“She will.” Phillip grinned. “And I swear to you, she doesn’t look any different than the last time she visited.”
Bernice and Abigail Benedict came over and greeted the New York contingent of the family. They moved off together, heading to a corner of the restaurant, where it appeared there was a larger array of tables assembled than Leesa had seen in reserve at the roadhouse.
“The original Benedict Central,” Chance said, nodding at the grouping. Then he turned to look at his younger brother. “You’ve surprised me when I would have sworn you couldn’t possibly.”
“Kind of makes us wonder what we missed in our calculations,” Logan said.
“Family is a funny thing.” Leesa met Bailey’s gaze. Her soon-to-be sister-in-law winked. “We see our family not just through our eyes as they are but through our perspectives, holding on to all the emotions that have gotten tangled inside us over the years.”
“You’re absolutely right about that!” Alice pushed her way between her older brothers until she was standing directly in front of Jason. “You have no idea how happy I am to be here.” Then she flung her arms around Jason, who laughed, wrapped his arms around her, and lifted her off her feet.
Leesa’s jaw dropped. A quick scan showed her that most people witnessing the scene, including Phillip, Jason’s brothers, and Alice’s fiancés, Ian and Ken Kendall, appeared just as shocked as she was.
“We’ve been talking, Alice and I,” Jason said.
“And talking and talking.” Alice rolled her eyes. “And it helped. It’s funny how you can misinterpret things and then believe something that’s totally untrue.”
“I thought we agreed there would be no self-flagellation,” Jason said to her.
“We did. But since our talks, I’ve been thinking.”
“Alice.”
“Jason. What I’ve been thinking is that I did my part to poke at you, and I wasn’t totally above feeling sorry for myself sometimes.”
“Sometimes?” Logan said the word as if he was testing it on his tongue for the first time.
“Oh, you.” Alice gave her brother a mock punch in the arm.
“I’m so glad the two of you have talked.” Leesa slid her arm around Jason and gave him a hug. Here was the kind of man she wanted to pledge her life to, the kind who could re-examine himself and make changes.
Phillip was like that, too, and generally less wedded to being dogmatic. Jason was a bit less flexible, but that was fine. He could look at himself when the situation warranted. Could you really ask anything more of another person?
Leesa didn’t think so.
Rachel arrived, both her husbands in tow, which told Leesa that Brandon must have gotten off a little earlier than usual.
“I am so happy for you!” Rachel hugged her, as she always did, and Leesa knew her change—from lone woman to one with a best woman friend—was complete. Rachel’s hug was a solemn vow that, no matter what, she’d have Leesa’s back.
Brandon and Trace both gave Leesa a hug and shook her men’s hands. Then Rachel stood in front of Jason and Phillip.
“This woman is a saint! An angel!” She stepped just a bit closer. “Treat her well, or you will have me to deal with, and trust me…you don’t want that.”
Leesa snickered, which made Rachel snicker.
Then Jason and Phillip made her fall in love with them all over again. “She is a saint and an angel—and she’s ours. Thank you for being her friend.”
Jason kissed her cheek.
“If we fail in our sacred duty to Leesa, we’ll stand here and take whatever wrath you pour out upon us.”
Phillip and Jason kept their expressions penitent, and then, when Rachel laughed, they joined her.
“I think I’ll talk to Grandma Kate. That was a lot of emoting. Maybe we should create a theater group.” Trace Langley’s eyes sparkled with humor.
“Save us a seat,” Leesa told Rachel.
“We will.” She looked over her shoulder. “Ah, here come some people I met at Sunday supper, once.”
Leesa and her men looked out the window to where Rachel had been looking. “Here come your folks, Leesa, and…whoa...I think your entire family.”
Leesa grinned as her parents, followed by all her siblings, arrived. She’d had a long conversation with her parents the day after their lunch with her ex-husband. She’d told them about Lusty shortly after she’d moved here, so she didn’t think it was as much of a shock to her parents when she called to tell them about falling in love with two men named Benedict.
“My girl.” Caitlyn Shaughnessy Montoya wrapped Leesa in her arms, and Leesa sighed, soaking up endless motherlove, as she always did. She’d been in the army for fifteen years, during which visits with her folks were few and far between. And even though they lived not so far from each other now, and saw each other on a regular basis, she never let the opportunity to hug her mother pass.
“Daughter.” Her father, José, sometimes liked to try to be the gruff patriarch, but he usually failed miserably. He gathered her in close, and then, turning her, he kept his arm around her as he looked at Jason and Phillip.
“So, you wish to marry my daughter.”
“Oh, we more than wish to, sir. We need to. We are destined to. Leesa is the other half of me.” Jason offered his hand. “And she is more precious than rubies.” José shook Jason’s hand. She’d never quite seen that look on her daddy’s face before. If she’d thought about it, she might have thought Phillip would have the smoothest of tongues. But it had been Jason who’d been smooth and who showed an appreciation for her father’s sensibilities by quoting scripture.
“Leesa is the woman I’ve been waiting my entire life for, sir. I love her with all my heart, and with Jason, my best friend, I will guard her with my life and cherish her with all I have.”
José nodded at Phillip as he shook his hand.
“You are both men of character, and you plan to live here, in the midst of your family. This shows good intentions
