Alice grinned at the older woman who grinned right back at her.
“I am so happy for you!” Anna said. “Oh! And you’ve got a ring. Let me see it!”
“Well, I didn’t even notice that!”
Samantha came closer as Anna took her hand, and then gently caressed her thumb over the stones. “That is a very beautiful ring,” Anna said.
“It’s very beautiful.” Samantha met her gaze, and Alice understood the woman recognized it. Alice nodded.
“It was Grandmother Margaret’s,” she said. “And now it’s mine.”
Alice saw the look that passed between Samantha and Grandpa Noah and the way that Anna smiled at the older man.
“That was a very loving gesture,” Anna said. She looked at Alice. “I told you this was the place for you. I don’t think there can be any question now that everyone here sees you and accepts you.”
“No question at all. I know now that I do belong.” She looked down at her beautiful ring. It felt as if it was hers. She opened her mouth to tell Anna about the strange sensations she’d experienced in Grandpa Noah’s living room. No, maybe another time. Alice wasn’t certain she believed in ghosts. But she was mentally moving toward the possibility. She looked back down at her ring. “You can be certain I’ll cherish this ring, forever.”
“Of course, you will. You have a love of history and a respect for traditions. You make a wonderful addition to our town, Alice Benedict, soon to be Kendall.”
“Thank you, Aunt Anna.” Alice felt her eyes become damp and didn’t try to hide it. On such a night as this, tears were more than acceptable.
Of course, her men, who’d been chatting with their uncles and Anna’s husbands, overheard the exchange and paid attention to her as they always did. Ken reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. He handed it to Alice, and she chuckled.
“Thank you. Darling, you never did tell me why you carry a handkerchief in this day and age.”
Anna and Samantha chuckled. Ken seemed to be blushing a little, but he ignored that and answered her.
“Lusty family tradition,” Ken said. “Right, Uncle Craig?”
Craig Jessop looked very proud. “Not many of my nephews have followed my tradition,” he said. Then he leaned forward. “It’s an honorable tradition, and, I believe, helped me to secure the love of the best woman in the world.”
“That sounds like a story I have to hear,” Alice said.
“And some day, you will,” Anna Jessop said.
Since the restaurant was packed it made perfect sense for Alice, Ian, and Ken to make their rounds to thank everyone for coming. working their way around the dining room.
Sean, Noah, and Brittany were sharing a table with Henry, Morgan, and Tamara. “We go off for two weeks,” Sean said, “and we come back to see a miracle happened while we were gone.”
“Never thought we’d see the day that you’d convince a beautiful, intelligent woman to fall for you!” Sean’s brother Noah said.
“Guys!” Brittany seemed appalled.
Ian and Ken laughed. They shook their cousins’ hands and traded back-rattling slaps. Sean and Noah hugged her as Ian and Ken hugged Brittany.
“That’s all right, Brit.” Ian laughed. “We think of Alice as our miracle, so it’s all good.”
“Cousin speak is a very strange language,” Brittany said to her.
“I agree,” Alice said. “I’ve given up trying to understand it. I just laugh at it.”
Alice realized, as they made their way around the room, that she didn’t see her brothers or Bailey.
“They’re probably running late,” Ian said.
I love how they get me. “They likely are, because those two can get lost in their work,” Alice agreed. And then her gaze wandered for a moment to the sidewalk. “And it looks like there are a couple of other people about to join us, and I’ve never seen them before.”
“Ian’s folks,” Ken said. He slipped his arm around her as Ian headed to the door of the restaurant to greet them. “They were my second set of parents, growing up. I love my folks,” Ken said. “Don’t get me wrong. But I’d rather you meet them later.”
Alice turned her gaze and her attention on him. “I love you, Ken. There’s nothing anyone can say or do that will dissuade me from that.”
“I know.” His smile said it all. He did know, and he, too, knew he belonged—in Lusty, and with her. Ken nodded, and she turned to watch the older couple approach.
Ian met her gaze then looked at Ken. Relief shone in his eyes, and she knew that, as happy as he’d been to see his own parents had arrived, he worried about Ken’s feelings.
Families can make or break a person. Alice made a promise to herself then and there that she would do her best to be the best family for Ken and Ian that she could be.
“Baby, my parents, Ron and Alicia. Mom, Dad, this is Alice.”
“Welcome to the family,” Alicia said. She gave Alice a hug and then stepped back. “We’ve very similar names. That’s a blessing!”
“I think it is, too,” Alice said.
And she loved the woman instantly because then she turned her attention on Ken. “Congratulations!” Alicia wrapped him in a hug that looked to be a good, tight one. She eased back and set her hands on his arms. “I told you one day you’d find her.”
“Yes, ma’am, you did.”
“I love them both with all my heart.” Alice put an arm around each of them and met the gazes of both of her new in-laws. “I promise you I’m going to take good care of them.”
Ronald Kendall gave her the sweetest look. “I know you will. You’re wearing my mother’s ring. That tells me
