Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Hazel looked up at the clear blue sky overhead and felt the joy inside her crystalize into something she would remember for the rest of her life.
Around her, all the little Owens family members were making various noises of fussing or excitement, and she grinned as she saw how darling they all looked.
“Come on, Macey,” she said, squeezing the hand of the toddler, who was walking like a lumbering bear cub at her side. “Your mommy is in that little house up there. Isn’t it cute?”
Hazel was leading all the children to the little mother-in-law suite on the Turners’ property. It was a kind of cozy guest cottage, and Noelle was there with the rest of the Owens women, getting ready for her marriage to Dean.
“I can hardly believe it’s today,” Samantha said, panting as she hurried along with Cash’s chubby little body in her arms. “I feel like we’ve been waiting for Dean and Noelle’s wedding forever. We’ve talked about it so much, and now it’s finally here.”
“I know what you mean.” Hazel grinned at her. “I’m so excited, but I also feel a little bit like I’m dreaming.”
“Want me to pinch you once I get this guy into the arms of his mother?”
Hazel laughed. “Sounds good to me.”
They arrived at the cottage door, which Julia opened for them before they’d even started up the front steps.
“Look at all these darling little ones,” Julia cooed, taking Quinn out of Hazel’s arms. “Thank you so much for getting them ready, Hazel.”
Hazel nodded, grinning. “Samantha and I had so much fun. Macey is so excited about her pink dress, aren’t you, Macey?”
Macey giggled and gave a twirl, making her pink tulle skirt float around her as if she were a miniature ballerina.
As her sisters cooed and fussed happily over their children, Hazel looked up and saw Noelle, who was sitting at the end of the cottage’s cozy living room, wearing her wedding dress.
Noelle’s grandmother was just putting the finishing touches on her makeup, and Hazel’s heart ached with happiness when she saw how beautiful her future sister-in-law looked.
Noelle’s red hair was cascading around her shoulders in beautiful curls, and the wedding dress that Delilah had procured for her fit her graceful figure like a glove.
Hazel hurried forward to greet Noelle. “Hey,” she said, squeezing her hand because she didn’t want to hug her and rumple anything about her appearance. “Congrats. How are you feeling?”
“Like I’m on top of the world,” Noelle said with a laugh. “Like I’m on soap bubbles. Is this really happening? Pinch me.”
“Well, I wouldn’t want to pinch a bride on her wedding day, but Samantha offered to pinch me earlier, and I think she’d be willing to extend the favor to you as well.”
Noelle laughed. “Perfect.”
“Look out, Cash, don’t eat your tie,” Samantha said, going over to where Cash was wriggling happily in his mother’s arms. Alexis was still putting the finishing touches on her lipstick and hadn’t noticed the way Cash had decided to gnaw on his blue silk tie.
“Oh, gosh, thanks, Sam,” Alexis said with a laugh.
“Don’t mention it,” Samantha said with a grin. “And, Macey, no candy yet, okay? We want to make sure you don’t get any chocolate on your dress. Come on, dance with me.”
Hazel felt a twinge of awe as she watched the way her daughter deftly distracted Macey from the box of chocolates that was resting on a side table. In a few seconds, Macey was twirling happily with Samantha and a sugar monster meltdown had been artfully prevented.
I’m so excited for Jacob and me to expand our family, Hazel thought with a surge of joy. Samantha’s going to be an amazing older sister.
She became lost in daydreams for a few moments, ecstatically imagining her family with the addition of a little one.
She imagined Jacob teaching their next child how to fix things, and tears filled her eyes.
She imagined cooking and baking with a baby spending time with her in the kitchen, and she imagined teaching him or her how to bake cookies, cutting out the little shapes and frosting the cookies the way she still loved to do with Samantha.
She thought of going on family trips, and hanging messy art on her refrigerator, and movie nights with them all cuddled up on the couch together—
“Hazel!”
Hazel looked up, startled from her reverie, and she realized that Alexis and Julia had been trying to get her attention for a minute.
“Yes, sorry,” she said, laughing a little. “What’s up?’
“You looked really deep in thought,” Julia explained. “Are you all right?”
Hazel chuckled. “Yes, definitely. I feel amazing today. I was just daydreaming about the future.”
“Yeah?” Alexis grinned, scooting her chair closer to Hazel. “About anything in particular?”
“Oh, it was definitely something in particular,” Julia said, cocking her head to one side a bit. “You were thinking about something specific, weren’t you, Hazel? You had that kind of expression.”
“What’s going on?” Faith asked cheerfully, waltzing up to their circle. “What about Hazel’s expression?”
“Hazel has some kind of master plan for her future and she isn’t telling us about it,” Alexis said, leaning back in her chair and grinning.
“Oh, come on, that’s not fair!” Hazel laughed. “I was just—well, I’ve been enjoying the comradery amongst all the children.”
“Yeah?” Julia crossed her arms, smiling slyly. “And why may that be?”
Hazel shook her head with a little laugh.
“You guys won’t quit, will you?” She inhaled, excited to share her news even though she would have picked another time for the announcement if it had been up to her.
“Jacob and I have been talking, and we’ve decided to try to expand our family. We want to have another baby.”
Immediately, Julia and Alexis both squealed, and Faith clapped her hands together in delight.
“Hazel!” Julia threw her arms around her sister.
“Hush!” Hazel laughed, trying to keep her voice low. “I don’t want to draw all this attention to myself. It’s Noelle’s big day today, we can talk about me another time.”
Noelle, however, had noticed that something was going on with her soon-to-be sisters, and was looking in their direction eagerly.
“What’s going on?” she asked, looking excited. “Hazel has news?”
“Oh, I don’t—” Hazel protested, but Noelle immediately shook her head.
“Come on, Hazel, we all want to hear,” she pleaded. “It’s good news—I can see it in your eyes.”
Hazel smiled and nodded. “You’re right.” She looked around the whole room for a moment and saw that everyone had their eyes on her. “Jacob and I have decided that we want to try to have another baby.”
The room erupted into cheers of joy. Vivian hurried forward and threw her arms around Hazel, rocking her back and forth. Noelle was next in line, and she squeezed Hazel tightly, clearly not worried at all about messing up her hair or makeup.
“I can’t wait,” she whispered. “Thanks for sharing with us. I’m so excited for you.”
Hazel squeezed her hands. “I’m so excited for you,” she whispered back. “Today is finally here!”
Noelle nodded, her eyes sparkling with tears.
“You ready?” Hazel asked, half-teasing, half serious.
She understood that marriage felt like a mountain to climb sometimes no matter how much you loved someone.
Although she knew that Noelle loved Dean with her whole heart, that didn’t mean that she wasn’t feeling a little nervous about getting married.
“Yes.” Noelle took a deep breath, looking certain. “I don’t think I’ve ever been more ready for anything in my life.”