It Takes a Village

I can't believe this is the penultimate chapter of this story! I'm a little sad that it's almost over, but excited about the opportunity to focus on new things. Friday 13th also seemed like a Good Witchy kind of day to post a new chapter. A lot of loose ends get tied up in this one, so I hope you enjoy it. The final chapter should be posted in the next week or so. Let me know what you think & thanks for all the reviews/comments etc xxx

Chapter 24: Healing Process

Eventually the Bistro cleared and Stephanie sent the rest of the staff home. While she was making sure everything was covered or put away in the kitchen, Abigail had locked the door and dimmed the lights. Stephanie swallowed a lump in her throat as she realised how intimate it looked.

"So," Abigail began, swaying a little nervously on her high heels. Harry had never made her feel like this. Their relationship had been stable and steady, and boring. She had a feeling that a relationship with Stephanie would be anything but dull. "I wouldn't normally take someone on a first date to the place that they work, but I didn't want to wait any longer."

Stephanie realised she had been standing with her mouth open for longer than was truly polite.

"Date?" Was the only word she could make her lips form.

"I believe that's what it's called when two adults who like each other share a meal…" She kept a teasing tone in her voice.

"I guess they do," She finally relinquished her hold on the bottle of wine she had taken from behind the bar and set it on the table. Abigail reached for it, their fingers brushing.

"Stephanie…"

"Let's just have dinner," But she wasn't sure how she eat anything with the butterflies taking up residence in her stomach.

Abigail sat down and they both tucked into their slices of salmon and broccoli tart. They didn't talk much while they ate, but the longer the meal went on the more at ease they started to feel.

"Coffee?" Stephanie suggested, getting up to take their empty plates to the counter.

"I'd love one."

Stephanie expected Abigail to wait at their table, but she followed her to the coffee machine. All Stephanie could think about as she carefully measured out coffee beans, was how close Abigail was and how wonderful her perfume smelled. She could feel Abigail's hands on her hips as she frothed the milk for their lattes, almost letting the hot liquid bubble over the lip of jug. She turned off the machine and set the jug down, turning around and finding herself almost pressed against Abigail's torso.

"Abigail,"

"I promise I won't run off this time,"

Caught between the coffee machine and Abigail's warm curves, Stephanie had nowhere to go. Not that she wanted to be anywhere else.

"Okay," She stammered, unable to look away from Abigail's lips.

Her hands still on Stephanie's hips, Abigail leaned in to close the gap between them. Stephanie's arms found their way around the other woman's neck, fingers tangling in her soft, dark hair. If their brief kiss in the Bistro weeks ago had started a fire, this kiss could have burned the whole building down. They broke apart, breathless and restless.

Abigail licked her lips, tasting red wine and Stephanie. She wasn't sure she could put a name to what she was feeling, but she knew she had never felt this with Harry, or with anyone else she had ever kissed.

For Stephanie, the final puzzle piece slotted home. She had wasted all of those years chasing the wrong guys, when the truth was that she never would have happy with any of them. She had been waiting for this. This woman.

Cassie was clearing up the breakfast spread in the Grey House kitchen when Lori came down, yawning and snatching up a leftover apple Danish.

"Good morning," Cassie smiled fondly at her stepdaughter.

"Morning Cassie,"

Both of them were relieved to see the other one so happy. Things hadn't been easy for either of them lately, both of them having been through heartache and the healing process.

"It was lovely to meet Josh last night, he seems like a great guy."

"He is," Lori couldn't help the smile from lighting up her whole face.

"I have a good feeling about him."

"Me too."

"Does this mean you'll be staying in Middleton more permanently now?"

Lori nodded, pouring out a large cup of tea.

"Even if I hadn't met Josh, I would have decided to stay. Middleton is my home. I feel closer to Dad when I'm here, and now I want to be around to see my nephew grow up."

Cassie smiled. "I actually have a little proposition for you."

"Oh?" Lori looked intrigued. She had never been able to guess what her stepmother kept hidden up her sleeve.

"Well, Tara will soon be going on maternity leave, which will leave me a little short-handed at the shop." She could see Lori's hesitation. "I was thinking that maybe you would like to help me…perhaps it was time that the Bell, Book, and Candle had a writer in residence?"

Now Lori's eyes lit up. "That sounds perfect."

She wrapped Cassie in a tight hug. Part of her was grateful that her ex had broken her heart, if he hadn't she would never have come back to Middleton; the place where she truly belonged.

Even though he had lived in Middleton for a while now, Sam was still getting used to making house calls. After the sterile environment of hospital wards and emergency rooms, it was a little strange to treat someone in their own sitting room or bedroom. At least when he was offered coffee, it wasn't as foul as the poison served in the hospital cafeteria.

Sam found himself in Blairsville that morning, smirking as he tried to imagine what Martha would think about that. Word had spread about his practice in Middleton, and more and more people were looking to him for his medical expertise. Having said that, he hadn't seen Madeleine or her daughter since their somewhat disastrous date. It seemed like a lifetime ago, but it was that night that had really turned the tide for him and Cassie.

He was strolling along the high street, looking vaguely into the shop windows as he thought about how lucky he was that he and Cassie had patched things up. Now he had gotten a taste of life without her in it, he was determined to do everything in his power to keep them together. His feet slowed to a stop outside a jewellery shop window, his eye drawn to the shiny objects displayed there as if he were a magpie. The morning sunshine reflected off the display of engagement rings.

But Sam Radford never wanted to get married again. Or so he had thought. His marriage to Linda had soured Sam on the whole concept. It just seemed like a recipe for disaster and heartbreak. But Cassie was not Linda. They could not be more opposite.

He might not want to get married again, but he knew he wanted to spend every day of the rest of his life with Cassie Nightingale.

Linda had spent most of the morning on the phone. She still had a lot of things to organise before she set down roots in Middleton. With every item she checked off her list, her doubts about her decision increased. No one wanted her here, not really. She had seen through Nick's request to move back to New York with her, although she had been surprised that Sam had been willing to consider it this time. She knew Nick loved her, but he seemed content to do that from a different state. It also didn't seem to make any difference to Sam's relationship with Cassie whether she stayed in Middleton or moved to Mars. She hadn't mentioned it to him, but she had heard Sam sneak in late last night and she hadn't had to guess where he had been .

Staying in Middleton would hurt no one but her.

She thought about Jared and how he had made the journey from New York to Middleton. When she had visited him, he had been frosty with her and had made her feel like she had been more invested in their relationship than he was. His visit seemed to suggest that he had changed his tune. But Linda wasn't the kind of woman who made her decisions based on the whims and fancies of a man, was she? Yet hadn't her decision to remain in Middleton, to make it her permanent home, been born out of a desire to keep her ex-husband away from Cassie Nightingale? Maybe she just wanted to belong somewhere in the same way that Sam, and to a lesser degree Nick, had been embraced by the town. She wouldn't ever find that in the anonymity of New York City, but she wasn't sure she wanted it from Middleton either.

She had finished talking to the cleaning company she had hired for her apartment in New York and was setting the phone down on Sam's kitchen table when it rang, almost skidding off the tabletop with the force of its vibrations.

"Jared?" She answered, surprised to hear from him when she had just been thinking about him. She would have been disgusted to know that this was something that might well have happened to a Merriwick.

"Hi Linda, I wondered if you'd thought any more about what we talked about when I came to town?"

She sighed, leaning back in the high-backed chair and trying to work a kink out of her neck.

"A little."

"Linda, it seems like a lovely place. The kind of town where you spend a long weekend, or somewhere you go antiquing…but it's not you. It's not where you belong."

"And where do I belong?"

"In New York, with me. I'm not going to put any pressure on you, but please give it some thought."

Linda ended the call, whether she was making the right decision was all she had been thinking about ever since she realised that she had lost all control over Sam.

Stephanie couldn't keep the grin from her face. Not even when Nathan arrived at the Bistro looking a little dejected.

"Hey Stephanie, what's the special today?" She pointed to the board and he nodded. "This will probably be the last time I get to eat one of your delicious lunches."

"Oh, why is that?"

She started putting together his order from the display behind the counter.

"I've decided its time to move on. Middleton, and all the lovely people I met here, helped me break through my writer's block. I don't think I'd have finished my book if I hadn't come here, but now I've finally finished my manuscript, I know I can write anywhere."

Stephanie was genuinely disappointed, she realised she had become fond of the writer.

"We'll be sad to see you go,"

"Some people more than others," He said wryly, and Stephanie quirked a questioning eyebrow. "I saw Cassie making out with the doctor next door in the Grey House kitchen last night."

Stephanie's face didn't quite know which expression to settle on. She was sympathetic to Nathan, she knew what it was like to see the person you wanted happy with someone else, but at the same time she was thrilled that Cassie and Sam were officially back together.

"I'm sorry, Nathan,"

"It is what it is," He smiled. "I'll miss you Stephanie."

"I'll miss you, too," She replied. "Don't forget about Middleton when you're top of the New York Times bestseller list."

He smiled and took his lunch over to his favourite table by the window. Middleton was always have a special place in his heart, but it was time to move on to the next adventure.

Cassie was cooking dinner for her family again tonight, but this time Sam and Nick were invited. She didn't extend the invitation to Linda this time, she didn't need her Merriwick abilities to know that it would be turned down, and probably not very politely.

Cassie was happy to have her family around her. It would always feel like Jake was missing, but they were slowly moving on and her family was growing. She knew that sometimes you had to lose in order to gain anything. She knew she had gained a lot in receiving Sam's love. She had loved becoming a stepmother to Jake's children, and she felt the same way about Nick. She had a good feeling about it all, and she wasn't even too proud to admit that the feeling had probably been there all along she just hadn't been ready to see it.

"Can I help with anything?" Sam asked, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Well, anything that won't require a call to the fire service."

Cassie grinned. "You can set the table if you like."

She loved these simple domesticated moments with him, and realised she was looking forward to a lifetime of them.

"Come and taste this," She said when he had finished laying out flatware and napkins.

She offered him a spoonful of the sauce she had bubbling on the stovetop. He closed his eyes in rapture as the sauce coated his tastebuds, almost groaning in bliss which sent heat rushing through Cassie.

"Good?"

"Amazing," He took the spoon from her hand and kissed her, pressing her up against the kitchen counter. She could taste the flavour of the sauce on his tongue.

They all but leaped apart when heard a soft cough from the other side of the kitchen. It seemed like primal lust could override all of Cassie's sense and perceptions, and she kind of liked that.

Neither of them could help a sheepish grin at the badly concealed look of disgust on Nick's face, which quickly melted into a smile of his own. He had never seen his own parents like this, and though it disturbed him on many levels, he was just pleased to see them so happy together.

It was just the four of them for dinner, and from the outside they looked just like any other normal family. Although you could never really use a word like normal to describe the Merriwick women, a normal family was exactly what they were.

Cassie was coming back into the room with a cheesecake from Stephanie's Bistro when Sam's cell phone began to chirp. He took it out of his pocket and stared at it for a second. Nick was just about to comment about how rude it was to look at your phone during a meal, when Sam sprang up and excused himself.

The three of them exchanged glances, but both Cassie and Grace knew that something was up.

Sam rushed back into the room, the phone clutched tightly in his grip.

"I've got to go over to Tara and Brandon's house…" He was already looking for his shoes, taking his jacket down from its hook. "The baby's coming."