Page 48 of Over the Moon (Rosewood River #3)

. . .

Clark

“How are you feeling, honey?” my mother asked, as I came up behind her and wrapped her in a hug.

I loved Thanksgiving. It was all about family and good food and football.

I was grateful the NHL never had games on Thanksgiving Day. We had a home game yesterday, and my entire family had come to the city for it.

We had a rocky start to the season, but we were finding our footing. It was a marathon, not a sprint, as we played eighty-two games over a seven-month period. We had time to build and allow our new younger players to find their rhythm.

“I feel good.” I kissed her cheek before stepping back and snatching a piece of celery off the charcuterie board.

Music hummed through the sound system, and Melody and Cutler were sitting at the kitchen table with Emerson, Eloise, and Aunt Isabel, decorating sugar cookies.

Archer, Axel, Bridger, Rafe, Easton, Nash, Lulu, and Henley were all playing pool in the game room, and Uncle Carlisle sat at the bar with my father in a heated game of backgammon.

“That was a great game yesterday,” she said, turning and wiping her hands with a dish towel. “You played well.”

“Thanks, Mama. I loved that you were all there.”

“Nowhere else we’d rather be.” She winked. “Although I think you’ve swayed Cutler from wanting to be a boxer like his uncle Romeo to wanting to be a professional hockey player now.”

“Yo, Beefcake,” I said, moving to the table to sit with them.

“Yo, Uncle Clark.” He chuckled.

“Word on the street is you want to be a hockey player when you grow up.”

“I think it would be cool to be a hockey player, just like you.” He smiled, with orange frosting on the tip of his nose. “Uncle Romeo said I shouldn’t be a boxer ‘cause we don’t want to ruin this handsome face.”

Emerson’s head tipped back in laughter. “It’s a very reasonable point. I love this little face of yours exactly how it is.”

“Well, bad news, Beefcake. I got an elbow to the cheek yesterday, so hockey isn’t necessarily the safest profession.” I smirked, and the little dude looked up at me with a wide grin on his face like it was great that I had a bruise beneath my eye.

“I think you look cool.” He beamed.

“And I think you want to be a hockey player because sweet Gracie Reynolds told you hockey players were cool,” my sister said, her voice teasing.

“That’s your friend from Cottonwood Cove, right?” I asked, remembering that’s where his uncle Romeo’s brother, Lincoln Hendrix, lived. He was a professional football player, and we were all fans of his. His wife had a large family that Cutler had grown close to.

“Ahhh… it’s always about a girl, isn’t it?” I leaned back against the cushioned banquette, as Eloise turned to look at me. Her cheeks were pink from the glass of wine she was sipping, and she smiled at me.

“I like Lolo’s new necklace,” Melody said. The little angel had orange and red icing all over her fingers, as she tried over and over to pick up individual sprinkles to place on her cookie.

Eloise placed her fingers over the little gold moon charm, resting just between her collarbones.

“Uncle Clark gave this to me this morning.” Her teeth sank into her bottom lip.

“Had to get my girl something to celebrate our first Thanksgiving together.” I wrapped an arm around her shoulder and kissed her cheek.

“You two like moons, huh? I like moons, too,” Cutler said.

“Well, I’m over the moon for my girl, so it seemed fitting. And you should always be over the moon when you give your heart away.” I winked at Eloise, and she leaned against me and smiled.

My mom, sister, and aunt Isabel were all swooning over the necklace, and Cutler gave me a smirk as if to say good job.

The buzzer rang on the oven, and my mom and aunt were on their feet as if it were suddenly go time. Emerson joined them, just as everyone came out of the game room and jumped in to help.

The turkey was done, the sides were all carried to the table, and we all gathered around the large dining room table, taking our seats.

My father and Uncle Carlisle were filling wine glasses, food was being passed from one person to the next, and Lulu started laughing as she held her phone up.

“Well, looky here. I just got a notification that the Taylor Tea did a special Thanksgiving edition, and it’s all about a certain couple sitting at this table, if I’m reading between the lines.”

Bridger groaned. “Now she’s taking over Thanksgiving. I’d like to eat my turkey in peace.”

“I want to hear what it says,” Cutler said, waggling his brows.

“Beefcake, you’re breaking my heart,” Bridger grumped.

“I thought you didn’t have a heart,” Rafe said teasingly as Bridger chucked a dinner roll at him from across the table.

“Hey, knock that off. And for the record, Bridger has the biggest heart beneath that grumpy exterior.” My mother blew him a kiss.

“Okay, let’s hear it,” Easton said, passing the stuffing to Henley.

“All right. I’ll do the honors,” Lulu said as she glanced down at her phone and cleared her throat dramatically.

“ Hey there, Roses. It’s the Thanksgiving edition because we have so much to be thankful for.

Booze and Brews is doing a Thankful Happy Hour on Friday and Saturday this weekend, with line dancing and two-for-one drinks.

The Honey Biscuit Café has made a big announcement…

They will be bringing honey biscuits to the menu . ”

Easton fist-pumped the sky. “It’s about damn time.”

“This is really riveting literature,” Bridger grumped as he poured gravy over his entire plate and then poured a little bit on Melody’s mashed potatoes.

“Continue, I love this,” Henley said.

“ But the most exciting news is that our favorite Rosewood River family seems to be very busy right now. Looks like we misread the hockey team owner and billionaire who came to town and appeared to want to sweep our favorite newcomer off her feet… because our favorite hockey star got the girl. Apparently, when she’s not training him or healing his wounds, she’s busy stealing his heart.

Sorry, ladies, another bachelor bites the dust ,” Lulu said dramatically. “Gahhh… I love this!”

“They’re talking about you two,” Cutler said over a mouthful of potatoes as he pointed at me and Eloise. “They must know that Uncle Clark is over the moon.”

Everyone chuckled, and Bridger folded his hands together. “Are we finished with the ridiculous gossip column now?”

“Nope. There’s a little more. Continue eating, and I’ll read the last paragraph,” Lulu said, taking a sip of her wine before setting her glass down.

“ Speaking of eligible bachelors who have flown the coop. We all know another member of the family fell hard for his lovely lady, who is famous for her style and jewelry. ” Lulu squealed.

“They are clearly talking about us, Rafael.”

“They sure are, baby,” Rafe said, as he leaned over and kissed her cheek.

“Okay, last part.” She smirked at Bridger, and then her eyes moved back to her phone.

“ But word on the street is, this particular man was seen with several family members in the city at a different kind of jewelry store. From what I’ve heard from my sources, he purchased an exquisite engagement ring, and wedding bells are in their future .

” Lulu paused, eyes wide as she turned to look at Rafe.

The table went completely quiet.

You could hear a pin drop.

“What? You bought a ring?” she whispered.

“Un-fucking-believable,” Bridger hissed, and my mother shot him a warning look, as did Archer and Emerson, but the fact that the Taylor Tea had just outed Rafe’s surprise engagement was more pressing than Bridger dropping an F-bomb at the dinner table, apparently.

“I, er, I—yeah, well, it was supposed to be a surprise.” Rafe took her hand in his and shrugged.

“You bought me a ring, Rafael!” she shouted and lunged forward on top of my brother, causing his chair to fall backward and hit the floor with her on top of him.

“Well, I guess the jig is up,” Rafe said over his laughter. “And if I can live without you causing me permanent injury before I propose, it will be a miracle.”

Laughter erupted around the table.

“Someone get this man another malachite stone,” I said, pulling Lulu to her feet and helping my brother up.

“You can still surprise her with the way that you propose,” my father said.

“Eloise, did you mention to Emilia that we’d all gone with Rafe to look at rings?” Bridger asked, not hiding his anger that they just shared this in the newspaper.

“I may have mentioned it, but I can’t remember,” Eloise said, glancing between Bridger and Rafe. “But I promise you, Emilia is not writing this column.”

“I agree,” Henley said. “And anyone could have heard about it. You guys do draw a lot of attention when you’re all together.”

“We were in the city. We didn’t shop here in town.” Bridger arched a brow, glancing around the table. “Start paying attention to all the information they have about us. It’s an inside job.”

“It isn’t Emilia because if it were her, she wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise for me, so that makes me 100 percent certain it is not her,” Lulu said.

“And it’s fine that they wrote about it.

We’ve talked about getting engaged. I just didn’t know you bought the ring yet.

There’s still plenty of surprises to come. ”

“Agreed,” my mother said. “It’s still a wonderful celebration, and we have so much to be thankful for.”

“We sure do. Let’s raise our glasses,” Dad said, holding up a glass as we all did the same. “Cheers to our growing family. To all the exciting things we have to look forward to. To love, to laughter, to making memories.”

“Salut!” we all shouted at once.

I leaned over and tugged Eloise close to me. “Love you, Weeze. Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Cheers to many more, Hotshot.”

“Count on it.” I tipped her chin up and kissed her.

Just like I planned to do every day for the rest of my life.