Page 22 of Keeping Happily Ever After

Bella crossed her arms over her chest and sat back. “Come on, Steph. You’re not going to give me any more advice than that?”

Of course she wanted more, but Steph wasn’t going to put a damper on their celebration with any more details. Besides, she wasn’t one to offer a whole lot of advice, even when it was asked for. She’d found it wasn’t always well received, and she liked Bella. She didn’t want to mess up their friendship by being too honest. But she would give her something. “Okay,” Steph said after a moment. “I’ll say one more thing, but that’s it, okay?”

Bella nodded, listening.

“It’s important for you to remember that this is your life and this is an incredible opportunity for you. It will change your life in so many ways that you don’t even fully understand yet. There will be time for everything, but right now, what is happening…enjoy it, okay? Be in the moment and don’t let anyone try to tell you different. You won’t get this moment back, so try to have no distractions. Okay?”

Bella stared at her for a moment, unspeaking. Finally, she swallowed and nodded slowly. Steph had just given her a non-answer and they both knew it.

With the final decisions made about casting forBombshelland the official announcement made, Stephanie knew things were about to start moving quickly and production would be ramping up before she knew it, which was why she needed to take care of a few things in Glacier Falls before life got too crazy again.

After their celebratory lunch, where Steph had tried to shift the conversation away from relationships and how hard they were, and into the safer territory about Bella’s grandfather’s move, and then the much more fun territory of what Bella could expect with the ambitious filming schedule that she was sure would be rolling out, Steph shifted gears into her new project. Which was equally, if not more, exciting for her than a new movie.

She had so many plans for the Lynx Creek cabins and the old fishing camp and what it could become, but she lacked one very important thing—experience. Okay, she lacked two things—experience and time. Which was why she hoped her sisters and their husbands could help her out and come through on a project manager she could hire to oversee everything.

The kitchen at the Turner sisters’ house was the hub of almost all of the family activity. Which was a lot…and about to become even busier when the baby was born, which meant Steph really should find a new place to live. Soon.

With Hope on bed rest because of her high-risk pregnancy, the doctor had okayed small bits of walking from her bed as long as she sat down most of the time, so they’d moved a large recliner into the corner of the kitchen so she could join in all the family conversations and activity. It was an arrangement that made Hope happy because she was going crazy sitting alone upstairs, but not all of the other family members were quite as pleased with the move.

Hope had a tendency to be a bit of a control freak when it came to their wedding business. Although she’d had no problem relinquishing control when she and Levi were traveling the world on their honeymoon, things were very different now that she was home with nothing to do. Faith was trying to be patient, but everyone could see the toll it was taking on her. After all, she hadn’t even wanted to run the wedding business in the first place. Of course, now that she had, she was happy for her sister to butt out. Or at least for her sister to workwithher instead of bossing her around from the chair in the corner.

It wasn’t a secret that Faith was desperate for the baby to be born so her twin sister would have a distraction and leave her to it. Until then, any distraction was welcome.

Just as Steph had predicted, Hope was set up in her chair in the corner of the kitchen when she got there, and Faith was nowhere to be found. Hope had a pot of tea on the table next to her, and a laptop balanced on her swollen stomach. She looked up with a grin when Steph walked in.

“I’m so glad you’re back.”

“You are?” She gave her sister a kiss on the cheek. “Where’s everyone else?”

Hope pressed her lips together and shook her head. “They’re out in the barn, getting set up for a wedding this weekend, and they refused to take me. I tried to show them this new thing with the napkins, and I found the cutest idea for a winter photo background that would be absolutely perfect on the far side of the barn, but they wouldn’t listen to me. I told them I could show them really quickly. But they said something about the wheelchair and snow and left.”

“Good,” Steph answered quickly, trying not to laugh. “You’re not supposed to overdo it, Hope, and you know it.”

Her response didn’t seem to satisfy her sister, who dismissed her with a wave. “I’m not overdoing anything if I’m sitting in my chair.”

“Besides, I thought you were doing a family tree on the genealogy site or something?” Steph hadn’t really wanted to ask about that particular project because she knew that part of Hope’s idea to research the family tree also had to do with finding out who exactly Stephanie’s father was. Their mother had fallen pregnant before she married the twins’ father, and had given her up for adoption. Faith had overheard her parents fighting about it when she was a young girl. She’d lived with the secret up until recently, and even through their parents’ tragic death years earlier, but had finally come clean to Hope about what she knew. They put the pieces of the puzzle together to discover that Stephanie was actually their mother’s daughter who she’d given up for adoption. But they still didn’t know any details about who her birth father was. Although there was definitely part of Steph that wanted to know, there was also a large part of her that didn’t.

Now, Hope looked at her cautiously, obviously trying to gauge how much she wanted to know. “I haven’t really gotten very far with that lately,” she said after a moment. “Did you want me to—”

“No, that’s fine,” she said quickly. “Tell me how you’re feeling.”

Hope’s face shifted away from concern as her hands rubbed over her belly. “Huge.” She laughed.

They spent the next few minutes chatting about the baby and Hope’s health. She’d been diagnosed with uterine cancer but had postponed treatment for the pregnancy. Which was part of what made everything high risk, and was completely why everyone was concerned about her. As soon as the baby was born, not only would Hope have her hands full with a newborn, she’d also start with her treatment and potentially surgery as soon as possible.

After a few minutes of catch-up, Steph looked at the clock over the stove. “I’d love to keep chatting, Hope. But I’m actually supposed to have a meeting this afternoon.” She gave her sister a guilty look and shrugged casually. “I need help with my Lynx Creek project, especially now that I’ve taken on a new movie project and I don’t know the first thing about where to start. Levi and Logan were going to introduce me to a man named Travis something. He used to be a—”

“Ranch hand at the Langdon ranch,” Hope finished for her and Steph nodded. “Travis is great. And so much more than just a ranch hand. He’s kind of one of those guys who’s just really good at everything, if you know what I mean.”

Didshe know what Hope meant? She’d said it innocently enough, but Steph couldn’t help but think there was a hidden meaning there. She shook her head clear and focused on the rest of what she was saying.

“I know they hated to let him go when Debbie sold the ranch, and we just don’t have enough work around here for him. He’s really a great guy. Are you sure they weren’t trying to set you up?”

“What?” So she hadn’t been imagining it. There was definitely something underlying Hope’s description of the man, but Steph did not have the time or patience for a setup of any kind. Even by her super bored pregnant sister. She shook her head. “No. There is no way. I told them I was looking for someone to—”

“Ohh, I see.”

“You don’t see anything.” Steph shook her head. She knew Hope was desperate for something to do, but inventing a setup situation was too far. “I need a contractor, not a—”

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