by Ava Miles
“We need to let the juice stain the lips,” she said. “In the meantime, let’s make the lip gloss.” She didn’t have a container for it, but she could dab it on from the pan. Maybe she’d take the plunge and order some makeup supplies, including lip gloss tubes.
Annie Loudermilk was back in makeup, it seemed.
In fact, could this be a whole new line for her? Hadn’t Flynn asked her why she didn’t have one, back when they first met? The world had opened to her, it seemed, and the possibilities were endless.
Amelia pursed her lips. “Can I have some red on my lips too, Mom?” she asked.
“Yes, can we?” Eloise asked, glancing at Iris, who also nodded.
She looked at her daughters. “How about I do everyone’s lips?”
When they all bobbed their heads excitedly, their soft blond curls dancing under the kitchen lights, she was aware of the pressure in her chest. They’d just found something to come together for—as a family. Without Ben. Yes, tonight was momentous.
She lightened the color for her daughters and then went about painting their lips with the cranberry juice one at a time, focusing on the shape and contour of their lips. Even Amelia stood perfectly still, and when Annie finished, her daughter put her hands on her cheeks. “Oh, it feels so beautiful.”
“You’re beautiful with or without it,” she said, kissing the top of her head. “All of you girls are. Now, let’s make our topcoat.”
She pulled out her ingredients: beeswax, carnauba wax, castor oil, coconut oil, and jojoba. Measuring each, she added them to the small melting pan she’d retrieved from the lab. Holding it over one of the burners on the stove, she waited until all the ingredients were melted before stirring the ingredients with a spatula.
“We’re going to let this cool,” she said, setting it out of reach of her girls for safety. “I need to get my shoes on. Flynn should be here soon. So will Grandma.”
“Yay!” Amelia held out her arms to be helped down from the counter. “I can’t wait.”
She saw the twins exchange a glance, and when she headed into her bedroom, they followed her, Amelia padding after them. Frowning as she scanned her shoes, Annie noted all of her pairs were practical. Plain. Mommy dull.
“You really like Mr. Merriam, don’t you?” Iris asked.
Grabbing a pair of black flats, she turned and put them on. “Yes, I do. A lot.”
“Why didn’t you do all this for Daddy?” Eloise asked, crossing her arms over her pink pajama top.
She felt stricken, but she knew she couldn’t ignore it or brush it off. If she and Flynn were truly headed toward marriage, she needed to be honest about her feelings so they could better understand and acclimate to the future. “Your daddy wasn’t happy about me going to London to be a makeup artist. He liked things the way they were. When I came back to marry him and had you guys, that part of me didn’t seem to fit in here. I mean, can you imagine me wearing the kind of makeup or fashion you see in a magazine around here? Even Aunt Emily doesn’t do that when she comes home to visit.”
The twins shared a look, and Amelia crossed to hug her leg, almost as if sensing the sudden tension.
“Did Daddy make you happy?” Iris stared at Annie, almost like a human lie detector, as she waited for a reply. “When you came back from New York, you looked different.”
“You’ve never looked that happy,” Eloise said softly.
“In the beginning, when we were dating, he did.” She stroked Amelia’s hair. “Sometimes when you get married, you find out you aren’t as happy as you once were. It’s not easy for me to say it, but I didn’t always make your Dad happy either.”
Eloise nodded her head. “I know. Iris and I used to wonder if you were going to get divorced.”
Her sharp intake seemed to echo through her bones. “You did?”
“Yeah.” Iris fiddled with the sleeves of her nightgown. “We know you had to get married because you got pregnant.”
A stab to the heart would have hurt less than hearing they knew the truth. Was this why they’d been pulling away? “Where did you hear that from?”
“Some stupid kids at school,” Iris said, her mouth pinched tight. “We don’t talk to them.”
“No, they’re mean.” Eloise lowered her head. “They said awful things about Daddy too.”
Oh, God. “Do you want to tell me what they said?”
The twins shared a look, and Iris said, “It’s only stupid stuff.”
“Some people are mean. You know, when Aunt Emily and I were in school, kids made fun of us all the time because we liked to dress differently than the trends in the downtown shops. You can’t listen to those people. They say mean things because they’re unhappy with themselves.”
“Until Mr. Merriam, no one’s made you happy,” Iris said, putting her arm around Eloise. “Except your business and Aunt Emily. Amelia too.”
Amelia looked up at her, the light in her eyes seeming to search Annie’s soul.
“That’s not completely true. You girls make me happy. All of you. I love you girls so much.”
The twins shared a look, and she wondered what they’d silently communicated to each other. Did they believe her?
“We had fun tonight, didn’t we?” she pressed. “That made me very happy.”
“Me too,” Amelia said, always to be counted on.
“You do look happy,” Iris said as if still trying to put together a puzzle.
She faced the twins. “I am happy. Now, how about we put on our lip gloss?”
Somehow she knew to give them some space on this matter, but it didn’t stop her from holding her hands out to both of them. This time they took them.
She knew it for the victory it was.
The kitchen was a little quieter as the girls climbed back up onto the counter. She lined their lips with the gloss and held out the mirror to them.
Amelia gasped. “Oh my goodness. I do look beautiful!”
“Yes, you do, sweetie,” she said, brushing her hair back behind her ears. “What do you think, girls?”
“I love it,” Eloise said, raising her chin and studying herself in the mirror.
“Me too,” Iris said. “Can we make more sometime?”
It felt like they were changing into young women before her very eyes. Tom wouldn’t approve, of course, and she wasn’t sure what he might say to them in one of his glowering moods. The sooner they could leave this farm the better. But she wouldn’t let him steal this moment from them. “I’m going to order some real supplies tomorrow. We can’t keep staining our lips with cranberries, can we?”
“Yuck, no.” Amelia slapped her forehead. “We won’t have any left for dessert.”
The twins lowered themselves from the counter, and Eloise let Amelia down.
“Besides, I thought you girls might like to play with some different colors,” Annie said. “I made my first lip gloss around your age.”
“Maybe you can teach me how to make it,” Iris said, smiling at her hesitantly. “I promise to follow your safety protocols, Mom.”
“All right, it’s a deal,” she said, dabbing the gloss on her lips finally and checking the mirror. “How do I look?”
“Flynn is going to think you’re so beautiful, Mom,” Amelia said, turning in a circle playfully as if enacting a dramatic swoon.
“You look great, Mom,” Eloise said, a smile lifting her lips.
“Yeah, you look good, Mom.” Iris touched the sides of her lips, almost like she was making sure her lip gloss hadn’t moved. “Thanks for showing us this.”
It had been a long while since she’d felt like she’d taught her children anything useful, but she’d shared one of her passions with them tonight, and they’d all seemed to enjoy it. It was something to build on.
“Since I’m going to start relearning about makeup, maybe you guys would like to learn with me.”
“That would be so cool,” Eloise said, her head bobbing in excitement.
“Fashion too?” Iris added.
Annie checked to see that her scarf was still in place. “Yes, I’m a little out of practice in that department too. Maybe we can help each other. Aunt Emily’s going to come visit soon too.”
“You’ll figure it out,” Iris said, her smile full now. “Dad always said you were the smartest woman he knew.”
She felt the needle on their happiness dial shift, so she forced a smile. “You’re pretty smart too. Okay, I need to clean up before Flynn gets here. Has everyone brushed their teeth?”
The girls nodded as one, another sign they were in tune tonight.
“Can we keep the gloss on, Mom?” Eloise asked. “I promise not to get it on my sheets.”
“Me either,” Iris said, touching the corners of her mouth again.
“Maybe a handsome prince will kiss me like Snow White,” Amelia said.
The twins rolled their eyes, but they refrained from teasing her out loud.
“You can keep it on,” she said. “I love you, girls.”
“We love you too, Mom,” Eloise said, taking Amelia’s hand. “Come on, I’ll read you a story tonight so Mom can clean up.”
She blinked in surprise. The twins hardly ever did that, preferring to hang out in their room together. “Thank you, Eloise.”
“Do you want me to help you, Mom?” Iris asked. “I can put the spices away and clean the counter.”
More surprise rippled through her. “That would be great. Thank you.”
Amelia and Eloise hugged her and then headed off. Iris stored the kitchen ingredients, her hands lingering on the lip brush. “Do you want me to wash your brush, Mom? I thought it might stain.”
“It might at that,” Annie said, using a spatula to scoop up the leftover lip gloss and put it into a container. When she finished, she handed it to her daughter. “Why don’t you put this in your room so you and your sisters can use it until I can make us some proper gloss?”
Her daughter’s eyes seemed to glow. “Really? We can wear it anytime?”
“Well, maybe not to school since teachers can be funny about that. But you can wear it around here. My mom didn’t want me to wear makeup at all, but I loved it and wanted to play with it early. If you do too, then you should. I want you to be happy too, Iris.”
Her eyes lifted, and in them, Annie could again see a glimpse of the adult she was becoming. “Thanks, Mom. You should do this more. Make makeup. Arrange a scarf. You look happy. I…like you this way, and I know Eloise does too.”
She studied her daughter in shock. Had they not been connecting all of this time because she’d been fighting who she really was and what she loved to do? She’d closed the hope chest for them all those years ago, thinking it was what they deserved, but a piece of her had stayed locked inside of it—a piece that was a lot like her girls. Maybe she’d taken something away from all of them, but tonight, it felt like she was getting it back. How wonderful was that?
Her hand cruised along her daughter’s cheek. “We’re all going to do more of this going forward since it makes us so happy. I promise.”
Iris beamed, and Annie found herself humming as they cleaned up the kitchen together. When Iris hugged her good night, she held her a few seconds longer than usual, her daughter staying right with her instead of fidgeting or trying to break free.
After she left, Annie leaned back against the counter and waited for Flynn. She couldn’t wait to tell him about her victory tonight.
Chapter 24
When Flynn heard his dad would be arriving Friday morning, he found himself in an odd panic.
The eggs and sausage he’d eaten at breakfast turned to lead in his stomach. Caitlyn wasn’t here yet. He couldn’t imagine facing their father alone. He called her on FaceTime immediately, but it said she was unavailable so he texted her. When are you getting here? Dad is incoming. I need you.
His date with Annie last night had put him in an off-the-charts good mood. He’d laughed until he cried last night when she’d suggested they make love in his Range Rover. And then they’d done it anyway. Her hot little cries and the fogged windows had been so sweet. It wasn’t the perfect solution to them being alone, but he’d take it in the meantime.
He’d awoken with the feel of her lips on his this morning.
But his happy buzz had been erased by Quinn’s text warning him of their dad’s imminent arrival.
Caitlyn’s reply had him gripping his phone. Sorry, in a meeting. I keep getting held up by this bottler. Suppliers can be tricky. I hope to be there in a couple of days. You’ll be fine with Dad. Really, he’s turned over a new leaf. Give him a chance.
Give him a chance? Well, when she put it that way, he felt a bit foolish for being so nervous. It was just…for a man known for his smooth talking, he didn’t know what to say to his own father. In truth, his dad didn’t really know what to say to him either.
Someone knocked on his door, and he rose to answer it. Hargreaves was standing in the doorway in his usual black suit and white shirt with the black tie.
“Are you guys heading over to Annie’s?” Usually Hargreaves drove his aunt and uncle while he took his own car.
“Actually, sir, we’ve been asked to pick up something on the way,” Hargreaves said, an inscrutable smile lighting his angular face. “I can direct you. Mr. and Mrs. Hale have gone on already.”
He grabbed his things and tugged on his coat, Hargreaves stepping forward to assist him. “Thank you. Do you want to drive, Hargreaves? Would it be weird to be a passenger?”
“As you prefer, sir,” the man said with a bow.
Sometimes Flynn wondered about hiring his own butler—probably a thought he shared with anyone who’d met his aunt’s butler—but who could top Hargreaves? He handed him the key fob. “Let’s see what you think of my ride.”
“Yes, sir,” the man said. “I’ll only be a moment.”
Flynn waited in the short hallway for the butler to retrieve his coat, and then they were off. He had a moment of panic—would Hargreaves have some eerie butler sense about he and Annie having sex in the back seat?—but the older man didn’t say anything. God, he was acting like a lovestruck teenager.
They went through the small Main Street of Nemo and then turned south onto another two-lane highway. “I haven’t been this way,” he said over the silence in the car.
“No, sir,” was the man’s only comment.
“Do you know what we’re supposed to pick up?” he asked.
“I don’t have that information, sir,” Hargreaves said. “Just the address from Mrs. Anderson. I assume someone at the residence will be able to tell us.”
It was a bit of a mystery, but his mind had about all it could handle with thoughts of his dad coming. He kicked his legs out and decided to leave it to fate and enjoy the ride. About a half mile later, they turned into a driveway marked by a white mailbox with a dog on it. Cute, he thought.
They went down the shoveled drive, surrounded by what he’d learned was a shelter belt of trees, designed to protect houses in the country from the wind. Two other cars were parked in the circular driveway in front of a white two-story farmhouse, a staple he’d seen everywhere in these parts. It was decorated with Christmas lights, and a welcome sign on the black door proclaimed Home Sweet Home in bold letters.
“Do you need me to come with you, Hargreaves?” he asked.
“If you don’t mind, sir,” the man said, turning off the engine and exiting the car.
He walked down the shoveled sidewalk ahead of the butler and knocked on the door. After a few seconds, it opened.
“Surprise!” Caitlyn yelled alongside his aunt and uncle.
He fell back a few steps and knocked into Hargreaves. “What?”
“Merry Christmas, Flynn,” his sister said, launching herself at him, her blue cashmere poncho flying around him as much as her long dark hair.
“What are you doing here? Hey! What’s going on?”
She gave him a loud smacking kiss and grabbed his hand, tugging him inside. Aunt Clara beamed
at him in the brightly decorated entryway. “Merry Christmas early, dear!”
“Yes, Merry Christmas,” his uncle said with a harrumph.
The staircase was lined with holly woven through its rungs, and there was a Christmas tree winking off to the left in the front parlor. The dining room was to the right, outfitted with a sleek English country table and chairs and a set of gleaming silver candlesticks equipped with new red candles. “I’m confused. Caitlyn, I just texted you, and you said it would be a couple of days. Why are you here? What is this place?”
“It’s yours for the next six months!” Caitlyn said, gesturing to the house.
He must be slow. “When you say this is mine—”
“We rented it for you for six months,” Aunt Clara said. “We know you and Annie haven’t been able to get much time alone. Hargreaves discovered this property while looking for rental space. The owners moved some time ago, and it’s been empty for months. With some help from Gertie and the others, we got them to agree to a short-term rental agreement. Caitlyn came here a few days ago to help the movers and then furnish it. Hargreaves has been helping as well.”
“His help has been invaluable, as always,” Caitlyn said, kissing the butler on the cheek. “I’ve been staying here out of sight, although I was bursting to tell you. Flynn, I don’t know how long you plan to be here with Annie, but I figured you’d want somewhere comfortable to hang your hat while you work all the details out. Do you like it? I had to call in some pretty big favors to get all the furniture delivered and set up. I know what you like, so it should do for now.”
“You did all this?” He looked at each of them in turn, filled with a sense of wonder. “That’s—”
“A pretty damn good Christmas present, if you ask me,” Arthur said, waggling his white bushy brows. “All I usually get are socks and underwear.”
Aunt Clara nudged him in the side. “Not this year. So, Flynn, how do you like it?”
He was actually tongue-tied. “This is the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me. Thank you.”
He hugged Caitlyn and then his aunt and uncle. He eyed Hargreaves for a moment before throwing protocol to the wind and pulling the man into a hug that might have lifted him off the ground a little. Hargreaves, who thankfully didn’t resist, straightened his suit the minute Flynn lowered him.
