AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I sighed. Was I making the right decision for Eloise, or was I being selfish?
“What’s going on in here?” Chet said, walking into the kitchen, with a cowboy hat on his head. “Hey, Mama.” He grinned at his mother and took off his hat, placing it on a rack next to the wall. “Something smells good. What are you cooking?”
“Pot roast and cookies,” Eloise said, answering him with a wide smile. “You want a cookie, Uncle Chet?
“No cookies for Chet, no more cookies for anyone,” Amelia said, shaking her head and frowning at Beau and Austin, who were stuffing their faces at the table.
“Mama!” Beau grabbed another cookie quickly.
“You boys are going to ruin your appetite and not be able to eat your dinner.”
“Mama, how many times do we have to tell you,” Austin said, “we don’t lose our appetite. We’re men.”
“I’m just saying Eloise and I have spent the afternoon cooking a massive pot roast and lots of mashed potatoes and carrots—”
“It’s going to be delicious.” Eloise said. “Hey, Auntie Arya,” she said, running over to me. “I made mashed potatoes.”
“Ooh, yummy!” I gave her a big hug. “Are you having a good evening?”
“Oh, yes. We made oatmeal and raisin cookies and chocolate chip cookies, and we even got to put in butterscotch chips too, and they were so delicious. Right, Grandma Amelia?”
I pressed my lips together as I realized what Eloise had called Amelia.
“I hope that’s okay,” Amelia said, heading over to me, her eyes soft. “She asked me if she could call me Grandma Amelia, and I said yes. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Of course not,” I said, beaming at her. “That’s really wonderful of you. Thank you.”
“Oh, you’re welcome, dear. Now have a seat, everyone. Everyone can have one cookie with some milk until dinner.”
“Me as well.” Ranger entered the kitchen and rubbed his belly. Amelia groaned out loud. Eloise burst out giggling as she ran up to him and gave him a hug, and everyone looked at her adoringly. My niece was absolutely too precious, and I knew that I had to ensure that she always had her loving beautiful heart.
“Okay, cookies, and milk for everyone.”
“Can I have chocolate milk, please, Grandma Amelia?” Eloise said. And Amelia nodded.
“Yes, of course, my dear, come on.”
I sat back and looked around the room at my adopted family. There was love everywhere. I almost felt like I was living in a Hallmark movie, such was the love and happiness in the room. I knew it was going to be hard to leave, but I also knew that I couldn’t get used to this. I had to make my own life, and in all honesty, I needed to see if I could meet someone myself, start my own family, get a real grandma and granddad for Eloise. Maybe one day I’d even have some kids of my own to give her brothers and sisters.
At least that was my hope.
Chapter Ninety-Three
Chet
“So, Chet, I just got some interesting news.” Wyatt walked into the barn.
I looked up from the hay I was baling. “Oh? What’s that?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” He grinned.
“Seeing as you’re the one that walked into the barn and told me you had exciting news, I couldn’t give a fuck, dude.” I shook my head, annoyed. I hated it when my brothers weren’t straightforward. “What’s going on?”
“Well…” He paused dramatically.
I rolled my eyes. “I think you’ve been hanging out with Sadie too much. Dude, I don’t have time for this high school show. Either tell me what you wanted to say or go and find a cow to milk.”
Wyatt laughed then, and the sound infuriated me. I wasn’t in the best of moods. “I just got the news that 12 Point Buck Bar is going to be closed for the next month.” He spoke as if he were delivering a speech on national TV, and I froze.
