Chapter 123

The party was really getting going. The guest of honor was running late, but she had texted Tess to tell her she was about ten minutes away. Tess felt light and free after her conversation with Finn the night before, despite so much back pain. She couldn't walk much and had taken to spending most of the party in a chair. She reckoned she at least had Matt with his sprained ankle for company.

George Roop, the president of the Farmers Council and his wife Amanda had just arrived.

"George, I owe you at least a few drinks for recommending Drovers to the Blue Apron Rep."

"It was my pleasure, you run a first rate organic station. It was no brainer when he asked about organic options in the area. Did you get the contract?" asked George.

Tess laughed, "Well, no. We didn't get the contract, I actually got something else, but I owe you nonetheless."

"Well you can buy me a whiskey after the next Farmers Council meeting and we call it square."

"I'd be happy to." Tess replied. "Oh excuse me! It looks like our guest of honor just arrived."

Tess hobbled over to where Charlotte had just walked into the yard.

"Excuse me everyone, our guest of honor has just arrived!" announced Tess.

Jodi ran over to join Tess.

"We thought it might be best to sing first, so we don't forget later! Can everyone join us?" announced Jodi.

The crowd joined everyone in a round of "Happy Birthday to you."

"Hip Hip? Hooray! Hip hip? Hooray! Hip Hip? Hooray!"

"Now that we've got the singing out of the way, Let's eat!" Meg and Terry took turns on the grill and produced a massive platter of rissoles, sausages, chicken and veggies. Tess returned to her chair and chatted with Jodi and Charlotte.

"Tess, Jodi, thank you for throwing me a party. You didn't need to do this." Charlotte said.

"Of course we did, and we have few gifts for you as well, but we'll get to those later." Jodi said.

"Oh My God! He came! Finn!" Tess shot out of her chair and ran across the yard to him as he walked into the yard. He was carrying two beautiful bouquets of roses.

"Who's that?" asked Charlotte.

"I'm going to let Tess introduce you to him, if that's alright," Jodi smiled as she said, "But I think we'll be getting to know him a lot better."

Tess ran up to him and wrapped her arms around him. He tried to return the hug, but his hands were full of flowers.

"Um here, these are for you." Finn said as he tried to hand the bouquet of red roses to her, but she wasn't having it. She wrapped her hands around his neck and brought his face down to hers and She looked into his eyes and said "Finn, I love you." and she kissed him. By then, most of the party had noticed what was happening and was watching this scene. Tess knew, and didn't care about what others thought anymore.

Finn kissed her back and then said, "I'm sorry I'm late, I got here as fast as I could, it's a long way from Adelaide. These are for you." He handed the red rose bouquet to Tess. "These are for your niece that I can't wait to meet," he said as he pointed to the second bouquet. "Oh and Tess," He looked her square in the eye, "I love you too." He kissed her again. "Now let me meet the guest of honor, I've driven a long way to be here."

All of the pain in Tess's back and neck seemed to be gone. She felt like she was floating on a cloud, as she walked Finn over to Charlotte.

"Charlotte, this is Finn O'Hara, my boyfriend. Finn, this is my niece, Charlotte, our sister Claire's daughter."

"Happy Birthday Charlotte. It's wonderful to get to meet you." He handed the second bouquet to her. "I wasn't sure what your favorite color was, so I got a variety. I hope you like them."

"They're beautiful, thank you, Finn. It's nice to meet you." said Charlotte.

"Come on, I'll introduce you to everyone," said Tess as she led him away towards Grace and Regan.

"So is Finn from the States?" asked Charlotte.

"Yeah, Tess has always had a thing for that accent." Jodi smirked "She actually is hopelessly in love with him, but she only accepted that fact last night. She had asked him for some space, and then realized she didn't actually want to be apart from him after a couple days. Finn drove all day from Adelaide this morning when she asked him to come to this party because she wanted you and everyone to meet him. I like him so far. The flowers were a nice touch too," explained Jodi.

"So we like Finn? He's good for Tess?" asked Charlotte.

"Yeah, We like him, at least so far. I don't know him very well yet."

"Good for Aunt Tess, he's hot," said Charlotte.

"I agree. She deserves it." said Jodi "Now let's get a couple vases for the beautiful bouquets Finn brought you and Tess."