“I know,” he whispered. “It’s okay to hurt. It’s okay to cry. Hell, it’s okay to scream if you need to, but that one we won’t do in the house because it might scare Dustin.”
She hiccupped. A small laugh mixed in with the tears.
He patted her back and held her, standing in the clean-scented room, with reminders everywhere still of Deb, of Walter. Reminders of the past that was gone.
Tucker stood and held Ginny, and something inside him twisted with a brand-new understanding.
Silver Stone wasn’t simply a place he came and visited every summer. These weren’t just people he had in his life for a short time and then moved on. Losing Deb and Walter Stone meant seeing how much more important it was to not only treasure the things he had, but to treasure the things he wanted to have.
He wanted his friendships to stay strong.
He wanted people like the Stones in his life forever.
Down the road, he wanted a relationship like Walter and Deb had shared, not a cold and broken one like his parents had, based on unending unhappy compromises.
Ginny took another shuddering breath before loosening her hug. Resting her forehead on his chest, she stared at the floor. “I’m sorry I lost it like that. I won’t do it again.”
“Damn it, Ginny.” Tucker lifted her face to his, examining her carefully. Tears were there, but determination as well. As if she were preparing for whatever battle would come next. “You don’t need to be strong all the time.”
“I do,” she insisted. “I won’t let my family come apart. I won’t let Mom and Dad down.” Strong like her name. Ginny stepped back and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “I will do this. You’ll see.”
In that moment, Tucker knew that anyone who thought they could stand in her way would be proven very wrong.
He wouldn’t bet against her for anything.
1
Current Day, Christmas Eve, Silver Stone ranch
After so long away from Heart Falls, the detour was impossible to resist. Instead of heading straight home, Ginny Stone took the turn off the highway that led to her favourite lookout. She parked her borrowed truck and stomped through the knee-high snow to the bench partially buried in a snowbank.
Staring to the west revealed the town’s namesake in all its wintery glory. It was cold enough the mist escaping from the falls had frozen into beautiful lace-like structures. Under the ice, water still flowed swift enough to keep the lake open at the base of the falls. The rest glittered as fading sunlight reflected off the smooth, icy surface. A low rumble shook the air instead of the thunder that would be there in the summer, but it was familiar, and that made it sweet.
Sweet and strange all at the same time.
Ginny had been back a scarce half dozen times over the past three years. She’d taken breaks from her extended journeyman training in Europe to attend weddings, be home for a few key birthdays, and make sure her health insurance stayed valid.
Since July, she’d been back on Canadian soil full-time, but instead of coming home, she’d headed three hours to the north and stopped in Rocky Mountain House to help her foster sister, Dare, deal with newborn twins.
Ginny’s gaze drifted to the east. To the large barns and arenas that made up Silver Stone proper. The massive ranch her parents had started that was the responsibility of all their children to make a go of it. The past six months she’d come for short visits, spending time with her nieces and nephew, and trying to get a feel for the changed ranch dynamics now that her older brothers had all married.
Short visits that had been equal parts joyful and discomforting. But now, she was officially back. She was home.
Home. What did that even mean anymore?
Like a grown child who’d returned to their elementary school, Ginny’s world felt simultaneously a lot smaller and a lot bigger than it had been even a week ago.
Her watch went off, and she hauled herself back to her truck. It was nearly dinnertime on Christmas eve, and she had somewhere to be.
The ranch house looked the same as ever from the outside, except for the number of vehicles parked out front. Ginny hadn’t expected so many—in fact, she had hoped to simply slip back without any fanfare.
The volume of noise inside the house was astonishing. But the place was warm and smelled like heaven, so Ginny pushed her way in and quietly slipped off her boots in the mudroom.
Then she stood and looked for a moment.
She recognized most of the faces. Even though she’d left, remaining a part of the family had been important. Between Facetime calls and photos in texts, Ginny had kept up with the changes, or at least attempted to.
Still, it wasn’t the same as being there.
Her gaze went first to try and locate her brothers. The four testosterone driven creatures who had made her growing years delightful and hellish. Typical siblings, really.
She didn’t spot Walker, the brother closest to her in age, which made sense since his wife, Ivy, wasn’t a big fan of crowds. But the other three were right there in the thick of things.
Caleb, the one who had taken over raising them so many years ago, actually cracked a smile as he set the massive family table. Second-oldest brother Luke and his wife, Kelli, were helping him.
Caleb’s wife, Tamara, and her three sisters were all in the kitchen. Their husbands debated something enthusiastically from the living room, while Ginny’s kid brother Dustin rolled at their feet, squawking with what sounded like death throes as their two nieces pinned him to the floor and tickled.
The tightness inside Ginny eased the slightest bit. Maybe she wasn’t sure what she should do next, but she was absolutely certain this was where she was supposed to do it.
“Auntie G, you’re here, you’re here, you’re here.” Emma, the little blonde cherub who was Ginny’s youngest niece, scrambled to her feet and raced across the room.
Dustin gasped as if he might have been stepped on a touch carelessly, but then Ginny couldn’t see anything because Emma had jumped up to cling like a burr.
Huge sobs escaped the little girl, her face buried against Ginny’s neck. “You can’t go away again, not for a long, long time.”
The sadness in the words were there, but the biggest thing to hit Ginny was joy at hearing her previously silent niece be so forcefully vocal. “Oh, baby. Yes, I’m home and I plan to stay.”
Wet but slightly happier sniffles greeted her announcement. Ginny glanced over Emma’s shoulder, even as she patted the little girl’s back comfortingly.
Everyone in the room looked her way. Niece number two, Sasha, stood nearby. The preteen held out her arms for her hug and kiss and more teary hellos.
It was the best kind of chaos.
It wasn’t until after supper that Ginny even attempted to make heads or tails of the crowded room. Tamara and Caleb pulled her aside as everyone else fell into a comfortable routine of clean up and preparation for evening activities.
“I didn’t bother to text you an update that the horde would arrive before you,” Caleb admitted. “Figured you needed to come home anyway, and a few extra people wouldn’t scare you.”
“A few?” Ginny counted heads as another couple arrived at the back door. A shout of happiness rose from Luke as he raced to greet them, Kelli hard on his heels.