Jess and Cait had set the table and placed the steaming pot roast and potatoes in the middle. Kel grabbed a bottle of wine off the counter as she came through the kitchen, noticing her father had changed into pants and a button-down. “I see you decided to get dressed, Dad.” She filled a glass with red wine and handed it to him. “This isn’t a bad thing, you know.”

He nodded and took the glass from her hand. “I do. But your mother will be…”

“What will I be?” Mrs. Flannigan asked as she came into the room. Her head held high and her shoulders squared.

“Um, nothing, my sweet,” he cleverly remarked. “Are you feeling better?”

“Yes, I am. Much better.” She held out her arms to her oldest child. Kel moved into them, giving her mother a hug. “Thanks to a little lecture from my oldest and most respected child, I am doing much better.” She let Kel go but held her hand. “You’re right about me acting like a spoiled brat. I suppose I thought I’d get to keep you all here with me forever. That was a foolish thought. And most of you will be around town. I should be thankful.”

“And you can go up to see, Jess,” Kel told her. “It’ll be like a vacation.”

Her mother huffed as she tried hard to accept the fact that her baby girl would be leaving them for extended periods of time to live in the wilderness. That’s how she thought of Montana. Wild territory with wolves and bears and she had no idea why anyone would even want to live there.

But she was trying hard to put that out of her mind. She took her husband’s hand and whispered as they followed Kel into the dining room, “Soon, it’ll just be us. Our son will be grown up and gone before we know it.”

“That’s a little scary, huh?” he asked her then reached around to pinch her on the bottom.

She yelped and smacked him on his arm as she blushed and thought that being alone with her husband after all those years might not be so bad after all.

Mrs. Flannigan ran her hand over each man’s back as she walked around the round table. “I’m sorry for my outburst. The news took me by surprise. That said,” she said as she took the seat her husband had pulled out for her. “I expect you three to do right by my girls. They’re good girls with level heads and all three of them are smarter than your average woman.”

Griff gave Jess’s hand a squeeze as he whispered, “That you are.”

Jess smiled at him as her cheeks went pink. “Oh, Griff.”

He kissed her cheek, drawing her mother’s attention. “So, this Montana Matrix, tell me what the company’s about, Griffin.”

“Well, it’s pretty exciting, cutting edge kind of stuff. We were a cattle company, you know all about the meat and little else,” Griffin told her. “A few years ago, my father stumbled onto something even more profitable. It seemed we had some great bloodlines that other ranchers all over the world were willing to pay high dollar for. So, we got into the breeding business and found that was a huge pain in the rump roast.”

“Ha, rump roast,” Ethan laughed. “You’re a funny fella, Griffin.” Mrs. Flannigan had to give Ethan a smile as he passed her a plate he’d already filled for her. “Here ya go, Mrs. Flannigan.”

“Thank you, Ethan. You have lovely manners,” she remarked as she picked up her fork. “So, you went out of the breeding business then, Griffin?

“No, we went tech with it. Extracting our prize-winning bulls’ sperm and shipping it where ever anyone wanted it. And it turned out that many want it. Jess can gain a wealth of education from working for our company,” Griffin said then kissed Jess’ cheek again. “And I really love this girl, Mrs. Flannigan.”

“You both glow,” Mrs. Flannigan said then looked around the table where only their son was absent as he had a baseball game he was attending that night. “You all are glowing. You men must be magical. All of my daughters look happier than I recall seeing them look before.”

Cait ran her hand across Phoenix’s cheek, the light reflected off her diamond wedding band. “I am happier than I’ve ever been.”

Phoenix left a little kiss on her lips. “Me too, Mrs. Nelson.”

Kel giggled as she watched her younger sister look at her husband. “I can’t believe you two did that without telling a soul,” Kel commented.

“They’re pretty sneaky,” Ethan said. “Not a peep out of either of them.”

Phoenix looked at Mr. Flannigan and said, “Sir, I’d have waited to ask for your permission, but I was chomping at the bit to get a ring on Cait’s finger and make it all official. I’ve never known something was so right until I met your daughter.”

“Aww,” Jess said as she laid her head on Griff’s shoulder. “That’s so sweet.”

Cait smiled at Phoenix as she said, “It is, isn’t it?” Then she shook her head as if clearing it. “Oh, and he has a dog too! We’re going to get him from his neighbor’s whenever we find a house of our own. Isn’t that exciting?”

“A dog?” Mrs. Flannigan asked. “What in the world do you need with a dog?” She’d never allowed her children to have pets of any kind. She didn’t see the use in it.

“Oh, he’s the sweetest thing,” Cait said. “Mom, I dare you not to fall in love with him once we bring him to our home.” Giggles erupted out of her. “Our home! That sounds so weird!”

Phoenix just laughed and pulled her in for a hug, leaving a kiss on top of her head. “It doesn’t sound weird at all. It sounds right.”

Griffin and Ethan exchanged glances. Both of them felt a little cheated that Phoenix had made such a huge step, leaving them out of what he was doing. They both felt a bit badly about merely moving in with the women instead of making the grand commitment Phoenix had.

Griffin took Jess’s hand under the table and whispered, “You’re not upset that we’re not married, are you?”

“God, no!” Jess blurted out, gaining everyone’s attention.

“Care to elaborate, Jess?” Kel asked then took a bite of the roast. “Mmm, great roast, Mom.”

“Thank you, dear,” Mrs. Flannigan said. “So, what was that about, Jess?”

“Um, uh,” her cheeks grew red as she mumbled.

Griffin saved her as he took the attention away from her. “I asked her if she was upset about us not getting married. Because we could.”

“Us too!” Ethan quickly added. “I’d marry Kel in a heartbeat. I would!”

Mrs. Flannigan put down her fork as Kel watched her mother with increasing worry. “Ethan, Griffin, I want you both to know that I am trusting you to make good decisions where my daughters are concerned. That said, I don’t think it’s wise to rush into something as important as a marriage just because someone else did it. I hope all goes well for Phoenix and Cait, I really and truly do. But I think each of you will know when the right time for you to make things permanent occurs. Don’t rush or hold back. That’s my advice.”

“And sage advice it is,” Ethan agreed then took Kel’s face between his palms. “But I want everyone at this table to know that I love this woman with all my heart.”

Kel blushed and smiled, shyly she said, “Oh, Ethan, stop.”

“Never,” Ethen said with a laugh. “I’ll never stop proclaiming my love for you.”

His words had everyone laughing, and the mood had changed drastically from when they first let out the big news. It seemed they could expect quick heat from Mrs. Flannigan, but she was fairly quick to cool too. Things would work out, all of them had faith in that.