She laughed and waved her hand dismissively. “It’s just the cold air making my cheeks rosy.”
“Come on; let’s go back to the house where it’s nice and warm. Gabby, would you like some hot cocoa?”
“I’ll never say no to anything chocolate, Gigi,” Gabby replied and promptly climbed into the golf cart. Once we were all seated, Ronan drove us back to the house.
“It really is getting chilly out,” I noted and started pulling out the ingredients to make my special hot cocoa.
“Do you need help bringing the village downstairs?” Jacob asked.
“No, but thank you for offering. We brought everything downstairs last night.”
“We?” he asked with an arched eyebrow.
“Yes, we. Ronan helped me carry everything down and then Seth and Ian moved the furniture for me,” I explained.
Jacob nodded but didn’t comment further. “Okay then. Do you need help with anything else while I’m here?”
“No, I’m not going to get the rest of the decorations out until the day after Thanksgiving, and you’ll be here then to do it.”
“Seriously, Mom, call me next time. I can be here in an hour, hour and a half tops.”
“You know good and well I will never call you and ask you to fly up here to help me move something, especially at night. We might be rich, Jacob, but that’s far too exorbitant for me.”
“Well, the offer is always there if you ever want to use it.”
I patted his cheek. “Thank you, dear. I’ll remember that.”
A high-pitched squeal followed by raucous laughter had us all moving from the kitchen to the great room. Ronan had Gabby tossed over his shoulder and was spinning her in circles.
When he placed her on her feet, I instinctively said, “Gabby, be careful. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Just watch,” Keegan whispered.
Gabby proceeded to walk across the room in a perfectly straight line. She whirled around with a huge smile on her little face. “Told ya,” she said and held out her palm.
“You did,” Ronan said and pulled ten dollars from his wallet to place in her hand.
“Gabby,” Keegan scolded. “What did I tell you about betting?”
“That I couldn’t do it unless I asked for a twenty,” she pouted and handed the money back to Ronan as we all laughed.
“Did you tell her that, or did your grandfather tell her that?” Jacob grumbled.
“I told her that,” Keegan said, then mumbled, “after Ranger told me to.”
“Would you two like to stay for lunch?” I asked.
“Sure. We have some time before we need to head back to Croftridge.”
I was thrilled that my child was happy, but a large part of me wished he’d found that happiness closer to me so I could spend more time with the new additions to our family.
After lunch, Gabby and I sat on a bench in the garden and watched Jacob and Keegan take off. It gave me chills to watch, but Gabby loved it.
Once they were out of sight, we went back inside. “Are you ready to get started on the village?”
“Yes!” she almost shouted. “I have drawings in my notebook. It’s going to be so beautiful, Gigi.”
She sat down beside me with her notebook and started flipping through the pages to show me her plans. I was taken aback by how detailed they were. “You drew these? By yourself?”
