Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Hazel closed her eyes for a moment and smiled, relishing the smell of the fresh parsley she was chopping up. Around her, her kitchen bustled with willing workers and the air was filled with the sounds of laughter and conversation.
She opened her eyes again, feeling a nostalgic pang amidst her feelings of happiness.
The Fishers’ home had been completed by Jacob and his team, and it was one of their last nights staying with Jacob, Hazel, and Samantha.
She had absolutely loved having Shannon, Weston, and Camille live in their home with them, and although she was thrilled that their house had been repaired, she knew she was going to miss the fun hustle and bustle that came with having more people in the house.
Things have been looking brighter for everyone, and I’m so glad, she thought, smiling as she turned to the bubbling cheese sauce that she had been concocting on the stove. Ever since Delilah gave that wedding dress to Noelle, I feel like it’s been good news every time I turn around.
She grinned, remembering the look of joy on her future sister-in-law’s face when she saw the dress that Delilah had procured for her.
Hazel was so thankful that Noelle had gotten the wedding dress of her dreams after all—it had seemed like the final piece in the puzzle, and now Dean and Noelle’s wedding was ready to be the celebration they had been dreaming about and planning for months.
Her attention was drawn back to the matter at hand when Samantha tapped her on the arm.
“Hey, Mom, do you think Camille and I could have sodas tonight with dinner? Since it’s a celebration and everything?”
Hazel chuckled. Normally she tried to classify sodas under the “special treat” category and not the “dinner beverages” category, but she could agree with Samantha that this was indeed a special occasion.
“Sure,” she said. “Better ask Shannon if that’s okay with her though before you announce the good news to Camille. ”
Shannon turned around from where she’d been preparing garlic bread at the kitchen table and smiled. “Fine with me too. Camille loves soda—it’s one of her favorite things.”
Samantha and Jacob set the table while Shannon and Hazel finished cooking dinner and Weston played in the living room with Camille.
Since macaroni and cheese was Camille’s favorite food, they had all decided to make it that night for their celebratory meal.
Hazel had a fantastic recipe for creamy homemade cheese sauce, and they planned on adding parsley and gorgonzola to the adults’ portions of the meal, adding a bit of extra flavor and sophistication.
Since it was a celebration, Jacob got out one of the best bottles of red wine for the adults to drink.
“It’s only fair,” he said, winking at Samantha. “I mean, the girls get to drink sodas.”
Chuckling, Hazel added the cheese sauce to the cooked elbow noodles and sighed in satisfaction as a creamy whiff of the delectable concoction reached her nose.
“Oh, I haven’t had good old-fashioned mac and cheese like this in ages.
I’ll have to remember to thank Camille for reminding us it’s still a food option. ”
“She reminds me almost every day,” Shannon said with a laugh. “I’m sure she’ll start asking for your version though. That sauce looks to die for. Would you give me the recipe for it?”
“Definitely,” Hazel said, thrilled to be asked. “But I wouldn’t count on Camille liking this more than the boxed mac and cheese. Kids are funny like that.”
“True.” Shannon chuckled. “When I was a kid, I liked nothing better than really cheap frozen pizza. I enjoyed the fancier stuff, too, but a really cheap, basic pizza—I don’t know, there’s just nothing like it.”
“I know that feeling.” Hazel laughed, remembering sleepovers with her friends in high school. They’d eaten copious amounts of frozen pizzas and munched on more candy in one night than she’d probably eaten that entire year so far. “Junk food always has its own special appeal.”
When dinner was ready, Samantha scampered out into the living room to get Weston and Camille.
Soon they were all sitting down at the table together to say grace, and Hazel’s heart felt full of the same grateful, bittersweet ache.
She was so glad the Fishers had come into their lives, and she felt consoled by the fact that they would remain good friends even after they’d moved back into their home.
The dinner was delicious, and the girls were completely preoccupied by it for the first few minutes of the meal.
In addition to the macaroni and cheese, there was also a raspberry vinaigrette salad and buttery, chewy garlic bread.
The adults did their best to make polite conversation, and the meal was complimented several times, but it was clear that for the most part, everyone wanted to eat more than they wanted to talk.
After a few minutes, the companionable silence was broken by Camille.
“Sam,” she said, turning to the older girl. “When I move back home, will you come over to my house for a playdate?”
Hazel found herself tearing up as Samantha turned to the little girl with a huge grin. “Of course! And you’ll have to come back here too. We have to make sure that nobody takes over our fort in the woods.”
Camille shook her head emphatically. “Nobody can do that. It’s our fort.”
Samantha gave Camille a high-five, and Hazel loved seeing the easy camaraderie that had formed between the two girls.
“We just want to say again,” Shannon said softly, leaning in closer to Hazel, “how grateful we are to you for taking us in. You could have just offered us a place to stay, and that would have been plenty generous enough. But instead, you made a home for us and welcomed us into every part of your lives. You’ve made what had been a really difficult experience something beautiful—and something I’m so thankful happened.
I’m sure we would have become friends eventually anyway, but maybe we never would have become friends like this. And that means the world to me.”
Hazel found herself blinking back tears, and she leaned over to give her new friend a hug.
“It means the world to me too. Our whole town worked together to help everyone—I mean, that’s how you got connected with us in the first place, because of the team that organized the hosting.
I’m just—I feel really proud of our town, and I’m so thankful everything worked out the way it did.
Our family has been so blessed by having you stay here with us. ”
“I’m honestly sorry to see you go,” Jacob said, clapping Weston on the shoulder. “But I’m thrilled that your home is back to normal and that you’ll be able to move back in.” He lifted his wine glass in a toast. “To the Fishers’ repaired home!”
“Hear hear!” Hazel said, and everyone joined in the toast, even the girls, who held up their glasses of soda.
The meal continued, and they all chatted more, talking eagerly of the future and making plans together.
When everyone had finished eating dinner, Hazel and Jacob stood up to get the dessert.
Although Shannon and Weston offered to help, Jacob insisted they had it covered, urging their guests to relax and enjoy a little more garlic bread with their wine.
As soon as Jacob and Hazel were alone together in the kitchen, he wrapped his arms around her and gave her a big squeeze.
“Is that why you told our guests to stay at the table?” she teased in a whisper. “Because you wanted to cuddle?”
Jacob grinned impishly and gave her a big kiss. “Well, yes. But also, I’m curious.”
“What about?” she asked him, surprised, as she opened the freezer to get out the tub of vanilla ice cream.
“You seem like there’s something on your mind,” he said, opening the oven and taking out the pan of blondies that had been keeping warm in it.
Hazel’s mouth popped open for a moment, and she felt floored that he could read her that well.
She hadn’t thought that her hopes of having another baby had been showing up on her face at all.
After all, they’d all been sitting and thinking quietly for a while, she could have been thinking about anything.
“Well,” she said slowly, wanting very much to tell him what she’d been thinking about but not wanting to bring it up all at once.
She didn’t want to jump-scare him with such a major life suggestion all at once.
“I’ve been watching Samantha and Camille, and I love the bond the two of them have.
It makes me so happy to see Samantha acting—well, like a big sister.
It’s so sweet. I’m really proud of her.”
Jacob smiled as he began to cut up the pan of blondies into generous portions. “I agree. Those two are really cute together. I like to think of Samantha being a big sister. I think she’d be a really good one.”
There was a kind of wistful quality to his tone that made Hazel freeze in the middle of dishing out ice cream. “Yeah?”
He nodded, smiling. “She’s got a big heart like that.”
Hazel cleared her throat gently as she continued to scoop ice cream onto the blondie squares that Jacob had set onto dessert plates.
“Yeah, I think so too. I mean, Camille is hard to resist. I think all children are at that age—I’ve really loved watching her whenever Shannon and Weston were away.
It allowed me to relive those precious moments of having a little one that age. ”
For a few electric seconds, neither of them spoke. Hazel could sense that Jacob was moving more slowly than usual, and a quick glance at his face told her that he was waiting for her to say more, listening expectantly for her next words.
She cleared her throat again gently. They’d both stopped working and were just standing there, looking at each other. “What would you think of expanding our family?”
Jacob immediately threw his arms around Hazel. “You mean it?”
“Yes,” she said, laughing and delighted by his reaction. “You want to?”
“I do.” He nodded, looking thrilled, as he went back to cutting the last blondie slice needed for dessert. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while, actually. But I wasn’t sure how to bring it up with you.” He looked down at the slice he’d cut and laughed when he saw how big it was. “Oops.”
“I kind of had an epiphany when Samantha talked about being a big sister the other day,” Hazel said, taking the knife from him and trimming the blondie down to a more reasonable size.
“She said, ‘If I was a big sister’ and she said it kind of wistfully like she wanted to be one. It just melted my heart and it made me realize how much I want that too.”
“I do too,” Jacob said. “I would love to have more kids with you, honey. I wasn’t there when Samantha was little, and I’d love to have that kind of parenting experience with you.”
They wrapped their arms around each other and shared an excited kiss.
“Where’s the dessert?” bellowed a high-pitched voice from the dining room.
They pulled apart, both laughing. They heard the sound of Shannon shushing Camille and reminding her not to be rude.
“It’ll be a lot of that,” Hazel said with a grin. “Lots of chaos always comes along with littles.”
“I think I’m up for the challenge,” Jacob said with a grin.
“Hey, where’s the dessert?” Samantha called loudly, and Hazel laughed, knowing that her daughter was turning the situation into a joke to help dispel any tension Shannon and Weston might be feeling.
“Well, how about it?” Jacob said, looking down at the plates of dessert they’d prepared. “Looks like we’re all set here. I’ll put the ice cream and the blondies away while you get these plates loaded onto the tray?”
“Sounds perfect.” She smiled and gave him another quick kiss.
They worked quickly side by side, and soon they were ready to return to the dining room.
Hazel looked at her husband as they carried the trays out to their guests, thinking to herself that she couldn’t wait to begin a new chapter with her faithful, dependable husband and best friend.