Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Dean slipped his hand around Noelle’s as they strolled down the sidewalk toward Seaside Sweets Bakery. The wind picked up, causing leaves to scuttle across their feet. Noelle shivered a little and laughed, sniffing the air.
“Mm, someone’s got a fire going,” she said, sounding delighted. “There’s nothing like the scent of woodsmoke mixed with the scent of autumn leaves. It’s delicious.”
“Delicious, huh? More delicious than all of the cakes we’re about to try?
” Dean grinned at her, thinking to himself that she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.
She was wearing a yellow sweater that brought out the red of her hair, and she’d put on a shade of lipstick that made him think of the leaves that were turning red.
“Different kind of delicious.” She bumped her shoulder against his playfully. “What flavors are we trying out today?”
He shook his head, chuckling. “All I remember is lemon and chocolate. You and Hazel and Alexis and Julia were the ones who really picked out the list. I just smiled and nodded.”
She laughed. “I basically just smiled and nodded too. They had such good ideas and they’ve tasted the cakes here before. I know we also have vanilla with a raspberry filling. That one sounded really good to me.”
“That sounds good to me too.” Dean considered for a moment. “What about chocolate with raspberry filling?”
Noelle gasped and stopped walking for a moment. “Whoa. That sounds perfect.”
“I think so too. Oops, we decided on our wedding cake before the cake tasting.”
“Well, probably.” She squeezed his hand. “Let’s make sure we keep open minds, we might find a flavor that has us totally floored—oh no! Did I hurt your hand?” Noelle was always careful to be gentle with Dean’s hands, especially after the surgery.
He shook his head, smiling. “Not at all. I’m feeling really good. These treatments have really been helping.”
They shared eye contact, and he loved how happy she looked.
He knew what she was thinking, that it was a guarantee that he would feel great on their wedding day.
He felt sure of it himself, and he was full of relief and joy.
He felt ecstatic about planning their wedding, especially now that both his pain and his worries were gone.
They arrived at Seaside Sweets Bakery a few moments later. Even though they were a couple of minutes early, they found the whole Owens family already waiting for them inside the bakery.
“They’re here!” Samantha cried as soon as she saw them.
Dean started to wave to her, and then his eyes bugged out a little when he saw that her boyfriend was standing next to her.
He’d never met him before, and he felt an impulse to chuckle when he saw how sweet and nerdy-looking the red-headed, pale, and freckled boy was.
He exchanged a look with Noelle, and it was clear they both thought Samantha must have picked a good kid rather than a smooth-talking popular kid. Dean felt proud of her.
“Come on over to the tables in the corner,” Vivian said, striding over to Dean and Noelle and giving them both a big hug at the same time. “Callie put all the cakes and the little plates and forks over there.”
Dean and Noelle followed Vivian and the rest of the family to where the cakes were, but even though they tried to nestle themselves into the corner, their big group ended up taking up half the dining area of the little bakery.
They began to sample the cakes haphazardly, everyone trying different ones.
Hazel got worried that Dean and Noelle would end up not getting to try one of the eight flavors, and she carefully set aside plates for the two of them with ample squares of every flavor while everyone else munched their cake and cried out exclamations of approval.
“This is amazing,” Alexis said, her hand on her heart over the lemon cake.
“I love their chocolate,” Vivian said. “I’ve never had a chocolate cake better than the one they make here at Seaside Sweets.”
“This is strawberry,” Samantha’s boyfriend said in awe, as if that fact was recommendation enough.
They continued to eat and talk and laugh, turning the sampling into a loud, joyous affair. Dean felt delighted to be surrounded by his family and their enthusiasm, even though no one seemed to be able to agree on which cake was the best.
He watched Cooper feeding Macey little pieces of cake and her ecstatic reactions, the way Grayson carefully pulled crumbs of cake from Alexis’s hair after Cash got a little too wild and threw cake at his mother, and he couldn’t help chuckling when he saw the way Jacob was eyeing Samantha’s boyfriend with a hawk-like, protective expression.
Hazel, however, was watching her daughter giggle with her boyfriend over the cake with an expression of glee that showed him she’d decided the young man was more than trustworthy.
Dean was glad to see that her former insecurities about Samantha growing up and starting to become interested in boys had vanished.
Dean blinked back tears of joy as he gazed around at his loving family.
Everyone is doing so well, he thought. I’m so happy we’re all here to support each other.
Without them, I don’t think I’d be doing as well as I am.
They nudged me to get the surgery and they’ve been supporting my mind and my body while I recover.
He thought about the money his father had left, and the way his mother had decided to split the money amongst her children.
The fact that she wanted to help them all in some way seemed like a perfect representation of the way the Owens family always pulled together and looked out for each other.
A sweet, achy feeling filled his chest, and he knew he wouldn’t want any other life besides the one he had, no matter the obstacles he’d had to face.
“What is this one?” Faith asked, looking floored after sampling one of the cake flavors. She leaned forward and peered at the label. “French silk?”
“Yes!” Hazel said, lifting up her own little slice of the flavor. “Isn’t it incredible?”
“So good.” Faith shook her head in awe. “I absolutely love this. I’m definitely going to have to keep it in mind for my and Ryan’s wedding.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she gasped and clapped her hand to her mouth.
Everyone froze and stared at her.
“Oh no, I can’t believe I let that slip out,” Faith said, still keeping her hand half-covering her mouth.
“Wedding, as in –”
“Faith!”
“Do you have something to tell us?”
“What do you mean, wedding?”
“Are you ENGAGED?” Samantha bellowed.
Faith blushed a rosy pink and pulled off the pink fingerless gloves she’d been wearing, which had hidden her engagement ring.
“We were going to tell you all soon,” she said, laughing breathlessly and holding up her hand.
“But we wanted to wait a little while first. We didn’t want to steal Dean and Noelle’s thunder. ”
Everyone erupted into cheers, and Faith was soon in the center of a giant group hug. Once the initial hubbub had calmed down and everyone was talking and laughing, Noelle wrapped her arms around Faith and rocked her back and forth.
“You’re a sweetheart,” she told her. “Why would you worry we’d feel that way? This news makes our upcoming wedding all the more thrilling—I love weddings best when I know there’s going to be another one soon.”
“We’re so happy for you,” Dean said, embracing Faith in turn. “Ryan almost deserves you. I can’t wait for him to officially become part of the family.”
Faith beamed. “I can’t wait either! He loves you guys. We have the best family.”
Dean grinned, knowing that he completely agreed with her. “Hey, everybody,” he said, “we’re going to be here longer than we thought—now we have to pick out two wedding cake flavors instead of one!”
“Somebody get Ryan down here,” Jacob said, grinning.
He’d meant it as a joke, but in the end, it happened.
Faith called Ryan and asked him to stop by the bakery to help them all sample cakes, and he swung by a few minutes later.
Since everyone had been careful to only sample small slices of all the cakes, there was plenty for second and third tastings of the various flavors.
Dean and Noelle decided to get the chocolate raspberry cake they’d thought of on the way there, but with the French silk filling as well.
Faith and Ryan said they were going to keep deliberating, but they seemed delighted to have gotten a head start on picking the cake flavor for their wedding.
As everyone spilled out of the bakery together and took deep breaths of the spicy autumn air, Dean and Noelle shared a tender kiss.
“I can’t wait to marry you,” she whispered.
“Right back at you,” he whispered back.
As he smiled down at his fiancée and then looked up at his happy, chattering family, Dean knew that he was looking forward to even more than that.
***
There’s much more in store for the Owens family and their tightknit community in Rosewood Beach! Find out where life takes them next in Footsteps in the Sand.