just for the hell of it?"
Carrie grinned. "Exactly like that."
Country music, the volume turned low, played through the dining room of Lusty Appetites. Not long after she'd come to work for Kelsey, Carrie had helped with the engagement party for Michelle Parker and Joe Grant. At the time she hadn't realized that the cost of the party was paid for entirely by the town itself - or more specifically, the Town Trust.
She just remembered thinking at the time how wonderful it had been that so many people made the time to come and celebrate with Michelle and Joe.
And now here they all were at Lusty Appetites, guests of honor at their own celebration. Full circle, Carrie thought - to go along with her very full and happy heart.
It didn't surprise her that the first to arrive were the senior Benedicts. "Ah, look at you. You're positively radiant! " Abigail opened her arms, and Carrie went. In a short time she'd come to cherish her fiances' mother. Carrie thought she just might become addicted to the woman's hugs.
She'd never known how much she'd missed mothering until Abigail Benedict decided to lavish some on her.
"I'm so pleased you're joining our family," Abigail said. "I couldn't have picked anyone more perfect for my sons."
"Thank you, Abigail. Thank you for making me feel so welcome."
"How could I do anything else? You're a sweetheart, Carrie Rhodes. I think you and I are going to become good friends." She gave her sons and then her own husbands a sly glance. "I'm rather enjoying the fact that I now can claim three daughters. It means I'm not quite so outnumbered anymore."
Carrie knew there was nothing sexist in her statement. When she'd toured the museum the week before, one of the surprising facts she'd learned was that most of the children born in Lusty were boys. Apparently when Penelope Benedict had given birth to little Ellie, it had been the first time in several generations a girl had been born first.
Being few didn't in any way diminish the imprint the women of Lusty had made on the town's heritage, however.
Sarah Benedict and Amanda Jessop-Kendall had set the standard toward which every woman in the families strove.
Carrie had grown up without that sense of roots or family heritage. Both her parents had been only children, and while there had been plenty of family friends and social events before the tornado, afterward, there had been no one - certainly no one who bothered to keep in touch.
"Don't you believe Abigail." Michael Benedict, one of her future fathers-in-law, laughed. "The women of our family have always outnumbered the men, no matter the actual numbers."
He gave her a hug and for just a moment Carrie caught the wisp of a memory of another father's hug, this one buried in the past, the recollection abandoned as being too painful to draw on in the aftermath of grief. When she clung for just a moment, Michael held her tighter, and she thought he might have understood the emotion that had enveloped her within his embrace.
Carson Benedict was just as welcoming as his brother had been. Carrie didn't know Carson and Michael all that well yet, but she could already see from where her men got their sense of honor - and their sense of humor.
Julia Benedict arrived with her fiances in tow, and Carrie thought the woman already looked like a bride. Their Commitment Ceremony was going to be held next weekend. They'd waited so that Dev and Drew could use their leave for their honeymoon.
"I'm getting another sister!" Julia hugged her and grinned. "You, Maggie, Tracy, and I can go shopping together! We'll tap mom, too. Men" - she looked at both her lovers and her brothers - "as sweet as they are, just do not get the whole shopping thing."
"I'll look forward to it." Carrie loved the way both Dev and Drew focused on Julia, their devotion to her out there for everyone to see.
"You told us you hate shopping." Chase slipped his arm around her so he could speak privately. Standing on her right, dressed in crisp white cotton, fresh denim, and more sex appeal than should be legal, he simply stole her breath.
"I do, for the most part. But I think I'll like shopping, occasionally, with my new in-laws."
"Dayum, I love this woman," Brian said. He laced the fingers of his right hand with her left. Then he raised her hand to his lips and kissed it.
Richard, Kevin, and Trevor