by Liz Isaacson
“Okay,” Beau said several minutes later. “I think it’s time to light the tree.” He looked at Lily, who couldn’t seem to stop crying. “And I think we’ll change up who we were going to ask. Lily?”
She stood, her baby perched on her hip. “Rose, you win the day. Triplets.” She shook her head. “Get yourself up here and flip this switch.”
The blonde woman laughed as she moved to the front of the room. She positioned her hand on the switch and said, “Ready?”
“Ready,” everyone chorused back—everyone except Finn, but he’d be ready next year.
She flipped the switch, and the Christmas tree burst into white light. The sight of it took his breath away, and Finn could only sit and experience the happiness and joy Amanda’s family had brought into his life.
She leaned into his side, and he kneaded her closer. “Best tradition ever,” she sighed, and Finn couldn’t agree more.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Finn’s nervous energy infiltrated Amanda’s senses, and she wanted to reassure him that he’d be fine. But she wasn’t the one who’d left home and never returned. She’d taken the boys and Ron back to Dallas every year for a long time. Now, only her father was still alive, and he lived with her younger sister.
She’d called and invited them all to the wedding in February, but the weather wouldn’t be great then. Wendy had said she’d bring their dad though, and Amanda had made arrangements for them to stay at the lodge.
In fact, she was getting married at the lodge. She and Ron had been married in the church where she’d gone forever, and she wanted something different for her and Finn. Pastor Franklin would still come do the ceremony, and she’d have a small, family-only dinner at her favorite restaurant in town, Scratched.
She reached for Finn’s hand as they walked through the airport. He squeezed her fingers, and his tension lessened. They got their bags and went through the line to rent the car. He drove, the action as easy here as it was in Dog Valley where he’d lived for so long.
“Is this place familiar?” she asked, noting all the farms, the barns and horses everywhere.
“Yes,” he said.
“Good or bad?”
“It just is,” he said. “This place hasn’t grown much. It’ll be nice to see my sister.”
“I’m excited to meet them all,” she said as he turned onto a lane bordered with white fences.
“Won’t be long now,” he said, nodding. “Those are our fences. My dad’s fences.”
“They have B’s on them,” she said.
“Yep.” Finn didn’t say anything else, and she wasn’t sure if the monogrammed fences bothered him or not. He’d always followed her lead with her family, and she was determined to do the same for him.
“She’s going to try to feed us all the time,” Finn said. “That’s how my mother shows she cares. Food.”
“Well, I am hungry,” Amanda said.
“Good,” he said. “She’ll probably have a seven-course meal ready. Well, not her. But the chef. She has a chef.”
“Graham pays Celia to cook for our family.” To Amanda, that wasn’t that big of a deal.
Finn just nodded, his eyes trained out the windshield. Several minutes later, he pulled up to a sprawling house that made hers look like a child’s dollhouse. “Holy cow, Finn.” She gazed at it, sure she’d be getting lost there.
“I told you,” he said. “You were supposed to Google it.”
“I wanted to be surprised.” And she was. A woman came out of the front doors, gliding between the pillars, wearing a beautiful red dress.
“My mother,” he said. “She likes to dress up. I don’t think I mentioned that.”
“It looks like she’s ready to welcome a king,” Amanda said, drawing in a sharp breath. “You also didn’t tell me to dress up.”
“That’s because you don’t need to.” He indicated his own clothes. “I’m wearing jeans, Amanda. You’re fine. More than fine.”
She didn’t feel fine. She felt very out of place, and she wondered if Finn felt like this with her sons and grandchildren. She was definitely going to ask him the first chance she got.
“Stay here,” he said. “At least let me show my mother I have some Southern manners left, okay?” He grinned at her and got out of the car, circling around the front to open her door for her.
Amanda took his hand to get out and then she hooked her arm through his. “I’m going to fall down.”
“It’s a flat surface,” he said. “Look who’s nervous now.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I just wasn’t expecting the dress.”
“Hey, Mom,” he said as they climbed the steps. He let go of Amanda to hug his mother, who cried right there on his shoulder.
“Come on now,” she heard him say, but his voice sounded a bit choked too.
“You came home,” she finally said as she stepped back. “I just can’t believe it.” She took her son’s face in her hands and smiled through her tears.
When she turned her attention to Amanda, it was with the brightest smile on the planet. “Mom,” Finn said. “This is my fiancée, Amanda Whittaker.”
“Amanda Whittaker,” his mother said as if she really were the Queen of England. “How nice to meet you.”
“You too,” she said, moving effortlessly into the hug.
“Okay, Mom,” Finn said, chuckling, but she didn’t release Amanda. “Amanda, this is my mom, Trudy.”
She stepped back then, and Amanda kept her smile in place. “Welcome to our home,” she said. “Rhonda’s in the kitchen, Finny. Let’s go say hello.”
“Where’s Dad?” Finn asked, taking Amanda’s hand again as another man came outside.
“Jasper will get the bags,” Trudy said, and Amanda watched the well-dressed man head toward the car.
“You never said where Dad was,” Finn said as they went inside. Amanda couldn’t take in all the grandeur at once, but Finn didn’t even look at it. She didn’t understand how someone as…simple and unpretentious as him had come from all of this.
“He’s in Nashville,” Trudy said. “Won’t be back until tomorrow night.”
“Mom,” Finn said with warning in his voice. “Why’s he in Nashville? I wanted to talk to him. Have him meet Amanda.”
“And you will,” Trudy said airily. “You’re not leaving until the day after that.”
Finn exchanged a glance with Amanda, and she tore her eyes from the artwork to give him the best smile she had.
“Finny!” A woman launched herself out of the kitchen. Finn laughed with his full voice as he hugged his sister. “And oh, my goodness. Finn has a new woman.” Rhonda latched onto Amanda’s hand, and she once again wondered what cloth Finn had been cut from. He didn’t seem to belong to his family at all.
“Amanda, my older sister Rhonda. Her husband, Jones.”
“Nice to meet you both,” Amanda said, accepting hugs and cheek kisses from everyone.
“Who’s hungry?” Trudy asked, and Finn just looked at Amanda again.
She couldn’t help laughing at the same time she said, “I am, Mrs. Barber.”
“Oh, please,” Trudy said. “I am not Mrs. Barber. Trudy is fine.” She took the lid off a pot and added, “I think this is the soup.”
“Mom,” Rhonda said. “Let’s go into the dining room.” She steered her mother through a double set of doors, and Amanda linked her arm through Finn’s again.
“Yes, let’s eat,” he said, causing Amanda to laugh again.
The following evening, Finn invited Amanda out to the stables. She went, because she’d spent the last day and a half hearing about them. Seeing them was radically different than the images she had in her mind.
“These horses live better than I do,” she said, and Finn nodded.
“That they do.”
“Do your horses live like this in Dog Valley?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, stopping outside a closed stall. This one had doors that went all the way to the ceil
ing, as if someone might turn to stone if they caught a glimpse of the horse within. A chalkboard hanging on the door had a star on it.
“What does that mean?” she asked.
“This is Dad’s star horse this year,” he said. “He’ll fetch the highest price. See the date there?” He indicated some tiny numbers Amanda hadn’t noticed. “That’s the auction date. This is Stars For Eyes, who Rhonda was talking about last night.”
“Oh, the one who came from the other winners.”
“That’s right. Running is in the genes,” he said. “It’s why we pay so much for stud fees.” He flashed her a smile that she could tell pinched along the edges.
“What are you going to say to him?” she asked. They’d talked a little bit about his father, but Finn usually only said two or three sentences before the conversation topic wearied him. She knew Finn had left for college, promising to come back—and he had. But only for six months, and then he’d stormed out of Kentucky and hadn’t been back in a very, very long time.
“I’m going to apologize,” Finn said. “And hope he forgives me.”
Amanda’s heart expanded for the goodness of this man. “I’m sure he will.”
“My dad isn’t a very tolerant man,” he said. “And his old age has only made him more stubborn.” He wandered down the aisle to a horse who poked his head over the half-closed door. Even Amanda found comfort in the horses now, and she ran her fingers down the side of this one’s face.
He easily stood a couple of feet taller than her, and she could see him flying around the racetrack. “If there’s one thing I know about getting older,” she said. “It’s that I might be set in my ways, but I’m more open to love too.”
She gave him a smile, and Finn put his arm around her and leaned his face against her shoulder. “Thank you for coming here with me.”
“Of course.”
“It was not easy for me to come.”
“But you did.”
“Yeah,” he said. “I guess even old dogs can learn new tricks.”
Amanda kissed him, hoping he’d take some of her calmness for his own. “He should be here by now, shouldn’t he?”
“Yes,” Finn said. “Let’s go see if he’s arrived.” He’d taken three steps toward the door, just securing her hand in his, when he froze. “Dad.”
A big bear of a man stood in the doorway, a cowboy hat obscuring most of his face. Amanda couldn’t tell if he was smiling or frowning, and all the oxygen felt like it had been removed from the air.
Finn strode toward his father, the speed of his steps increasing the closer he got. He threw his arms around him and said, “I’m sorry, Dad. I’m so sorry.”
Amanda pressed one palm over her heart as it beat wildly beneath her breastbone. She knew exactly what that apology felt like as it came out of her mouth, knew the desperation behind every word, every letter.
And the best part was that Finn’s father put his arms around his son and embraced him. “It’s okay, son,” he said. “It’s okay.”
February 20
Finn stamped the snow from his boots as he reached the deck. The cold felt brutal against his tongue, the back of his throat, and all the way down into his lungs.
Didn’t matter.
He was getting married today.
Inside the back door, he waited for his three Labs to enter, and then he pressed the door closed and locked it. “Zach’s going to be by later,” he told them. “So everyone just take a nap this morning, okay?”
None of the dogs answered him, of course, and Finn couldn’t nap. He did have time for a cup of coffee and to get in the shower. As he poured a cup of coffee, his dad came down the hall from the guest room.
“Morning, Dad,” he said. “Coffee?”
“Yes.”
Finn slid his mug to his dad, who started spooning sugar into the brew. “Is Mom up?”
“Yep.”
Finn poured another cup of coffee and added sugar and cream to his. “You guys can get to the lodge okay? I need to be there a little bit early.”
“Your mom wants to come with you,” he said. “She doesn’t think we need to leave your truck there. We’ll drive it back here.”
“That’s fine,” he said. They’d talked through a couple of different scenarios, one being him leaving his truck at the lodge and one being his parents driving it back to Dog Valley for their last night in town. “Zach’s on chores tonight, but you’re more than welcome to go out with him.”
His parents had been at his farm for a week now, and his dad had actually praised him for how he had things running here. Finn had never been prouder than when his dad complimented his henhouse and examined the horse Finn had chosen as his star for the year.
“All right,” his dad said, and Finn excused himself to shower. With his coffee gone and everything washed, he threw his suitcase onto the seat beside him and laid his tuxedo over that.
“Mom,” he said as he went back into the house. She poked her head around the corner, using both hands to put her earrings in. “We need to go.”
“Five minutes,” she said. “Daddy’s just getting dressed.” She finished with her earring and beamed at Finn as she approached him. “You look so handsome.”
“I’ve been married before, Mom. Don’t make this into a big deal.”
“It is a big deal,” she said. “You’ve been alone for so long, and now you don’t have to be. I won’t be nearly as worried knowing Amanda is here with you.” She grinned at him and straightened his collar, though he’d be changing once he got to the lodge.
“I’m glad you and Dad could come.” His sister was staying at a hotel in Coral Canyon, and she had to rush out after the wedding as her son’s wife was about to give birth to her second grandchild.
Finn was about to get six grandchildren the moment he said, “I do.” And he couldn’t wait.
His father finally came around the corner, tugging on his shirtsleeves. “They’re too short,” he grumbled.
“That’s what you get when you won’t go to the tailor,” his mother said, her nose practically ten stories up. Finn ducked his head and said nothing, remembering his dress hat at the very last moment, and only because it sat on the back of the couch—right where Amanda had put it.
“Let me move my stuff to the back,” he said. “I forgot you were riding with me.” Nerves dodged through him as he threw his suitcase and tuxedo in the back seat. “Okay, get in.”
The drive to Whiskey Mountain Lodge took a few extra minutes, simply because Mother Nature had decided yesterday would be a great day to drop thirteen inches of snow on the state of Wyoming.
Flights had been delayed, but everyone Amanda wanted at the wedding had made it to town. Now Finn just needed to get there.
The parking lot seemed abnormally full when he arrived, and he pulled under the overhang in the circle drive. If he thought he’d seen chaos at the lodge before—and he had—it was nothing like today.
“Ma!” Beau yelled. “Your groom is here.” He took the garment bag from Finn and added in a much quieter voice. “Hullo, Finn. Good to see you.” He glanced at Finn’s parents. “Welcome to Whiskey Mountain Lodge, Barbers. I’m Beau.” He grinned and took their coats. “They might be able to put you to work in the kitchen.”
His mother led his father in that direction, but Finn stayed by the front door as Amanda came around the corner. She hugged his mom and tipped up on her toes to give his father a kiss on the cheek, and then she beelined for him.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, noting the anxious look on her face.
“I didn’t want to say anything,” she said. “But I feel so stupid.”
“What?” Finn received her into his arms, not really worried about what the problem was. She was here. He was here. No matter what it was, they could still get married.
“I ordered your ring from the jeweler, and he promised me it would be here on time. But the storm kept it from getting delivered.” She pulled back and looked into his face, pure
concern in her pretty eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
Finn smiled at her and bent down to kiss her. “I don’t care about a ring,” he said, brushing his lips against hers. “You’re here, right?” He kissed her again, holding on longer this time. “Still going to say yes?”
She smiled. “Yes.”
“The ring is trivial,” he said.
“Mom,” Graham said, drawing her attention. “You can use this.” He hurried across the room and held something out to his mother.
She took it, examining it for a moment. “Graham, this is made out of twist ties.”
“I know,” he said, grinning. “Bailey and Stockton made it.”
Finn caught the two grandchildren huddled near the doorway, and he nudged Amanda so she’d see them too. She glanced in that direction and gestured for them to come closer.
The two kids ran over, and she bent down to give them simultaneous hugs. “It’s a ring, Grandma,” Stockton said. “It works, right?”
“Of course it does,” Amanda said, and Finn’s heart filled with love.
He crouched down too, though the action hurt his knees. “Thanks, you guys.”
The two kids hugged him too, and he closed his eyes in a moment of pure joy. Stockton pulled back. “Can I call you Grandpa now?”
“No,” Amanda said, swatting at him. “Not until after the wedding.” She laughed, and nudged Stockton and Bailey away from Finn. “Now go find your mothers. You’re not even ready for the wedding yet.”
“You’re not wearing your dress yet, either, Grandma,” Bailey said, her eyes round and thoughtful.
“That’s because I don’t want Finn to see me in it,” she said, straightening.
Finn accepted Graham’s strong hand to help him up, and he watched the kids skip away. “I guess we better go get ready,” Finn said.
“Yeah,” Graham said. “I have you upstairs, Finn. Follow me.” He moved around the bannister and started upstairs. Finn collected his garment bag and kissed Amanda on the cheek. “See you soon.”
