Page 79 of Sweet Home

This is what real happiness feels like…

24

DULCIE

Dulcie stood by Maggie’s oven on Christmas morning, smiling to herself and enjoying the sounds of happy chatter floating down the hall from the living room as she waited for the baked French toast to be ready.

The kitchen smelled heavenly, and it felt so good to have a familiar task today. Her new life was already so filled with happiness it was almost unrecognizable sometimes. But Dulcie didn’t want to forget who she was, or where she came from.

Back in the city, she had used Mom’s old casserole dish to make baked French toast for Delphine every Christmas. No matter how bad things got, she always managed to stash a few eggs in the vegetable drawer, and she saved all the heels of the bread in a frozen broccoli bag in the freezer starting a month ahead of time. She was determined to keep that tradition going, even if it looked a little different now.

Today, she had two casserole dishes in the oven, andshe had just finished cooking up two big pans of bacon. The eggs were fresh from the farm, the bread was homemade, and there was also fresh butter and real maple syrup to have with it.

Things get better,she thought to herself.

When you’d been hungry, food moved to the forefront of your thoughts. But it wasn’t really the meals, or even the beautiful farm, or the safe home, or the warm clothing that had Dulcie feeling so happy every day.

She was happy because of West and Elizabeth and Delphine. They were all together now, and even if things ever got tough again, they would endure it together as a family.

She picked up her mug of coffee from the counter and took a sip.

“You’re going to be running on that stuff soon,” Delphine said, stepping into the kitchen with a big smile on her face. “I can’t believe you’re going to college.”

“Just for a certificate,” Dulcie reminded her. “If I get in.”

“Don’t do that,” Delphine told her. “It’s a really big deal. And you’re going to be an amazing preschool teacher. You were born for this.”

She’d only begun to seriously think about it this morning. West’s suggestion last night that she might want to go back to school had really resonated with her.

She’d woken up before dawn and sat up in bed to look for local programs on her phone. A nearby community college offered a two-year certificate program for Early Childhood Education, and the courses looked amazing.

The cost was going to pack a punch, but her savings would be enough to get her through the first semester if she and Delphine were really going to keep living with West and Elizabeth. And if she worked on the farm while she studied, she figured she might actually be able to pull it off.

Every time she thought about it, the idea of spending her days caring for children Elizabeth’s age got her so excited. It would be amazing to work in a preschool classroom every day.

Delphine had woken up to find Dulcie huddled under her quilt still studiously scrolling on her phone. She had crawled right in with her, and they spent the early morning whispering excitedly about it.

“Hopefully West is really okay with this,” Dulcie worried aloud as she checked on the French toast again.

She hadn’t talked with him about it yet, because she didn’t want to distract anyone from the wonderful Christmas mood floating around.

“Are you kidding me?” Delphine asked. “West’s going to be more excited than you are. Just wait and see.”

“What am I going to be excited about?” West asked, his deep voice sending a happy little shiver through Dulcie’s heart, as it always did.

“I’ll let you two talk,” Delphine said. “Don’t let her burn my favorite meal, Superman.”

“I won’t,” he chuckled. “But I’m making no promises on how much bacon will be left when you get back.”

Delphine laughed as he swiped a slice, winking at her.

“Bye, sis,” she said before slipping intothe hallway.

Dulcie watched West eat his stolen bacon, humming around it with pleasure as he stalked up to her like he was going to steal a kiss.

He was right—it wasn’t just Elizabeth who was more relaxed these days. The young doctor seemed to have unleashed his own sense of fun. She couldn’t imagine the handsome hero with the furrowed brow on that first night they met as the man with her now, stealing bacon and kisses.

“Delicious,” he murmured, pulling her close.

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