Chapter 31 Rose and Thorn, Part Two
Rose and Thorn, Part Two
BILLIE
“Y’all didn’t.”
I stare, eyes welling, at the second farm table that’s magically appeared in the New House’s kitchen.
Like the table beside it, it’s beautifully set with blue and pink china that matches the block print tablecloth.
Huge floral arrangements occupy the center of each table, along with candles that wink from mercury glass votives.
Patsy takes the basket of blondies out of my hand and sets it on the nearby counter. “You know how Mollie loves a party.”
“I couldn’t help myself.” Mollie’s eyes twinkle as she holds out her arms. “You’re here! This is happening! Can you believe it?”
Ryder chuckles. “Hell yeah, I can believe it. You know how hard this woman made me work for it?”
“Slash, I didn’t make him work for it at all.” I give Mollie a hug, feeling like my heart’s liable to burst right out of my chest.
Colt groans as he takes off Mom’s jacket. “I’d say to watch your mouth in polite company, but we’re not very polite company at all, are we, Mom?”
Mom meets eyes with Patsy and shakes her head. “And here I thought I raised them right.”
“You did, honey. It’s so good to see you.
How lucky are we that we’re able to finally gather like this?
I’m sorry Thanksgiving didn’t work out. But now we’ve got all these people together!
” Patsy grabs Mom’s hand, and for a second, I think they’re both about to burst into tears.
“I love the little family that’s forming here. ”
Sawyer hikes Ella onto his hip before giving me a peck on the cheek. “It’s not so little anymore, Patsy. Listen to this racket.”
He’s right: Now that my family and I have arrived, the house is a scene of barely controlled chaos.
Duke and Wheeler are here with the twins, one of whom is currently wailing while Duke sniffs her tiny little diaper butt.
Dean and Junie are chasing each other down the front hall, their giggles echoing off the tall ceilings while Ella counts to ten somewhere nearby.
The kids love playing hide-and-seek in this house because it’s huge and there’s tons of good hiding spots.
Cash and Colt are shaking hands, while Ava chats up Nash and Tate as they help her set out trays of delectable-looking appetizers: fried jalapenos, beef skewers, deviled eggs topped with diced pickles and bacon. We eat and chat, catching up on everything and anything.
Now John B is getting roped into a game of UNO by Junie and Dean, while Mack and Wyatt pop tops off Shiner Bock longnecks so Sally can hand them out.
The kitchen is loud and a little too warm. It smells divine—Ryder let slip that Patsy’s been smoking turkeys nonstop since she agreed to have us over for dinner—and it feels like home.
Not because the New House is particularly familiar, because it isn’t. But because the people that now fill it immediately fall into an easy, happy cacophony of conversation and toasts and laughter.
Dad and Beck are doubled over as Mollie tells them a joke. Cash says it’s time to feed Daisy, and literally eight people jump at the chance to offer their services. Mom and Tate take turns feeding the baby, while I tuck little Maggie inside the crook of my arm and rock her as I sip my beer.
Patsy announces it’s time to open the wine, but I can tell Mom is already drunk by how loudly she laughs and the way her face is flushed.
Mom tries to open a bottle of Napa Valley cabernet but remembers halfway through the process that she doesn’t actually know how to use a wine corkscrew. Wyatt takes over, patiently showing my tipsy mother how to do it properly.
Sawyer catches Ella sneaking sips of Sally’s wine. I catch Junie sneaking a chocolate chip cookie from the basket I brought with me.
“Please don’t tell my mom,” she begs, mouth smeared with chocolate.
Laughing, I grab a napkin and make quick work of cleaning her up. “Why don’t you grab an extra cookie, just in case you get hungry later?”
“I like you, Miss Bobby.”
“It’s Billie, but thank you.”
She wrinkles her nose. “Isn’t Billie a boy name?”
“I have five brothers. I think my parents just kind of gave up and started using a boy name for me too.”
We all help Patsy set out the food once it’s done. Then Cash has us gather around the kitchen’s island. It’s massive, but there’s barely enough room for all of us. I grab Dean and have him stand in front of me, keeping my hands on his shoulders.
It could have something to do with the tiny baby tucked against his enormous chest, but Cash looks handsomer than ever as he clears his throat.
“A little more than a year ago, life around here looked a heck of a lot different. There was so much grief happening. My brothers and me, we didn’t know how we were gonna hold onto Rivers Ranch through another season.
Then a city girl with a big mouth and bigger attitude shows up.
” He grins at Mollie. “And just like that, everything was turned upside down.”
“You were awful,” Mollie replies with a dreamy smile.
“The worst,” Cash agrees. “You were exactly what we didn’t know we needed. A swift kick in the—ahem, behind.”
Patsy holds up her glass. “Amen.”
“Mollie’s arrival brought life back to our little corner of paradise.”
“Ha,” Sawyer says.
“Well, it wasn’t paradise during branding season, but that’s neither here nor there. Point being, Mollie shows up and changes my life. Then all of a sudden, Sally and Wy are finally acting on the crush they’ve had on each other forever, and then they’re in love.”
Wyatt lets out a holler. “Almost got shot in the process, but worth it.”
“Sorry about that,” John B replies with a chuckle.
Sally rolls her eyes. “Glad we can laugh about it now.”
“In the meantime,” Cash continues, rocking side to side when the baby starts to make noise, “the guys take me on a little bachelor party weekend to Austin, and Sawyer ends up meeting Ava at a honky-tonk.”
Ella claps her hands. “That’s where you kissed, right?”
“That’s exactly what we did.” Ava bites back a smile. “We kissed.”
“So much kissing,” Sawyer replies.
Dean sticks out his tongue. “No thank you.”
“Little did we know that Mollie Luck was a package deal.” Cash glances at Wheeler. “Her friend Wheeler starts showing up, and my brother Duke starts acting like a lovesick fool.”
Duke holds up his hand. “Guilty. Was love at first sight for me.”
“But me, I took some convincing,” Wheeler replies. “Duke is nothing if not persistent.”
“Grit is important,” Dad says.
Patsy nods. “Ain’t that the truth.”
“Next thing we know, they’re going on road trips together. Lord knows what went down on those trips—well, we actually have a very good idea of what went down, but I won’t go into detail.” Cash grins. “Now we have not one, but two sets of twins in the family.”
Mom raises her glass. “Congrats, y’all. Cheers to all these beautiful babies.”
“Cheers,” the room replies in unison, the sound of clinking glasses and a sniffle or two filling the room.
“So all of a sudden,” Cash looks at Ryder, “everyone had paired off except the baby of the family. It wasn’t a secret that Ryder was always the favorite. I remember people saying that Mom didn’t put him down for the first two years of his life.”
Ryder shrugs. “So what? I was cute.”
“We literally looked the exact same,” Duke shoots back. “Still do. And Mom didn’t hold me like that.”
Now Ryder’s smiling. “Mom and I just had that special connection.”
“Whatever the case”—Cash holds up his hand—“I think we can all agree that Ryder has always been the most tenderhearted out of all of us. He took our parents’ passing really hard, and I worried for a long time that he wouldn’t ever come back from that.”
“You? Worry?” Ryder tilts his head. “Never.”
“You’re funny.” Cash gives him a tight smile. “But losing Mom and Dad—it changed you, Ry. And then falling in love with Billie Wallace changed you again. Changed you back into the tender, brave, ballsy soul you were before.”
“What does ballsy mean?” Ella asks Ava.
Cash covers his mouth. “Sorry.”
“It’s another word for brave,” I say quickly. “It means you have the courage to go after the things you want.”
June smiles. “I’m ballsy.”
The room erupts in laughter.
“That, you are,” Sawyer says with a sigh.
“So I’d like to give a toast to Billie, for bringing our brother back.” Cash raises his beer. “Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for being you. And for loving my brother so dang well. Welcome to the family, Billie.”
I would raise my glass, but I can’t because I’m bursting into ugly, heaving sobs.
“Aw, honey.” Mom comes over to give me a hug, and I see that she’s crying too.
Everyone is crying. Ryder and Cash and Mollie and baby Maggie, who lets out a wail. Ava is passing tissues around, and Sawyer is hugging two of my brothers at once.
Ryder presses a kiss to my lips. “You really are family now.”
“Aren’t we all family now?” Colt wipes his eyes. “All fifty of us? Or however many people are in this kitchen right now?”
Dad nods. “I like that idea.”
“I could get on board with that,” Nash adds. “But do we need a significant other to be included? Because I haven’t found mine yet.”
I lean my head on his shoulder. “Your membership is pending your pairing off.”
“Dang.”
Beck sighs. “I’m out, then.”
“Oh, please, y’all are in,” Cash says. “Ain’t no rushing these things. Your time will come.”
Mom holds up her crossed fingers. “That’s the hope.”
When we sit down to eat, Colt makes a point of sitting next to me so that I’m wedged between him and Ryder.
“You’re smothering me,” I say as I sip my wine.
Colt unfolds his napkin and sets it on his lap. “It’s how I show my love. You’re welcome.”
Ryder grabs Robbie from Duke so he can eat.
The food is out-of-this-world delicious.
I’ve never been the biggest fan of turkey, but I’ve never had it smoked before.
The flavor is unreal, juicy and salty and just all-around perfect.
Paired with Mom’s corn pudding, Patsy’s collards with bacon, and a big scoop of the most perfect dressing ever known to man, this food just might be my favorite meal that I’ve ever had.
“We have a little tradition in our family that y’all might like to hear about,” Dad says. “Something we call—”
“Rose and thorn!” Dean wiggles in his chair. “Can we do it, Pawpaw? Please? I can start.”
Colt chuckles. “Dude, you always start.”
“But this is our new family.” Dean glances around the tables. “So I wasn’t sure if I could still be first.”
Wyatt nudges him with his elbow. “Spotlight is all yours, buddy. Go for it.”
“Okay.” Dean straightens. “So this is how it works. You tell everyone what your least favorite part of your day was, and that’s your thorn. And then after that, you tell everyone the best part of your day. That’s the rose. Because roses have thorns. Get it?”
Sally nods. “I love this game already. Show us how it’s done.”
“Cool. So today, my thorn was having to leave school, because I love my teacher.”
Colt grins. “You think you have a little crush on Ms. Loo?”
“Of course I have a crush on Ms. Loo.” Dean grabs his water and takes a gulp. “She’s the most beautiful girl alive. Well, after Lainey. And my rose was today being dessert day in the cafeteria.”
“What’d you get?” Cash asks.
Dean’s grin is a mirror image of his father’s. “Chocolate cake!”
Sawyer’s grabbing Ella and putting her on his lap. “I like this game. You wanna go next, Ella?”
It takes a while to go around both tables. Ryder puts a hand on my thigh as we listen to our families sharing the randomest, funniest shit about their days.
Like who knew that Sally snuck out of work early to get her second tattoo? And how did Tate end up covered in dog vomit before six a.m.?
I laugh so hard my sides hurt. When it’s my turn, I share that my thorn was my computer crashing earlier.
“My rose?” I smile hard. “I’ve been cleared by my doctor to race again.”
Hoots and hollers. Even Mom and Dad congratulate me and say they’ll be sitting front row for my next rodeo.
“Because it won’t be your first rodeo, hopefully you’ll stay on the horse,” Tate says with a wink, and I have to resist the very strong urge not to reach across the table and smack him.
We clean up dinner while the kids inhale their dessert. Then the boys go build a fire in the living room’s massive fireplace, and Ryder invites everyone to sit on the sofas in front of it.
Then he pulls out his guitar.
“Oh God.” Cash makes a face. “Please tell me you’re not going to serenade us with Dave Matthews songs.”
Ryder ducks under the guitar strap I got him—it’s embroidered with his name—and grins, taking a seat on the hearth. “No. I’m going to serenade y’all with your favorite songs. Billie, do you mind accompanying me?”
“Not one bit.”
He plays Brooks & Dunn for Mollie and Cash.
Shania Twain for Sally and Wyatt.
Johnny Cash for Ava and Sawyer.
Salt-N-Pepa for Duke and Wheeler.
Finally, he plays Taylor Swift for him and me.
The kids dance the whole time, giggling and twirling and falling on the rug in front of the fire.
“Dang.” Cash’s eyes are wide. “Y’all are good.”
Ryder scoffs. “Don’t sound so surprised.”
“You’re welcome to come up on stage anytime with Frisky Whiskey,” Patsy says.
Wyatt and Sally start to shamelessly make out. Ava falls asleep on Sawyer’s shoulder. My brothers bug us with a zillion song requests.
It’s late by the time we pack it up to head home.
I wrap Patsy, John B, Cash, and Mollie in tight hugs.
“Thank y’all for having us. This was a dream.”
Mollie holds my hands. “This is the dream. We get to keep living it.”
“We do, don’t we?” I glance up at Ryder.
“Yeah, baby, we do.” He leans in and lowers his voice. “Speaking of dreams—since ours started with a little mouth-to-mouth, can we keep living that dream too?”
Laughing, I nod. “Need to keep those lifesaving skills sharp since I’m gonna be racing again.”
“Just doing the Lord’s work.”
“Wonderful. But would you do me now, pretty please?”
Ryder chuckles. “Only if you promise me you’ll never change.”
“As long as you promise to never change me.”
“I promise.”
Going up on my tiptoes, I kiss him. “Then so do I. Let’s go home, baby.”
THE END