Chapter Eighteen
LANDON SPENT CHRISTMAS DAY with his family and Bailey. As with his childhood Christmases, a huge surprise awaited them on Christmas morning. Daisy Stone, in all her splendor, was sitting at the breakfast table, sipping her favorite Alaskan tea.
“Mom,” Landon cried out as he, Caleb, and Xavier swarmed around her. “Why didn’t you tell us that you were coming?”
Daisy pressed kisses on her sons’ cheeks and gave each one a tight hug. She smelled like lavender and roses. “I wanted to be here to support all of you during this sad time, but I wasn’t sure that I could pull off the travel arrangements last minute. Thankfully, it all worked out.”
“Best Christmas surprise ever,” Caleb said, leaning in for another embrace.
“Without a doubt,” Xavier said, reaching out to clasp her hand in his.
Just then Red came into the room, stopping in his tracks as soon as he saw his ex-wife.
Landon watched as his father’s jaw trembled and his features went slack.
Within seconds Daisy was at his side, enveloping him in an embrace.
Landon and his brothers were mesmerized by the moving sight unfolding before their eyes.
When they pulled apart, Red reached out for Daisy’s hands and gazed at her in wonder. “I can’t believe you’re here.”
“No matter what’s happened over the years, we’re a family. Hattie still means a lot to me.” She made a sniffling sound. “It’s only fitting that I say my goodbyes and support my family.”
Red smiled. “I’m grateful. And Hattie will be too. You’ve always been the daughter of her heart.”
Just then Jaylen ran into the room, busting up the mood by shouting, “Hey, can we start opening up some presents?”
Everyone began chuckling as they headed into the living room.
When Bailey showed up a few hours later, Landon didn’t waste any time introducing her to his mother. He couldn’t wait for the two of them to meet and get acquainted.
“I’ve heard a lot about you, Bailey,” his mother said, pulling her into a bear hug.
“Same here,” Bailey said. “According to Landon, you hung the moon.”
Daisy let out a hearty chuckle. “I’m not sure that’s true, but Landon has always been my sweetheart. I’m very happy that the two of you found one another.”
Bailey looked over at him and grinned. “It was my lucky day, that’s for sure.”
“Our lucky day,” Landon said, coming up behind Bailey and looping his arms around her waist.
Although everything felt a bit subdued due to Hattie’s decline, they still managed to enjoy a wonderful meal, opening presents and having fun with a Christmas game night.
Hattie seemed to be rallying so she could celebrate Christmas with her family, but everyone seemed to know what was happening.
Bailey was right by his side, supporting him and keeping an eye on Hattie.
Whenever Bailey was around, he felt lit up from the inside.
She was his person. And he was hers. He didn’t have a single doubt about that.
They were both so happy now, and there wasn’t anything standing between them.
They were in love, and it practically bounced off the walls of Hattie’s home.
He didn’t want to be far from Bailey, and she felt the same way about him.
Everything seemed a little brighter. He stood a little taller, firm in the knowledge that he was loved and adored by the most wonderful woman on the planet.
That night Hattie called him to her bedside. Even before he joined her, Landon had the feeling she was saying goodbye. She had held private meetings with Xavier and Caleb as well.
“It won’t be much longer now. I can feel it,” she told him. “You’ve been such a joy in my life.”
As usual, words escaped him. “Grandmother, I—” His eyes began to fill with tears.
“No, Landon,” Hattie said, “tears are the last thing I want to see in your eyes. The reason I brought you boys back home was so that we could get to know one another before I left you.” She reached out and gripped his hand tightly, even though he knew her strength was fading.
He could feel her love so intensely at this moment that he wasn’t sure he could bear it. He could barely breathe.
“I got to know that your heart is a soft place to fall. I was able to look in your eyes and see that you’re a good man, full of integrity.
You’re sensitive and kind, just like your grandfather.
” She let out a series of coughs. “And we accomplished what we set out to do. So if you have tears for me, I hope they are tears of laughter, not sadness. I’m going to need you boys to watch over Red, because this is going to be really hard for him.
You and your brothers have always had each other, but he’s only ever really had me. ”
“We will. I promise,” Landon vowed.
And in the end, they were all there with her as she drew her last breath a few days after Christmas.
As a family, as the people who loved her.
Her son, her husband, and her three grandsons.
In true Hattie fashion she made things easy for them.
She simply slipped away after telling them all that she loved them and to take care of one another.
Hattie had shown strength and grace in her final moments. She was herself to the very end.
Even though they had all known how ill she’d been for quite some time, no one had ever been able to imagine life without Hattie in it.
“There’s a letter from Hattie to the three of you,” Red told them on the day of her funeral. He handed the letter to Landon. “The instructions are for you to read it in private. She left me one as well as Jacques.”
Xavier, Landon, and Caleb gathered in the library, with all of them feeling a sense of dread about reading Hattie’s parting words.
“I’m just so angry,” Caleb exploded. “We lost so much time.”
“It was a gift,” Landon said. “Bringing us back here the way she did. Loving us. Bestowing her legacy on us. We have to look at it that way.”
“But we didn’t have long enough,” Caleb cried out before breaking down.
The three brothers huddled together with their arms around one another.
“She gave us our family back,” Xavier said. “And we owe her a debt of gratitude for that. Imagine if we’d never come back.”
“I don’t even want to imagine that. She changed our lives,” Caleb said.
For a few moments they sat with their emotions, absorbing the sanctity of the moment.
“Shall we?” Landon asked a few moments later, holding up the letter. Xavier and Caleb nodded, urging him to go ahead and open Hattie’s letter. Landon cleared his throat.
To my beautiful boys. If you’re reading this, I’ve transitioned to the great slot machine in the sky. Getting you to come here to Moose Falls was the big plan. Dangling Yukon Cider in front of you was just a bonus. And so, my darlings, I have to admit that I tricked you. Gotcha.
The agreement you signed isn’t worth the paper it was written on.
I trust the three of you to do what you will with Yukon Cider.
I always have believed in you and known you would do the right thing.
You won’t have to forfeit anything. If you decide that you don’t want to run the company, it’s yours to do with what you will.
That’s the benefit of being my grandsons.
The choice is yours. I’ve already taken care of Red, and he’ll be set for the rest of his life, along with my beloved husband, Jacques.
I want him to travel the world and see all of the things he hasn’t been able to because he was too busy taking care of me, loving me.
Maybe it was selfish of me to uproot your lives and bring you all the way to Moose Falls.
But perhaps it was just what we all needed.
Personally, I believe that it was the smartest move I’ve ever made, and I’ve made some smart moves.
And so I want to remind you to continue to love one another, the women you love, and your precious children.
Although I love Yukon Cider, in the end it’s not the most important thing to me, and it never has been.
Family is the strongest force known to man.
And I’m the luckiest girl in the world to have been a part of yours.
Landon chuckled as soon as he finished reading the contents of the letter. “We should’ve known. Nothing about Hattie indicated that she would ever make us choose between Yukon Cider and another path. I guess we fell for it. Hook, line, and sinker.”
Caleb smirked. “She was always running circles around us, even in her final days.”
“She was generous to a fault,” Xavier added. “All she ever wanted was for us to come back home to Moose Falls so she could spend time with us. She loved hard.”
“She’s given us so much,” Landon said. “Things we can hold on to for the rest of our lives.”
“I’m proud to be a Stone,” Caleb said, puffing out his chest.
“Always,” Landon said. Hattie Stone had taught them more things in a year than they’d learned in a lifetime. And they were better for it.
And now he was free to do exactly what he needed to do. Once they emerged from the room, Landon made a beeline for Bailey.
“Are you all right?” Bailey asked. “I know that couldn’t have been easy.”
“I’m good,” he said, inhaling a steadying breath. “Hattie was a bit of a rascal to the end,” he said with a laugh.
Bailey’s tinkling laughter warmed his heart. “Well, I could have told you that.”
“Come with me. I’ll tell you what happened,” Landon said, grabbing the hand of the woman he loved and sitting down with her in Hattie’s reading nook.
Despite his grief, being with Bailey and having her as his other half was life-affirming and wonderful.
He couldn’t imagine what his life would be like without her.
Since the moment he’d first seen her in the smoothie shop, Landon had been a goner.
He wasn’t the same man who’d arrived in Moose Falls all those months ago.
Because of Bailey he laughed more, fully believed in himself, and loved harder than he had ever thought possible.
Suddenly the world was their oyster, and Landon couldn’t wait to explore all the possibilities. With the love of his life by his side, there was no way their dreams weren’t going to come true.