Epilogue
Christmas Eve, one year later
“Okay, help me out, Mary. Where do you keep the salad tongs since you and Pat have renovated the kitchen?”
With whitewashed cabinets and new stainless steel appliances, the new Star N kitchen was beautiful, Faith had to admit—almost as pretty as the renovated kitchen at the Brannon Ridge that had been her wedding present from Chase. But after two months, she still couldn’t seem to figure out how to find things here now.
Mary headed to a large drawer on the island. “It made more sense to keep all the utensils in the biggest drawer here where they can all fit instead of scattered throughout the kitchen. I don’t know why it took me fifty years to figure that out. Is this what you’re looking for?”
“Yes! Thank you.”
She added the dressing to the rest of the ingredients in her favorite walnut cranberry salad and tossed it with the tongs. “There. That should do it. Everything looks great, Mary.”
“Thanks.” Her aunt beamed and Faith thought, not for the first time, that Mary seemed years younger since her marriage to Pat.
“Thank you for hosting the party here at the Star N.”
“Christmas is about home and this old house is home to you girls,” Mary said simply. “It seemed right, even though all of you have bigger places now. Your kitchen up at Brannon Ridge is twice the size as this one.”
As they were discussing how they would merge their lives after they were married, she and Chase had looked at both houses and decided to run both ranches from Brannon Ridge. The house was bigger for all three of their kids and assorted horses, dogs and barn cats.
It had been a good decision, confirmed just a few months after Faith and Chase’s wedding, when Mary announced she and her beau were getting married and wanted to renovate the Star N—a process now in the final phases.
“Anything else I can carry out to the dining room?” she asked.
“I made a fruit salad, too. It’s in the refrigerator,” Mary said.
Faith grabbed it and, with one bowl under each arm, headed for the two long tables that had been set up in the great room to hold the growing family.
She was arranging the bowls when Hope wandered over. “Hey, do you have any idea where I can find tape? I’ve still got one present to wrap.”
“Let me get this straight. You run the most famous Christmas attraction in the Intermountain West and you’ve illustrated a holiday book that was turned into a movie currently ranked number one at the box office for the fourth consecutive week. Yet here it is five p.m. on Christmas Eve and you’re still not finished wrapping your presents?”
“Oh, give me a break. I’ve had a little bit on my plate. You would not believe how much of my day this little creature takes up.”
Faith smiled. “I think I would. I’ve had two of my own, remember? Here. Give.”
Her sister held up the wriggling adorableness that was her six-month-old son, Samuel, born healthy and full-term, with no complications whatsoever from that early scare more than a year ago.
“You can have him if you tell me where I can find tape.”
“The desk drawer in the office.” She grinned and admitted the truth. “That’s where I put it a half hour ago, anyway, when I finished wrapping my last present.”
Hope snorted but fulfilled her part of the deal by handing over the boy.
After she left, Faith nuzzled his neck. Oh, he smelled delicious. Her heart seemed to burst with happiness. “Hey, Sammy. How’s my favorite guy?”
“Wow. I guess that puts us in our place, right, Barrett?”
She looked up to find Chase and her son in the doorway, stomping snow off their boots after coming in from shoveling the driveway.
He was smiling but she didn’t miss the light in his gaze as he watched her cuddle Hope’s cute little boy.
How was it possible that, even after a year, she loved Chase more every single time she saw him?
“My favorite little guy,” she amended. “You two are my favorite bigger guys. How’s the snow out there?”
“Still coming down,” Chase said. “Mary said she thinks we’ll get another six or seven inches out of the storm. Perfect for cuddling in by the fire and hanging out with the family on Christmas morning.”
“I hope Celeste and Flynn make it.”
“They pulled in right as we were finishing the driveway,” he assured her.
“That’s good,” Mary said from the kitchen. “Everything’s ready and I’m starving.”
“Sorry we’re late,” Celeste said as she, Flynn and Olivia came in with their arms loaded down with gifts.
“We still had to wrap a couple of presents,” Olivia explained.
Hope paused in the act of setting her hastily wrapped final present under the big tree in the window. “Seriously, CeCe? On Christmas Eve? Maybe next year you should plan ahead a little better,” she said virtuously.
Faith had to laugh, which ended up startling Sammy. “Sorry, kiddo.”
“Here, I’ll take him back.”
She didn’t want to surrender the soft little bundle but Mary came in just then. “Great. Everybody’s here. Find your places.”
After handing Sammy back to his mother, she found a place beside Chase. Addie and Louisa sat at her other side while Barrett sat on Chase’s other side.
When they were all settled, Celeste looked around at their family.
“I have an announcement to make. We do, actually.”
Olivia, Faith noticed, was just about jumping out of her chair in excitement.
“Is this about Sparkle and the Magic Snowball being number one again at the box office?” Addie asked.
“Everybody knows that already,” Olivia said.
“Is it about the new Sparkle book that’s coming out next summer or the movie sequel they’re already making?” Louisa asked.
“No,” Flynn said. “Though that’s all very exciting.”
He reached for Celeste’s hand and Faith held her breath, sensing what was coming next before her sister even said it.
“We’re having a baby.”
The table erupted into squeals of excitement and hearty congratulations.
“Another baby. What wonderful news—and the perfect time to find out, on Christmas Eve,” Mary exclaimed, her features soft with delight. “When are you due?”
“June. Right around the book launch, which isn’t the greatest of timing, I know.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Hope said. “This is so great! Maybe you’ll have a boy, too, and he and Sammy can be best friends!”
Faith felt a big, strong hand reach out and grip hers. She glanced at her husband and saw a secret little smile there, the same one exploding in her heart. The two new cousins would soon become three, but she and Chase were the only ones at the table who knew that, for now.
They wouldn’t share their news yet. Faith was only eight weeks along and they had decided to wait until after the New Year to tell anyone. Even Barrett, Lou and Addie didn’t know yet.
It was tough to keep the news under wraps but there would be time enough to let the family know even more joy would soon be on the way.
For now, she would celebrate her sister’s happiness.
Her heart seemed filled to overflowing and tears welled up as she looked around the table at her family, these people she loved so much.
Pregnancy hormones were making her crazy. She cried at everything these days. This, the chance to spend Christmas Eve with all the people she loved most in the world, was worth a few tears, she decided.
Chase’s strong, callused fingers threaded through hers and more tears leaked out. He nudged her shoulder with his, and then her oldest and dearest friend—and the man she loved with all her heart—handed her his napkin so she could dry her tears.
“What’s wrong? Why are you crying, Mom?” Louisa asked, concern in her eyes that could look so fierce and determined when she and the horse she adored galloped through a barrel course.
Faith sniffled a little more. “I’m happy. That’s all.”
“Cut it out or you’ll set me off,” Celeste said.
“And me,” Hope said. “Since I had Sammy, I cry if the wind blows at me from the wrong direction.”
Faith gave her sisters a watery smile. Their father’s words certainly held true for his daughters. Each of them had proved that faith was stronger than fear, that they could move past the tough experiences in their past and let love help them heal.
She tightened her fingers around Chase’s, the joy in her heart blazing as brightly as the lights on Aunt Mary’s big Christmas tree that sent out warmth and color and hope across the snowy night.
* * * * *
Don’t miss the other Nichols sisters’ stories
of love and
Christmas, part of
THE COWBOYS OF COLD CREEK
miniseries:
A COLD CREEK CHRISTMAS STORY
THE CHRISTMAS RANCH
Available now from Harlequin Special Edition!
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