Mandy stretched and slowly lifted Thomas’s arm so she could get up off the couch. They’d been there all night, waiting for any news from Laura. Mandy should have realized it would take longer than an hour for her to have her baby.
Thomas still slept, his head leaning against the couch. They’d been up talking for most of the night. She checked on him one more time and then went to check on Laura. Everything seemed about the same as it was the night before.
Laura looked over at Mandy and smiled, her eyes tired. “Hey. You’re still here.”
“Yeah, I’m going to run and get some coffee for Thomas and me. How are you feeling?”
“Tired. In pain. The doctor thinks it will be any time now.” Laura grimaced while she had another contraction. “Of course, he said that three hours ago.”
Mandy slid past Justin to the other side of the bed and readjusted Laura’s blankets. “Want another pillow?”
“No, I just want to sleep. And be done with this whole thing.” Laura cringed again, squeezing Justin’s hand.
Justin jerked awake. “Are you okay?”
“No, dear. I’m not.” Laura opened one eye and focused on Mandy. “I think the doctor might actually be right this time. Can you send in a nurse?”
Mandy nodded and ran out of the room. She looked around for a nurse and found one at the nurse’s station. “Hey, I think my friend is ready to have her baby now.”
The nurse typed a few things into her computer and stood. “Looks like you’re right. I’ll page the doctor.”
Mandy stood wringing her hands, trying to figure out what she was supposed to do next. Her friend was in there in pain, and the thought of being in there was terrifying. “Can I do anything that’s . . . not in there?”
“You just stay in the waiting room. I’ll come and get you when the baby is born.” The nurse patted her on the arm as she walked past. “Honey, you’re not the first person who has felt this way when their family is in there in labor. It’s okay.”
Mandy smiled at her, but didn’t feel any better. She went back to the waiting room to check on Thomas and found him awake and talking on the phone. She leaned against the doorway, waiting for him to finish his call.
He finally stood and shoved his phone his pocket. “Oh, hey, I was about to come and find you. Any news?”
“The nurse says it’s time for her to have the baby. I’m going to go find some coffee or something to eat. Want to come?”
Thomas ran his fingers through his hair. “Sounds good. I let the Poultons know where we are. I’ll have to head over there in the next few hours to help out, though.”
“I can’t imagine we’ll stay long after the baby is born anyway. Laura is pretty exhausted.” Mandy’s hand twitched to check her hair as well. She hadn’t since she woke up, and it was probably flying everywhere. But she didn’t want to right after Thomas fixed his.
They found the cafeteria and ordered breakfast along with an extra one for Justin. The sausage and muffin sandwich wasn’t Mandy’s favorite, but it filled her up.
“I guess we won’t be going to look at my business today.” She crumpled up her napkin and set it on the tray.
“No, I think they kinda changed all our plans for the day. It’s probably better that way for me anyway. The crews who were supposed to be doing the electrical and water hit another snag and won’t be able to get out there today.” Thomas poked at the eggs on his plate. “So much for getting everything done before Thanksgiving.”
Mandy froze. Thanksgiving. “I completely forgot that’s next week. I’ve been too busy getting everything set up here. My mom is going to be ticked that I’m not there for that.”
Thomas set down his fork and pushed away his plate. “Do you think you need to go back?”
She shook her head. The thought of going back right now just made her panic. She didn’t want anything changing her mind about coming here. “I’m staying here. I have too much to do, and I can’t leave. Maybe if things have calmed down for Christmas, I can think about it.”
“Well, you’re welcome to have Thanksgiving with us. Well, me. Justin and Laura will probably have family here.” He tapped the table. “Huh. I guess I should probably figure out what I’m doing that day as well.”
Mandy laughed. “Well, I’ll be fully in the house by that time. We could always have our own dinner.”
Thomas’s eyes lit up. “We could do that. Do you . . . know how to cook Thanksgiving dinner?”
“Hey, I know how to cook. I’ll just have to figure out how to cook a turkey. And everything else.” Mandy squirmed in her chair. “Maybe we should make different plans.”
“I like this idea, though. But if you want to do something else, the hotel has had an amazing dinner there for the last couple of years. It started out at the ranch, but then they moved it over to the hotel because there’s more space.”
Mandy was torn. Doing it herself sounded like fun, but if they went to the hotel, everything would be done for them. “Which would you prefer?”
Thomas studied her for a moment before answering. “Let’s say we save the dinner by ourselves for whatever might happen to us in the future. And for now, we can have dinner at the hotel with family and friends.”
“And what, pray tell, do you plan to have happen in the future?” Mandy felt a thrill of excitement. She knew what he was getting at, but she wanted to hear it from him.
Thomas took her hand in his. “I plan to have you by my side. You’ve gotten away from me two times now. I don’t plan to let it happen again.”
“You make me sound a little flighty.”
“Not flighty. You just know what you want and you go and get it. But now that you’re here, it’s my turn.” His thumb caressed her fingers. “Think you can handle that?”
Mandy stared at their hands clasped together. She expected to feel a sense of panic. Or fear. But there was none of that. When she met his eyes, she could see the worry in his. “I suppose that the spoiled little Mandy can handle letting someone else get what they want for once.”
Thomas grinned. “Awesome.”
“That . . . doesn’t mean we’re engaged or anything, right? Because—”
“No.” Thomas put both hands up in surrender. “No, not today. I have nothing but a bunk bed in a bunkhouse right now and I’m thinking the other guys would frown on sharing with you. Give me a little time.”
Mandy’s phone buzzed, but she ignored it. “Agreed. We both have things that need to be done first.”
Thomas’s phone went off next. He checked the message. His eyes lit up. “The baby is here.”
Mandy blinked. She’d completely forgotten the reason why they were sitting in a hospital cafeteria. They ran out of the room—and had to go back to get Justin’s breakfast—and straight to the delivery room. The nurse told them Justin had already gone with the baby to the nursery, so Thomas turned to leave
Seeing Laura lying there looking very pale sent a jolt of fear through Mandy. What if something had happened?
“Hey, it’s okay. She’s just resting.” Thomas pulled her away and they rounded the corner to where the nursery windows opened into a room full of bassinets. Justin gave them a thumbs-up while his baby had her first bath. Mandy pulled out her phone to take pictures for Laura.
“She’s so tiny.” Thomas took a picture. “Mrs. Poulton would be ticked if I forgot to send a picture to her.”
“You’re probably right.” Mandy put a hand on the wall next to the window and went on her tiptoes to get a better look. “Oh, she’s beautiful.”
“She looks just like her mama.” Thomas blushed when Mandy stared up at him. “Not that I think Laura is beautiful. I mean, she is, but I meant . . .”
“I get it. And she does.” Mandy’s eyes filled with tears. Her best friend had a tiny baby. Life really had changed.
The nurse finished with the bath and handed the baby to Justin. He held her up for them to see before sitting down in a rocking chair. Mandy took a few more pictures for Laura and then sent them to Laura’s mom as well.
“Are you Mandy?” A nurse asked as she walked up to them.
“Yes?”
“Laura is now in her room if you’d like to see her.” The nurse gestured for her to follow.
Mandy took Thomas’s hand as they walked down the hallway. She wasn’t sure why she was so nervous, but her stomach was all tied in knots. It was when she saw Laura sitting up and laughing that Mandy finally relaxed.
She grabbed Laura in a hug. “Oh, I was so worried about you.”
“Why?” Laura asked.
“You just looked so pale when I saw you last. I thought something had happened and no one was telling me.”
Laura’s jaw dropped. “You’ve never been this worried before. I must have looked terrible.”
“So bad. But oh, man, she’s so cute.” Mandy found the pictures on her phone and handed it to Laura. “Looks like she’s going to give you a run for your money with Justin. He’s totally smitten.”
“He really is. Hmmm.” Laura flipped through the others. “Thank you for these.”
“You’re welcome. I sent them to your mom too.”
Laura blinked, then burst into tears. “That’s so nice of you. Thank you.”
“Uh, Laura? Are you okay?” Mandy frowned. Laura never cried like this.
“I don’t know. I just can’t seem to stop.” Laura grabbed a tissue from the box next to her bed.
A nurse came in and chuckled. “It’s the hormones. You’ll have that happen a lot. Can I get you anything?”
“Can I have food yet? I’m starving.” Laura wiped her eyes.
The nurse checked Laura’s monitor. “Yes, I’ll grab you a sandwich and something to drink. Any preference?”
Laura burst into tears again.
Mandy sighed. “She loves apple juice if you have any.”
The nurse nodded and left the room. Mandy crawled up on the bed next to Laura and leaned her head against her friend’s shoulder. Thomas smiled and left the room to give them some privacy.
“So, Thomas, huh?” Laura sniffled.
“Yep.” Mandy hesitated. “He kinda sorta almost proposed to me in the cafeteria.”
Laura gasped. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, I told him it had better not be a real proposal, and he assured me it wasn’t. But really, it kinda was.” Mandy caught the glare from the nurse who walked in and she climbed out of the bed. “Sorry. She was just upset.”
“Yes, well, I hope you didn’t pull on her IV.” The nurse set the food down on the tray and then made a show of checking all of the cords and tubes.
Mandy couldn’t meet Laura’s eyes for fear of laughing. She’d been careful not to mess anything up. “When does Laura get to see her baby?”
“Whenever she’s ready.” The woman wrote a few notes in the chart.
“I’m ready.” Laura took a bite of her sandwich. “Oh, man. Ham and cheese never tasted so good.”
The nurse finished her notes and then scurried to the door. “I’ll have her brought right in.”
“Thank you.” As soon as the door shut, Laura burst into giggles. “Way to go, Mandy. You could have messed with things.”
“Yes, I know. I’m ashamed.” Mandy flopped onto the couch. “Has Justin shown you any of the pictures of my building yet?”
“They’ve already started?”
Mandy pointed to her phone that sat on the table. “There’s not much. Apparently, when you wave money in their face, people move faster. Most of what’s on the camera are pictures of what it will look like.”
“Wow.” Laura handed Mandy back her phone. “You’ve been busy.”
“I had to find things to distract me so I wouldn’t go running off and make a fool of myself in front of Thomas.” Mandy sat up. “All I need is a name.”
Laura leaned back against her pillow. “I thought Mandy’s Chic Boutique was the name you picked.”
“I just put that because they needed a name for the blueprints. Can you honestly see that working here?”
“Probably not.” Laura brightened as the door opened and a small bassinet was pushed inside the room.
Justin followed behind, looking both dazed and happy at the same time. He gently picked up his little girl and placed her in Laura’s arms. “Meet baby Chloe.”
Laura beamed up at Justin. “You decided then?”
“Yep. As soon as I saw her, I knew she was a Chloe.” Justin kissed the top of Laura’s head. “We did good.”
“Yes, we did.” Laura touched Chloe’s hands and her cheek.
Mandy took a few more pictures of the sweet family, then stood. “We’ll let you guys bond and get some rest. Thomas needs to get to work, and I should probably go help pack some more.”
Laura looked up, surprised. “Don’t you want to hold her?”
“Well, yes, but I didn’t want to interrupt. You just got her.”
Justin took Chloe from Laura and set her in Mandy’s arms. It was almost like holding air, she was so light. Her skin was soft, and she really did look just like her mom, but with Justin’s dimple in her cheek. Chloe stretched, her mouth opening wide in a yawn. Mandy was pretty sure she was going to explode with all the cuteness.
She handed Chloe back to Justin. “She’s adorable. Any time you need a babysitter, you’d better call me.”
“Yeah, you say that now. Just wait till she screams.” Laura smiled. “Thank you for being here and taking all the pictures.”
“You know I wouldn’t miss it for anything.” Mandy bent down to give her a hug, then turned to Thomas. “Did you want to hold her?”
“No, I really do need to take off. I can take my turn when we come back to visit.” Thomas clapped Justin on the back. “Congrats, man.”
Thomas and Mandy walked back to Thomas’s truck. Mandy could still feel the baby in her arms.
“You’re not already baby hungry, are you?” Thomas chuckled.
“What?”
He waved his hand in front of her face. “I’ve recognized that look before. All of Rachel’s friends had the same look when they first saw Evan.”
“I’m not baby hungry.” Mandy knew it was a lie even as it left her mouth. But babies would have to wait. “Okay, I am, but not really.”
“I’ve heard that before too.” Thomas opened the door for her and then went around to his side. “So, do you want to run to the hotel to get your things, or back to get your car so you have it?”
Mandy checked the time. “You need to get back to work. Why don’t you just drop me off at Laura’s and I can drive out there? Otherwise, I’ll be stranded at the hotel.”
“Unless you wait for me to get done with work and then I can take you in to town.” Thomas left the parking lot.
“As tempting as that is, we both have work that needs to be done. Why don’t you meet me at Esther’s when you’re done and then I can take you to where my store will be?” Mandy worried that Esther would try to pack things herself and that wouldn’t be a good thing.
Thomas set his hand on hers, sending tingles up her arm. It never got old. “Sounds good. I’ll get my chores done pretty fast. There’s not as much to do around the farm after the harvest. Then I’ll check on my lot before I come and find you.”
“Perfect.” Mandy wondered what would happen when he had work and she had her store. It was going to be hard to ever see each other. But the good thing was that they were in the same town instead of across the country from each other.
A light dusting of snow lay on Mandy’s BMW when they got to the house to pick it up. Thankfully the roads were clear or she would have gladly gone with Thomas instead. He left to go back to the ranch, and Mandy turned her car around to head over to the store site. She wanted to check to make sure things were still getting done and she didn’t know if she’d get back there before it got dark later that day.
The lot was empty when she arrived, but it had been cleared and the foundation had been poured. It seemed so small, but she’d been very careful to use every inch of space wisely when she planned it. Some of the ideas had come from Walker Apparel. She loved the area where they could practice their runway skills—even if that would never happen here. Not to the extent she’d have in New York. But she hoped to have a few shows before the main dances where parents could come and see the styles available for the prom or Homecoming.
A few ladies walked by and one tsked. “I heard it was going to be another clothing store. Like we need one here. We have one already.”
“Oh, yes, but this one will be run by a New York supermodel. Like she’ll know how to run something in a town like this.”
The words were like daggers, but Mandy just laughed them off. A supermodel? Someone had really twisted that story. What she didn’t get was that no one should really know what was going in to the space. Laura and Thomas knew, but that was about it. Mandy pushed the worry away. They would see when she opened that this wasn’t here to compete with the other store. She’d serve the best she could for the community, but she also hoped to ship a lot of her clothes out to the rest of the country as well. That way it wouldn’t matter if things didn’t go as well here.
Mandy climbed into her car and drove west toward the hotel. She passed by the high school, and Mandy was a little tempted to stop and talk to her new friends there. That could wait. She hated to have Rachel hold on to the rest of her bags for any longer than she had to. While she’d hoped there would be space at Laura’s for it, their small home was already filled to the brim. It didn’t matter, though. She almost had Esther’s stuff packed up and they planned to have her move that weekend.
The hotel was full with the Thanksgiving crowd, and it took a bit to finally find Rachel. She was busy talking to one of the chefs, but turned as soon as she saw Mandy. “Hey, I heard Laura had her baby.”
Mandy laughed. “News really does travel fast here, doesn’t it?”
“Well, Thomas had to call in to say they wouldn’t be there, so my mom was pretty excited.”
“Figures. It’s not just that, though. Do you know who would have said something about my clothing store?” She said the last few words in a whisper, and the hurt she’d been hiding rose to the surface.
Rachel shook her head. “No, why?”
“It’s nothing, really. There were just a couple of women who said some not-so-nice things as they passed by the lot this morning.” Mandy sighed. “I knew it was going to be difficult fitting in, but I didn’t think it would start before I was even settled.”
Rachel put a hand on Mandy’s shoulder. “There will always be people who don’t know when to say nice things. I think it’s great when you’re planning to do. It provides another place for the teens in the town to work.”
“Thanks.” Mandy forced a smile. “You’re right. Want to see pictures?”
“Sure.” Rachel took Mandy’s phone from her and flipped through them. “These are amazing. Did you come up with the plan yourself?”
Mandy blushed. “Yeah. I’m not exactly an architect, so I had to have help with some of it, but it’s my basic idea.”
Rachel spread her arms out to indicate the hotel. “That’s what I did with this hotel. It was a rundown mansion that hadn’t been used in years. I planned out all of the rooms and everything. When Patrick came along, we tweaked it together to make it work for business meetings as well.”
“Wow. I had no idea. I mean, I knew it was an old mansion, but I didn’t know you were the one who designed it.”
“Yep.” Rachel handed back her phone. “I’d better get back to work. Your bags are downstairs. I’ll have Patrick grab them.”
“Thanks.” Mandy remembered her conversation with Thomas. “Oh, hey, could we do Thanksgiving dinner here? It would just be the Thomas and me.”
Rachel pulled out a notebook and wrote down their names. “Got it. You two don’t want to just do it at your new house?”
Mandy blushed at the thought of her almost-proposal from Thomas. “No, we decided here would be good. I don’t know if all my stuff will be here by then and I’ll still be unpacking. It’ll just be easier.”
“That’s a good point. I’ll see you on Thanksgiving then.” Rachel motioned for Patrick to come over. “Hey, will you grab her bags? They’re in the storage room.”
“Got it.” Patrick opened the storage room door and disappeared down the stairs. A minute later, he was back up holding two large bags. “Is this all?”
“Yep. I got the rest. Thank you.” Mandy put a bag on each shoulder and took them out to the car. She couldn’t wait to have everything unpacked so she could figure out where everything was. She’d been in such a hurry to get out of New York, that she just shoved things into bags and went.
The sun was out as she drove back into town, but the air was still cool. The first thing she would need to find when she unpacked was her warm winter coat. She’d need it sooner than she’d thought she would.
A moving van sat outside the house when Mandy arrived. It was too soon for it to be her stuff, and the license plates were local. She left her bags in the car and went to find out what was going on.
Three men stood in the doorway talking to Esther. They turned when Mandy walked inside and one of them came forward to shake her hand.
“You must be Mandy?” His handshake was firm, and while he smiled, his eyes bored into her.
“Yes. And you are?”
Esther came forward and swatted at the man. “Oh, don’t mind him. This is my oldest son, Peter. He doesn’t like that I’m selling the place. Even though he hasn’t been back in five years. And this is William and Eric, my other two sons. Isn’t it wonderful?”
“We’d like to see the lease that you signed for the house.” Peter folded his arms and glared down at her.”
Mandy stood up as tall as her five-foot-five-inch self could stand. “Look, I get that you like this place, but you left your mom behind and she did the best she could. It’s her choice. I’ll get you the paperwork, but I refuse to allow you to bully me in what will be my house.”
Peter stepped back, surprised. “Whatever. I just want to make sure everything is done correctly. I’m a lawyer. It’s my job.”
“Right. I’m sure that’s exactly why you’re butting in.” Mandy went through her purse and pulled out the paperwork. “We both had our attorneys go through it as well as my realtor. You’ll find everything in order.”
Peter snatched it from her and started to read. Mandy rolled her eyes and pushed past him toward the kitchen where they’d been working the day before. Everything was already packed up and ready to go.
“We figured since you’d done most of the work, we’d better do the rest.” One of the brothers—Eric?—held out a hand. “I’m sorry. My brother means well, but he can be a—”
“A jerk?” Mandy taped one of the open boxes. “I noticed.”
Eric laughed. “That’s not what I was going to say, but yes. You have to understand that when we found out Mom was suddenly moving, we got suspicious. You can never be too careful these days with hackers and thieves going after the elderly.”
Mandy softened just a little. “I get it. I just don’t like being called dishonest.”
“I wouldn’t either.” Eric looked around. “I can’t believe this place won’t be ours much longer.”
Mandy stopped taping. “It’s still hers technically. I’m just doing a rent to own for now. Getting back on my feet.”
Eric raised his eyebrows. “Really?”
“Yep.” Mandy taped the last box. “So, did you guys just come to help her move? Because it’s already done.”
“Well, yes. But it happened to work with schedules to come for Thanksgiving. Our families are all in Twin while we get Mom settled.”
“You do know that there’s a hotel closer, right?”
Eric shrugged. “Burley’s nice and all, but we prefer Twin Falls because it’s closer to the airport.”
“No, I mean one here. In Cottonwood. It’s the old mansion out there by Cottonwood Ranch. It’s a hotel.”
“That old rundown place?” William stood in the doorway and smirked. “No thanks.”
Mandy glanced between the brothers. “Wow. You really haven’t been here recently, have you? Maybe you should check it out on your way back to Twin Falls. Which will be when exactly?”
Peter handed her the papers. “Everything looks good. We’ll get the last of her stuff and get out of here.”
“Thank you.” Mandy caught Esther’s eye in the hallway. The poor woman’s normally cheery demeanor was missing. “Esther? Are you okay?”
“Oh, sorry, dear. Yes, everything is fine. I’m just going to be sad to leave here. I guess it just hit me that it’s going to be today.”
Mandy hugged her. “You know you can come back and have tea with me whenever you’d like. We can listen to some of your old records.”
“That would be wonderful.” Esther patted her face and turned to Eric. “I’m afraid I’ve worn myself out. Would you take me to my new place now? I need to rest.”
“Of course, Mom.” Eric turned to his brothers. “You guys finish with the van and I’ll be right back.”
They nodded and got to work while Mandy went out to her car to grab her bags. She knew exactly which room she wanted as hers, and she couldn’t wait to get started on it. Instead of worrying about packing things for Esther, she had the whole day to unpack her own things.
The boxes of clothes sat in one corner of a spare bedroom upstairs and they’d stay there until the shop opened. That’s where she would create more clothes until she had other space. After that, she’d use it for a guest room for Emily or her parents or whoever came to visit.
Her bedroom was just off the kitchen and connected to the one bathroom downstairs. It wasn’t ideal for when company came, but it was great otherwise. It was bigger than she’d thought it would be for the size of the house. Her queen would fit in just fine with the rest of her furniture. She hoped. Otherwise, she’d just sell it and find something smaller.
As soon as the moving truck pulled away, Mandy opened all the windows to let in fresh air and then pulled out some cloths she’d bought to start cleaning. Esther had kept the house clean for the most part, but there were areas that hadn’t been touched in a long time. While Mandy cleaned, she took note of things she’d need to buy before her moving truck got there. Esther had left all of the appliances, but Mandy would need food to fill the fridge, curtains for some of the windows—Esther left what she wouldn’t need at the rest home—and something to sleep on until her bed got there.
When the house got too cold from the open windows, Mandy shut them all and closed the curtains that were left. She was surprised to see that the sun had already started going down. She’d been cleaning longer than she’d thought. Thomas would be there soon.
There was no way she would let Thomas see her with sweat pouring down her face, so she dug through her bags until she found soap and shampoo. She sent a quick text to let Thomas know where she was and that she’d be ready in about an hour and then turned on the clawfoot tub to take a nice, hot bath.
This was heaven, right here. She closed her eyes and relaxed. All of the worry from the time she left New York City slowly melted away. There were still things that had to fall into place, but for now, she could just enjoy.
It wasn’t until she heard a knock at the door that she remembered Thomas was coming and she wasn’t even close to ready.