Back at the Ranch

The smile on his face as he drove down the long driveway was priceless. She couldn't help staring at him; his expression was just too adorable not to watch. As their rented car bounced roughly on the gravel, Nick's childhood home came into view and he smiled wide and brightly. He was so thrilled to be back home.

Nick's mother could hear the car coming down the driveway and she yelled out to her husband who was sitting in the den reading.

"Bill! Here they come! They're here!" she yelled as she dried her hands on a dish towel, threw it on top of the counter and scurried toward the front door.

Bill Stokes placed his book down on the end table next to his chair and hopped out of his seat. He followed his wife out onto the front porch and the two of them stood together and watched as their youngest son and his family pulled in.

Nick looked over at Jules and smiled brightly at her. Jules eyes danced as she smiled back. She loved being at the Stokes' ranch almost as much as he did. She adored Nick's family; it was the large family she never had and she was grateful for all of them.

Nick reached back over the seat and tickled his little girl's leg.

"We're here, Sweet Pea," he told her, "You wanna go see Grandma and Grandpa?"

Emma stared at her father and furrowed her brow.

"No!" she said and her little bottom lip turned down slightly.

"What? Why not?" he turned his body around a bit more to look at her. Jules did the same.

"No, no, no!" Emma shook her head back and forth protesting.

"Emma," Jules said, "Mommy will hold you. We're not dropping you off," Jules soothed her daughter's fears. She knew her baby was just getting nervous that they might be leaving. Emma always got clingy whenever she first arrived anywhere.

"Oh, no, no, Sweetheart, yeah, we're coming too!" Nick explained. "I want to see my Mommy and Daddy, too, okay?"

Emma thought for a minute, her furrowed brow smoothed and she smiled slightly. Nick smiled back at her and Jules got out and opened the back door to get her.

"Poncho!" the nickname echoed in the air.

Nick could hear his father yelling from the porch and he laughed at him. Nick popped open the trunk and got out of the car quickly.

"Cisco!" Nick yelled back to his dad as he walked to the back of the jeep, reached into the trunk, grabbed a suitcase, and placed it on the ground by his feet.

"How are you, Son?" Bill Stokes said coming up alongside him wrapping his arm around Nick's shoulder.

Jillian Stokes hurried over to Jules and Emma. Emma clung tightly to her mother's shoulders.

"Hi, Ladies!" Jillian said as she leaned in and kissed them both. "How was your flight?"

"Hi, Mom," Jules smiled happily. She never had anyone to call "mom" before she married Nick and she loved hearing that name flow from her lips.

"The flight was great! Emma slept almost the whole time...thank God!" she rolled her eyes.

Jillian smiled and nodded understanding how it is to travel with children since she raised seven of her own.

"Well hello there, Miss Emma!" Nick's mother said as she stroked the cheek of her granddaughter with the back of her hand.

"Say 'hello Grandma'!" Jules whispered into her daughter's ear.

Emma whispered "Say hello grandma" at her grandmother and smiled sheepishly.

Jillian Stokes held out her arms and Emma went into them. She squeezed her grand baby tightly and kissed her all over her face making Emma laugh.

Walking over to her son with Emma on her hip, Nick wrapped his arms around both his mother and daughter and hugged them tightly.

"You squishten me," Emma yelled. "You squishten too tight on me!" she tried to push her father away.

Nick didn't care, he was so happy to be hugging his mom... and his little girl in the mix was an added bonus.

Before dinner, Jules decided to go upstairs and put some things away. As she walked up the stairs with her dress and Nick's tuxedo slung over her arm, she stopped at each picture that hung on the wall. She loved looking at them and she would do this ritual every time she came there. She looked at Tara's graduation picture, a family portrait, and a picture of John in a suit. She smiled at the picture of Laurie and Lynn on swings. Jules went up a step and looked at a picture of Brian and John as children on horses. She glanced at Matthew and another of all six of them together, but the one she always spent the most time looking at was the picture of Nicky as a baby smiling happily. It had been taken at a studio and it was absolutely heartwarming. She loved it. She loved it so much she always stopped to look at it no matter how many times she went up and down the stairs.

Jules was hanging Nick's tuxedo up in the closet of Nick's old bedroom when he walked into the room carrying two large suitcases. She turned around slightly and smiled.

"Hey, Cowboy."

"Hey yourself, Sunshine," he said back at her and headed for the bed.

"Is Emma with your parents?" she said as she smoothed the plastic over his tuxedo making sure it wasn't being squashed before closing the closet door and turning toward her husband.

She watched as he put the suitcases down at the foot of the bed and walked over to her.

"Yep," Nick wrapped his arms around her waist and rubbed his nose on hers before he began to kiss her lips. Jules kissed him back and they let themselves enjoy their mouths for a minute before pulling away.

Nick smirked at her devilishly.

"Can we do it in my old bed while we have the chance?" he tried not to laugh.

"Oh shhhuttttt up, Nicky," she said slapping his shoulder and rolling her eyes at him.

Nick laughed loudly.

"But.." she teased, "you can tomorrow night in that hotel room you got us," she raised her eyebrow.

"Um, why not tonight too?" he said seriously.

"Oh God, here we go," she shook her head.

"Yeah but, Sunshine, you know how much it turns me on to do it in this room!" he whined.

"We'll see, Texas, we'll see," she gave him a side smile before leaning in and kissing him quickly on his soft lips and moving away from him.

Nick followed her out of the bedroom and they both headed downstairs for dinner. Jules stopped at Nick's baby picture on the way down and smiled.

Later that evening, after Jules and Nick's mother cleared off the table and put everything away, they walked into the living room silently together.

Nick had fallen asleep on the couch with Emma asleep snuggled alongside him. Jules and Jillian Stokes stood together looking down at them and they both glanced over at each other smiling.

"My God she looks like Nicholas," Jillian whispered.

"Yea, I think so too," Jules smiled proudly.

"I can see a lot of you in her, especially in the eyes and of course her dimples, but she reminds me so much of Nicky when he was that age," Jillian spoke with fond memories.

Jules smiled at her mother in law with pride.

"I don't want to wake them," Jules admitted, "they're both so exhausted from the trip."

"You think we should leave them here?" Nick's mother wondered aloud.

"What do you think?"

"Well, it's not like Nicky hasn't slept down here many a night!" Jill told her.

Jules watched as her mother in law placed a blanket over her son and granddaughter and it touched her heart.

She had everything she ever wanted, right down to a woman she could call "Mom."

Her life was complete with them and she never felt happier in her life.