“Come on, Macey,” she said, squeezing the hand of the toddler, who was walking like a lumbering bear cub at her side. “Your mommy is in that little house up there. Isn’t it cute?”
Hazel was leading all the children to the little mother-in-law suite on the Turners’ property. It was a kind of cozy guest cottage, and Noelle was there with the rest of the Owens women, getting ready for her marriage to Dean.
“I can hardly believe it’s today,” Samantha said, panting as she hurried along with Cash’s chubby little body in her arms. “I feel like we’ve been waiting for Dean and Noelle’s wedding forever. We’ve talked about it so much, and now it’s finally here.”
“I know what you mean.” Hazel grinned at her. “I’m so excited, but I also feel a little bit like I’m dreaming.”
“Want me to pinch you once I get this guy into the arms of his mother?”
Hazel laughed. “Sounds good to me.”
They arrived at the cottage door, which Julia opened for them before they’d even started up the front steps.
“Look at all these darling little ones,” Julia cooed, taking Quinn out of Hazel’s arms. “Thank you so much for getting them ready, Hazel.”
Hazel nodded, grinning. “Samantha and I had so much fun. Macey is so excited about her pink dress, aren’t you, Macey?”
Macey giggled and gave a twirl, making her pink tulle skirt float around her as if she were a miniature ballerina.
As her sisters cooed and fussed happily over their children, Hazel looked up and saw Noelle, who was sitting at the end of the cottage’s cozy living room, wearing her wedding dress. Noelle’s grandmother was just putting the finishing touches on her makeup, and Hazel’s heart ached with happiness when she saw how beautiful her future sister-in-law looked. Noelle’s red hair was cascading around her shoulders in beautiful curls, and the wedding dress that Delilah had procured for her fit her graceful figure like a glove.
Hazel hurried forward to greet Noelle. “Hey,” she said, squeezing her hand because she didn’t want to hug her and rumple anything about her appearance. “Congrats. How are you feeling?”
“Like I’m on top of the world,” Noelle said with a laugh. “Like I’m on soap bubbles. Is this really happening? Pinch me.”
“Well, I wouldn’t want to pinch a bride on her wedding day, but Samantha offered to pinch me earlier, and I think she’d be willing to extend the favor to you as well.”
Noelle laughed. “Perfect.”
“Look out, Cash, don’t eat your tie,” Samantha said, going over to where Cash was wriggling happily in his mother’s arms. Alexis was still putting the finishing touches on her lipstick and hadn’t noticed the way Cash had decided to gnaw on his blue silk tie.
“Oh, gosh, thanks, Sam,” Alexis said with a laugh.
“Don’t mention it,” Samantha said with a grin. “And, Macey, no candy yet, okay? We want to make sure you don’t get any chocolate on your dress. Come on, dance with me.”
Hazel felt a twinge of awe as she watched the way her daughter deftly distracted Macey from the box of chocolates that was resting on a side table. In a few seconds, Macey was twirling happily with Samantha and a sugar monster meltdown had been artfully prevented.
I’m so excited for Jacob and me to expand our family, Hazel thought with a surge of joy.Samantha’s going to be an amazing older sister.
She became lost in daydreams for a few moments, ecstatically imagining her family with the addition of a little one. She imagined Jacob teaching their next child how to fix things, and tears filled her eyes. She imagined cooking and baking with a baby spending time with her in the kitchen, and she imagined teaching him or her how to bake cookies, cutting out the little shapes and frosting the cookies the way she still loved to do with Samantha. She thought of going on family trips, and hanging messy art on her refrigerator, and movie nights with them all cuddled up on the couch together?—
“Hazel!”
Hazel looked up, startled from her reverie, and she realized that Alexis and Julia had been trying to get her attention for a minute.
“Yes, sorry,” she said, laughing a little. “What’s up?’
“You looked really deep in thought,” Julia explained. “Are you all right?”
Hazel chuckled. “Yes, definitely. I feel amazing today. I was just daydreaming about the future.”
“Yeah?” Alexis grinned, scooting her chair closer to Hazel. “About anything in particular?”
“Oh, it was definitely something in particular,” Julia said, cocking her head to one side a bit. “You were thinking about something specific, weren’t you, Hazel? You had that kind of expression.”
“What’s going on?” Faith asked cheerfully, waltzing up to their circle. “What about Hazel’s expression?”
“Hazel has some kind of master plan for her future and she isn’t telling us about it,” Alexis said, leaning back in her chair and grinning.
