Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
“And we’re going to paint this room and put in shelving on that side for plastic bin storage, and over here I’m hoping to put hanging racks for dress storage,” Lottie said, pushing open the door on a good-sized utility room.
It had been three weeks since the convention, and she and Travis had moved into their new home the week before.
They were still settling in upstairs, but she couldn’t wait to share her vision for the new shop with her sisters.
The cleaning crew Travis hired had done an amazing job, but now it was time to start planning and decorating the storefront space.
She was already using the kitchen in the evenings to fill website orders that had been coming in since the Littlepalooza, and Travis seemed to be having fun as her assistant candymaker, and head tester.
Though she was still working at the accounting firm, it would not be too much longer before she handed in her notice and became a full-time candymaker.
She led her sisters into the front room and gave them a moment to look around before she began to describe her plan.
It was hard to visualize with the piles of lumber and other construction supplies, but she did her best to share her vision for the shop.
It included a candy counter and serve-yourself bins on one side of the room and open space with a few tables in the center of the room for craft and candy-making classes, and other get-togethers.
The other side of the room would hold shelves for other homecraft vendors to have a place to offer their wares for sale on a commission basis.
She even had a space set aside in the back corner for a couple of dressing rooms, in the hopes that Tilly would be interested in selling tutus and dresses in the shop.
When she finished describing her dream, her sisters threw themselves at her and they had a squealing, giggling group hug.
“This shop is going to be amazing!” Carri gushed.
“I can’t wait until you open!” Tilly added.
“Charlotte Isabelle, didn’t I tell you that you weren’t allowed to go past the kitchen?” Travis suddenly appeared in the doorway, causing the sisters to scream as they whirled to face him.
Lottie slammed her hands on her hips and frowned at the man. “Daddy, you scared us! You shouldn’t sneak up on people like that!”
“And you’re not supposed to be on the wrong side of that line,” he said, pointing to the blue tape that he’d laid on the floor in the kitchen doorway, on the other side of the short hall. They were well past that safety line, as he called it. “Do I need to get your big wooden spoon?”
Tilly and Carri began shaking their heads as Lottie stepped in front of them. She was once again stepping into her role as protector, even though she knew her Daddy would never hurt any of them. Smack their butts, yes, but he would never intentionally hurt them.
“But Daddy, I wanted to share my vision for the store with my sisters and showing them the blueprints just isn’t the same as seeing it in person.”
Taking her sisters’ hands, she led them back toward the kitchen. All three turned so they continued facing Travis as they passed by him on their way back to the kitchen.
Travis grumbled as he followed them, closing and locking the door to the front of the building once they were all in the kitchen. “The next time I find you out there without me before the renovations are completed, you won’t be sitting comfortably for a week. Understand?”
Lottie swallowed hard before she nodded. “Yes, Daddy. I understand.”
“Good girl. Now, lunch is ready upstairs and then I thought we could all go to the matinee of that movie you wanted to see.”
The sisters might not see each other every day, but they had learned to make each visit special. Linking hands with Tilly who was holding hands with Carri, Lottie then took Travis’ hand and followed him out of the kitchen and up the interior stairs to their home.
Travis pulled off the road and parked behind Carter’s pickup truck. Looking at his passenger, he said, “Stay there until Daddy comes around to help you out.”
“Yes, Daddy.” Lottie looked at him with a smile of innocent trust.
It had been a month since they’d moved to their new home above Lottie’s store, and he’d spent that time helping her set up her new store and learn to let her Little side free.
Today’s pink jeans and white t-shirt with a dancing cow on the front and sparkle-covered sneakers were only the beginning.
She had small cow barrettes in her hair and a ring pop on her left ring finger, though Travis was hoping to change that ring for something else in the very near future.
Knowing it was a challenge for her to sit still, especially when her sisters were already out and bouncing around the field, he moved around the car and opened it. She’d twisted her fingers together in her lap, but had not touched either the door or the release for her safety belt.
“Good girl,” he praised as he leaned in and released the belt before holding her hands and helping her out of the car. Grabbing the basket from the back seat with one hand, he patted his pocket to make sure he still had the box he hoped to present to her before they headed home later in the day.
Holding out his hand, he grinned when she laid hers in it without hesitation. “Do you have the tissues?” he asked.
She held up her big purse with a sad smile. “Got a big box in here.”
Travis nodded. This would be a hard day for the sisters, and he and his fellow Daddies had decided to try and make the mood a bit lighter. “All right, let’s go.”
Carter and Rooker were already putting up a gazebo tent while Carri and Lottie were picking flowers not far away.
“Go see your sisters, sweet girl. But don’t go too far,” Travis said, releasing her hand and patting her bottom.
“’Kay,” Lottie said.
Instead of bouncing over to join her sisters, she stopped and stared across the field to where big yellow machines were warming up and driving around what had once been their front yard.
Today was the day the state had scheduled for the demolition of the Smith family farm. Though the Daddies had not thought it was a good idea, Lottie and her sisters had banded together to convince them to be here to watch as their family’s legacy was torn down.
“Go see your sisters, Lottie-love,” Travis urged as he set the basket full of snacks on top of the cooler one of the others had brought. He then stepped in and helped Carter and Rooker move chairs and a long table under the tent.
“Carri’s been crying for two days,” Rooker said. “Ever since she got the call about today.”
Carter nodded. “Tilly, too. I’m still not sure this is a good idea, but here we are.”
“I have something that might help the girls get through today,” Travis said.
“Proposing today?” Carter asked.
“You, too?” Travis asked, somehow not surprised when both men nodded.
“Seems like the perfect time to cement the future,” Rooker said just as their women walked up to the tent with their arms linked.
“We’re thirsty,” they said in unison.
He knew it shouldn’t, but it always surprised him when the three spoke as one. They were, after all triplets, though it sometimes seemed like they shared a brain.
“There are juice boxes in the cooler. Just remember we don’t have a potty out here for you if you drink too much,” Rooker reminded them.
“Then you can take your seats because it looks like the show is about to begin,” Carter said, watching the action across the field.
The crew pulled the barn down first, then the other outbuildings before attacking the house. The girls sat in their seats, tears flowing free as they watched the destruction.
When Travis couldn’t take the sadness any longer, he moved around to kneel in front of Lottie. He was not surprised when Carter and Rooker followed his lead to stand before their women.
Lottie looked at him as she wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Daddy?”
Travis pulled the ring box from his pocket before kneeling before her.
“Lottie-love, I love you. And I want today’s ending to be our new beginning.
I love your Little and your dreams and your chocolate-cherry marshmallows.
When I went to Littlepalooza that day I never expected to come away with my future, but I did.
You are my future. Will you do me the honor of marrying me and be my wife, my woman, and my Little girl for the rest of our lives? ”
“Yes, Daddy. Yes, yes, yes.” Her happy voice got louder with each word until she threw herself out of his chair and into his arms. “I love you.”
Travis wrapped his arms around her and held her tight as she kissed his cheeks, chin and finally his lips.
When they finally stopped kissing, he took her hand and pulled off the ring pop, replacing it with the platinum ring with three diamonds embedded in the gold.
He’d had it made so that she would not have to take it off when wearing the rubber gloves she used when working with her candy.
He heard the others make their proposals, but did not pay too much attention since he had his world wrapped up in his arms.
“I love you, Lottie-love.”
“I love you, Daddy, but it’s your ‘sponsibility to come up with a special candy to serve at the wedding.” Lottie smiled up at him, and he could see both her Little and her Big staring back at him.
“I can do that,” he said with a grin. “I can totally do that.”
Once the hugs and kisses and comparing rings were out of the way, Travis had Lottie help him pass out plastic wine glasses. He pulled out the champagne he’d packed and popped the cork. After filling all the glasses, he looked at Lottie.
“Would you like to make the toast, Lottie-love?”
She nodded with tears filling her eyes. Looking at her sisters, and then the field where their family home was now a pile of construction debris, she lifted her glass.
“To family past, who gave us good roots, to family present, who love us and which will hopefully grow with generations to come, and to new beginnings with our handsome Daddies. May we always be as happy as we are in this moment.”
The End