Chapter 28
Twenty-Eight
“To love abundantly is to live abundantly, and to love forever is to live forever.”
—Henry Drummond
Max joined Lexi in the living room, where she was curled up on the sofa under a blanket, e-reader in hand. He sat next to her and reached for her free hand, linking their fingers. “We need to call the parents and tell them our news.”
“You go first,” she said, handing him the phone from the end table.
Max took the phone and dialed the number at the barn.
“Hi, honey,” his mom said. “How was the stew?” She’d shared her recipe with them.
“Excellent.”
“Good.”
“So, we told Caden about the baby over dinner.”
“How’d that go?”
“Really well. He’s excited, doesn’t care if it’s a boy or a girl, and the fall is too long to wait.”
“That’s great,” Molly said with a chuckle. “He’ll be the best big brother ever. He has so much experience with his younger cousins.”
“Yes, he will. He wanted to know when we were getting married.”
“What’d you tell him?”
“That we hadn’t really got there yet, and he said why not, and one thing led to another, and now Lex and I are engaged.”
“Oh, Max,” Molly said on a long exhale. “That’s wonderful news! He and Lexi are engaged! Dad and Gramps are thrilled, too. Congratulations, Max. We couldn’t be happier for you guys—and for us.”
“I heard you might’ve helped things along for us.”
“How so?”
“You talked to Caden about me and Lexi?”
Lexi gave him a questioning look.
“We talked ages ago, the day you guys got home from Texas.”
“I think that made a very big difference for us, Mom, so thanks for doing that.”
“All I wanted was for you to have a real chance with Lexi, because I knew she was the one you wanted. I was sensing some pushback from Caden, so I thought it might help if he and I talked about it.”
“It helped a lot.” Max had another thought all of a sudden. “The day we got back from Texas… That was why he stayed with Lexi while I went to return the truck. Because you’d talked to him.”
Lexi placed a hand on her heart, letting him know what she thought of what his mother had done to help them.
“Yes, I suppose that might’ve been why.”
“I get it now, and I’m very thankful for that and ten million other things since the day I was born and especially since the day he was born. I never would’ve survived single parenthood without you and Dad and the rest of the family.”
“Every one of those days has been a joy to me and us, Max. Every one of them.”
“Well, thanks. For everything.”
“You got it. When can I look forward to a wedding?”
“Probably later next fall, after the baby. Lexi doesn’t want to be pregnant in the wedding pictures.”
“Can’t say I blame her. Tell her we said congratulations.”
“Thank you, Molly,” Lexi said.
“Love you, Lex. Thanks for making my boys so happy.”
“It’s my pleasure.”
“We’re going to call her parents now.”
“They’ll be over the moon.”
“See you tomorrow.”
“See you then, son. Love you all.”
“Love you, too.”
Molly put down the phone and did a happy dance across the family room where her husband and father were trying to watch Jeopardy! Who cared about the Daily Double when Max Abbott was engaged?
“This right here is what victory looks like, boys! Ten kids, married, engaged or happily cohabitating.”
“And you were responsible for exactly one of them,” Linc said.
“Is that what you think?” Molly asked, brow raised.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Do you honestly think you two were the ones making all this happen?”
“We were,” Elmer said indignantly.
“No, you were not.”
“I brought Cameron here to build the website, and she met Will,” Linc said.
“Six months before she came, I talked to Patrick about how we should get her and Will together. We came up with the idea of her coming up to pitch a website to you.”
“You did not!” Linc said.
“Did so! And I told Patrick that he ought to meet our Mary Larkin when he came for the wedding, and we all know how that worked out. Not to mention me suggesting Colton and Lucy come to dinner with us after the website presentation because I saw a spark of something when they met in the conference room that day.”
“Well, I sure as hell know that you didn’t buy the diner to keep Megan in town,” Elmer said.
“No, but I told Brett about the job in France to clear the way for Megan to take over the diner and suggested that she ask Hunter for help with the accounting.”
“You’re diabolical,” Elmer said.
“You have no idea,” Molly said with a smug grin.
“What about Lucas and Dani?” Linc asked. “That happened because I brought Amanda here, and that caused a rift with him and Landon.”
“The night Lucas met Dani, he called and asked me to vouch for him with her. I gave him such a glowing review that she couldn’t help but fall in love with him.”
“Did you also push Charley off a mountain so that Tyler would have to come to her rescue?”
“Nope, but when Vivienne Westbrook called me in England to tell me what’d happened and that Tyler had stepped up for Charley, I extended our trip by four days to give them more time together.”
Linc’s mouth opened in shock. “You… You were so mad when you got home and found out what the kids had kept from you!”
“I was thrilled. I thought Tyler was the perfect man for our Charley for years before they got together. Vivienne and I had talked many times about how we might get them together.”
“Can you believe this?” Linc asked Elmer.
Elmer eyed his daughter with amusement and pride. “She’s her mother’s daughter.”
“What does that mean?” Linc asked.
“Why do you think I didn’t kill you that first week you came home to Butler holding my Molly’s hand like you had some right to? Because my Sarah knew true love when she saw it and told me in no uncertain terms to butt out and leave you two kids alone.”
“Aw, I never knew that,” Molly said, smiling at the memory of her sweet mother. “She was the best.”
“She sure was,” Elmer said.
“What about Gavin and Ella?” Linc asked. “And Hannah and Nolan? I messed with Hannah’s car myself, so I know you didn’t do that.”
“I’ll give you that one, but I was the one who told Nolan to keep asking everyone about her so it would get back to her that he was checking on her all the time. I told him I felt like that was having an impact on her and eventually it would matter when he finally got around to asking her out.”
“This is unbelievable,” Linc said.
“You boys were so cute thinking you were the ones making it all happen, when the great and powerful Oz was working ten steps ahead of you,” Molly said with another happy dance that had her hips swinging and her arms over her head.
“As for Ella and Gavin, Amelia and I had been working on that one for years. Gavin wasn’t ready yet, but once he was, well, let’s just say Amelia and I made sure things worked out for them. ”
Linc sat back in his recliner, clearly stunned.
“What about Wade and Mia?” Elmer asked.
“That one was a genuine shock to me,” Molly conceded. “But the minute I saw how crazy he was about her, I was all in.”
“Was that before or after you expressed grave concerns about our son marrying a woman we’d never met?” Linc asked.
“After.” Molly smiled at her husband. “But not long after. I dropped off their wedding night dinner, don’t forget.”
“I brought Amanda here,” Linc said, “so there’s no way you can take credit for that.”
“I kept Amanda here when she was thinking about leaving town after the fire.”
Linc raised a brow, conveying skepticism.
“Ask her about the talk we had and how she told me she was thinking about going home to her mom and getting out of Landon’s way. I told her that was the last thing Landon would want her to do and look at them now.” After a beat, she said, “Face it, boys. You’re nowhere near as clever as I am.”
Molly leaned in, going for the kill. “And while we’re at it, you should know that I encouraged Ray to ask out my sister and suggested to Grayson that he ought to talk to Emma at Hunter and Megan’s wedding.
I was busy that night with Ray and Grayson and then with Chloe showing up to relinquish custody of Caden. ”
“I can’t believe this,” Lincoln said to Elmer. “How’d she get this by us?”
“It’s like she said, my friend,” Elmer said with a grin, “we’re just not as clever as she is.”
“Speak for yourself,” Lincoln said with a scowl for his father-in-law.
“You boys were so cute thinking you were responsible for all the kids finding their forever loves.” Molly patted Linc on the head. “So cute.”
“I’ll give you cute,” he said in a low growl.
“Max is engaged! All our kids have found their happily ever afters. Most of Hannah’s have, too. Wasn’t that your goal?”
“It was, but we wanted to be the ones who did it,” Linc said.
“Who cares who did it? It’s done. That’s what matters. Right?”
“Of course,” Linc said, still sounding miffed.
“I just wanted everyone to be as happy as we are,” Molly said, kissing his cheek. “You can’t fault me for that, can you?”
“Never, love,” he said, softening a bit.
“I’m sorry to rain on your parade.”
“You’re not sorry. Is she, Elmer?”
“Not even kinda.”
“You’re supposed to be on my side, Daddy.”
“I am, most of the time, but this time, I’m with Linc.”
“Thank you, Elmer.”
“Max is engaged!” Molly said, still in amazement. “We’ve got another wedding to plan!”
A few miles from the barn, Max held his new fiancée in bed and whispered with her in the dark about plans and dreams and babies.
“Are you happy?” he asked her.
“So happy,” she said with a giddy-sounding laugh. “I feel so lucky to get to spend my life with you and Caden.”
“I’m so glad you guys love each other.”
“He’s been wonderful to me. So sweet and welcoming.”
“We have my mom to thank for that.”
“She really stepped up for us.”
“She sure did, but then again, she always does.”
“I’m so lucky to have such a wonderful mother-in-law.”
“My sisters-in-law love her.”
“I can see why. She’s the best. She was always so nice to me when we were first dating. I felt so at home at the barn any time I was there.”
“That’s how she is, and she made having ten kids look like no big deal.”
“Ten kids. I just can’t imagine that.”
“How many do you want?”
“One more would work for me.”
“That sounds good to me, too.”
Lexi snuggled in closer to him. “It all sounds good to me.”
“Why don’t you stay tonight?”
Usually, she went home in the wee hours of the morning so Caden wouldn’t catch them in bed together. Max hated sending her off alone into the cold darkness and made her text him when she got home.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m very sure that I want you here with me every night for the rest of my life. You’re welcome to officially move in with us whenever you’re ready to. I hope you know that.”
“I do. Thank you for understanding that I wanted to live on my own for a while, even if I spend most of my time here with you guys.”
“I understand that you’re making up for a lot of lost time, and I’m happy to support that in any way I can. But I don’t want you driving home in the middle of the night anymore. I hate that.”
“I know you do, and I’ve told you not to worry. I learned to drive on these roads, and I’m perfectly fine.”
He gave her shoulder a squeeze. “You’re much safer here with me.”
“And happier. You’ve ruined me for sleeping alone.”
“Good, then my work here is finished.”
Lexi lifted her head off his chest and kissed him as she gazed into his eyes. “Max Abbott, your work here is just beginning.”