“And now you grooms may kiss the brides. Be sure you’ve got the one that belongs to you,” Teddy’s father called out.
Josh tipped up Emma’s chin with his knuckles and started to give her a sweet kiss when he noticed that Teddy had bent Sophie back in a true Hollywood kiss. That was way out of his comfort zone, but he wanted Emma to be happy, so he did the same. When the kiss ended, he groaned. “I didn’t even have a ring.”
“We can remedy that later,” Emma said. “Today has been everything I ever wanted.”
Rebel was the first one to reach them. She hugged first Sophie and Teddy, then Emma and Josh. “This is a dream come true for me. I’m so glad you made this a double wedding.”
“Me too,” Josh said. “I’m not sure I could have endured the stress poor old Teddy was under this morning.”
Filly wiped tears from her eyes and then handed a hankie to Emma. “We’ll keep this for the day your daughter gets married. Our tears are blended on it. It will bring her good luck. Let’s cut the cake and have a party.”
Josh slipped an arm around Emma. “They can have the cake. I have you.”
“Oh, no,” Sophie declared. “We’ll cut one side. Y’all can do the other one.”
“But there’s only two champagne glasses,” Emma whispered.
“I always liked beer out of a red plastic cup better anyway,” Josh said. “Let’s do this our way.”
“Forever and always, let’s do everything our way.” Emma smiled up at him.
Epilogue
Five years later
Emma awoke that Thanksgiving morning to bright sunlight pouring into the bedroom, the aroma of bacon and coffee floating through the small trailer, and the sound of children giggling. Josh was such a good father, and despite her upbringing, Emma wasn’t doing too bad at being a mother. Josh often accused her of being worse than a mother bear with the kids, but she couldn’t help being a little overprotective.
“Good mornin’, darlin’.” Josh peeked into the room with Lia on his hip and Gracie hanging on to his leg. Four-year-old Jody made a flying leap right onto the bed with her. She hugged him tightly and then reached out her arms for the baby. Josh handed the blonde-haired little girl to her, and then helped three-year-old Gracie up on the bed. By the time he joined the family, there wasn’t enough room to wiggle.
“I love mornings like this.” He leaned across Lia and kissed Emma.
“Yuck,” Jody said.
“You just keep thinking that until you’re about thirty.” Josh grinned.
“Or forty,” Emma said and then pulled Josh over to her for another kiss. “I give thanks every day for what we have.”
“One more kid and we’re going to have to build another room onto the place,” Josh whispered.
“Well, then, darlin’, we’d better start building, because I took a test last night and number four is on the way,” Emma told him.
“I’m the luckiest man in the world. Can I be the one to tell your father?” Josh shoved the kids to the foot of the bed and gathered Emma into his arms for a steamy kiss.
“Of course, but not until Sophie gets here. I want her to be the second to know,” Emma answered. “If we can throw this passel of young foxes off our bed, I’d like to follow my nose to the kitchen.”
“Bacon and pancakes are on the stove. I’ve already fed all the kids, even Lia.” Josh kissed her one more time. “I love you, Mrs. Corlen.”
“I love you, Josh.” She caught the right moment and wiggled her way out of the maze of kids to the edge of the bed. “Let’s just hope I’m not as sick with this one as I was with Lia.”
“This is a boy,” Josh said, “to even things out. Remember, you weren’t sick a single day with Jody.”
Emma crossed her fingers and held them up for him to see. “We can always hope.”
Sophie was more excited about going home for Thanksgiving than the two kids in the back seat of the SUV. Two-year-old Anna Rebel didn’t understand as much about the trip as four-year-old Johnny did, but she picked up on his excitement. When they turned off the road onto Hummingbird Lane, Johnny said, “Are we almost to the hum bird place? Is Jody still there?”
“Of course he is, and your auntie Em says he’s waiting on the porch for you. He’s got a brand-new puppy that he wants you to see,” Sophie answered.
“Hurry, Daddy,” Johnny said. “Go faster.”
“Puppy. Go fast,” Anna Rebel squealed.
“I can’t wait to see Em. Seems like forever, and yet it’s only been a month,” Sophie said. “And your dad and my mama are already here. It’s going to be a wonderful holiday. I’m so glad the sun is shining so the kids can play outside.”
“Josh says Filly has been cooking for a week,” Teddy said. “We kind of lucked out since the snowbirds aren’t coming in for a few more days. We can stay in your old trailer. I understand Wyatt and Betsy are sharing one of the others. My dad is in the second one, and Rebel is staying with Filly. We’ve pretty well got a full house.”
“Look, I see the trailers, and there’s Em standing on the picnic bench waving at us,” Sophie said.
“You and Em. You’d think you were blood sisters,” Teddy chuckled.
“Honey, we’re more than that. We are sisters of the heart,” Sophie said and hopped out of the SUV the minute he parked.
She and Emma met in the middle of the yard and hugged each other just like they had when they were girls. “Guess what? I’ve got wonderful news. Number three is on the way. I’m about to catch up with you. I couldn’t wait to tell you in person.”
“Well, if you’re going to catch up with me, you’d best have twins. I’m due in June with number four,” Emma laughed.
“That’s fantastic. For the first time, we get to have babies in the same month,” Sophie said. “But twins or not, this is the last one for our family. How about yours?”
“We agreed in the beginning that four was our magic number.” Emma looped her arm in Sophie’s and led her toward Filly’s house.
“Have you heard from Victoria?” Sophie asked.
“She called about a month ago. She said she might fit a short visit in next year. She really doesn’t like this place or what I’ve done with my life,” Emma answered.
“You are fast becoming the famous artist you always wanted to be,” Sophie assured her.
“I’m happy, and that’s what matters.” Emma smiled.
Arty set Lia on the ground, and she toddled over to Filly and put up her arms to be held. Josh came around the end of the trailer with Gracie right behind him. Jody bailed off the porch, grabbed Johnny by the hand as soon as Teddy freed him from the car seat, and led him off to the porch, where two puppies tumbled around playfully. “Mine,” Jody said seriously, pointing at one, then turned his finger toward the other one and said seriously, “Yours.”
Teddy carried Anna Rebel across the yard and handed her off to her grandmother. “Here you go, Rebel. She’s all yours for the next while.” He turned to focus on Sophie. “I guess we just got a dog, Sophie.”
“Looks that way,” Sophie laughed. “Next Thanksgiving, we’ll have a baby to add to this circus.”
“That’s fantastic news.” Jonathan stepped off the porch of one of the extra trailers. “I always wanted a big family, but all I got was Teddy. I’m glad that I get lots of grandbabies.”
“So am I.” Rebel snuggled her face down into her granddaughter’s wispy blonde hair. “We’ve all sure got a lot to be thankful for this year.”
“Yes, we do,” Filly said. “Me and Arty are about to bring out the food. Arty’s turkey is perfect this year, and my pumpkin pies turned out great. I swear, it’s always better when you kids all come home for Thanksgiving.”
Sophie slipped an arm around Emma. “Yes, it is.”
“Know what I’m most thankful for every day of every year?” Emma asked. “That you rescued me and brought me down here to this place. Heaven can’t be any better than this.”
“Amen,” Josh agree
d.
Dear Reader,
Friends come into our lives at different seasons for different reasons. That was the way with Emma and Sophie. They’d come into each other’s lives as children and then were torn apart for several years, but when they needed their old friendship again, it returned at just the right time. While I was writing this story, I felt like Emma and Sophie were in the room with me, telling me all their heartaches and joys. I’ve laughed with them, cried with them, and gotten angry with them. When I finally wrote the last words, they were very real people to me, and I was glad to have had the privilege of telling their story.
As I’ve said before, it takes a village to produce a book. The writer starts with an idea, but it needs good editors to help the author give it polish and finesse. With that in mind, I have several people to thank for taking this from a rough idea to a finished product. First of all, my thanks to my agent, Erin Niumata, and my agency, Folio Literary Management, for all they do; to my editors at Amazon/Montlake, Alison Dasho and Anh Schluep, for continuing to believe in me; and to my team for everything from copyediting to cover designs; to my amazing developmental editor, Krista Stroever, who took a lump of coal and helped me turn it into a diamond; and to my readers for their support and love.
Special thanks for this book go to my son, Charles Lemar Brown, for the picture of the hummingbird on the cover, and to Vienna Pharaon for giving me permission to use her quote. As always, my love to Mr. B for everything he does to help me, from first edits to washing the dinner dishes so I can write one more chapter.
Until next time,
Carolyn Brown
About the Author
Photo © 2015 Charles Brown
Carolyn Brown is a New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author and a RITA finalist with more than one hundred published books to her name. They include women’s fiction and historical, contemporary, cowboy, and country music romances. She and her husband live in the small town of Davis, Oklahoma, where everyone knows everyone else, including what they are doing and when—and they read the local newspaper on Wednesdays to see who got caught. They have three grown children and enough grandchildren and great-grandchildren to keep them young. For more information, visit www.carolynbrownbooks.com.
Hummingbird Lane Page 31
