“It’s not about right or wrong,” Grace said.
“It’s about understanding and compromise,” Alice said. “Finding what works for we, not just yourself.”
Zach knew he didn’t want to work without Georgie. He wanted a life with Georgie. A messy, complicated, wonderful life spent beside the woman he loved. He wanted roots and family. He wanted to become a husband and father his brother would’ve been proud of. “She wanted me to fight.”
“She wanted you to fight for what you could be together,” Alice corrected.
“I got it.” A lightness lifted his shoulders as if a weight had been removed. Or perhaps that boulder from last night. He hadn’t asked Georgie to choose simply because he hadn’t wanted to choose either. Such a scared fool he was. Georgie had been right. He wasn’t scared now. Far from it. “Georgie and I make a really good team.”
“Don’t tell us,” Big E shouted. “Get out of here and tell my granddaughter.”
“Yes, sir.” Zach pulled out his car keys. “I need to head to Bozeman first.”
“Bozeman.” Ethan gaped at him.
“That’s the wrong way, son,” Pops said.
“I’m finally headed in the right direction.” Zach shook their hands. “Thanks to all of you.”
“I just put the two of you together on a plane.” Big E held on to Zach’s hand and gripped his shoulder with his other. “You two messed up the love part all on your own.”
“That’s what I’m going to fix,” Zach promised.
“Make it a quick trip.” Big E held on to Zach’s hand and his gaze. “I want my whole family together on Christmas. You understand?”
Family. One that included him. Now he wanted his own family with Georgie. London. North Carolina. Montana. The where didn’t matter. Only who he was with mattered. “Yes, sir.”
Big E smiled and released him.
Zach rushed toward the front entrance. For the first time, envisioning a future he wanted to take part in.
Pops asked, “What’s in Bozeman, anyway?”
“My grand gesture.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“THAT’S THE LAST PIN.” Dorothy stepped back and wiped her hand over her brow. “Peyton, you can change and bring your dress to me in my bedroom.”
“Grandma Dot, what can we do?” Lily unzipped the back of Peyton’s bridesmaid’s gown. “You’ve helped us so much.”
“You can sit and take some time together as sisters.” Dorothy picked up her sewing kit and touched Lily’s arm, stopping her argument. “There won’t be much time in the coming days. Sit and be together. Take this time for yourselves.”
Lily hugged Dorothy and glanced around the family room. “Anyone want a glass of wine?”
Each Harrison sister raised her hand. Georgie stepped beside Peyton. “I’ll help Peyton out of her dress. I know how to do it to avoid the pins.”
“We’ll get the wine and snacks,” Lily said. Amanda and Fee followed Lily into the kitchen.
Georgie helped Peyton, gave the gown to Dorothy and escaped upstairs to find the jewelry box. Zach’s flannel shirt lay on her pillow where she’d left it. She hadn’t worn it, only rested her head on the soft fabric last night, wanting to feel closer to him.
She picked up the jewelry box and headed downstairs before her sisters came looking for her. One of them would surely notice Zach’s shirt and have questions. Questions she didn’t want to answer.
Amanda carried wineglasses into the family room. Fee placed a tray of fruit, cheese and nuts on the sofa table. Peyton returned, dressed in warm winter clothes, and picked up the wine bottle from the kitchen counter.
Lily added poinsettia napkins to the table. “We have red velvet cupcakes from Maple Bear Bakery for dessert, if you need something sweet.”
Georgie set the jewelry box on a side table out of view and stepped in front of Dorothy’s Christmas tree. “Before we have wine and get swept up in a cupcake sugar rush, I wanted to apologize.”
Lily sat on the couch, Fee beside her. Peyton stopped filling wineglasses. Amanda leaned against the side of the couch.
Georgie inhaled and took Dorothy’s and Zach’s advice. She spoke from her heart. “I’m sorry I lied about Zach being my boyfriend. I hate that I disappointed you guys.”
Peyton pressed a wineglass into Georgie’s hand. “Apology accepted.”
“There’s more.” Georgie touched her forehead. Her voice cracked. “I lost my suitcase and Mom’s charm bracelet was inside. The bracelet I was supposed to give Lily for her something old.”
“The airline lost your suitcase. Not you.” Amanda walked over and touched Georgie’s arm. “It’s not your fault.”
“You guys have to be mad at me.” Georgie sipped her wine and set the glass on the table. “How can you not be mad? It’s the something old.”
“You will get your suitcase back,” Fee promised.
“And if I don’t?” Georgie paced across the carpet. “Then I lost Mom’s bracelet.”
“I never really liked that charm bracelet anyway.” Lily picked up her stemless wineglass and took a large sip. “What? It has, like, fifty charms on it and it would’ve only gotten in the way.”
Peyton laughed first. Amanda and Fee followed. Lily grinned at Georgie, then released her own bubbly laughter. Georgie joined, although her own joy dimmed faster than her sisters’. She reached for her wineglass and continued, “I’m still sorry about the bracelet. I’m really sorry I failed Mom.”
The sisters sobered. Fee gaped at her.
Amanda studied her. “You’re serious?”
“I wasn’t there,” Georgie said. “I should’ve been there. Maybe I could’ve done something.” Saved their mother. Saved her sisters from the pain.
“None of us were there.” Peyton closed the distance between them. “We don’t blame you.”
Amanda, Fee and Lily closed the circle around her.
Fee took her hand. “There’s nothing to forgive, Georgie.”
Lily brushed Georgie’s hair over her shoulder like their mother used to do. Lily looked her in the eyes. “There is someone who needs forgiveness, and it’s you. Georgie, you need to forgive yourself.”
Georgie squeezed Fee’s fingers. Opened and closed her mouth. Her voice lacked strength. “I wasn’t there.”
“And if you had been, you would’ve been asleep or at work,” Fee said.
“I’m always at work,” Georgie whispered.
“That’s a conversation for later.” Amanda slipped her arm around Georgie’s waist. “Right now, it’s about letting go.”
Peyton wrapped one arm around Lily, the other around Fee. The sisters linked arms until their circle was unbroken. Peyton said, “We lost Mom. Our love for each other—that’s how we remember her and her love for us.”
“It’s unbreakable,” Fee said.
“Unshakable,” Amanda added, repeating the words their mother had often recited.
“Unstoppable.” Lily looked at Georgie.
Georgie’s gaze slid around the circle. In the safety of her sisters’ arms, she let go and opened herself to what had always been right in front of her. Her sisters’ love and support. Girls, remember you are family. That means your love for each other is unbreakable, unshakable, unstoppable and… “Always unconditional.”
The sisters held on. One minute or ten. It didn’t matter to Georgie.
Amanda wiped her cheek. “Okay. Lily is getting married tomorrow and we can’t have puffy, red eyes for the pictures.”
Tissues handed out, the sisters refilled their wineglasses and settled around the Christmas tree. As kids, they’d sit around their Christmas tree and make up adventure stories about their favorite ornaments.
Fee switched on the tree lights and picked up a present farthest from the branches. “Georgie, this one is for you. It’s fro
m Zach.”
Georgie lowered her wineglass, willed her hand to stop shaking. “He left me a present?”
“You should open it.” Lily touched the colorful ribbon attached to the top.
The very same ribbon she’d attached to his ugly sweater. That shouldn’t be making her smile. “I’ll open it tomorrow.”
Peyton stacked cheese onto a cracker. “It’s Christmas Eve. Close enough. Open it.”
Georgie handed her glass to Fee and accepted the gift. She’d been telling her sisters she was fine that Zach had left. More than fine—it had all been fake anyway. He’d probably gifted her his ugly sweater back. She hadn’t seen it in the bedroom and doubted he’d have packed it. He hadn’t seemed inclined to want any memories of his time at the Blackwell ranch with her.
The ribbon curled around her fingers. All she seemed to have were memories. Ones that kept replaying, as if she’d set them on repeat. Georgie shook herself. “Let’s see what it is.”
Wrapping paper torn, she lifted the lid off a box and gasped at the wind chime nestled inside the tissue paper. A chill skimmed over her. Her fingers trembled.
She opened the note inside. This won’t break on your flight to London.
But her heart would. Her heart broke now.
That chill sank deep, as if to shatter her completely.
Fiona lifted the wind chime from the box.
Lily touched the cylinders, tapping them together. “It’s beautiful. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”
Georgie had never met anyone quite like Zach.
“Is that handmade?” Amanda leaned closer, touched the curved wooden top.
Georgie nodded and lost her voice in a full body shiver.
“I didn’t know you liked wind chimes so much.” Amanda’s soft voice sounded confused.
“I’ve never had any before.” Tears filled Georgie’s eyes. Impossible to blink away. “I didn’t know what it would mean.”
“Look. He carved your initials with a heart around them on here.” Fee turned over one of the wooden pipes, pointing to the heart. “That’s sweet.”
And devastating. So very devastating. Zach had spent time hand-carving a wind chime for her. She’d spent time tossing his love back in his face. Convincing herself he was only a friend. No one worth crying over. More tears pooled, blurring her vision. What had she done? “I don’t think I want to go to London.”
“London,” Amanda said. “You’re going to London?”
“When?” Peyton looked around the room, as if trying to determine which Harrison sister knew and hadn’t told her.
“What do you want, Georgie?” Lily pressed several tissues into Georgie’s hand.
“Zach.” Her misery released her tears, spilling them onto her cheeks, dampening her sweater and her voice. “I want Zach.”
“We can call him,” Peyton suggested.
“It’s too soon.” Georgie flattened the curly ribbon in her fist.
“It’s the afternoon.” Amanda searched in Georgie’s purse for her phone. “He’s awake, I’m sure. It’s the working ranch way of life. No one sleeps in here, and no one takes naps ever.”
Zach had invited her to nap beside him. She’d fled from the room. Now she just wanted him next to her. Georgie dropped her face into her hands. What was she thinking? “It’s too soon to be in love.”
The movement around her stopped. Georgie peered at her sisters—each one seemingly frozen in place. Amanda with Georgie’s purse. Peyton with her hand poised over the grapes. Lily’s hand stalled on Georgie’s shoulder.
“Did you say ‘in love’?” Fee scooted into Georgie’s other side.
“Yes.” Lily squeezed Georgie’s shoulder again. “She did. Quite clearly, too.”
Nothing was clear. Georgie traced her finger over the heart engraving on the wind chime. Who got upset over a wind chime? “I’m crying. I hurt all over. It cannot be love. It’s probably the flu.”
Peyton and Amanda knelt on the rug across from her.
Amanda set her hand on Georgie’s knee. “Do you feel like you’re drowning without water? Like your lungs have been misplaced and you need to keep on gulping air?”
Georgie nodded. More tears dripped free.
“Are your hands and feet cold while the rest of you is numb?” Fee passed her the tissue box.
“Do you feel like a part of you is missing?” Lily asked. “A part you can’t live without?”
She felt all that and so much more. Georgie rested her head on Lily’s shoulder. “Make it stop.”
“We can’t.” Peyton raised her wineglass and toasted Georgie. “You’re in love. Welcome to the dark side.”
“Peyton,” Fee scolded.
“What?” Peyton swirled her wine around in her glass. “Georgie doesn’t want us to sugarcoat it. Love isn’t rainbows and sunshine all the time.”
“But sometimes it is.” A wistful smile spread over Fee’s face, as if she was skipping through a field of wildflowers.
“It’s also complicated,” Peyton countered.
“Challenging,” Amanda added.
“Painful.” Peyton tapped her glass against Amanda’s.
“Frustrating.” Amanda toasted Peyton back.
“That’s enough, you guys.” Lily’s voice dipped into a scold. “We get it.”
“Then why fall?” Georgie cradled the tissue box and yanked several out. Her sisters hadn’t quite sold her on the virtues of love.
“Because despite all that, it’s the best feeling in the world.” Peyton dropped back onto the thick carpet, as if she intended to make snow angels and sing love’s praises.
“And love is the most empowering feeling.” Lily’s voice lifted into lyrical.
“The most amazing feeling.” Amanda sighed.
“When do I get to the best parts?” Georgie asked.
Peyton sat up, took Georgie’s hands and looked her in the eyes. “When you finally accept it. When you finally embrace it and let love embrace you.”
Georgie stared at their joined hands. Silenced her logic. Quieted her reason. And focused on her heart. More tears leaked down her cheeks. A laugh swelled inside her. She’d have thought it impossible to feel joy and pain together. She had thought love was impossible. Until Zach… “I think I’m in love.”
Peyton squeezed her hands. “You can’t think it.”
“You have to know.” Amanda set her palm on her chest. “In here.”
“I’m in love!” Georgie shouted and released her laughter. Her sisters cheered.
“Now we find Zach.” Fiona clapped. “So you can tell him.”
“Wait.” Georgie touched Fee’s arm, stopping her from standing. “Can we just be here together a little while longer? Just us, like we haven’t been in way too long.”
The Harrison sisters wrapped their arms around each other. Laughed and cried over time lost. Their mom. Shared memories. Shared even more secrets and future dreams. Discovered peace and joy in what they’d gained. Their bond stronger than it’d ever been.
Their afternoon together ended only long enough for the sisters to change for Christmas Eve dinner. Georgie slipped on a sweater dress she’d borrowed from Lily. The sleeves were too long, the length closer to her ankles than her knees. Georgie didn’t care. She beamed from the inside out and wanted to share her joy with everyone around her. Her sisters hadn’t been wrong.
And for the first time ever, Georgie chose love.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
“I GOT THE address from Grandpa E.” Georgie rushed inside the bridal room attached to the bridal barn. Her steps were small due to her fitted bridesmaid dress. Her excitement leaped out of her in cartwheels. “And Grandpa E told me I can use his motor home.”
“Grandpa E.” Peyton opened a satin pouch.
“Big E, you mean.” Amanda at
tached Lily’s wedding veil and straightened the tulle.
“Yes, Big E.” Georgie bounced in her heeled boots. “But we agreed on Grandpa E.”
And Grandpa E and she had agreed she’d wait until after Christmas Day to head to Colorado to find Zach. They’d also agreed she’d reconsider speaking with Dr. Cummings. She’d warned both Grandpa E and her dad that she wasn’t making any decisions without Zach.
“Grandpa E, I like,” Lily said. “Driving that motor home to Colorado… Not a good idea.”
“I don’t think I like that either.” Fee bent down and helped Lily into her bridal boots. “Have you been inside that thing?”
“It’ll be an adventure.” Georgie slipped on the teardrop emerald earrings her mother had given Georgie after she’d been accepted into medical school. The sisters had agreed to wear their favorite pairs of earrings from their mom to complete their bridesmaids’ attire.
“You don’t like adventures.” Lily watched her in the full-length mirror. “How many times did you lecture me about my adventures and possible injuries?”
“That was different.” Georgie touched the earring and smiled, liking that their mom was woven through the entire day in small meaningful details. “I’ll have a map and a plan.”
And an entire family behind her. She’d wanted so badly to move away from her family and yet she’d been discovering she was at her most invincible surrounded by them.
“I had all of that on our adventure excursions at my old business, and while we were growing up, too,” Lily reminded her. “And you still lectured me.”
“It’s going to be fine,” Georgie said. More than fine. She had a foolproof strategy now. She was in love and love conquered all. “Now, you’re getting married. Enough about me. I have something for you.”
Her sisters crowded around the table where Georgie had set the jewelry box.
Lily reached out her hand. “Is that for me?”
“I was supposed to give it to you yesterday, but I fell in love and got distracted.” Georgie opened the frosted glass door. “I found it in the Once Was Barn. Zach and I figured it belonged to one of Grandpa E’s sisters.”
Harlequin Heartwarming December 2020 Box Set Page 23
