Page 32 of Sweet Surrender

“It was amazing,” Becca said, smiling at the boys. “Thank you so much for having me, Mrs. Lawrence.”

“It’s Maggie,” Zane’s mom said right away. “And we’re so glad you’re here. This is my husband, Daniel.”

The man stirring whatever smelled so good in the copper pot on the big stove looked up and smiled merrily.

“Thank you for coming to visit, Miss Hawthorne,” he told her.

“Becca,” she said, smiling back.

“That’s the boys’ uncle, West,” Maggie said, nodding to the table. “And his daughter, Elizabeth.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Becca said, smiling at the sight of Zane’s brother and his little girl.

Elizabeth, who couldn’t have been more than three, was sitting on a booster at the table, carefully rolling cloth napkins. She wore an expression of fierce concentration that was at odds with her slightly uneven ponytails held up by curling red and green bows.

Her dad was taking the napkins from her as she finished, sliding each one through a napkin holder made of chunky, glazed pottery.

“The pleasure is ours,” West said politely. “So, you’re the new schoolteacher?”

“Yes,” she told him. “I’m so lucky to have been chosen.”

“That’s a refreshing way of looking at it,” Maggie said, heading to the table with a butter dish and what looked like fresh-baked bread in a basket.

“What do you mean?” Becca asked, confused.

“Oh, plenty of new teachers might not like to start in the middle of the year with no time to plan,” Maggie said. “And certainly no one wants to move during the holidays.”

Maggie was at least a little bit right, though Becca didn’t like to say it out loud. She was definitely going to miss her bigfamily on Christmas. And she did really like to plan things out in advance…

“Speaking of which, she’s got to go pretty soon to do lesson plans,” Zane said suddenly, saving her from having to respond to Maggie’s points.

“Well, we’ll just have to feed you as much as possible now,” Maggie chuckled as the door burst open in the other room, letting them know someone else was coming in.

“Boots,” the whole family yelled.

Little Elizabeth looked especially pleased to shout along with everyone else. Becca couldn’t help smiling at her.

“That’ll be Tripp,” Maggie said warmly.

And sure enough, Tripp appeared in the kitchen a moment later.

“Is that beef stew?” the big man asked, his expression so hopeful it almost made Becca chuckle.

“It sure is,” Daniel told him. “Wash up, and let’s eat. Miss Hawthorne has to run off soon, and we don’t want her leaving hungry.”

“Shouldn’t we wait for your other children?” Becca said quickly. “Please don’t do anything differently on my account.”

“Oh, goodness, you’re a sweet one,” Maggie said, setting a trivet on the table.

The trivet seemed to be made of the same pottery as the napkin holders, and both looked homemade. But Becca didn’t have time to ask about them before Daniel Lawrence was setting the big pot of what looked like beef stew on top of the trivet.

“Tag is doing the second milking today,” Maggie went on as she took a seat. “So, he and his family won’t be along until later. And Allie is taking a class in town, so she won’t be eating with us tonight.”

“And Uncle Cash doesn’t live here,” Nick piped up. “Not anymore.”

“That’s true,” Maggie said. Her smile didn’t falter, but Becca could see a hint of sadness in her eyes. “We can’t forget your Uncle Cash. And you’re right, Nicholas, he won’t be here for dinner either.”

Everyone took a seat, and though there was room for more people at the table, it felt awfully full with the nine of them there together.

---