Chapter 19
“Our family will be at the hall at four,” Tamara assured Lisa on the Saturday morning of the Heart Falls Cowboy Christmas Party. “Plenty of time to do one final check before the party. Oh, and Sasha and Emma promised to watch the kids until supper time, so we’ll have a chance to catch up.”
“I’m going to sneak down a little earlier,” Lisa confessed. “Message me when you get there, and I’ll come to the playroom to meet you.”
Tamara hung up and Lisa got back into her busy morning routine of wrangling children, nursing and cuddling the baby, and generally enjoying life.
It’s not as if she was truly worried anything would be left undone—not with the team of organizers, including herself, having done all they could to make for a memorable evening. But the first official event in the new Heart Falls Community Centre was worth fussing over.
And definitely worth a quiet moment of reflection on her own.
Just after lunch, the house went quiet. Or as quiet as the Ryder household got these days.
Mason and Nathan were down for naps. Zoe was using her limited allotted time on the iPad to pop rainbow coloured balloons in assorted shapes, computer-generated woo and whee mixing with her little girl’s excited cheers.
Baby Silas lay in the crib tucked against the kitchen wall, his arms and legs wiggling enthusiastically as the musical mobile over his head turned and childish music repeated over and over as a cow leapt over multiple moons.
Strong warm arms wrapped around Lisa’s waist as Josiah nuzzled her neck. “Hello, beautiful.”
“We’re not going for another August baby,” she warned, amusement in her tone.
“Nope, we’re not.” He kissed a line under her ear and nipped the lobe gently. “Only letting you know that I love you, Mrs. Ryder.”
“Love you, too.” Lisa twisted so she could catch hold of his neck, all lined up sweetly against his torso. “Dance with me tonight?”
“Tonight, and every night,” Josiah promised.
“Charmer.”
“Lucky,” Josiah replied instantly. “You excited to see the hall finally with her full party dress on?”
“Beyond excited,” she confessed. “Is that ridiculous? It’s just a building.”
He tweaked her nose, eyes sparkling as she nipped at his hand. “Never silly. That thing that’s just a building was the heart of the community in the past. We’ve missed it, and now we get to start creating new memories and new traditions.”
“True. Smartie pants.” She went up on her toes and pressed a slow, heated kiss to his lips. Intimate and needy. Hmmm, delicious. She pulled back and smoldered at her husband. “My dad said he’d be here by two. Did you get the guest room ready for him?”
“That’s not what I was hoping to hear you say after that kiss.” Josiah winked at her, though. “Yup. Me and Zoe did it this morning while you were making breakfast. Your dad will be delighted to know Zoe insisted Geegee use her star pillowcase so he’d have a good sleep.”
The idea of her dad laying his head on Zoe’s extremely yellow pillow instead of the usual grey guest sheets was another bright spot in the day.
Not because of the pillow itself.
It warmed Lisa’s heart knowing that her dad would now recognize the honour and accept it with great pomp and make Zoe feel treasured instead of silly. It had taken work on his part, but Grandpa George had finally earned his stripes as a beloved grandfather—and father.
Lisa swallowed around the lump in her throat as Silas stopped being happy and started complaining.
Before Lisa could move, Josiah swung into action. He scooped their four-month-old up smoothly after years of both parenting and caring for animals.
“Well, hello, little mister. Did you hear Mom and Dad and want to get into the conversation?” Josiah settled Silas in his arms and spoke earnestly with him. “That’s a smart little guy. Yes, look at that smile. Your Mommy and Daddy love you so much, yes, we do.”
Lisa leaned over Josiah’s shoulder to take in the sweetness of the two of them making faces at each other. Tears came unbidden. She was so damn happy, but her eyes continued to fill, and there really wasn’t anything she could do to stop it.
Dear Lord, it wasn’t hormonal, was it? She was not allowed to be pregnant again this quick.
Josiah pressed a kiss to her cheek. “You good?”
“So good,” she insisted. Impulsively, she cupped his face. “Come to the hall early with me? Dad can bring Zoe and Mason and meet us later. We’ll take the littles with us. I want to walk through the halls and soak it in.”
His blue eyes twinkled. “Whatever you want. Us, or you alone, or the whole family. We’ll make it work.”
In the end, they weren’t the only ones who arrived far earlier than necessary. The buzz of voices in the main hall and ringing laughter of the children in the playroom faded as Lisa linked her fingers with Josiah and they paced slowly down the side halls and peered into rooms.
“It still smells new.”
Josiah said it with a respectful amount of awe. Lisa loved that his excitement was as high as hers.
Shiny windows, shiny floors. So many shiny possibilities waiting to happen.
Josiah tugged her to a stop in an alcove off the stage. “There’s a view you need to see from here.”
“Oh, really?” Lisa peered around at the small space. “Not much in sight.”
“Good.” Josiah pressed his hand to her lower back and slid their bodies together. He took her lips, a sweet, lingering kiss that lit her up inside and simultaneously made her want to laugh.
It was so them.
He broke the kiss and dipped her back, and Lisa was left completely supported in his arms. She knew she was safe and cared for by this man who’d become more than her best friend, the same way she was everything to him.
Josiah pulled her upright and grinned. “There. Our moment of quiet branding on the new hall. We belong here.”
“We do.” Lisa bounced a little with excitement as she tugged his hand. “Okay, time to overload on family and friends.”
They met up with Tamara and Caleb, rearranged children, then took off in different directions. Josiah and Caleb took the big kids to grab tables, Tyler, Mason, and Zoe all happily marching in a row. Lisa slipped Silas into a chest wrap while Tamara picked up Nathan.
Tamara laughed softly as they headed toward the kitchen area. “You’d think the guys hadn’t seen each other in days the way they pound each other on the back every time they meet. But Josiah was over at Silver Stone this morning.”
“It is funny, but I like it,” Lisa confessed. “I’m glad they had a connection before our family ties got involved, but I like to think it’s gotten even stronger after we showed up on the scene.”
“Of course,” Tamara agreed. She grinned at her sister as they pushed through the doors into the bright, clean kitchen. “We made everything that much better, don’t you know? Whiskey Creek women are magical.”
The kitchen was full to the brim with people doing the final prep on food to place on the buffet line in a few minutes. They chatted excitedly; laughter bounced around the room. With their holiday best on, the entire room and the people sparkled.
Karen was at one of the long silver counters, cutting buns before dropping them into a massive bowl. “I heard that magical comment, and I have to agree.”
“What are we agreeing with?” Beside her, Julia lifted a massive pan from the oven then placed it carefully on the hot pad so she could stir meatballs into the hot gravy.
Another amazing connection that had bloomed right here in Heart Falls. The fourth of them, Julia was one hundred percent family now.
Lisa gestured to all of them. “That the Whiskeyteers make life better, no matter where they go.”
“Aww.” Tamara pulled a salad from one of the oversized fridges. “That name still makes me feel as if I need mouse ears, but the sentiment is perfect.”
Karen draped an arm around Lisa’s shoulders and squeezed. “We might not be Colemans anymore, or from Whiskey Creek, but you’re right. What we’ve got here is pretty magical.”
An hour later, Lisa was still buzzing, but at a lower level. Her stomach was full of great food, her head stuffed with conversations, and contentment covered her from head to toe.
Even while she and Josiah wrangled their children, ate the food shared by neighbours and friends, Lisa soaked it all in. The moments when a person would pause, look around the new hall, and a smile full of happiness and hope would bloom.
She noticed the conversations and connections. The ones that made sense and the ones that surprised her.
Like Dustin and Cody at the table next to theirs.
The two men were ten years apart in age but had come together over the past year in a way that made perfect sense.
Their wives, Charity and Fern, being best friends was the catalyst, but the men—both younger brothers, both with giving hearts—had grown in the direction they’d needed to and arrived in a good spot.
Josiah’s words from earlier that night repeated in her head. We belong here.
She and Josiah absolutely did. So did so many others.
In a room filled with babies, food, decorations, and total holiday chaos, they had built more than a community hall. They’d built a community.
Not the one where she grew up, but one that fit even better because she’d gotten to grow with it over the past years.
Heart Falls was absolutely home. That was a sweet thought.
“You’re smiling hard,” her dad noted. Mason was perched on his right leg, working on a colouring page.
“Am I?” Lisa splayed a hand over Silas’s back. Under her palm, her baby’s contented breaths made his little back rise and fall slowly. “Guess I’m feeling grateful for a ton of things. Including you,” she added.
His face lit up. “Love you.”
And that was another bit of holiday perfection. “Love you, too, Dad.”
Conversations and music and outbursts of laughter—the sounds rang off the walls and danced in Jinx’s ears, a wild outburst of energy and anticipation wrapped up in one.