“Not long enough,” Jeanie said with a laugh. “But we wouldn’t take it back if we could. Kids are extra, that’s for sure, but when you add that to ordinary, you get extraordinary, and you can’t imagine life without them.”
“I love that,” Camila said with a grin.
Kat had finished pouring the gelatin into the pans. She rested the spatula in the mixing bowl and grabbed onto the first pan.
“Here goes nothing,” she said.
“I’ve got pan number two,” Betzy said from behind.
Jeanie hurried over to the industrial-sized fridge and tugged open the doors. “And I’ve got the fridge.”
Kat moved with slow steps, watching as the green Jell-O tipped and swayed in the shallow pan. Gently then, she slid it onto one of the open shelves, and sighed once it was safely in place.
Betzy repeated the action with the second pan.
“Well,” Camila said, removing her apron and looping it around a hook on the pantry door. “We’re done with our part. Now, we can do one of three things. Help out with the shamrock toss, check on the guys and see how the treasure hunt’s coming, or kick up our feet while sampling some of my mint chocolate fudge.”
“I like option three,” Betzy said.
“Definitely,” Jeanie agreed with a laugh.
Kat stepped over to the sink, lowered a hand into the suds, and hollered over her shoulder. “I’m going to load these dishes real quick. I’ll meet you ladies on the couch in a sec.”
Secretly, she was hoping to catch sight of Zander through the back window. He was out there somewhere, walking among the trees with Duke, Craig, Sawyer and James at his heels.
She looked forward to seeing what they’d come up with for the kids’ treasure hunt. She’d been surprised that they’d offered to do it, in truth. Kat assumed that would be something the ladies would put their heads together for.
She spied traces of the hunt among the wooded area surrounding the cabin. Shiny green shamrocks, only half hidden, had been taped to the tree trunks. Splashes of gold caught her eye next—coins, she decided. They were scattered along the riverside, balanced on rocks, and even tucked into tree branches.
Kat finished up the dishes and dried her hands on the dishcloth. She couldn’t help but note the absence of the wedding ring each time. Shortly after their last live production, she’d returned that ring to Duke, but she looked forward to the day she could replace it.
Just as Kat stepped away from the sink, the cabin’s doorbell chimed. The kids, who’d been filling the space with exuberant cheers while playing the tossing game, quieted at once.
Kat spun to look over her shoulder.
“Who would that be?” Betzy asked while coming to her feet.
“I’ve got it,” Grandma Lo hollered from the front room. It was then that the back door opened as well. The men piled in one by one. Kat tipped her head to see around the group, and grinned as Zander finally appeared at the back of the pack.
“It’s a treasure hunt!” a small voice cried from the front. “We get to go look for treasure!”
More little cheers came.
Zander dodged the dining room table, then the island bar as he made his way to Kat, eyes pasted directly on her.
Oh, how he managed to get her heart racing. She bit at her bottom lip as he wrapped a warm hand around her back. “Princess,” he said, voice husky and low.
“Zander,” she purred next to his ear in reply. It turned out, he preferred she call him that over anything else.
“This is addressed to Kat and her little helpers,” Michael called from the front room.
Kat glanced over to see that everyone had filtered into the front entry of the cabin. “What?”
Zander gave her hip a squeeze. “We better go see what he means.”
Link, Lilly, and Ben rushed in as they headed toward the group.
“We’re going on a treasure hunt with Kat,” Link exclaimed, rushing alongside Zander to take his hand.
