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“Well, I’m glad to hear that.” Amelia touched the top of Eloise’s head and beamed at her. “I’m very glad to have you here, Eloise.
“Me too!” Eloise replied. “I was sad because I thought we were coming here for my daddy. But Auntie Arya says my daddy doesn’t live here. And this is such a nice house. And it’s so much bigger than the car.”
“Eloise!” Arya looked mortified. “I’m so sorry. We are very, very grateful for all of your generosity. And we really don’t want to intrude. We can definitely leave tomorrow.”
“I’ll hear nothing of it,” Amelia said firmly. “You stay here as long as you like, my dear.”
“I told you she would say that,” Sadie said, grinning. “Amelia’s the best.”
“Thank you, Sadie.” Amelia smiled at her. “Now everyone take a cookie and get out of the kitchen. It looks like I have some cleaning up to do.”
“Oh, no, Amelia.” I shook my head. “Please, you can’t tidy up this mess. I’ll do it.”
“And I’ll help,” Arya said.
Amelia smiled. “This is something I live for. And you all don’t really know where everything goes. So I’ll tidy up, and you all have fun. Maybe play some games? Oh, we do have corn hole. Beau, Austin, why don’t you go and get the corn hole out of the barn, and everyone can play in the backyard.”
“What’s corn hole, Auntie Arya?” Eloise asked.
“It’s a game where you throw little bean bags filled with sand and try to get them through a hole on a wooden structure,” she said and looked at me. “I hope I got that right.”
“Yeah. I haven’t played it many times because corn hole and New York City don’t exactly go together. But that sounds like it to me.”
“Can we play, Auntie Arya?” Eloise tugged on her aunt’s top and gave her the most beguiling look. I had a feeling that Eloise could get whatever she wanted when she gave looks like that.
“Yeah, of course.” Arya looked over at Amelia. “Are you sure you don’t mind tidying up? I feel absolutely awful. The kitchen was so pristine when we got here and now it’s a mess, and oh, I’m a guest in your house.”
“My house is here to be lived in. A house that’s spick-and-span with no mess, well, there’s no family living there,” Amelia said softly. “I have a large family made up of blood and nonblood.” She smiled at the room. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way. Now, grab your cookies and go outside. We might have badminton as well.”
Ranger walked up and stood next to Amelia, and then he looked around the room. “Now listen to my wife because she’s the boss of the house.”
“Yes, Dad.” Austin laughed. “Come on, guys, follow me.” He picked up the tray of cookies.
“Wait, what are you doing?” Amelia said.
“What, Mom? We can’t let the cookies go to waste. And trust me, after we play all afternoon, everyone’s still going to have room for pot roast and mashed potatoes.” He smiled at Eloise. “I hope you like mashed potatoes as well because my mom makes the best mashed potatoes in all of Montana.”
“It used to be in all of the world.” Amelia sniffed, but her eyes twinkled.
Austin chuckled. “Of course, Mom, the best in all of the world.”
I stood there in the kitchen, not knowing how I was going to leave and go back to New York City. It was going to be hard. Not just because I was leaving Lucy, but because I was going to be leaving all of the Hamiltons. They were a big, rowdy bunch, but they loved each other, and I’d never seen a dynamic quite like this before. Maybe that’s what families were like that grew up in the country and on farms. It was about family life, not about status and keeping up with random people you’d never even met.
“So maybe we can talk in the backyard,” Beau whispered softly in my ear.
I looked into his eyes and frowned slightly. “What do you want to talk about Beau? If it’s you wanting me to go into the stables and bend over so you can . . .”
His eyes widened. “If I want you to go into the barns and bend over so I can do what, exactly?”
“You know,” I whispered, hoping no one could hear me.
“I wish you would say it.”
“I’m not going to say it. That’s disgusting.”
“But you were thinking it.” He laughed. “So it can’t be that disgusting.”
“I wasn’t thinking it. I—”
