Thursday morning
Kingston knocked and then walked in the door to Elizabeth's cottage. "Morning, Elizabeth."
"Morning, dear. Ready to cook?"
"Always."
Her heart loved Kingston Grant. It was easy to love him and admit it, even if she wasn't quite sure where her heart put Nathan yet.
They worked together to get the large turkey ready to slowly roast and then they started making dessert.
Just as they were both rolling out the dough for the two pies, Rosie, Lee and Hope wandered downstairs.
"Ooo put me to work, Beth," Rosie offered.
"You're my guest, Rosie."
"And I'm your best friend and we always make Thanksgiving dinner together."
"Kingston Grant, this is Rosie and Lee Coulter and their daughter Hope. Everyone, this is my good friend King."
"Good to meet you all," he said with a smile, not unlike his father's, and a nod.
"Where's your dad this morning, Kingston?" Rosie asked.
"He's working."
"Its a holiday. He should come join us for breakfast."
"Dad works a lot. He was gonna take today off but someone showed up needing a room."
As far as she knew, the inn was closed for the holiday. It was just like the very kind, generous Nathan Grant to make an exception though.
"Don't worry, Elizabeth. He promises to come for dinner tonight." She smiled at the boy and hugged him around the shoulders.
She let her mind drift to a few months down the road. In her heart, she was still here, living in her cottage. She didn't plan on leaving.
She assumed she'd still be cooking for the inn and that Nathan and King would still be in her life. Should she assume that? Was it crazy to think of having them be her family when her own kids were so far from her?
"Elizabeth?" King whispered.
"Hm?"
"You're crying." She raised her fingers to her cheeks and wiped them. "What's wrong? Still missing your kids?"
She nodded and impulsively hugged him. "Yes, but you help me remember that that's okay."
"How do I do that?"
"Just by being so wonderful." She kissed his forehead and smiled. "Let's finish these pies and then I need to see your dad."
After the pies were in the oven, King was playing chess with Lee, and Rosie and Hope were headed to the fudge shop, so Elizabeth walked over to see Nathan.
She knocked and then opened the door. Maverick came over and sniffed her hand. "Hey, pooch. Where's dad?"
"He's right here," Nathan said from the doorway.
"Hi."
"I didn't expect to see you until dinner."
"Can we talk?"
"Coffee?"
"No...I just..no thank you." They walked together to the couch by the fireplace and sat down. "I've been thinking about our conversation the other night."
"The one where I sort of told you…"
"Yes."
"Okay. What about it?"
"It scared me a little, Nathan."
"I know. I'm so sorry."
She took his hand in hers and squeezed. "Please don't be. It was a good thing." She lifted his hand to her lips and pressed a kiss to his knuckles. "I never thought I would ever love anyone but Jack. My heart was so full of him, from the moment we met. The day I lost him...it was just as full and...it was also broken."
"I understand. I really do. You're not ready and if I pushed at all.."
"No. That's not it." She pulled the chain out from behind her sweater. "This ring represented forever to us. Our life together wasn't supposed to end so soon. We vowed "until death" to love each other and I guess keeping his ring...kept me married to him in my heart. If I'm wearing it, I don't fully need to let him go." The tears kept flowing and he handed her a tissue. "I'm ready to love you, Nathan. I want to move forward...to build a future with you and with that amazing boy you are raising."
She took the necklace off and put it in her pocket and then blew her nose.
"Elizabeth, are you sure?"
"Yes. Without a doubt, and I think Jake will want to wear his dad's ring pretty soon."
Henderson
Gracie took one last look in her mirror and grabbed her purse, ready to spend the day with Jude and his family. The ones she hoped would become her family one day.
They lived an hour north of Henderson so fairly close but they weren't expected until lunch so Jude was taking her to breakfast and on some sort of excursion that he was keeping secret.
Later…
Gracie's jaw dropped at the view. "I can't believe I've never seen the Hoover Dam," she whispered, grabbing his hand as they stood on the bridge. "It is amazing."
"I agree. Everyone thinks of coming to Las Vegas in Nevada, but there are so many more things to see."
"Like this."
"Yeah." Jude wrapped his arm around her and kissed her temple. He sighed and she looked up at him.
"What's on your mind?"
"I've been wanting to tell you something. For a while."
"Tell me. I know we've been busy." They had only been seeing each other a few times a week and it was hard but it made the times they were together that much better.
"I love you, Gracie. You are so strong and smart and beautiful and I'm so blessed to have you in my life."
"I love you too." She stood on her toes and kissed him. "I'm blessed to have you too and I'm so excited to meet your parents and Kylie."
"They are excited to meet you too," he told her, holding her closer. "My mom can't wait for more grandchildren." He then realized what he had said. "Not that I'm pushing or anything but it is bound to come up so I thought maybe I should warn you."
"I want children, Jude. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't imagined a couple little boys that look just like you."
"I'd love that. I think we need to talk about timelines though. I mean with Kate's House opening in late December and taking custody of Kylie in January, I'm not sure how quickly other things will happen."
"I'm twenty one, babe. I'm not in a hurry either."
"You're okay with slow?"
"At this point, yes." He led her back to the car, holding the door open for her. "Thank you. For bringing me here," she said, kissing him again. "For loving me. It's wonderful."
"You're welcome. It is wonderful."
Jake and Tara's house
"Babe, you ready? We are late."
"I'm not. I'm so nauseated and I can't find anything to wear that actually fits except this maternity shirt." She turned to the side. "It doesn't exactly hide what we need to hide."
"Maybe we should just tell them. Swear them to secrecy so my mom doesn't find out."
Their plan was to tell Jesse and Clara right before Jake and Tara left for England and then tell Elizabeth Christmas morning.
"I am at fourteen weeks. So I guess we could." She rubbed her belly "I guess I'll wear the maternity shirt then."
"Sounds good."
Jake's phone rang in the car as they drove. Tara answered it. "Hello?"
"Tara? It's Elizabeth. Happy
Thanksgiving."
"You too, Elizabeth. Here, I'll put you on speaker so you can talk to Jake too."
"Okay."
"Honey, it's your mom."
"Hi, Ma."
"Hi, son. Happy Thanksgiving."
"You too. Did you have a nice dinner?"
"I did. Well, we all did. Kind of a full house."
"More besides Aunt Rosie, Hope and Uncle Lee?"
"Yeah. My neighbor and his son came over."
"Your neighbor, huh?" he teased.
"Yeah, he's also my significant other."
"It's okay to say boyfriend, Mom."
"It feels weird at my age to use that term."
"So how's that going? You and your 'significant other,'" he said with a laugh.
"Great actually. I can't wait for you and Gracie to meet them. It's important that you meet them."
"Mom, what are we saying here? Is it serious?"
"Yes, Jake. It's getting that way."
"I'm happy for you. It will be nice to meet them in a few weeks."
"So what are you and Tara doing for your dinner?"
Tara answered, "We are going to my parent's house."
"Well, say hi to them from me. I should meet them sometime too."
"They'd enjoy that, I'm sure."
After a little more conversation, they hung up and then Elizabeth called Gracie.
"Hi, Mom!"
"Hi, sweetheart! Happy Thanksgiving."
"You too! Jude just took me to the Hoover Dam. It was amazing, Mom."
"Your dad took me there one time. It is quite the sight. I'm glad you got to see it."
"We are headed to Jude's parent's house for dinner. How was yours?"
"It was great. I have some news, Gracie."
"Did you finally go out with Nathan?"
"Yeah. I did. He's wonderful, Gracie. I can't wait for you to meet him and Kingston."
"Me either. I can't wait for you to meet Jude."
When they hung up, Gracie sighed and felt a tear escape from her eye. "You okay?" Jude asked her, taking her hand.
"I miss her. Christmas can't come fast enough."
"It's going to be nice but I need to talk to you about that."
"Okay…"
"I need to come home sooner than we planned. My mom is having knee surgery late December and I need to stay with them for a few weeks to take care of Kylie."
"Oh."
"I'm sorry, Gracie. I've been putting off telling you because I didn't want to disappoint you."
She squeezed his hand and smiled.
"Please don't do that. I want to know anything and everything that is going on."
"Okay. Then I also need to tell you that I met with my lawyer and started adoption proceedings for Kylie. I'm going to tell her today."
"Wow. That's great, babe. I'm so happy for you."
"It affects you too. I mean, we love each other and I definitely see us building a future together. So I'll have a daughter which means when we get married someday…"
"She'll be my daughter too," she finished.
"Yeah. Are you okay with that?"
"Of course I am."
"Okay, good."
They pulled into his parent's driveway about thirty minutes later. He put the car in park and leaned over to give her a kiss.
"Today's been a big day."
"Yeah. It has. A wonderful day."
It got even more wonderful. She watched as Jude, the man she loved, hugged both of his parents and his niece. He just poured the love from his heart and that made her even more sure of their relationship.
After dinner, they sat together on the couch with Kylie on Jude's lap. "Guess what, Kylie," Jude said, bouncing his knee and making her giggle.
"What?"
"I have a surprise for you."
"Like a present?"
"Well, kind of."
"Where is it?"
"Well, you know how we talked about you coming to live with me in January?"
"Yep. Nanna says I can make my room purple and pink."
"Of course you can. You can help us paint it."
"And Nanna says that I can have a princess bed too. She will buy it for me."
"I can buy it and yes, you can make your room however you want it."
"Can I get a kitty?"
Gracie giggled and leaned her head on Jude's shoulder. Goodness, she was the cutest.
"Maybe."
"Nanna and Papa said that you will bring me to visit them too."
"Of course I will, honey bun."
"Okay then. I'm good."
"That's good." He all of the sudden didn't know how to say the words.
"Uncle Jude has one more thing to tell you, sweet pea," Gracie told her.
"Okay."
"What would you think if I adopted you?"
"What does 'dopted mean?"
"Just like if you got a kitty, you would be like that kitty's mommy. I will adopt you and I would be your daddy."
"Oh. I don't have a daddy. I think that sounds like a good idea."
"That means that I would be with you forever and ever."
"And always take care of me?"
"Yes. Always."
Kylie looked over at Gracie. "And you too? I like you, Gracie."
"I like you too and yes, I will be there too."
"Okay! You can dopt me."
Jude's heart was full again. He knew that Kylie didn't really know all there was to it, but he was grateful she was so willing to move somewhere new. With him.
He was a bit overwhelmed with everything that was going to be happening in the coming few months but he had support in his parents and in Gracie. What else could he ask for?
Flynn house
"Pregnant," Jesse said, looking at his daughter. "I knew you moving in with Jake was a bad idea. I told you, Clara. I told you this would happen."
Jesse walked away and shut the door to his office, making his feelings even more clear.
Clara gave her daughter a hug.
"Congratulations, honey."
"Thanks, Mom." She looked past her to the office door. "Maybe I should go talk to him."
"No, sweetie. You know your dad. He needs time to process. Give him time."
Clara gave Jake a hug too and then headed back to the kitchen.
"So maybe it wasn't a good idea to do this today," he whispered.
"It would have been worse around Christmas," she told him. "My dad…he just wants things a certain way and if they are different, or done in a way he doesn't agree with, he gets upset."
"They were okay with you moving in with me."
"Yeah, I think maybe he was just agreeing because if he disagreed, it wouldn't change anything."
"Oh." He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight. "You know how when you are growing up, disappointing your parents is one of the worst things? Worse than making them angry?"
"Yeah."
"I think making your future in-laws disappointed in you ranks right up there too."