Page 28 of Forever Yours
“Let’s get the rooms situated,” Gabe interrupted. “The cabin has five bedrooms, plenty of space. I’m going to assume Grey and Pru are already in the master, and you two”—Gabe pointed at Annabelle and Sebastian—“can have the other rooms on the second floor, I’ll take one of the downstairs rooms.”
Annabelle looked thoughtful for a minute then gasped. “Like hell we will!” she exclaimed. “Those upstairs rooms have a connecting bathroom. We already had to share the car ride here, I’m not sharing a bathroom with that man!” She looked at Sebastian with clear disgust and shuddered. “He looks like he’d be…hairy.”
“Hey, man,” Sebastian addressed Gabe. “She doesn’t need to have access to my room, who knows what she’d do to me. I wouldn’t get any sleep, wondering when she’d bust through the door to ravish me.”
Greyson entered the kitchen, keeping a safe distance from the commotion. Prudence slid past him while shaking her head, moved to rejoin the girls and began to open the first bottle of wine she saw.
“Oh, you wish—” Annabelle started.
“Okay! I’ll stay upstairs with Sebastian and you two ladies can be downstairs.”
Devlin searched the cupboard pulling out two large baking sheets.
“Listen, Sebastian.” Greyson leaned in closing the distance between them. “Sorry about the reception. I’m sure it’ll improve once she gets some food in her.”
“Or something else,” Gabe joked.
“It’ll be a long two days if she’s expecting that.” Sebastian stood. “I need to burn off some steam, didn’t you mention a bonfire tonight?”
“Yeah, we’re pretty sheltered off the back patio. Want to chop some wood?” Greyson asked.
Gabe poured the guys all two fingers of Glenlivet then propped his hip against the kitchen island.
“Really? The Boy Scout couldn’t chop pre-split wood,” Annabelle teased, making it apparent she was listening to their conversation then taking her glass of wine and sitting on the bar stool at the kitchen island. “That smells amazing, Dev.”
“Thank you, chicken and artichoke pizza.”
Sebastian downed the remainder of his drink. “Winters, you are on my last nerve. Don’t you have some matron of honor things to be planning?”
“Matronof honor? The title is maid of honor, since I’m not married,” Annabelle corrected, walking right into his apparent trap.
“Surprise, surprise.” Sebastian threw over his shoulder but was already out of the side door before Annabelle could reply. They all watched him walk across the patio to the wood pile. He unwedged the ax and stacked the log to be split, widened his stance then swung the ax over his head, his other hand coming up to grip the handle, bringing it down on the log with a powerful blow.
“Well, shit,” Annabelle mumbled, almost missing the island when setting down her glass of wine.
“Careful there, AB. You seem distracted.” Gabe chuckled and winked at Devlin. “Marshmallows for toasting tonight?”
“I’m in.” Devlin smiled back, sprinkling the last of the cheese on the pizza.
* * * *
After dinner, the group moved outdoors to toast the marshmallows as promised.
“I’m glad Mom talked Dad into putting this patio in.” Gabe removed the cover from the fire pit, turned on the propane and ignited the fire.
“What was here before?” Devlin looked over to Gabe, who was sitting next to her on a bench.
“Well, this has always been a patio,” Greyson answered, “but Mom wanted more privacy, and a fence wasn’t good enough, so Dad decided to rebuild it from the bottom up, adding the wind breaks. We’re so high up that the wind can get nasty, but there’s almost nothing, even when the wind is blowing as hard as it is now.”
“I can’t imagine needing more privacy. No other houses are around for miles,” Devlin pointed out.
“That wasn’t always the case.” Prudence skewered two marshmallows. “I recall a house fire led to the nearest house being torn down, right?”
“Yep.” Gabe motioned to a space behind the tree line. “That house was the reason Mom wanted more privacy in the first place, but then they decided not to rebuild after the fire and my parents bought the land from them.”
Gabe watched Devlin’s face as she took in this information and realized he was happy to share this all with her. She appeared so content bundled in her fur-lined parka, white boots and matching hat and mitten set. A half smile played on her lips while the group talked, interjecting only at a few points but seeming satisfied to just be a part of the group. The family.
He found himself quieting and letting the rest get louder as the hot toddies and spiked cocoa kicked in. His Irish coffee was landing just right but he felt mellow rather than boisterous. Soon midnight neared and yawns were taking over the frequency of the conversation.