“Are you sure they want me there?” Iris asked for the 152nd time, as they started up the lane to Wyatt’s house.

Thankfully, it was nice weather today; they’d be able to spill out onto the lawn. Wyatt and Abby were in the middle of building a new home – a huge one, from what she’d heard – but it was going to be a race against the weather to get the walls and roof on before serious snow hit for the winter.

In the meanwhile, they were crammed into the Connelly family homestead, which was on the smallish side, especially with cats, dogs, and family galore filling every corner of it.

“Of course they want you here,” Declan said with a reassuring smile, squeezing her hand comfortingly. “This is their big celebration day, and they want all of their friends and family here to throw a party with them.”

They stopped on the side of the gravel driveway, pulling up behind some trucks and SUVs. She could hear the Mexican fiesta music from here. Declan came over to her side of the truck and helped her down. She held her breath, unsure if she was going to do a faceplant before she got to stable ground, but he lifted her down with ease, made sure she had her cane firmly in her grip, and then they set off for the house.

“So when is the adoption paperwork final?” Iris asked as they meandered along the uneven gravel road. She wanted to concentrate on walking, so she figured listening to Declan talk while they moved would keep her from having to walk and talk at the same time. 

Which seemed like a damn good idea, really.

“Well, they’re not sure yet. First, Wyatt had to make it through the background check, and considering what happened this past winter, that took a while.”

Iris had heard that Wyatt and Abby had fallen in love while Wyatt was incarcerated at the Long Valley County Jail, but hadn’t heard much more than that. She wondered if she could ask for deets without seeming like she was fishing for gossip, and finally decided that she couldn’t. She’d find someone in town to give her the low-down on it.

“The sheriff’s letter of recommendation was what made the difference, though. He wrote a long and glowing letter, stating that Wyatt would make a fine foster father because of all of the life experiences that he’s had. Finally, my brother’s propensity to get into fights was turned into a positive.”

Iris couldn’t help the laughter spilling out of her. It was true that Wyatt’s tendency to punch first and ask questions later hadn’t usually worked out in his favor. To think that his father-in-law was now supportive of him, after the bitter feud they’d had for years…

It rather made her head hurt, actually.

They finally got to the front door, and Declan knocked just once before opening it up. “We’re here!” he called out.

Stetson’s petite wife, Jennifer, came out of the kitchen, toting a baby on her hip. Iris had seen her at Wyatt and Abby’s wedding, although no one had formally introduced them. She’d heard the story of how Stetson and Jennifer had met, of course – the Long Valley gossip chain worked just fine when it came time to tell Iris the juicy news, even if it didn’t work as well when spreading the news about her.

Although it’d only been 15 months since Jennifer and Stetson had met, she already seemed like she was settling into the country lifestyle. Iris had heard that Jennifer had only worn stilettos when she’d first come to Long Valley, but today, she was wearing a pair of fun cowboy boots with turquoise leather insets.

Yeah, she seemed to be fitting right in.

Iris smiled at Jennifer, and she grinned back, open and friendly.

“You must be Iris,” Jennifer said, moving to give her a hug, and then Declan. “It’s so nice to meet you, and I’m so glad you came. Abby and Wyatt are around here somewhere. Carma is in the kitchen, along with Jorge’s wife, Maria. You should see everything they’ve got cooking.” She shook her head in amazement.

Iris sniffed, loving the smells rolling out of the kitchen. It smelled divine.

“Thanks,” Iris said, reaching out to stroke the fine baby hair of Jenn’s baby boy. “What’s his name?”

“Oh, this is Flint,” Jenn said, adjusting him on her hip. “He’s a momma’s boy, except when he’s a daddy’s boy. But mostly, he’s a Carmelita’s boy.”

They all laughed for a moment, and then Jenn said, “So, I think everyone is outside. You should head out into the backyard. I’m pretty sure Abby, Wyatt, and the guest of honor are hanging out there.” 

Declan guided Iris outside and over to a swinging bench seat. “Does lemonade sound good?” he asked. “Carmelita makes an amazing handmade lemonade.”

“Oh, that sounds wonderful,” Iris said with a huge grin. And it did. She remembered Carma from the years of going over to hang out at Declan’s house in high school – she was an amazing cook, and loved all of “her” boys. She may be the housekeeper for Stetson now, but she’d been a second mother to all three of the Miller brothers.

Iris settled in and began watching the crowds in front of her. She used to want to be in the middle of every gathering, every group, because she was so social. She still loved people, but…she wasn’t sure if it was the uncertainty of not knowing if her balance would be quite right and she might take a tumble at any point or what, but she was a lot more content to simply…be.

She watched Juan as he played with Jorge’s grandchildren. Jorge was Wyatt’s foreman, and he had about 700 grandkids, from what Iris could tell. Okay, not really that many, but quite a few. Wyatt had bonded with Juan while he was working at Adam’s therapy camp, and tonight was a celebration of being able to bring Juan home with them. He’d been living at a foster home here in Sawyer but Wyatt and Abby put in to be foster adopt parents, rather than just foster parents, and so the courts agreed to let him move in with them.

Wyatt went walking over to the group of kids playing soccer and called out to Juan. He came trotting over, a grin on his face, and they chatted for a moment. Seeing Wyatt as a father…It made Iris tingle with happiness. He deserved to find happiness. Iris had never met his daughter Sierra, but she knew that losing her to that drunk driver all those years ago had wounded him in a way that no one thought he’d ever recover from.

Seeing him now did the soul some good.

Declan came jogging up, a lemonade in each hand. “Sorry that took so long,” he said with a smile as he held hers out. “I got shanghaied into setting up some tables.”

She accepted it gratefully and took a deep sip. “Oh wow,” she said after she swallowed the mouthful of sunshine and tartness that was the lemonade. “I’ve never had such a wonderful lemonade in all my life.” 

“Isn’t it amazing?” Declan shook his head with a grin. “I could take cooking lessons for the rest of my life and never whip up the kinds of dishes that Carmelita seems to make without blinking.”

Jennifer came out of the back door holding Flint. “Hey Dec, Carmelita is needing another table set up for the food.” She leaned in closer and whispered conspiratorially, “I think she’s afraid the other one is going to buckle under the weight of all this food.”

Declan laughed and whispered back, “I think she’s probably right.” He straightened up. “I’d hate to have her food go to waste. I’ll be right back.” He popped Iris a kiss on top of her head and headed back inside.

Jennifer slipped onto the bench next to Iris. “So, you and Declan,” she said with a grin, nudging Iris in the ribs. “Do tell.”

Iris had to laugh at the blunt desire for gossip. Jennifer was nothing if not clear about what she wanted. “I’m not sure if there’s much to tell,” she said with a shrug. “We used to date in high school and the first two years of college, and now…Well, I’m not really sure what we’re doing, to be honest.”

Abby came walking up, an easy smile on her face. “I heard that last part,” she called out, grabbing a chair and settling herself down across from Iris and Jenn. “You two were a year ahead of me in school, but I remember how cute I thought you two were back then. I was so surprised to hear you’d broken up.”

Abby and Jenn looked at her expectantly. They wanted the deets, but Iris wasn’t really sure about them herself.

“I know this sounds weird, but I honestly am not sure what happened back then.” She shrugged helplessly. “Things were going great, and I thought he was going to propose. We’d discussed marriage, but it had always been a, ‘After we graduate from college’ sort of thing. And then, his mom died in that awful car wreck, and he just completely changed. Overnight, really. It wasn’t too much after that that he told me he wanted to go to the U of I and he wanted to break up with me. He maintained it was because they had a better agriculture program up there, which is true of course, but he hadn’t cared about that the first two years of college. Why did he suddenly care about it the second two years of college?”

She heaved a sigh. “I had a scholarship to ISU. I couldn’t afford to leave it and go to the U of I with him. He knew that. That’s why we decided together to go to ISU. And then suddenly, it wasn’t good enough for him.” She smiled but she knew she wasn’t convincing anyone with it. The memory still hurt. She still needed to get him to tell her why. She still needed to grow a backbone and demand some answers.

She still didn’t want to. The life she was enjoying right now with him seemed too fragile. Like a bubble that could pop at any moment. 

She didn’t have the guts to test that theory.

Something she wasn’t too proud of, honestly.

Flint started gurgling, interrupting their little confab, and Jennifer grinned at her, apparently understanding Iris’ need to change the topic of conversation, and said, “I think Flint would love some time with you. Want to hold him?”

“Oh yes,” Iris breathed happily. She was grateful she was sitting down so she didn’t have to worry about dropping him on his head or something. Just the thought sent a bolt of panic through her, but snuggling Flint against her quickly made the panic dissipate. “Jennifer, he’s so beautiful. How old is he?”

“Six months. And his eyes are already starting to change. I think he’s going to end up with brown eyes? It’s hard to tell right now. Anyway, you can already tell he’s got Stetson’s jaw.”

It was true. Especially for a baby, Flint’s jaw was square. He was going to be a heartbreaker when he grew up. He kicked his legs and grinned at her, obviously proud of himself for making his legs kick when he wanted them to. “Such a handsome boy,” Iris cooed.

Carmelita, Stetson and Jennifer’s housekeeper and cook extraordinaire, came out onto the back porch. “Oh, I did not see you come in,” she said to Iris in her light Hispanic accent. “It is good to see Declan here with such a beautiful woman.” Carma winked at her and Iris blushed. It was times like this that she really hated having such light skin. She was probably glowing brilliant red right now.

“You want to tell everyone it is time to eat?” Carmelita asked, turning towards Abby. “I cannot keep the children’s fingers out of the food any longer anyway. I keep whacking them with my wooden spoon but they do not seem to notice.” Carma’s eyes crinkled up at the corners, and Iris knew she was joking. 

“Especially the taller children?” Iris asked dryly, bouncing Flint on her lap. He laughed with joy.

“Especially the taller children,” Carmelita confirmed. “The tallest ones are the worst.”

They all laughed for a moment, and then Carma headed back inside. Jennifer held her arms out for Flint and with a sigh, Iris handed him back. He was quite possibly the cutest drool monster she’d ever laid eyes on. Abby headed over to the pick-up soccer game and hollered, “C’mon you guys, it’s eating time!” The kids cheered and instantly dropped the soccer ball in favor of heading to the back porch. The smells coming from the kitchen had obviously been tempting everyone for quite a while.

Iris watched as everyone queued up, moving past the buffet tables groaning under the weight of the food. Suddenly, she felt Declan drop a kiss on top of her head and she looked up, startled. “Oh hey!” she said. 

“Hi, Cookie.” She blushed at his use of his old nickname for her. He’d given it to her when she’d gorged on Chips Ahoy one night, eating an entire box by herself. She still remembered how much her stomach hurt from that escapade. “I was going to go through the line for us. Is that okay? You can hold down the fort over here.”

“Sure, that’d be great.” Iris had been waiting for the line to die down before she went through because she hadn’t wanted to stand forever while waiting, but having Declan go through instead, so she didn’t have to try to juggle her cane, a plate, and a serving spoon at the same time…

It was lovely, really.

“Great. Be right back.” He jogged off to the end of the line, where he started chatting with one of Jorge’s kids. Iris watched him for a moment – strong, tall, thoughtful – and suddenly wondered what on earth he was doing with her. He had this amazing family, he had a farm, he had a successful life. He didn’t need her with her special needs and her damn canes.

No one needed her. Not anymore. Not like they did before, when she was a nurse and could help others. Now she was the hopeless one.

And it was slowly starting to drive her insane.