

“Why Ms. P,” the pastor said as he came striding down the center aisle back up to the front, “a very happy New Years to you.”

“Happy New Year’s, Pastor.” She nodded at him and then popped up. “Oh, Pastor, did you have a chance to meet my granddaughter?”

He stopped on a dime and spun their direction, coming right over and putting his hand out. “Why no, I haven’t.”

“Pastor Steve, this is Danisha Richardson, my granddaughter.”

“Hello,” the pastor said, and his manner was filled with nearly as much joy as he had displayed during the wedding. He shook Dani’s hand.

“Please call me Dani,” she said.

He nodded. “Dani, it’s nice to meet you.” His gaze slid down and caught on Jaden. “And this beautiful little girl is?”

“Jaden,” Dani said, wishing her daughter was better at this. “Can you say, ‘Hi’ to the preacher?”

“Hi.” But even in the quiet church, the syllable was hardly audible.

Dani apologized to him with her eyes. “She’s really shy.”

“Oh.” He grinned. “Totally understandable.” However, his gaze went back down to Jaden. “Thank you for coming, Miss Jaden. It’s very nice to meet you.”

She smiled but ducked into Dani’s dress.

Coming back up, curiosity slipped into his eyes. “Are you friends with the happy couple?”

“Oh!” Dani started. “Well, no. Not exactly. We’re the ones who just bought the old Attabury house…”

Instant understanding flashed into his eyes. “Ah. Well. I’m very happy you decided to join us this evening. Please feel free to visit any time you’re in town.”

“Why thank you.”

“You’re very welcome.” He looked back up to the front. “I’m sorry to rush off, but I have a few things that need…”

“Oh, no worries,” Dani said. “Please, don’t let us keep you.”

With a nod and a quick hug for her grandmother, the pastor went his way.

“Such a good man,” her grandmother said, and there were tears in her voice with the words. A second and her gaze snapped back over to them. “Well, since you’re in town, you could always come over for a bit if you’d like.”

“Oh,” Dani said, and the syllable was five. “We aren’t really planning to stay. I’m sure Eric is going to want to get back as soon as possible.”

Her grandmother smiled. “I’m sure.” She nodded slowly. “Well.” Her sad, accepting eyes traveled back down to Jaden. “You take care.”

Jaden just looked at her with wide and wary eyes.

“You too,” Dani said although she knew the statement was not directed at her. “It was nice to see you again.”

“Nice to see you too.”

Eric had followed the action from the little church across the parking lot to the community center building. Although technically he was the hired help, everyone was making him feel like part of the celebration. He liked that about them. There wasn’t a pretentious one in the bunch.

“I’m so thankful you could do this for them,” Dee, Caleb’s mother, said to him as they trekked across the cold nearly-January parking lot.

“I’m glad you asked,” Eric replied and at the other side, he opened and held the door for her and her husband.

“Oh, thank you.”

“Thanks,” the man said, and Eric ducked inside behind him.

“Wow,” Eric said with a shiver. “They could have picked a warmer night.” His attention slipped to the little celebration room just beyond, and he ducked. “Excuse me. I’d better get in there or I’m going to miss something. Heading that direction, he readied his camera because he had learned with this group good pictures tended to happen all on their own. Sure enough when he got into the room, Caleb and Rachel stood with their friends talking, still holding the two little ones.

It was difficult to explain how easy and right they made being a family look. Click. Click. He took a few more shots.

“Well, they’ve got you hard at work, I see.” Sara, Caleb’s sister, came in and right over to him.

Checking those pictures, he took another. “I’m enjoying it.”

“That’s good. I’m glad you’re here. I would never have been able to take good pictures for all the tears.”

Eric laughed as he lowered the camera. “You guys must be pretty close, huh?”

“Ah, not as much as I would like to be,” she said softly. “But don’t tell Caleb I said that, I don’t want him to get a big head.” She paused and shook her head. “You know, I think that’s what nobody tells you when you’re young. You fight with them and tell on them, and you think that’s going to last forever. And then all of a sudden you’re married with three kids and they’re married with two kids, living a few thousand miles away. And you just wish you could tell Mom they’re not putting their things away like she told them to.” Sara paused again before smiling at him with tears in her eyes. “I guess it teaches you not to wish the moments that are here right now away so easily because they’ll be gone in a heartbeat.”

Mesmerized by her words, Eric’s heart fell into them and held. He was pretty sure he was supposed to say something back, but he wasn’t sure just what that was. Worse, his mind had traveled back to that little house at Mt. Airy with Yvonne yelling at him and his brothers that if they didn’t get the house cleaned right now, she was going to tell Mom on them. A heartbeat. That’s about how long it felt from that moment to this.

“Well, thanks again,” Sara said. “I can’t wait to see all the pictures.”

“Oh, well, thank you for letting me take them.”

“Oh, hurry, baby-girl. Wow. It’s cold out here.” Dani hurried Jaden across the parking lot and into the door on the other side. She remembered this little building from the wall-to-wall people it had held when her grandfather had died. Into and through the first room they went before emerging in the second, bigger room. With one sweep of the room with her gaze, she saw their designated place. “Oh, look. It’s Daddy.”

Instantly Jaden left her side and raced to her Eric’s side.

“Oh!” Dani picked up her hand to stop her child from doing something so improper, but it was too late. She dropped her hand and glanced around, hoping no one had noticed. Thankfully they were all too taken with the celebration to see the indiscretion. Drawing herself up and lifting her chin before putting a smile on her face, she walked slowly over to where Eric stood. He was still taking pictures.

“Oh, hey,” he said by way of greeting though he didn’t leave the camera for more than a second.

“Hey.” She wrapped her arms in front of herself, feeling very out-of-place. In the church had been all right because they could sit farther back and blend in with the dim light. Here, there was nowhere to hide.

“Dani,” the man she remembered as Gregory Lawrence said, coming over to her as he made his way across the space.

“Mr. Lawrence.” She put out her hand and her very best smile.

“Please, please. Call me Greg.” He shook her hand before holding his other out for a woman coming the other direction. “Em, I’d like you to meet Dani Richardson. She and her husband, Eric, are the ones doing the Attabury project.”

“Oh, yes,” the woman he had called Em said, her face breaking into sunshine like the dawn.

“Excuse me,” Greg said and left the two of them to talk.

“Gregory speaks so highly of the two of you,” Em said without pause. “He is just fascinated with this project. He talks about it all the time.” She waved as if that was hilarious. “And how are the two of you? Greg said you’re from Raleigh?”

“We are,” Dani said, anchoring her arms again. She glanced around, but Eric and Jaden had slipped off to the festivities on the other side of the room.

“I’m sure our little neck of the woods is quite a shift down from the excitement of the big city,” Em continued.

“Here you go,” Gregory said, returning with two small glasses of punch.

“Thank you.” Em took just a small sip of the punch. “Mmm. This is wonderful. I bet Dee made it. That woman can do just about anything. I guess that’s part of being Texan, or so I hear.” She took another sip. “I think I’m going to go get her recipe. This is just too good. I’ll see you, Dani. It was nice meeting you.”

“You too.” Dani waved, kind of, and she was back to just her and Greg, Mr. Lawrence, Gregory. It was incredibly difficult because she wasn’t at all familiar with these people and yet they seemed to want her to act as if she was.

“That Emily,” Greg said, taking a sip of his own punch, “she is a whirlwind. Has been ever since I met her back in high school.”

Dani nodded, politely, having no clue where the boundaries or rules of this conversation stood.

“So, Eric said you two met in college,” Greg said, taking a detour Dani somehow missed.

“Hm.” She cleared her throat, willing her business self to snap over her real self already. Life had always been so much easier as business Dani. “Yes. He was in graduate school at the time. I was a junior at Wake Forest.”

“Wow. Wake Forest? No slouching there.”

“Definitely not.” She smiled at the compliment. “I was pre-law. Lot of water under the bridge since then.”

“I hear you there.” Greg took another sip. “It’s hard to believe it sometimes. I look at them.” He tipped his cup across the room. “My girls. All grown up and married now. Where does that much time go?”

A soft wave of sadness brushed over her. “Jaden’s already in second grade. It’s hard to fathom sometimes.”

“Well, take it from someone who knows, cherish every minute you have with her. Before long, she’ll be out on her own, and you’ll wonder where all that time went.”

Tipping her gaze over to her daughter who was shadowing Eric as he positioned the happy couple next to the wedding cake, Dani nodded. “I already do.”

“I’d like to make a toast to the happy couple,” Derek said, standing. It wasn’t a strictly formal affair, just a few tables and some sandwiches. However, with everyone in their finest, it could have passed for a seven-course meal at a fancy restaurant.

Eric snapped a couple pictures as the others settled down.

Coming over to Rachel, Caleb took her hand and met her gaze with his. Snap.

“As most of you know, Caleb and I have worked together for about four years now,” Derek said. Snap. “In that time we’ve spent a lot of hours together, fixing things, trying to figure out how to fix things, dealing with things that weren’t working like we’d hoped they would or thought they would. And one thing I’ve learned about Caleb, he never gives up. He is the first guy on the job and the last one to leave. He stays with things even when to be honest, it would be far easier to just quit and go home.”

Derek’s words slowed a bit. “When I met Rachel, I knew pretty quick that she had the exact same spirit. Life did not deal her an easy hand, but she stuck with it, against pretty much every obstacle that got thrown at her. The more I have seen them together, holding onto love even when it really looked all-but impossible, the more I’ve come to see that love is not so much something you feel that’s great and fun. It is more what you are willing to sacrifice for, go for and hold on to with all your heart. It is loving the other person no matter what, good times, bad times, all the time.

“The more I’ve watched them, the more I believe there was a plan for this couple way before any of us knew it. Like the pastor said, their relationship is about showing the world what real love looks like.” He smiled at them and nodded. “So tonight with all of you here, I just want to say, ‘Caleb and Rachel, thank you sincerely for teaching me what love really is.’” He raised his glass to them. “To Caleb and Rachel.”

“Caleb and Rachel,” the others said, and Eric snapped more pictures.

The music on the little speakers wafted out over the few dancing couples—Caleb and Rachel, Gregory and Emily, and Luke and Sage.

Dani sat with Jaden off to the side as the waning night began to catch up with her little one. As Jaden tucked herself closer to her mother, Dani’s gaze picked up on Jaycee West coming her direction. Unless she was going outside, which with the style of the top of her gown and the weather outside was not likely, then she was coming to talk. Fear pummeled Dani as she glanced down at Jaden whose eyes were now closed.

However, Jaycee just smiled and sat in a chair that wasn’t quite perpendicular to Dani’s. “Wow. What a night,” Jaycee said. “I’m sorry I haven’t been over to say hello.”

“Oh, that’s okay. You were busy.”

Jaycee’s smile took in Jaden. “Long day.” She puckered her lips. “She is so sweet.”

“Thank you.” As with every, single person here, Dani had no idea where to go from there.

“Listen,” Jaycee said, picking her gaze up. “Derek and I have been talking. This is kind of a long story, but we know you and Eric will be coming to work on the house the next couple of months, and well, there’s not a lot of housing options around out here.”

“Oh!” Dani’s eyes went wide, but Jaycee held up her hands.

“I just wanted to let you know that we’re actually in the process of buying a house. It was Rachel’s mom’s old place, out on a farm not too far from town. It’s less than ten minutes from there to Attabury, and if you guys want to stay there when you come, you’re welcome to.”

Dani couldn’t even get an ‘oh’ out as her eyebrows reached for the ceiling in surprise.

“Derek’s already talked to Caleb about it, and he has the keys for the place. I’m not vouching for what shape it will be in when you come because we’re kind of trying to remodel it when we’re here. But it’s got a good kitchen and a working bathroom. There are three bedrooms. You and Eric could have the second and Jaden could have the third. We’re still working out the furniture thing, but we should have that ironed out before you really start being here a lot.”

Finally Dani found a question in all of the others. “You know.” She glanced around. “Not that now’s a good time or anything…”

Jaycee laughed. “Eh, they won’t even notice I’m gone. What’s up?”

“Well, I was just wondering what the schedule actually is. I mean, now that we’ve decided to do the television thing and all. How long does all of that take to get going? Will we be working next week or next month or in six months?”

“You know, honestly, that really is a good question.” Jaycee’s gaze slipped back to the others and she lifted her chin. In seconds Derek was coming across to join them, and Dani wished with everything in her she hadn’t asked.

“It’s not even midnight,” Derek said, nodding to Jaden with a grin. “She is out.”

Jaycee held her hand out for his, and he took it though he was still just standing by her chair. “Dani’s wondering about the schedule, when they’ll get started, how long it will be.”

Really and truly, Dani wished she could take back the last five minutes. The gowns. The wedding. Any other topic so she wouldn’t have asked that stupid question.

“Well.” Derek grabbed another chair and sat on it backward. “I haven’t really had a chance to talk with Caleb yet, and we’re headed back to California to talk through the details with Brent on Monday.” Reaching over, he took Jaycee’s hand, but I’m really thinking probably the first of February we’ll be able to put a schedule together and get going.”

Dani sat up.

“I know that seems like a long time,” Derek said. “But we’ve got to figure out the parameters of the show, get a camera crew and a construction crew put together. Of course, Caleb’s out for this week, so that puts us another week out at least.”

Her gaze slipped over to Caleb and Rachel, snuggling together as they slow danced, lost in being so in love. Her heart hitched at the question of if that was how she had looked with Eric at their wedding. Probably. And that did no good thing for her heart because what had once seemed so right and so real had turned into something she didn’t want to admit but lived every day.

“So it’s going to be the end of next before we even get going on the preliminaries.” Derek sat for a second. “Oh. Did Jaycee tell you about our house?”

“She… she did. But I…”

“We probably won’t be here as much as we like,” Derek continued right over her protest. “We’ve got our own show to work on. I think we’re going to Missouri next?” He looked at Jaycee.

“Mississippi.”

He laughed and tipped his head. “Geography. Not my strong suit.”

Shell-shocked, Dani nodded.

“Anyway. We’ll be here, there, and everywhere through most of this, so if you all want to stay there, you are more than welcome to.”

“Th-thanks.”

“Guys,” the tall guy named Luke said, coming over. “I think they’re getting ready to leave. Did you have the birdseed?”

Jaycee jumped to her feet. “It’s in the kitchen. I’ll get it.”

“Great.”

Derek stood and smiled down at Dani. “We’ll talk soon.”

She just nodded, always feeling one step behind everything here. “Just when you get a chance.”

“Thanks so much for doing this,” Caleb said to Eric as he held out his hand to shake Eric’s even as his other arm stayed around his bride.

“Happy to do it.” Eric shook Caleb’s hand. “It’s been an honor.”

Caleb took a breath. “Oh, and I was going to tell you, we’ll be back by Thursday so…”

However, Eric stopped him with a grin and upheld hand. “Hold up. Just stop right there. There will be plenty of time to talk shop when you two get back. Greg and I have already decided to meet next weekend, but don’t hurry back on our account. We’re just going to be hashing some things out to figure out how we’re going to do this without the thing collapsing around us. But right now, you’ve got way more exciting things to worry about.”

From the kitchen Luke and Jaycee appeared and started handing little bundles out to the gathered guests.

“I think that’s our cue,” Rachel said, tipping her head that direction and gazing up at her new husband. He grinned down at her and kissed her with a peck.

Then he turned back to Eric and shook his hand once more. “Duty calls.”

With a grin, Eric picked up the camera. “One for the road?”

“Absolutely.” And without missing a beat, Caleb kissed Rachel just for the camera.

Because Jaden was sleeping, Dani didn’t follow them outside for the shower of birdseed though she heard most of it. In minutes everyone sans the bride and groom made their way back into the little hall.

“Guess it’s time to clean this place up,” Sage said, clearly taking control of the project. “Pastor Steve, do we need to set all the tables back up?”

“No. No need for that, the boys can come over and get it done tomorrow.”

“Great. Then everyone pitch a few things, we can sweep and mop and get on home.”

Watching because she couldn’t help it, Dani marveled at the easy way they all jumped in to help. In a way it was surreal because they were all dressed in formal gowns and tuxes, dumping drinks and bringing out the mop.

From the door, Eric walked back in checking the viewer on his camera. It was strange how a shimmer of hope that he would come her way glinted through her. Not that it would be any different if he did. Maybe it was the magic of the evening, the love of Caleb and Rachel, the happiness of the others. Whatever it was, one small fairy-tale-believing part of her wished to join in on it for even the briefest of moments.

However, before Eric even finished with the camera, Gregory strode over to him and they had a brief conversation. When Eric smiled at the older man, Dani couldn’t help but remember how much she had liked that smile, fallen in love with it even. She had forgotten how handsome he was, how easy to like he was. Looking down, she ran her hand over Jaden’s shoulder. How had life turned out so very different than her college-girl fantasies?

“Great,” Eric said, and Dani’s gaze slipped back up to him.

She felt so trapped, over here, unable to be a part of the excitement of his life. Then, before she had a chance to process those thoughts, he strode her direction.

“You about ready?” he asked with no fanfare whatsoever.

“Oh. Yeah. A-are you?”

He took the camera strap from around him, turned to the action, and snapped one more picture. With a quick look at it and a smile, he nodded and sighed before heading for the equipment bag. “Yeah. It’s going to be a long two hours back. We’d better make tracks.”

In no time they had said good-bye to everyone, and with two trips to the SUV to take the equipment and Jaden, they got in on their sides and clicked on the seatbelts.

“Well, that was fun,” Eric said as he started the vehicle. He glanced over at her. “Oh, and I hope you don’t mind, I’m going to come back next Saturday. Greg wants to meet for a while.”

“Oh.” Her surprise jumped into the syllable. “Okay.”

“You don’t have to come if you don’t want,” he said quickly. “I’m sure we’ll just be doing some measuring and starting on the plans.”

Why she wanted to cry so badly, Dani had no idea. She had wanted Eric to be a part of the project, had wanted him to at least be all right with it. Now that he was, why did it feel like he was leaving her behind for a party he wanted to be with more than her? However, she managed a smile as they headed out into the night. “Sounds great.”

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When I’m Weak {Kindle Unlimited} Jaycee Lawrence has never done any job halfway. Now working with America’s top television remodeler, she does her job and the jobs of everyone else as well. Not wanting to let Derek West down while guarding her heart from his heart-throb ways. But when Derek realizes how indispensable she has become to him, will he be able to keep himself from falling in love with the woman he thought was just his assistant?

A Love Like This {Kindle Unlimited} Called on by his boss to fix a house that is practically falling down around the owner, Caleb James is just the man for the job. Never one to give up on a project just because it’s difficult, he soon finds the “project” he’s working on is not the house at all but the young widow and mother who is one fray away from giving up completely. Can Caleb’s patient renovation bring her back from the brink?

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White Knight  {Kindle Unlimited} {Audiobook} The one he couldn’t save was the love of her life. How can he ever make that terrible failure right again?

For Real {Kindle Unlimited} {Audiobook} She’s got issues. He’s got secrets. Can they ever learn to be “for real”?

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White Knight

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A stay-at-home mom with a husband, three kids and a writing addiction on the side, Staci Stallings has numerous titles for readers to choose from. Not content to stay in one genre and write it to death, Staci’s stories run the gamut from young adult to adult, from motivational and inspirational to full-out Christian and back again. Every title is a new adventure! That’s what keeps Staci writing and you reading. Although she lives in Amarillo, Texas and her main career right now is her family, Staci touches the lives of people across the globe with her various Internet and writing endeavors.

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