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W hen Doreen woke the next morning, she had a beaming smile on her face. As parties went, it had been something else. Even Nan had called her late last night and exclaimed there would never be another party like it. And she congratulated Doreen several times, then thanked her for making Nan the best party-maker ever.

Doreen had barely even figured out what she was talking about, but apparently everyone enjoyed such a slam dunk of a time that it would go down as one of the greatest events the town had ever seen. And the fact that Doreen had somehow managed to solve an unknown cold case during all that madness had made it that much better.

She rolled over and grinned to see the animals all tucked up in bed with her, all the excitement of last night having completely worn the whole lot of them out. In the dim recesses of her mind, she heard her phone ringing.

She picked it up and saw it was Nan.

“Are you awake, my dear?”

“I am now, but the good news is, I woke up a few minutes ago.”

“Oh, good. I think that was an absolutely fantastic party, don’t you? Shall we have another for New Year’s Eve?”

“Oh, goodness.” Doreen moaned. “It’ll have to be a plain Jane party, without solving a cold case, if that’s what you’re talking about. I’m not going through that again.”

“Are you sure?” Nan asked, disappointment weaving through her words. “It was such fun.”

“Maybe, but I couldn’t even begin to repeat that.”

“Oh, we don’t want to redo it at all,” Nan explained, “but everybody voted this morning, and they were absolutely thrilled. Of course, there was also a betting pool set up for whether you would get a confession out of Miriam, and I’m happy to say Richie won that one. Then we had a really big Christmas pool as to whether Mack would finally get around to pulling the pin on that proposal, but the winner was Thaddeus, and we’re all still really confused about that.”

“How did that happen?” Doreen asked.

“We did allow for a couple people to come in from outside Rosemoor to put in bets for other people that they cared about. Thus the name on the winning card… is Thaddeus.”

After Doreen ended the call with her grandmother, she was revved up and happy inside, as she eyed the huge twinkling ring on her finger. Mack explained that he had it made from stones found among the cache of jewels they’d discovered at Mack’s mother’s place.

When his mom phoned a little bit later, Doreen was so thrilled and full of joy that she could barely contain it.

“Since the garden has not needed any work lately, I’ve been missing you terribly,” Millicent shared. “I was so hoping to come up with an excuse to have you come visit, and yet I just couldn’t come up with anything.”

“How about you just tell me that you would like a visit?” Doreen suggested.

“But you are always so busy. Plus, you were hurt there for a while.”

“I’m fine now, so how about I come over a little bit later today?”

“That sounds lovely,” she cried out in joy.

After hanging up from that call, Nick phoned her and congratulated her.

“Did you know ahead of time?” she asked suspiciously.

He laughed. “I knew it was on Mack’s mind. Apparently that was the real purpose for the party, so everybody could show up. And I know you won’t believe it because you didn’t see me there, but I was there too.”

“No way. Were you?”

“I was, and Mom was too. We saw the whole thing but had to stay hidden or you might have figured it out beforehand. Yet Mom felt a bit under the weather, so I had to take her home early. Still, a part of me is incredibly jealous of the chaotic and overwhelmingly joyful life Mack will have with you. But another part of me thinks there’s a lot to be said for peace and quiet.”

She laughed. “And yet some of that stuff is completely overrated.”

“It is, indeed.”

When he ended the call, she got up, made coffee, then glanced outside and winced because it looked so cold. Only a few more days until the Christmas season was truly over, and then it would be a whole new year. She smiled as she thought about it. So much had happened, so many good things over this year, and she could never have imagined her life a year ago, ending up like this.

When she heard her front door open, and warm hands wrapped around her and tugged her up close, she leaned back and smiled. “Good morning.”

“Good morning,” Mack said, as he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. His cheek was cold, and she laughed. “I gather it’s chilly out there. I was looking to see if I wanted to step outside.”

He chuckled. “No, I don’t think you do. It’s definitely on the chilly side this morning.”

She nodded. “I can see that.” She turned, wrapped her arms around him, and gave him a big hug. “There’s fresh coffee.”

“Now that is what I’m talking about,” he said, as he let her go and walked over and poured a cup.

“I hope we don’t have to make wedding plans anytime soon,” she muttered worriedly.

“No. Not at all. No pressure.”

“Are you kidding?” she asked. “Your mom and your brother have already called me this morning.”

He grinned. “Yeah, they’re both pretty excited.”

“You’re not kidding, and honestly, so am I.”

He looked up, a broad smile on his face as he nodded. “Now that’s good to hear.”

“You won’t stop me from trying to solve these cases, right?”

“No, I won’t stop you from trying to do anything,” he replied, with a headshake. “That’s not the business I’m in.”

She smiled and nodded. “So, do you have another case?”

“No,” he stated, turning, his gaze narrowed at her. “I don’t have another case.”

“Okay,… I guess I can live with that.”

“And you can live with it,” he pointed out. “How about a deal? No new cases until the new year, okay? We’ll have a nice, quiet Christmas.”

“Sounds good to me,” she muttered.