She brought up the picture to make sure it was apparent what they were trying to convey. Travis leaned over to look at the photo as well. “No doubt she’ll see the marks,” he said.
“Yep,” she said, typing up a quick message.
“What are you telling her?” he asked with a grin.
“I’m saying ‘Good morning’, and attaching the picture.” Libby sat there on his lap, watching the little circle swirling on her phone until it finally said sent, then she got up and gathered their plates.
“I’ll get my phone, and we’ll be ready to go,” Travis said, disappearing into the bedroom.
“Alright,” she said as she went into the kitchen to place the plates in the sink.
Moments later they walked outside. Travis paused to lock the door. He turned around and took her hand in his as they walked toward his truck. He opened the driver’s side door and waited while she scooted across the seat, then got in behind her. Travis looked pointedly at the empty spot beside him, then up at Libby.
“I didn’t know if you wanted me in the middle like when we were younger,” she said, sliding to the middle of the truck.
“I always want you close enough to touch — always,” Travis said, putting the truck in gear and backing out.
Once they arrived at Libby’s house, Travis followed her inside and waited while she packed a bag, then filled another with shoes, makeups, toiletries and things of that nature. He walked around the living room, poking through the keepsakes that adorned the tables and shelves.
“Been a long time since you were in here,” she said, standing quietly with her filled bags in the doorway that led to the bedrooms behind him.
Travis turned to look at her. “It has. I’m sorry it took so long,” he said, sighing and walking toward her.
“It’s okay. Everything happens for a reason,” Libby said. “We found each other again.”
“Very true,” he said, reaching out and taking her bags from her.
“Let me walk through real quick and make sure I didn’t leave anything I might need in the next few days,” she said.
“Alright,” Travis answered, as she disappeared toward the back of the house again. “Hey?” he called. “What do you want to do with the house after you fully move in at my place?” he asked.
A few minutes later Libby walked back into the living room. “I hadn’t thought about it. I mean, I supposed living at your place is best — that is where the tree farm is, and it’s a lot more land.”
“I didn’t ask that very well, did I? I just assumed,” Travis admitted.
“No, the times we spoke of it, it was understood that I’d be at your place. And, you’ve said a time or two over the last few days that I belong at your place as much as you do,” Libby said. “I hate to sell it. It’s my childhood home, you know?” she asked.
“Then don’t. We can rent it. That way you can hold onto it. And you never know who may be looking for a place to live. Since you’ll be with me and Scotty, you won’t really need the income, you can stash it away in a savings account, or retirement account, and you can be choosy about who you rent it to as well. It’s not like you’ll be in a rush to have to find someone fast,” Travis said.
“That’s a great idea! Additional income, plus I get to hang onto it,” Libby said. “And I’m comfortable at your place…”
“Our place,” Travis said. “It’s our place.”
“It’s yours and Scotty’s. But thank you for saying so,” Libby said.
Travis smiled and set her bags down. He walked over to her where she stood across the room from him. “It’s yours, too. I added your name before I went overseas. Once I got back, I never changed it. It meant something to me to work the land that was not only our family land, but yours as well. If anything ever happened to me, I wanted you and Scotty to have it.”
Libby’s eyes got big and she looked at Travis with a shocked expression on her face. “Travis!” she exclaimed.
“Told you you belonged there as much as we did. You’ve always belonged there in spirit, you just didn’t know it was legally as much yours as ours,” Travis said, shrugging. “Now you do.”
“I can’t believe you did that,” Libby said.
Travis placed a finger beneath her chin to hold her steady so he could kiss her. “Love you,” he said.
“Love you, too,” she answered.
“Come on. Let’s get going, we have a lot to do.”
“Okay,” she answered, unable to remove the grin from her face. Claimed and mated, loved completely, and part owner in a tree farm — not a bad morning at all.
~~~
Later that afternoon, Travis and Libby had gotten all the tables put where they wanted them from the welcome arch that everyone walked through, along the wide, cleared path that led to the barn. There were six each, eight foot tables in all. One for the cookies, breads, and brownies and the hot chocolate and coffee. The first cup of hot chocolate and/or coffee was free, but all else was available for purchase. There was another for the wreaths and all the supplies for the customers to use if they decided they wanted to make one. There were two of them for the ornament painting because they expected lots of families and didn’t want the kids to have to wait if it got crowded while they painted their ornaments. There was a table set up to collect money to participate in the various activities, and for the Christmas trees themselves, then there was another table that was available for anyone to simply sit and relax. They were prepared with all kinds of hats, scarves, carrots, and pieces of charcoal if it snowed and anyone wanted to make snowmen.
As Libby stood looking over all the options for families to participate in while there to pick out and cut down their tree, she realized they hadn’t made the fire pit yet. They’d bought an enormous supply of marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate bars so if anyone wanted to, they could make smores in the fire pit. But no one had built the fire pit yet. “Travis?” she called out as he carried out the last box with ribbons and wire in it to the wreath table.
“Yes, love?” he asked as he set the box down.
“We didn’t build the fire pit,” she said.
“Roman said he’d do that. I’m surprised he’s not here yet,” Travis said.
“Surprised who’s not here?” Roman asked, walking beneath the arch and into the middle of Christmas Village central.
“You!” Libby said. “Where’s the fire pit?” she asked.
“In the back of my truck,” he answered with a smile. “Had to go pick up the stones to build it, then a friend called and wanted to help, so I had to go all the way back home to get him,” Roman said, as Lucas walked up behind him with a hand truck full of shaped stones.
“Hey,” Lucas said.
“Hey,” Libby answered. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Not much to do around Riley’s at the moment. I asked Roman if I could come help out here. Hope you don’t mind. If you do I’ll go,” Lucas said in reply to Libby, but he was looking at Travis while he spoke. “Friends help friends,” Lucas finished, letting him know he saw both himself and Libby as friends.