Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Alexis sat back in her chair and looked around the table with a smile. It was another family dinner night at her mother’s house, and everyone was there, including Faith. So far, it had been another wonderful evening of great food and fun conversation. Vivian had prepared a creamy lemon chicken and rice casserole along with dinner rolls and grilled asparagus, and it was one of the best meals Alexis had ever had—although she knew that she might be feeling that way because it seemed to really hit the spot of her latest cravings. She felt incredibly grateful for the time spent with her family, and the love they all shared.
She was feeling relaxed and content. She’d finally lost her nesting urges and had been spending her days resting and knitting a baby blanket for her little one. She was glad she’d done everything to the house that she had—even the half-finished cupboards, since she knew that eventually the kitchen would look fantastic. She finally felt ready for the baby to arrive, and she was savoring her time of rest and expectation.
“No, I’m telling you, that raccoon was the size of a dog.” Dean shook his head, laughing. “It was terrifying.”
“Sure, a chihuahua,” Samantha cut in, and she and Faith gave each other a high-five, laughing.
“No.” Dean grinned. “A big dog. The stuff of nightmares.”
“I’ve always liked raccoons,” Faith said.
“Me too,” Noelle offered. “I think they’re cute.”
“Sure, but not in a dark alley at night, when they’re growling at you and their eyes are shining in the dark like some kind of monster.” Dean shook his head, pretending to shudder dramatically.
Alexis laughed. She loved having Faith there with them, and she could tell that the rest of her family felt the same way. The camaraderie between everyone was so obvious now, and it felt as though Faith had always been a part of their family.
And she has been, Alexis thought. She’s always been family—we just didn’t know that she could be part of our lives like this. I’m so glad she is.
“Faith,” she said, once there was a lull in the conversation. “What do you think you’ll do moving forward? Are you planning on staying in Rosewood Beach?”
“You wouldn’t leave, would you?” Samantha gasped, alarmed. “I thought you were going to move here.”
“Don’t make her feel pressured, Sam,” Hazel said gently. “Faith, we’d all love for you to stay, but you need to do what’s best for you.”
“Which, obviously, is staying in Rosewood Beach,” Dean teased, although Alexis could tell that he meant it. “There’s no better place on earth to live, especially since you’ve got all of us here.”
“Faith will decide what she wants to do when the time is right,” Vivian said with a gentle smile. “Right now, she’s figuring out a new direction for her life.”
Faith cleared her throat gently. “Actually, I think I have figured it out,” she said.
Everyone around the table froze, blinking at Faith hopefully.
“And?” Samantha asked breathlessly.
“I’ve just signed a lease for a place in Rosewood Beach.”
The table erupted into cheers.
“Faith, that’s wonderful!”
“Oh, I’m so happy you’ll be staying here.”
“This is fantastic!”
“Good for you.”
“Yay!”
Faith blushed and grinned, looking ecstatic. Alexis reached across the table and squeezed her hand.
“I’m so glad,” she whispered. “Our family is more complete with you here.”
Faith blinked back tears as she squeezed Alexis’s hand back. “Thank you. That means a lot to me. I’m so happy I found all of you.”
Murmurs of affection rippled around the table. Alexis could tell that Faith was close to tears, so she made a joke to make her cousin laugh.
“I knew you were going to stay when I heard you met a man here,” she teased. “We’ll have to thank this Ryan guy for making you want to put down roots here in Rosewood Beach.”
Faith blushed. “Oh, it’s not just him, honestly. It’s all of you, and this town itself. I feel so calm and at peace here. It’s helping me restart my life at a slower pace.”
“I want to hear more about this Ryan,” Vivian said, dishing a second helping of the lemon chicken casserole onto her plate. “What’s he like?”
“Very nice,” Faith said. “He’s sweet, and considerate. He works in construction, although now he’s able to oversee jobs virtually, which allowed him to move back here to Rosewood Beach.”
“He sounds great.” Hazel smiled as she slathered her second dinner roll with butter.
“Wait a minute, we still don’t know his last name,” Alexis said. “I’m going to need that if I want to stalk him on Instagram.”
Faith laughed. “I’m so glad this is coming up in our conversation. I was planning on telling you more about him tonight, but I wasn’t sure how to bring it up without feeling like I was hogging the conversation.”
“Hey, we all want to know more about your new beau,” Julia said. “I’m with Alexis, I’m definitely going to look him up on social media later. I want to see a picture of him—you can tell so much about a person just by seeing a picture of them smiling. What’s his last name?”
“McCormick,” Faith said with a smile.
Everyone else in the room froze. Julia and Alexis exchanged startled eye contact across the table.
“McCormick?” Hazel repeated slowly. “As in, the McCormicks that own the local brewery?”
“Yeah.” Faith nodded cheerfully, seeming to be blissfully unaware of the tension in the room. “He and I went there for dinner the other night. The beer was good, although the food wasn’t the best. I met his family.”
Alexis cleared her throat as she and Hazel exchanged a look.
I’ll say their food isn’t very good, she thought loyally. Everything halfway decent on their menu they stole from us.
“Who’s ready for dessert?” Vivian asked briskly. Alexis could tell that her mother was rattled by the news but she was doing her best not to show it. “Julia and I made a blueberry cobbler, and I’ve still got some vanilla ice cream in the freezer.”
“Sounds incredible,” Alexis said. “I’ll go into the kitchen with you and help you get everything ready.”
She stood up and she and her mother went into the kitchen together. The moment the door was closed behind them, Vivian let out a sigh.
“I wasn’t expecting that one, were you?” Vivian shook her head as she went to turn on the oven. “Ryan McCormick. I don’t know the man, but his family name leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”
“I know what you mean.” Alexis leaned against the counter, shaking her head. “Faith described him as sweet, but I have to admit that I can’t imagine any member of the McCormick family being sweet. Brady was in my class at school and he was always such a loud-mouth.”
“Don’t be rude, honey,” Vivian urged her as she set the blueberry cobbler back into the oven to warm up.
“Is that being rude?” Alexis wrinkled her nose. “I think it’s just stating things accurately.”
“Well, Faith seems to really like Ryan,” Vivian said. “And he’s the one who doesn’t work at the brewery, right?”
“I don’t really remember, but he must be. Faith said he works in construction.”
“Mm.” Vivian nodded. “He hasn’t had anything to do with the feud, then. And I seem to remember Dean saying that Ryan’s different from the rest of his family. Maybe he really is sweet, and this is a good thing for Faith.”
“But will it be a good thing for us? Do we really want a McCormick to become part of our lives?”
“I don’t want us to be prejudiced or bitter.” Vivian began to get dessert bowls out of the cupboard, and Alexis went to help her. “That feud was always one-sided. Besides, over time I’ve come to accept that Judd was just doing everything he did in the interest of his business. He cares about its success as much as I care about the success of The Lighthouse Grill. Yes, he’s done things that caused us stress and he’s played dirty more than once, but it wasn’t anything against us personally, not really. It was his business against ours. And there’s a compliment in there for sure, that he sees our pub as such a threat to his establishment.”
Alexis chuckled and kissed her mother on the cheek. “Look at you. So wise and forgiving. I hope I can be like you someday, Mom.”
Vivian beamed at her daughter. “Thank you, sweetheart. That’s so kind of you to say.”
“And I think you’re right that we need to give Ryan the benefit of the doubt,” Alexis said slowly. “He’s clearly very important to Faith. You’re right that none of us should be prejudiced against him before we even meet him.”
Vivian nodded. “We should give him a chance to make his own impression.”
“We will,” Alexis said, feeling determined. “I’ll talk to my siblings about it, but I’m sure they all feel the same way.”
As she and Vivian began to dish hot pieces of cobbler onto the plates, she got an idea.
“I’ll offer to host a dinner night next week and invite Ryan,” she offered. “That way we can all meet him. I’m sure that’s what Faith wants, and I’m sure we all want to meet him after learning that he’s a McCormick.”
“Sounds like a great idea,” Vivian said. “Thanks for doing that, sweetheart. I’m sure it’ll make Faith feel very special.”
“I hope so. I’m so very glad that she’s decided to stay in town.”
She and her mother exchanged a warm smile. McCormick boyfriend or not, Faith was a part of their family, and she was such a wonderful new addition to their circle.
They placed scoops of the creamy vanilla ice cream onto each of the slices of cobbler, and then loaded the plates onto a couple of trays.
“Here’s dessert,” Alexis sang out cheerfully as she and Vivian made their way back into the dining room. “Get it before your ice cream totally melts.”
Once everyone had settled down with their dessert, Alexis brought up her plan.
“I just ran it by Mom, and I want to host a dinner night next week,” she said. “Is that okay with you, honey?”
Grayson nodded. “Sure. Just promise you won’t redecorate the whole house again before everyone shows up.”
Everyone laughed, and Alexis playfully swatted her husband’s arm.
“I promise,” she said. “Although, I am excited for you all to see what I have done to our house.”
“The living room looks really nice.” Grayson smiled. “Especially now that we’ve got all the furniture back in place. It’s really cozy.”
“I can’t wait to see it,” Hazel said. “And I’ll come earlier in the day to help you cook, Alexis, so you don’t have as much work to do. We don’t want you overworking yourself now that you’ve finally started to rest,” she teased.
“I’ll come early too,” Vivian offered. “Let’s meet up for coffee tomorrow morning to plan out our menu.”
“Sounds fantastic,” Alexis said, feeling grateful for their support. “And, Faith, you should bring Ryan. That way we can all meet him.”
“Great.” Faith’s face lit up. “I’ll text him to let him know later tonight.”
Alexis and Dean shared a glance across the table. She knew they were both feeling eager to meet Faith’s new boyfriend, but also a little trepidatious.
One thing’s for sure, she thought as she stuck her fork into the soft and crumbly blueberry cobbler. This really shows how deeply our family has come to love and accept Faith. A McCormick invited to family dinner night!