Chapter 39
CHAPTER
THIRTY-NINE
“I’ll catch a ride home with Reeves, Momma,” Bailey said, already opening the door on her mother’s SUV.
One look at her mom’s face told Bailey that her momma wanted to come inside Luke Young’s house, where the entire Young family had gathered to welcome home the campers. Bailey didn’t want Momma to come in that badly, but the thoughts shouting at her to invite her wouldn’t quiet.
“You could probably park down the street a little bit,” she said, as several vehicles had already taken up the space in Luke’s driveway and immediately in front of the house.
She’d been put on a Young family thread that Sterling had started, which said that Luke would be returning about noon today, and that she would have lunch for anyone who wanted to come welcome them home, get their boys, or hang out.
Otis, Mav, and Morris had to come retrieve their sons anyway, and Bailey had watched with wide eyes as that single text invite had ballooned into a full family party. Bryce had called her fifteen minutes later just to make sure she wouldn’t miss the texts, as if such a thing were even possible.
His grandparents would be inside, as well as what he’d called the “extra” aunts and uncles—Ev’s brothers and their wives, Leigh’s brother, and Abby’s brother.
Bailey was on the invitation text, but Bryce then said she could invite her parents and anyone else she wanted to. That had caused a conversation about how Reeves might have people in town that he would’ve notified about yesterday’s thunderstorm.
Bailey could admit that she’d never been more relieved to receive a text from him that said, The storm has passed. Everyone is alive and well, and we’re headed back to camp.
She’d dropped to her knees right there in her office and thanked the Lord for His hand in saving them.
Reeves had then sent pictures of everyone, and then a few of them hiking back to camp. He’d sent her a few of his tent, the campfire, and dinner. Then he’d called last night, having snuck away after feeding everyone chicken nuggets and French fries.
Bailey had known then that the Youngs would like him far more than her, and perhaps she’d been worried about the wrong thing. Reeves had told her she didn’t need to worry at all, but Bailey didn’t know how to shut it off. She met her mother’s eyes and saw exactly where she got the trait from.
“Just go park and come in, Momma,” she said. “I’ll wait for you.”
Her mother nodded, and Bailey slipped out of the SUV and closed the door behind her. Her mother backed out of the driveway and eased down the road while Bailey took very slow steps along the curved sidewalk that led to Luke’s front door.
She checked the pin on her map app, something she’d done probably one hundred times in the past twenty-four hours, and she found Reeves practically on top of her. She jerked her head up, because that meant that Luke would be arriving with OJ, Lars, Eric, and his daughter Corrine.
Reeves had texted when they’d left the campsite that morning, and he’d said that Luke had just barely left, and he was headed out right behind him.
Thankfully, her mother came across the front lawn, and Bailey joined her to go up the steps to the porch. She rang the doorbell, and while she couldn’t hear anything, a certain vibrancy seemed to emanate from the house.
Someone called from inside, something that sounded dangerously like, “Come in!” but Bailey wasn’t a member of the Young family, and she didn’t want to just enter Luke’s house. She exchanged a glance with her mother, who reached for the door and twisted the knob.
Bailey wished she could be braver, but she let Momma lead the way inside where, sure enough, the tumultuous noise of over seventy people met her ears.
Momma kept moving right down the hall and into the back of the house before she stopped.
Bailey eased to her side and drank in the familial atmosphere before her.
Truth be told, it wasn’t that uncommon, as Bailey had grown up with her daddy’s brothers, their wives, and her cousins surrounding her.
The Whittakers took in anyone who wanted to come to the lodge. By the time the Hammonds had started joining them, their group had swelled to thirteen cowboys, their wives, and all of their children. The Youngs should be nothing, and yet somehow, to Bailey, they still knotted her up inside.
She met the eyes of Morris Young, and a smile popped onto his face.
“Bailey’s here!” he yelled, then he moved right into her and drew her into a hug.
Everything that had tightened upon the sight of this house dissipated, and Bailey wondered when she’d finally realize that this family loved her, accepted her, and that she could show up at any of their houses, day or night, and they would receive her like this—with hugs and cheers, cowboy whistles, and a line forming to talk to her.
“I’m so glad Eric’s all right,” she said.
“Oh, that boy’s indestructible,” Morris said, as if he hadn’t had a single moment of worry over his son out in a thunderstorm with Reeves and Luke.
Bailey knew that wasn’t true, but she moved to the next person—Tex—who waited to greet her.
“They’re really close,” Sterling yelled. “If we want to go line up along the driveway and the sidewalk, I’m sure the cousins would love that.”
“I’ll get the kids,” Trace yelled from near the back of the house. He slid open the sliding glass door and bellowed for the kids to come inside.
Bailey turned around to go back the way she’d come, only pausing when a strong male hand slipped into hers. She looked over to the person now at her side and smiled at Bryce.
“I’m so glad you’re dating Reeves,” he said, pulling his hand away. “Can you imagine Uncle Luke out there with those kids in that storm?” He chuckled and shook his head.
“I’m sure he would’ve been fine,” Bailey said. “Reeves told me he’s been camping with his kids for almost fifteen years.”
Bryce nodded. “Yeah, I suppose he has. But listening to Aunt Sterling, it was Reeves who did everything.”
Bailey shook her head, though she hadn’t actually heard an account of precisely what had happened.
When Reeves had called, he’d said a thunderstorm had rolled in unexpectedly, and he and Luke had taken the kids from their fishing and to higher ground.
They’d taken shelter under some trees. The storm hadn’t lasted long, and they’d hiked back to camp. The end.
The house seemed to regurgitate people out onto the front porch and down the sidewalk. Bailey stayed close to Bryce, and her mother stuck close to her.
She found herself in the corner of the porch with a clear view of the driveway where Luke and Reeves would pull in. Excitement lifted into the air, and Bailey wasn’t sure if it was gladness or nervousness that tainted the feeling.
Sterling certainly seemed to pace like a caged tiger, checking her phone constantly.
Only thirty seconds passed before she lifted a megaphone to her lips and said, “He’s turning the corner!
Everyone, get your applause hands ready!
” Her voice echoed throughout the country stillness here in Dog Valley, where she lived with Luke and their kids.
Bailey turned to Bryce. “What are your applause hands?”
He lifted both hands up near his shoulders and waved them. “This is applause in sign language,” he said. “We do it whenever we need to be excited and happy, but also quiet.”
Bailey bumped him with her hip. “Is your family ever quiet?”
Bryce tipped his head back and laughed, and it wasn’t the loudest sound happening around her, so Bailey’s point had been made.
Luke’s matte brown SUV turned slowly into the driveway, which could house three trucks front to back, and he eased along the vehicles parked on the other side.
“Applause hands!” Sterling yelled. Every man, woman, and child who’d lined up along the edge of the driveway, the curved sidewalk, and the porch railing lifted their hands in sign language applause.
Bailey couldn’t help the huge smile that curled her lips as she did the same with her hands.
Momma did too, and Luke hadn’t even made it up to the garage yet before Reeves turned his black truck into the driveway too.
Bailey’s heart leapt to the back of her throat, and she wanted nothing more than to vault the railing and rush to him, run her fingers over every inch of his skin to make sure he was okay, kiss him, and tell him she never wanted him to go camping again so she wouldn’t have to get another text like the one she’d gotten.
You’re in love with him. The words filled her mind, but Bailey had no idea if they were true or not.
Then Luke parked, and all four doors on the oversized SUV seemed to open at the same time. He dropped out and lifted both hands above his head, yelling, “One night in the mountains!”
Bailey had no idea what that meant, nor did she know she needed to scream back, “One night in the mountains!” the way the rest of the Youngs did. Luke laughed, and so did a whole bunch of other people.
Sterling swarmed toward her husband, while Otis grabbed onto OJ, who had emerged from the SUV on the driver’s side behind Luke. Morris and Mav went around to the other side and collected their sons, while Corrine joined Luke and Sterling in a three-way hug.
Bailey regretted her spot on the porch, because she should’ve been down on the side of the driveway to greet Reeves. Now he wouldn’t have anyone to pull him into a hug and tell him how glad they were that he’d returned safely.
Bailey actually considered going over the railing, though she’d had to climb six or seven steps just to get to this porch. Restlessness built beneath her breastbone, then pure foolishness filled her as Reeves’s door opened and no less than five cowboys crowded around him.
“He can’t even take a step,” Momma yelled above the chaos, but Bailey had become very still.