Sheila rang in the new year with Tucker at the Ruritan Club celebration with Randy and Natalie, and all of her new friends. It wasn’t exactly the lavish affair she was used to, but it was a lot more fun. People brought their families, and even Paul made an appearance at the party, and was a hit handing out silver dollars to all the kids in the crowd.
Jack and Diane brought the children, and he was already making progress on the rebuild of the house. It was moving as fast as if it were an old-fashioned barn raising, according to Paul. Orene’s house smelled of salty ham the whole following week after she fed half the county all the things that were supposed to guarantee a good year, and just about every bit of it was cooked in some kind of pork fat.
There was cornbread fried in a skillet until it was crispy around the edges and with the slightest sweetness to make it only narrowly escape the cake category. According to Orene, the golden color of the cornbread was supposed to bring extra spending money to those who ate it on New Year’s Day.
There was a mess of collard greens, the color of money, and another huge pot of black-eyed peas that she’d shelled and frozen over the summer just for the occasion. “The more you eat,” she said, “the more you luck you’ll have.” That was the week Orene taught Sheila how to make Hoppin’ John by using leftover ham fried to a crisp, black-eyed peas, collards, and spices mixed into rice.
On Valentine’s Day, Tucker surprised Sheila with dinner at Primland, a fancy resort not too far from Chestnut Ridge. It was an evening in fancy clothes with music and dancing, and they ended it in the observatory looking at the stars.
Sheila wasn’t sure if it was all the good-luck rituals that made the difference, because this was the first year she’d done all of them.
By spring, Tucker had made as many trips to Richmond as she had to Chestnut Ridge. They spent most of their free time together, and things were only getting better and better. Richmond was losing its luster as her friendships in the mountains grew stronger.
Sheila knew her life was in Chestnut Ridge with Tucker, and she couldn’t imagine spending it anywhere else.
Sheila tapped lightly on Tucker’s office door. “Do you have a minute?”
He got up with a lazy smile and walked over and kissed her on the nose. “I always have time for you.”
“You looked busy.”
“Paperwork.”
“You should tell them the dog ate it. Or better, it caught on fire and was destroyed.”
“Only since I’m the guy requiring it, that would just mean I had to start over.”
“Right. Not a great plan.”
“Everything okay? You seem … I don’t know … anxious?”
“I made a decision,” she said.
“Okay. What did you decide?”
“I’m going to put my house on the market.” She pressed her lips together. “What do you think?”
“I think you aren’t spending much time there. It makes good financial sense.” He settled his hands on her hips. “I could give you a key to my place.”
She laughed. “No. I like things the old-fashioned way too. I’m not rushing things. But, thank you. I am considering buying the old bank building on Main Street.”
“It’s been empty a couple of years. It was a restaurant. It’s a neat building. What are you going to do with it?”
“Well, I wanted your opinion first. But I thought I’d make a satellite office up here for my business, maybe rent out office space to someone who doesn’t need much room. I’ll focus on the luxury homes up here in this region. If we build out apartments upstairs I can rent them out during leaf-peeper season, and there’d be a place for me to stay in.”
“Moving here? Full-time.” His eyes lit up.
She nodded.
“I love it,” he said. “Let’s go look at the space. I’m pretty handy, and between me and the guys at the firehouse, we can do just about all the work ourselves.”
She lifted a key in the air. “I already got the key from the real estate agent.”
“I love you, Sheila. I can’t wait to get you moved up here. Don’t for a minute think I want you staying in an apartment on Main Street for long. I see us in a house with a white picket fence, two kids, and a dog. Maybe even a cat. A little garden.”
She sucked in a breath. “That sounds so perfect, but … I don’t know if I can get pregnant. I told you about—”
“That was you and Dan.” He looked into her eyes. “This is you and me, and if we don’t have our own children, we’ll adopt, or foster, or borrow a couple of kids to hang out with us a couple of days a week like a time-share.”
She started laughing. “You’re sure? I’d never want to disappoint you.”
“Children don’t have to be of our flesh to be of our heart. I want to share the experience of family with you. No matter what it looks like.”
“Me too.” Her heart was so full. Thank you for this man. This love. “This town is amazing. I’m so thankful Natalie’s journey brought her to Chestnut Ridge, and because of it … me to you.”
“You know,” he said, “I never thought this town could get any better. But it just did.”