Page 10 of Homecoming

FOUR

Doc’s Jeep was idling at the curb right on the dot of eight a.m., and Grace tried to squash the hint of disappointment. She’d been hoping that Owen would be the one to come get her.

She smiled at the man as he swung out of the Jeep to pack up the boxes she’d stacked just inside the door of her shop. One was pretty big, and it took some finagling to get everything in the vehicle.

“I should have brought Black’s truck,” he grumbled.

“You know, I probably could have driven myself up the mountain,” Grace said as she climbed inside and pulled the seatbelt across her chest. “I have an SUV.”

Doc shot her a look. “They wouldn’t have let you up the mountain. You have to be pre-approved or with one of us.”

Hm. Well, okay then.

Doc wasn’t any more chatty going up the mountain as he’d been going down, so Grace settled back for the ride. It was a different guard at the security gate this time, and he actually requested her ID. Grace handed it over and watched as he took a picture of her ID with a tablet, then he handed it back. Doc pulled away, not saying anything about the stop.

She was so freaking curious, though.

It had snowed a little last night in town, but up here, several inches had fallen. Grace was glad she’d worn her snow boots and her lined jeans.

Doc let her into the cabin she’d been working on, then started bringing in boxes. He asked if she needed more help, but she could tell he didn’t want to stay.

“Nope. I’m good. Thank you, Doc.”

When she’d first started ordering things for the Foxhole, she’d asked Owen about power. He’d assured her that she could order regular items, with regular cords. And so far, she hadn’t seen any fluctuation in the power supply. The cabin was warm, even with the banked fire in the fireplace. She went ahead and stoked it up, though, if just for the ambience.

Then she went to work. She unpacked box after box, and by the time Owen entered the cabin four hours later, she was almost done.

Grace grinned as he stopped in surprise, looking around the cabin. The Christmas tree in the corner should probably have been bigger, to fill the space better, but it was what she had available. It was beautiful, though, if she did say so herself. Multi-colored twinkle lights adorned it, as well as red bows and swathes of red velvet ribbon. There were a few vintage ornaments she’d gotten from Jazz’s store, but she’d made sure to put them higher up, out of the reach of tiny fingers.

The mantle had been decorated with a live evergreen bough and a red bow at each end of the mantle. There was dead space at the top of the cabinets in the kitchen, so she’d filled that with more green boughs and twinkle lights. She’d put holiday touches in every room of the cabin, and even with the sun shining in through the windows, she could tell it would look magical at night, with just the twinkle lights to illuminate the space.

Owen took off his hat, dropping it to the new bench by the door. Then he stood in the living room with his hands on hiships and looked around. “You’ve done an incredible job, Grace. You’ve made it a home.”

Tears started in her eyes, and she had to look away. She wasn’t sure why she was so affected by his words, but she was. “Thank you,” she said softly. “I hope they love it as well.”

Owen nodded. “I think they will.”

“If there’s anything Angela needs, please let me know. I can get my hands on almost anything in town,” she laughed.

He nodded. “I will. Thank you, Grace.”

She moved around the space, collecting trash into a box for him to dispose of. She put a separate box filled with tissue paper to re-wrap the ornaments in the downstairs closet to be used later. Then, with a final look around, she left the house and climbed into Owen’s truck.

“Normally, when I design a house, I’m there for the reveal,” she said, “so you’ll have to tell me how they like it when they get in. Okay?”

Owen glanced at her. “I promise.”

They headed down the drive, and she looked at the tree houses again. She could see three of them, now that she was looking. “Why tree houses?” she asked curiously. “Seems like that would be very hard to do, with the utilities and stuff.”

“It was,” he admitted, “but the team from New Hampshire helped us out with the construction. It’s a unique challenge, but some of the men need that challenge. And some of the guys feel more secure in the air, where no one can climb up to get them.”

She frowned, reaching for the dash as they hit a bit of a hole. “It sounds like you have prisoners of war here.”

The skin tightened around his eyes, and Grace realized she must have rubbed at some truth.

“Some of the men have been in difficult situations, yes. But that’s all I can say.”

Curiosity ate at her, but she heard the warning in his voice. And what business was it of hers, anyway? Unless she was designing a space for someone specifically, she didn’t really need to know about the men on the mountain. She knew they were former military who needed counseling, and that needed to be enough.

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