Green Mountain Collection 1 by Marie Force (45)

Gavin looked for Ella in the sitting room and dining room before heading outside, where he found her on the porch swing. She appeared lost in thought as the swing swayed in the late afternoon breeze.

“You know, my grandfather built that swing for my grandmother when they were newlyweds,” Gavin said as he leaned against the porch railing.

She seemed surprised to see him there. “It’s in good shape if it’s been here that long.”

“We’ve taken good care of it over the years. A lot of Guthrie family history has transpired on that swing. Push over, and I’ll tell you all about it.”

Ella hesitated before she moved over to make room for him.

“You may not know this,” he said when he was seated next to her, “but my grandmother told my grandfather she was pregnant with my dad right here. And when my parents were dating, this was one of their favorite spots.”

“This is where Caleb proposed to Hannah.”

“Told you—lots of history. Three generations’ worth.”

“I’ve always loved it here. It’s so peaceful.”

“One of my favorite places.”

“Your eulogy for Homer was amazing. Very moving and humorous and perfect.”

“Thank you,” he said, oddly touched by her approval. Her dark hair, so much like Hannah’s and Hunter’s, fluttered in the breeze.

“Caleb would’ve loved all this. Everyone coming together on Homer’s behalf.”

“Yes, he would’ve. The times with his friends and family around him were always his favorite, even if the occasion was sad.”

“I hope you know how much we all miss him. It’s nothing like what you’ve been through, but I think about him all the time. He was like another brother to me, and losing him was the worst thing to ever happen to me.” She looked away, seeming embarrassed.

“It means a lot to me and my parents that the people he loved still remember him so fondly.”

“Could I ask you something that’s none of my business?”

“Sure, why not? We’re practically related, right?”

“We’re not related,” she said forcefully—so forcefully that Gavin wondered what she was really thinking. “But what you said about outrunning the grief . . . Do you ever get any relief from it?”

“Do you know, you’re the first person to ever ask me that?”

“I don’t mean to pry. It’s just that I hate to think of you in that kind of pain all the time.”

Had he ever known anyone sweeter than her? Not that he could recall, and the way she looked at him . . .“You’re not prying, and it’s a great question. I get some relief out of my work. It keeps me so busy I don’t have time to think about anything else, and I like it that way. I work twelve or even fifteen hours a day so when I get home I’m too tired to do anything but sleep. That’s how I outrun it on many a day.”

“Does it work?”

“Sometimes.”

“What do you do when it doesn’t work?”

“Drink,” he said with a lazy grin. “A lot.”

Her brows knit adorably, and he just knew she had other questions she was dying to ask.

“Go ahead. I’m an open book.”

“Have you ever considered that therapy might be better for you than booze?”

“Sure, I’ve considered it, but the booze gets the job done. For the most part.”

“For the most part. What does that mean?”

“It means,” he said with a sigh, “when the booze doesn’t work, those are the really bad days.”

“How often does that happen?”

“You sure you aren’t really a shrink, Ella?”

“I’m sorry. I’m being terribly nosy, but it’s just . . . I hate to think of you hurting like that for all this time without let up.”

“It’s not quite as bad as it used to be. At least I’m no longer convinced it was all a big misunderstanding, and he’ll be showing up to say ‘psych’ any day now.”

“How long did you hope for that?”

“Far longer than I should have. At the beginning, I couldn’t conceive of a life without him at the center of it, where he’d been my whole life. Sometimes, I still hope I’m going to wake up and find out it was all a bad dream. Like the end of the Newhart show. Remember that?”

Ella shook her head. “I remember the show but not how it ended.”

“It was one of my mom’s favorite shows when we were kids. Bob Newhart played an innkeeper in Vermont with a hot-to-trot wife and a bunch of lunatics around him. The last episode showed him waking up in bed with his wife from the earlier Bob Newhart Show, and he told her all about the dream that had been the second show. It was clever.”

“That is clever. I love it.”

“I want to know how I can manufacture things so the last seven years were nothing more than a bad dream. I’ll wake up in bed with a gorgeous woman who will hold me when I cry about the awful dream I had that my brother, my very best friend in the world, died at twenty-eight with his whole freaking life ahead of him.”

Ella placed her hand on his arm, the gesture comforting and something more. Something he couldn’t quite fathom. “I wish I could make that happen for you. For all of us.”

“That’d be nice, right?” He glanced at her, noticing the specs of gold in her dark eyes and the light smattering of freckles on her nose that he’d never seen before. She was really quite lovely. “Did you know Hannah tried to talk him out of going in the army?”

“She did? I never heard that.”

“Don’t let on that I told you. He told me. I guess they had several big fights over it. She didn’t understand why he would turn down a possible career in professional hockey to be gone all the time in the military. He loved the army life when my dad was on active duty. He liked the moving around, making new friends, the whole thing. I never had a doubt which way he would go, but I guess Hannah was blindsided when he chose the army over hockey.”

“She never let on that she was upset about it. To us, it seemed like she rolled with it all in typical Hannah fashion.”

“I think she’d tell you their senior year of college was one of the more trying periods in their relationship. A lot of decisions to be made. Many late nights. Lots of fights.”

“They sure did make it seem easy from the outside looking in.”

“It wasn’t without its challenges. In case you hadn’t noticed, he could be a bit of a handful.”

“Nooo. I never would’ve guessed that.”

They shared a laugh that ended with him gazing into gold-speckled eyes, noting not for the first time how gorgeous Ella Abbott was. “You’re a good listener. Thanks for letting me vent.”

She finally withdrew the hand that had been resting so sweetly on his arm. He immediately mourned the loss of her warmth. “Thanks for answering my nosy questions. I hope if the pain ever gets to be too much for you, you’ll reach out to someone who cares.”

“I will.” Gavin kissed her cheek and discovered she smelled as good as she looked, something light and fruity and feminine. “I’d better get back to the party before Turk and the boys burn down the house. Are you coming?”

He got up and held out a hand to her.

She looked up at him, and the affection he saw in her gaze staggered him as she took his proffered hand.

Maybe the next time he couldn’t outrun the grief, he’d call Ella. The idea brought a measure of comfort and peace he seldom experienced anymore.

“I’m going straight to hell for this,” Hannah said, staring up at the ceiling as Nolan did the same next to her. “I’ve got a yard full of guests, and I’m up here messing around with you.”

“Messing around? I’m hurt.” He turned on his side, propping his head on his hand. “That was making love.”

She smiled up at him. “Yes, it was, but I’m still going to hell.”

“I’ll see you there.” His free hand worked its way under the sheets to her belly. “Look at it this way, at least all the parents have left.”

“There is that.”

“So all that remains are Caleb’s drunken buddies and some of your siblings. We’ll never be missed.”

“Yes, we will, and the abuse will be substantial.”

He pulled her closer to him. “Then we’d better make sure it was worth it.”

“Nolan! No! No more.”

His lips and tongue on her neck scrambled her brain and made her forget all about her guests for another half hour.

After a quick shower, they got dressed in jeans and sweaters.

“You’re a very bad influence on me. I’m a good girl. I don’t do things like this.”

He snorted with laughter. “You weren’t such a good girl a little while ago when you were—”

She squished his lips shut with her fingers. “Don’t finish that thought under any circumstances.”

He placed his hands on her hips and pulled her into his embrace. “I can’t help that I’m unable to keep my hands off you.”

“Yes, you can help it, and you will help it until tomorrow afternoon when they all go home.”

“I won’t last that long.”

“Fine, then last at least until bedtime.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“You gotta let me go now.”

“One more minute.” Her hair was soft and fragrant against his face as he exhaled a deep breath full of love and satisfaction. “I love you, Hannah. I love everything about being with you.”

“I love you, too. I love laughing with you and teasing you and making love with you.”

He let out a groan. “Come on! Don’t say that and then hold me at arm’s length for hours and hours.”

“Bedtime,” she said. “And not one minute before.”

With tremendous reluctance, he released her. “Even though you’re torturing me, after everyone leaves tomorrow, I have a surprise for you.”

“What kind of surprise?”

“The kind of surprise where you don’t get to know what it is until tomorrow afternoon.”

“It’s very unfair for you to tell me you have a surprise and then make me wait more than twenty-four hours before I can have it.”

He couldn’t believe that she sounded genuinely pissed. “I wanted to give you something to look forward to.”

She unlocked the bedroom door and opened it. “Well, your plan backfired, and now I’m mad at you. Bedtime is off.”

“No way.”

“Yes way unless you tell me what the surprise is.”

“I’m not telling you.”

“Okay then. You know the consequences.”

He gave her a playful spank on the bottom as they headed downstairs. “I’ll change your mind.”

“Change her mind about what?” Colton asked as they landed in the kitchen.

“Trust me when I say you don’t want to know,” Hannah said.

“Ew. Gross.”

“Exactly. Nolan, go outside and check on our guests, will you? I need to grill my brother about where he’s been spending his weekends lately.”

“Only if you tell me what he says.”

“Well, yeah, of course I will.”

Nolan kissed her and headed out to the yard.

“I see you’ve already got him trained.”

“He’s coming along quite well,” Hannah said with a smile.

“I like you two together. It makes sense in an odd sort of way.”

“He’s been very good for me and to me, and not just since we started dating.”

“I’m so glad to hear that, Hannah. It makes me happy to see you happy.”

She rubbed her hand on his bare cheek. “I barely recognize you without the fur. What gives?”

Shrugging, he popped a couple of grapes into his mouth. “Time for a change.”

“And all your mysterious getaways? Is that part of the change, too?”

“Perhaps.”

“Come on, Colton! Don’t be all secretive with me. What gives?”

“I’m not ready to talk about it.”

“You won’t tell me anything? Like how you met her?”

“Through a friend.”

“Colton!”

“Hannah! You of all people should appreciate the fact that I’m trying to maintain a bit of privacy for as long as I possibly can in this hornet’s nest known as our family.”

“It’s not fair. Everyone knows about me, but you get to maintain your privacy?”

“You made the mistake of having an affair with a man who drives around with his name on his truck and parks said truck in front of your house until all hours. I could give you some pointers on how to be a bit more subtle in these matters.”

“Give me a break. This is your first ‘matter’ in who knows how long, and suddenly you’re the expert?”

“May I remind you that no one knows who I’m seeing, and everyone knows who you’re getting busy with?” he asked with a smug smile.

“No, please don’t. Fine, have it your way, but you’d better watch your back, mister. I’m going to be keeping my eye on you.”

“Have at it. You don’t scare me.”

Hannah was still coming up with a retort when Gavin led Ella through the kitchen by the hand. Ella had a dreamy, gob-smacked look on her face that had Hannah grinning widely at her sister.

As she went by, Ella mouthed “Oh my God” to Hannah, and followed Gavin into the backyard.

“Um, excuse me,” Colton said. “What was that about?”

“That might’ve been about someone extremely wonderful getting exactly what she wants. We shall see.”

“Ella and Gavin? Since when?”

“Since about five minutes ago it seems.”

“I need to come down off my mountain more often. I miss out on too much up there.”

“Do you ever think about relocating? I mean you could still run the sugaring facility without living up there.”

“I think about it once in a while. More often lately.”

“Any particular reason?”

“End it, Hannah. You’re not going to break me.”

“Give me time.”

“Oh there you are,” Cameron said when she came into the kitchen with Will. “We were just about to go home, but we wanted to see you before we left.” She gave Hannah a hug. “The service for Homer was awesome—and the best part is I came away feeling like I know Caleb a little bit now, too.”

“Thanks, Cam. I’m so glad you could be here. If you have some time this week, I want to talk to you about an idea I have for the retreat.”

“Oh tell me now.”

“Because we weren’t leaving or anything,” Will said, rolling his eyes at Colton.

“Be quiet,” Cameron said. “You can wait five more minutes to get me alone.”

“What if I can’t?” Will asked.

Cameron glared playfully at her boyfriend. “Anyway, Hannah . . .”

“I had this idea for a bracelet for the women who visit the retreat. War widows receive a gold star pin from Congress in recognition of our loss. There’s an entire organization for gold star widows and widowers. I thought it would be nice to take that symbol and incorporate it into a bracelet that is customized for each woman, based on things that remind her of her husband. I could offer themes based on areas of interest such as sports or cars or hunting or whatever they were into. But the gold star would be at the center of each bracelet. What do you think?”

“I love it, but why limit it to the women who come to the retreat? You could offer the custom-made bracelets via the website, too.”

“Only if I could donate the proceeds to an organization that supports military widows and widowers.”

“Another great idea. Let’s get together one day this week to talk about that and next steps for the retreat.”

Hannah hugged Cameron again. “Thanks for everything.”

“My pleasure. I love the plans you’ve made for this place. I can’t wait to dig in deeper.”

“It’s a really nice idea, Han,” Will said when he kissed her good-bye.

“Thanks. Hey, did you get a new car, Cameron?”

“He talked me into a big ugly SUV,” she said with a pout. “I hate it.”

“It’s safe,” Will said.

“It’s ugly.”

“I hope it’s not red,” Hannah said. “Fred loves red.”

“It’s black. Fred better not have a thing for black, too.”

“I can’t wait to see it. I’m sure it’s not as ugly as you think it is.”

“Anything is ugly after my adorable Mini.”

“Which was totally impractical for life in Northern Vermont,” Will said.

Colton fist-bumped his brother in agreement.

“I’ll remember that you sided with him,” Cameron said to Colton.

“Hey, don’t suck me into this.”

“Too late,” Cameron said. “Hannah, thank you for a lovely, memorable day. William, let’s go.”

“I thought she’d never say that.”

Cameron took him by his loosened tie and led him from the kitchen.

“Speaking of well-trained house pets,” Colton said.

“He’s never been so happy.”

“I’m going, too. I need to get back up on the mountain and get some work done.”

“Thanks for being here today.”

“Wouldn’t have missed it.”

“When you’re ready to talk about your little romance, you know where I am.”

“How could I ever forget?” He gave her a one-armed hug and kissed her cheek. “Oh and by the way, I don’t think it’s going to be a little romance. See you later.”

He bolted before she could reply to that outrageously suggestive comment.

Hannah tried to picture Colton, the confirmed bachelor and mountain man, in love. That’d be something to see—that is if he decided to expose his lady to the Abbott family.