And Alice—she was the best of it all. His magical, beautiful, kind, funny, creative wife.
“I’ve got something to tell you,” she said, tilting up her chin to look at him. “Kate O’Dell got in touch. She’s ready to move forward and hire me for her Civil War movie. She loves the costumes I created.”
“What about Oliver?”
“I’ll have to hire some helpers. I’ll fly out to California now and then, but I’ve told Kate I’m having a baby, and she knows I won’t move there permanently. She doesn’t care. She said she’d do whatever it takes to accommodate me so she could have the best.” Alice wriggled with pleasure. “That’s me. I’m the best.”
“Yes, you are. At everything. And I love you for it.”
The pride in Jack’s voice told Alice all she needed to know. He wasn’t threatened by the new project she was taking on, and he wouldn’t hold her back. He would continue to be the partner she’d come to rely on in the months they’d been married.
Some men would have expected her to put off her dreams because of the baby. They would have complained if care for the newborn impinged on their daily schedule.
Jack wasn’t like that. He’d been interested in every stage of her pregnancy, exploring the new contours of her body as it changed, delighting in the feel of the baby’s first movements within her. She had no doubt he’d be a dedicated father—and one who’d be careful to keep his love free and clear from any hint of a need for reciprocity. Jack loved his adopted parents and was sure they loved him, too, but Alice knew he’d feared abandonment as a child if he didn’t measure up to his adopted father’s expectations. Alice liked to think she was helping to heal those old hurts, just as he was helping heal hers.
They were good for each other, she thought. And Chance Creek, for all its quirks and ups and downs, would be a good place to raise their family. She hoped in the end the Turners and Coopers could see that. Chance Creek was worth fighting for. So were family and friends. Sometimes you had to get through hard times to get to the good.
Alice was glad the events of this past year had brought her to a place where she had better control over her flashes of foresight. She didn’t want to live half in the future anymore, especially now that she was pregnant, and definitely not when her baby was born. She wanted to be firmly in the present, aware of each moment she got to spend with Oliver—and Jack.
“We should celebrate,” Jack said. “You got your dream job.”
Alice’s heart swelled. “I did, didn’t I?” She let out a shaky breath. “I’m going to make the most beautiful dresses anyone’s ever seen. And then I’m going to get to do it again and again. Kate O’Dell’s movie is the kind that will make a splash, and I’m sure I’ll get hired for other lavish productions. I did it, Jack.” The realization came over her in a rush. She’d worked for movies before, of course. And wonderful plays and musicals. But this really was her dream—the kind of production that would tax the range of her talents. “I didn’t know how competitive I am. How much I wanted to be the best—and have a lifetime of projects to work on.”
“You couldn’t before. You can’t reach for the stars without a solid foundation beneath your feet.”
“Your right; my foundation was pretty shaky until recently.” Alice didn’t like to think back to those times—she and her sisters trying so hard to hold it all together while everything was falling apart. “Now it’s strong.” She hugged him.
“And it’s not going anywhere.” He tightened his arms around her, and she leaned into him. Jack was the bulwark between her and everything difficult, and she appreciated that more than she’d ever thought she would. It worried her from time to time that his work put him in the path of danger, but she’d learned to let those fears go. Jack was careful, thorough and not the kind of man to take reckless chances. Like he said, he wasn’t going anywhere.
“We’re going to have so many kids underfoot at Two Willows soon,” she said.
“I’m glad. No one will be lonely.”
She ran her hands up his back, feeling the strength of the man she’d married. He was right: none of them need be lonely anymore. “So much togetherness but so much space, too. We’ll have to keep building everyone little personal places to get away and dream. I don’t know what I’d do without my studio.”
“I wonder what kind of space Oliver will want when he’s old enough. What will he want to create or specialize in?”
Alice shrugged. “I don’t know. And I’m so happy about that.”
He squeezed her back. “I’m happy about everything.”
“Time for dessert,” Cass declared when everyone was back together waiting for the fireworks to begin. “I’ve got fruit cups and brownies. Take your pick.”
“Sit,” Emerson told her as she got up. “I’ll pass things around.”
“Thanks. Fruit cups are in that cooler, and the brownies are in that Tupperware over there.”
As Emerson made his way around the group taking orders, he had to smile at how many of them there were. Next year there’d be even more, he thought in satisfaction, including the child he and Wye would bring into the world around Christmastime. Their son.
Every time he thought about it, his throat thickened with emotion. They’d gone to the doctor just two days ago and found out their baby’s gender, and he was still astonished by the experience of the ultrasound and the news.
A boy.
He’d welcomed Elise into his life with an open heart, and each day with her and Wye brought him more joy than he ever could have expected, but Elise, at eighteen months, had made it very clear that she was, as Lena put it, “a girl’s girl.” She loved everything pretty. Begged to put on new outfits several times a day and had definite opinions about what she wanted to wear. She was never happier than in Alice’s studio, surrounded by heaps of beautiful fabrics, and Alice had declared that soon she’d make Elise her apprentice. She might be joking, but Emerson thought there was a good chance her prediction would come to pass. He’d seen Elise in deep concentration separating fabrics out of a large pile Alice had provided her with, matching them together in smaller sets, and it was clear even to him that the combinations she came up with were pleasing to the eye.
Emerson didn’t begrudge her any of it and hoped he’d always be the kind of dad to support his children in whatever their passions turned out to be. Maybe one day Elise would help him decorate the interiors of the houses he refurbished.
What would his son like to do?
Emerson longed to find out. Would he take to the horses that Emerson loved to ride? Emerson had bought one of his own, a bay gelding that loved to explore the ranch as much as he did. Would he like to build and fix things with his hands, activities that brought Emerson more satisfaction than he could have expected?
Whatever it was, Emerson promised himself he’d be by his side. Every child in his care would get as much of him as he had to give. Life was precious—and precarious—and he wouldn’t miss a moment if he could help it.
“Fruit cup or brownie?” he asked Logan when he reached the man.