Page 30 of Sweet Music (Sugarville Grove #7)

BELLA

O n Christmas day, Bella sat at the big wooden table at the Lawrence farmhouse while Cody relaxed on the floor with Carl half across his lap, panting.

She wasn’t sure which one of them was more exhausted after such a big morning of exploring the farm.

Bella had watched out the window as the Lawrence kids ran all over the farm with Carl always at their heels, streaking between the trees, stopping to look at the cows, or catching the scent of some animal or another that had wandered the farm in the night.

By the time they came back inside, the humans pink-cheeked and Carl with his tongue lolling out of his mouth, they had all been ready for a big breakfast.

The kids downed the baked French toast Dulcie and Delphine had prepared for the morning meal in record time. And Maggie quietly fixed two scrambled eggs for Carl, which he practically swallowed down whole.

At this point, Bella figured the big dog had the right idea to take a nap. It was a Christmas miracle that any of the children were still awake. She looked around, recognizing that it was far from the only miracle in her life today.

It was hard to measure how much their world had changed over the last month, and almost impossible to believe that they were here as family, and that they might just be spending all their Christmases and Sunday dinners here from now on.

From the happy sounds of the other kids playing with their toys drifting in from the living room, to the rich scent of the steaming mugs of coffee, to the rustle of wrapping paper and murmurs of thanks as the adults unwrapped their gifts here at the kitchen table, the whole thing felt as over-the-top as some holiday rom-com.

But it also felt unmistakably like home.

More is more, she could hear Harper whisper happily in her mind.

“No way ,” Allie laughed, holding up a hand-knitted sweater and a heart-shaped brooch.

The sweater had the words Single and Taken emblazoned on the chest, each with a blank check box next to it.

“See,” Charlotte said, laughing. “You can just move the heart when you fall in love. It’s your turn next year. I can feel it.”

“I’ll probably never fall in love,” Allie said, her smile fading just the tiniest bit. “I’m too busy with teaching.”

“You might be surprised,” Zane’s wife, Becca, said from across the table. “When the time is right, sometimes it just happens . ”

Becca ought to know, she was a second-grade teacher herself, and had fallen in love with Zane while teaching his boys.

“Good point,” Allie mused playfully. “What handsome single dad in town has kids going into kindergarten next year?”

“No one ever says it’s going to be me next,” Tripp grumbled quietly.

Bella only heard him because Cash had excused himself from the table a moment ago, leaving a vacant chair between Bella and Tripp.

“Do you want it to be you?” she asked him, a little surprised.

Tripp Lawrence was sort of notorious for not wanting to be tied down. He liked to go out and have fun, and the women in town had all but given up on landing him in a serious relationship.

Tripp shrugged and then smiled at her, and the friendly smile morphed into something flirtier before he winked at her.

Bella stared at him, stunned.

“Leave her alone,” Cash said suddenly, sitting down between them. “Don’t you cause enough mischief with all the other girls in Sugarville Grove?”

“I’ve always got room for one more,” Tripp said, arching a brow before he cracked up. “Sorry, man, you know I would never. Bella, I’m just having a little fun with my brother. I know I can’t compete with Cash when it comes to you.”

“Darn right you can’t,” Cash said, nodding in a pleased way.

“One thing I still don’t get,” Tripp said, looking puzzled. “Why does the tattoo say Sweet Jane? Shouldn’t it say Sweet Bella?”

“That was my username,” Bella explained. “No one used their real name on the site where we met, so that’s how he knew me.”

“Sure, but why Sweet Jane?” Tripp asked.

“It’s a song by The Velvet Underground,” Maggie said on her way past with a tray of cookies. “But Bella’s name was probably more of a reference to the Cowboy Junkies cover from nineteen eighty-eight.”

“ Nice , Mom,” Cash said, looking impressed.

“What, you think you got all that interest in music out of thin air?” his mother teased him.

The other adult kids laughed, and Bella smiled and enjoyed the gentle banter among the family members. She did love that Cowboy Junkies cover.

But she had also named herself Sweet Jane because she knew what she was—a sweet girl, and a plain Jane—not the kind of woman who belonged in the indie music crowd.

At least she hadn’t thought so before, no matter what Harper told her, or what she tried to tell herself. But these days, she was starting to think maybe she’d gotten it wrong all along, and she might just belong right at the heart of the scene.

“Did you sleep okay?” Cash asked her quietly.

She nodded, feeling a pang of guilt. She had slept at the purple house in the room next to Cody’s while Cash had come back here to sleep in his parents’ guest room .

After their scorching fireside kiss, she’d actually been relieved when he headed out. The last thing she wanted was for either of them to be tempted to do anything out of character, or be in a situation where Cody had to wonder about it.

“You?” she asked.

“Of course,” he told her. “I always sleep like a dog.”

He looked over at Carl, who was completely out now, not even panting. The elderly dog had practically melted into Cody’s lap. But Cody gave Cash a questioning look, and when Cash nodded, he eased Carl’s golden head to the floor and scrambled up.

“Give me a second,” Cash said. “I’ll be right back.”

The two of them disappeared down the hall toward the living room, and she smiled as she looked after them. They might not be blood-related, but they had such a bond that they seemed to move like one entity sometimes.

“They’re amazing together,” Allie said, smiling over at Bella. “I’m so glad you all found each other.”

“Me too,” Bella said, smiling.

Cash had come by this morning to pick them up, and he’d sat Cody down to talk to him before bringing them back to his parents’ house.

He’d said they could tell the family about the paperwork, or not, Cody’s choice, but that he had to correct one thing he’d said the day before.

“I didn’t mean to make it sound like a biological dad doesn’t matter,” Cash said softly. “And if you want to find yours, I’ll help you with that.”

Bella had held her breath.

“Nah,” Cody had said right away. “Maybe someday. But I think having one dad is enough for now.”

She had fought back her tears when she watched the two of them embrace after that, and she smiled now at the memory.

But the rest of the table had suddenly gone quiet.

She turned to see that Cash and Cody were headed back in, each with an acoustic guitar.

“Bella,” Cash said, his deep voice sending a happy little shiver down her back. “Cody and I have something for you.”

Her cheeks heated as she realized everyone’s eyes were on her. But she smiled up at him anyway, knowing there was no one whose eyes mattered to her more than his and Cody’s.

Cody was grinning like he was about to reveal the world’s best-kept secret. Then Cash counted them down and both guitars came to life, a simple but beautiful melody warbling from the wooden bodies and filling the room.

“I’ve been trying to write this song forever,” Cash sang softly. “But the words wouldn’t come out right.”

Bella’s breath caught in her throat as she realized what he was doing. And then the rest of the song flowed out of him, a sweet, simple song about loving someone from afar and wishing they were close.

When they reached the chorus, Cody joined in, adding a harmony to Cash wailing out Bella’s name.

It was such a straightforward melody, but something about the song struck a chord in her—beyond knowing it was hers. This song felt timeless and universal, like all the old love songs that still moved people today.

At the end, there was a moment of awed silence, and then the whole family applauded.

“Bella,” Cash said, kneeling in front of her chair. “What did you think?”

“It’s beautiful,” she murmured, lost in his eyes.

“It’s yours,” he told her simply. “Everything I have is yours. If you’ll have me?”

Before she knew what was happening, he was holding up a shimmering little thing, and it was all she could do not to sob.

“You don’t have to say yes right now,” he told her quickly, a note of concern in his deep voice.

“ Cody ,” she whispered, looking to her nephew. She wouldn’t do this if it shook his hard-earned equilibrium.

“You should say yes,” the teen said with a smile. “Then we can all be Lawrences.”

That made her laugh, even as she recognized how right he was. Cash could adopt Cody officially, and they could both change their last names if they wanted.

But mostly she felt good because Cody was happy about it.

“What do you say?” Cash asked her. “Do you want to be my wife?”

“Yes,” she said then, without hesitation. “Yes, definitely.”

Cash smiled at her, looking so happy that it made her chest ache.

It wasn’t until he slipped the little ring onto her finger that she realized there was something funny about it.

She gazed down at the delicate band that looked like it was woven from the thinnest wire.

“I made it out of a guitar string,” he confided. “We’ll get you a real one tomorrow.”

She laughed and he pulled her close, kissing her with everything he had, with his whole family right there cheering them on.

“What do you think about a wedding as soon as possible?” he asked her quietly when he pulled back.

“Yes,” she agreed, gazing into the beautiful dark eyes of the man who had loved her for so long. “Let’s not waste another minute.”

But she already knew that no minute she spent with this man would ever be wasted.