Page 47 of Wishes at Water's Edge
No life is perfect,she thought,and I’ve had and will continue to have my struggles, but I also have such a wonderful home here with my family. They’ve been there for me through the ups and downs, and they truly have my best interests at heart.
The women settled back into their crafting, talking happily of their plans for the future. Alexis found the work soothing. Working with beads was something that she did often with her jewelry-making, and she liked the feeling of the cool glass beads on her fingertips. She also loved listening to her family talk and eating the delicious snacks that Hazel had provided.
She thought to herself with a quiet smile that this was the kind of thing she wanted her life to be about. Spending time with her family and helping out the people that she loved. Slowing down enough to appreciate the little things in life and enjoying all the creature comforts that her world provided.
She reflected joyfully that days like this, spent with her family and doing things that she loved, were far more fulfilling than any of the days she’d spent in the big city. No matter how much acclaim she’d received as a model, it hadn’t made herfeel any more worthy of love, and it hadn’t made her feel any happier.
This, on the other hand,she thought, gazing in adoration at her baby and family,this makes me happier than anything else could.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Dean set down a basket of piping hot dinner rolls on the table at his mother’s house and inhaled their rich, buttery aroma eagerly. He could just taste the way the soft, flaky rolls would feel on his tongue. He thought to himself cheerfully that his mother made the best dinner rolls he’d ever had. She didn’t always prepare them for her family dinner nights, but whenever she did, he was elated.
“The pies are almost ready,” Vivian announced, stepping into the dining room. “Just a couple more minutes.”
“I can’t wait,” Samantha announced eagerly. “I haven’t had chicken pot pie in a million years.”
Hazel laughed. “It has been a minute, hasn’t it? I’ll have to make it again soon.”
“And I haven’t made it for so long because we have so many people here for dinner nights now,” Vivian said fondly. “Which I wouldn’t change for anything in the world—but it’s hard to make enough chicken pot pies to feed that many people.”
“Especially when they’re so good that everyone wants to go back for seconds,” Dean said with a chuckle.
Julia looked up from where she was carefully folding the dinner napkins into perfect triangles. “It’s just us tonight, yourealize that? Everyone else had a conflict. Just our immediate family, like old times.”
Dean grinned. Julia was right. Terrence was out of town visiting his cousins, Jacob had been called in at the last minute to fix an outlet that had been creating sparks and was clearly a fire hazard, Faith and Ryan were visiting Faith’s friends in Boston for the weekend, Cooper was on a business trip and had elected to take Macey with him since his company provided child care during meetings, Grayson had been so tired that he’d decided to stay at home and catch up on sleep, and Noelle was out with her grandparents on their boat.
It was perhaps the very last time that just his immediate family would ever sit down to dinner together again. Although it was a bittersweet thought, and he wanted to appreciate the significance of the evening, it also made him happy that their weekly dinner night numbers had been expanding. Everyone new that had come into their lives was wonderful, and they brought new energies to the family circle that only made it more interesting and fun to be a part of—especially Noelle, who had changed his life for the better in so many ways. He always enjoyed everything a bit more when she was there with him.
At the thought of his girlfriend, the squirming feeling he always got when he thought about how he still hadn’t proposed returned. He sighed, wondering what on earth he was going to do next. He wasn’t naturally a romantic guy and had designed the romantic dinner based on Hazel’s suggestions. The romantic movie night had been his idea, but he’d soon come to the conclusion that it wasn’t romantic enough.
So what do I do on my own?he thought with a sigh.What other romantic things could I do that would properly set the stage for my engagement to Noelle? And then, once I’ve set the stage, will I have the nerve to say the words?
He’d considered memorizing his proposal speech as exactly as if it were lines in a play, but he didn’t like that idea. He had a feeling that if he did that, his words would just come off as wooden and insincere. He wanted the words to feel fresh and full of emotion, because that would better represent the way he felt about her.
The pot pies were ready in another couple of minutes, and Vivian and Julia brought them to the table. The Owens family began to dig into the pies, the dinner rolls, and the roasted butternut squash cubes that Vivian had made.
“Mom, this is just delicious,” Hazel said enthusiastically.
“We need to make chicken pot pie, Mom,” Samantha said. “Tomorrow.”
Everyone laughed, and Dean joked, “Can I come over for dinner tomorrow, Hazel?”
“You know you’re welcome anytime,” she replied with a grin.
The conversation soon steered toward Julia’s wedding, since all of the women in Dean’s family had been helping Julia with the preparation work even more than usual, and they were eager to keep talking about all of the details. Dean found himself zoning out, his brain preoccupied with how he was going to propose to Noelle.
“That’s enough people, then, for sure.” He heard Julia saying a few minutes later, looking overjoyed.
That brought his attention back to the conversation. “For the repairs at Turtle Dove Hall?” he asked. He’d volunteered to help with the work as soon as Julia had asked him, and he knew how much the hall being repaired in time for the wedding meant to his sister.
“Yes!” Julia’s eyes shone. “Jacob asked people for help, and so did Lindsay, and of course Cooper and I did. Lindsay’s got this whole spreadsheet of what needs to be done and times for doing it. People have been signing up for various times, and Jacoblooked at the list and said that with all that help, the repairs should be done in plenty of time before the wedding.”
Julia’s relief and happiness was apparent on her face and in her tone of voice.
“Rosewood Beach has come through for our family again,” Vivian said with tears in her eyes. “And of course for Lindsay as well.”
“I love living here,” Alexis said. “What a wonderful community we have.”
