Chapter 21
CHAPTER
TWENTY-ONE
Harry Young took the plate of pumpkin pie Belle handed to him. “Thank you, sweetheart.”
“The texts just keep coming,” Bryce said from across the table. Kassie and Reggie had set up a couple of extra tables to add to their dining room, and that had made for cramped quarters in the living room.
Belle took her pie over to the couch, and he noted that she’d gone for something with a texture that agreed with her. Pecan pie with vanilla bean ice cream.
Harry suddenly wanted that too, and he nudged his pie out of the way so he could place his phone on the table in front of him instead. He hadn’t looked at the family text all day, because sometimes it brought him more anxiety than anything else.
Uncle Tex: Things are going well here at Mav’s. He’d included a picture of smoke coming out of the oven.
Daddy: Holy cow. What’s going on?
Aunt Hilde: Do you need somewhere to eat? Sterling is planning a lunch Thanksgiving meal too.
Aunt Dani: It’s fine. The turkey juices just spilled onto the bottom of the oven.
Uncle Mav: The smoke alarm is going off.
Uncle Otis: We’re eating in the mid-afternoon, and things are going great here. He’d put a picture of himself lounging on the couch with OJ, who had a guitar across his lap.
Things here had been extremely low-key and casual, yes. Despite the smaller quarters, Kassie and Reggie had managed to feed ten adults, two babies, and five children.
Uncle Blaze: Momma and Daddy loved helping the girls set the table. A picture of their Thanksgiving table, which had clearly been driven by ten-year-old girls, showed beneath his text.
Jem isn’t faring as well.
Harry knew his uncle didn’t like it when Blaze spoke for him, and he expected Uncle Jem to chime in and argue. Harry would like that, because he wasn’t sure why Uncle Jem wasn’t faring as well—at least if Blaze was to be believed from a few hours ago.
Uncle Tex: It’s just a little smoke. The food is fine.
Uncle Luke: We have plenty if anyone needs to come up.
Cash: We got started with the Young Family tater tot casserole and doughnuts for breakfast.
Uncle Blaze: What kind of doughnuts?
A picture came in then, and though Harry had just enjoyed his own huge Thanksgiving feast—and the pie had already been served—he wanted that cookies ‘n cream doughnut instead of the pumpkin pie his wife had brought him.
Aunt Faith: Cash! Those look incredible.
Joey: You should join my bakery, Cash.
Cash:
Bryce: Happy Thanksgiving from us up here in Dog Valley! He’d sent a picture of him and his son, Matthew, both of them grinning from ear to ear.
Harry smiled at the picture too, because Bryce’s happiness made him experience joy in a different way than he ever had before.
Uncle Gabe: Aw, love this!
Momma: His little sweater is so cute.
That set off most of the aunts, and it came down to Aunt Abby finally getting on and admitting that she’d gotten Matthew’s sweater from her mother, who’d made it.
Harry didn’t know why they cared. Well, maybe Aunt Leigh. But the rest of the aunts had stopped having kids, and they had no need of a sweater for a two-year-old boy.
Aunt Leigh: They’re taking sign-ups for that soup class this weekend. Just FYI.
That had exploded the family text, and Harry scrolled past the community sign-ups and notices of activities happening in December.
Perhaps next year, when he and Belle had their own baby, he’d be more interested in the lighting of Main Street, and pictures with Santa, and the cookie tasting event that needed judges.
He chuckled, because of course Uncle Luke had signed up for that, and he wasn’t surprised to see his own momma chiming in about the ice sculptures that would be in the downtown park starting the second week of December.
The timestamps on the texts took a break then, and then pictures started pouring in of perfectly golden turkeys, pretty bowls of cranberry sauce, and glistening, buttery, browned baked bread.
Codi had sent in a picture of her perfect apple pie, as she’d been working on it for months for tonight.
Everything else on their dessert table here had come from Joey, which was as homemade as Harry got.
He and Belle existed simply, on meals that took less than thirty minutes for them to put together, and he glanced up and over to his wife.
When they’d come up with the idea for the Young Family Media Group, he’d thought he’d finally found what he should be doing with his life.
After a six-year country music career, then a couple of years off to focus on his personal life and return to his small-town roots, Harry had been wondering if he and Belle would simply write songs now.
Raise their family in the shadow of the Teton Mountains, and lay on the couch together, and sell songs to mega-stars in Nashville.
It was exactly what he wanted, and yet, a slip of dissatisfaction had found its way into his soul.
Producing a holiday album for his daddy’s band—which was how Harry had truly gotten his start—felt like the exact right thing to do.
And, if the company did well with that, Harry could publish his own records under the label.
So could Belle, and they could take on people and projects they believed in.
The conversation had turned to Christmas, and OJ’s birthday, and Christmas Eve, and that was when the family text had taken off again.
“What do you think?” Bryce asked.
Harry looked over at his best friend and found Bryce had eaten all of his pie while he’d been staring at his phone. “About what?”
“I thought you’d gotten to the part about Bailey moving back to Coral Canyon.”
Harry’s eyes widened, and he glanced at his phone again. It had already gone dark. “No,” he said. “I didn’t see that.”
“Otis himself put it on the text.” Bryce nodded over to their uncle, who sat with Matthew, OJ, and Carver.
“But you knew,” Harry said, and it wasn’t a question.
Bryce nodded. “She talked to me about it a couple of months ago. She’s found a house and a place for her veterinary clinic.” He offered Harry a smile that didn’t stick around for long. “I didn’t know all of that, but I’m glad about it.”
“Are you?” Harry asked.
“One hundred percent,” Bryce said in his classic way. “She’s…I think she needs this to fully come back to herself.” He gave a quick shrug. “It’s been a long time, and while she’s been doing well these past few years, I think she needs this.”
He looked over to OJ. “He does too.”
Harry swallowed, because he wanted only the best for everyone he loved, OJ included. Bailey too, he thought, realizing she’d been as much a part of the family as any of the rest of them since she and Bryce had dated almost fifteen years ago now.
“What else did I miss on the family text?” Harry asked, not wanting to spend his time on his phone today. He just wanted to be with people he loved, in a warm, safe environment where he could make memories and take the experiences home with him.
“Not the main one,” Bryce said. “But Cash texted about cousin night up at the McClellan’s place in December.”
Harry grinned at him, because besides making sure Belle knew about his undying love and devotion, ensuring his cousins understood how valuable they were to him, to the family, to the world had become Harry’s mission.
“That man can cook. If he wants to host cousin night, I’m not going to say no.” Besides, his new house wouldn’t be done, and Harry would welcome the change in venue.
Bryce grinned and tapped his phone. “We’re all waiting for you to confirm.”
Harry rolled his eyes, though he knew he was the unofficial leader of cousin night. “I’ll text him. I thought they were doing dinner about now.”
“Yeah, because he made that gourmet breakfast.” Bryce pushed away from the table and reached for Harry’s plate before pulling his hand back empty. “You didn’t eat your pie.”
Harry shook his head. “It didn’t sound good.”
Bryce sat back down, concern now creased around his eyes. “What’s—?”
“Don’t,” Harry said over the top of him. He shook his head. “I’ll come out to the ranch, and we’ll ride.”
That was code for, I don’t want to talk about this in front of all these ears.
He shot a look over to his father, who held Kassie’s little girl on one knee and baby Avery on the other. Of course, Avery was four now, and not a baby, but Harry still thought of her like that.
His father had mellowed the older he’d gotten, though Harry still saw his protective Daddy Bear streak roar to life when it came to his kids. But he wasn’t so intense, as he wasn’t traveling for the band, and constantly writing and rewriting lyrics.
He hoped that wouldn’t change as they worked on the Christmas album together. Harry and Belle had already started scheduling venues for next season’s mini-concert series, as well as drumming up publicity about the announcement of the album.
Tomorrow, in fact, would be a very busy day for him, as he’d go live to announce the album first, personally, on his own social media, where he had over a million followers. The uncles would follow with their own announcements, with Adam running the band account.
Harry wanted all traffic directed to Country Quad, where they’d have a Black Friday sale on tickets for the online performances a year from now.
Work like this used to exhaust him, but he found this energizing, and that alone told him that God had led him here, and he was doing work he could be proud of.
Bryce heaved a sigh as he got to his feet. “Okay,” he said. “But I don’t want to go riding in December. It’s wicked-cold. Let’s go to lunch or something.”
“I like lunch,” Harry said, and he smiled as his cousin turned and went to get more pie.
Joey sat down across from him, her phone poised in her hands. “What do you think of a White Elephant gift thing at cousin night?” she asked, barely looking up. “I think it would be fun, and Cash can do the food, and I’ll do the activity.”
She looked at him then, and Harry’s heart throbbed with love for her. She’d come alive with Adam at her side, and Harry hadn’t even realized she’d been muted until then.
“Yeah,” he said. “That sounds amazing.”
“I’ll tell Cash,” Joey said, a little squeal following. “This is going to be our best cousin night ever.” She left, and Harry wondered who’d rotate over to him next.
Turned out, it was his lovely Belle, and she laced her arm through his and laid her head against his shoulder. “You didn’t eat your pie, and you won’t move from this spot,” she murmured. “I think it’s time to use my pregnancy as a reason we need to leave early.”
“Mm, sounds nice,” he whispered. Harry pressed a kiss to his wife’s temple and stood up. He took her hand and helped her up too before turning to where Reggie stood in the kitchen.
“Thanks, Uncle Reg.” He moved over and drew his uncle and friend into a hug.
“Heading out already?”
“Yeah,” Harry said. “Belle and I just want a quiet day before the craziness of tomorrow.” He stepped back and grinned. “Everything was amazing. What can I do to help clean up before I go?”
“Nothing,” Reggie said. “We’re headed to Kentucky tomorrow, and Kassie called someone to come clean while we’re gone.”
She joined them, and Reggie handed her a pie plate with half a pecan pie in it. “That’s all that’s left?”
“Yep. Babe, Harry and Belle are leaving.”
Kassie turned toward them. “You are? Did you get pie?”
“Plenty,” Harry said. “Thanks so much for having us.” He hugged her too, and then he turned to face the rest of the house. If he thought he could get out of here without answering a dozen questions and handing out just as many hugs, he was delusional.
Since he actually wasn’t, he raised his hand and called, “We’re gonna head out, y’all. We love you and we’ll see you online tomorrow.”
His daddy rose from the couch with both little girls in his arms. “I need my hug,” he said, quickly passing Avery to Momma and coming over to him. He slid his hand behind Harry’s head and hauled him into his shoulder.
“Love you, bud. I’ll be over about ten-thirty.”
“Yep, that’s great.” Harry smiled at his father as others called their good-byes.
Then he and Belle left the house, and as he helped her into the car, Harry’s emotions got the better of him.
He pressed his teeth together as he rounded the hood in the near-darkness, and as he got behind the wheel, he continued toward Belle.
“I love you, baby.” He slid one hand over her belly, where she’d just barely started to show, and the other along the back of her neck.
She leaned toward him, and Harry met her halfway for a sweet, perfect kiss. “We’re doing this,” she whispered. “Tomorrow. And it’s going to be amazing.”
Harry leaned his forehead against hers, drawing from her solidity, her strength.
“Okay, cowboy. Take me home, so we can lay on the couch and put something on the TV we won’t watch.” She laughed lightly, and Harry joined her.
She gazed at him with all the love in the world as he pulled back, and her love for him gave him the ability to take the next step in every part of his life.
So maybe tomorrow would be a success after all.