Page 39 of Autumn By the Seashore

“This is strawberry,” Samantha’s boyfriend said in awe, as if that fact was recommendation enough.

They continued to eat and talk and laugh, turning the sampling into a loud, joyous affair. Dean felt delighted to be surrounded by his family and their enthusiasm, even though no one seemed to be able to agree on which cake was the best.

He watched Cooper feeding Macey little pieces of cake and her ecstatic reactions, the way Grayson carefully pulled crumbs of cake from Alexis’s hair after Cash got a little too wild and threw cake at his mother, and he couldn’t help chuckling when he saw the way Jacob was eyeing Samantha’s boyfriend with a hawk-like, protective expression.

Hazel, however, was watching her daughter giggle with her boyfriend over the cake with an expression of glee that showedhim she’d decided the young man was more than trustworthy. Dean was glad to see that her former insecurities about Samantha growing up and starting to become interested in boys had vanished.

Dean blinked back tears of joy as he gazed around at his loving family.Everyone is doing so well,he thought.I’m so happy we’re all here to support each other. Without them, I don’t think I’d be doing as well as I am. They nudged me to get the surgery and they’ve been supporting my mind and my body while I recover.

He thought about the money his father had left, and the way his mother had decided to split the money amongst her children. The fact that she wanted to help them all in some way seemed like a perfect representation of the way the Owens family always pulled together and looked out for each other. A sweet, achy feeling filled his chest, and he knew he wouldn’t want any other life besides the one he had, no matter the obstacles he’d had to face.

“What is this one?” Faith asked, looking floored after sampling one of the cake flavors. She leaned forward and peered at the label. “French silk?”

“Yes!” Hazel said, lifting up her own little slice of the flavor. “Isn’t it incredible?”

“So good.” Faith shook her head in awe. “I absolutely love this. I’m definitely going to have to keep it in mind for my and Ryan’s wedding.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she gasped and clapped her hand to her mouth.

Everyone froze and stared at her.

“Oh no, I can’t believe I let that slip out,” Faith said, still keeping her hand half-covering her mouth.

“Wedding, as in –”

“Faith!”

“Do you have something to tell us?”

“What do you mean, wedding?”

“Are you ENGAGED?” Samantha bellowed.

Faith blushed a rosy pink and pulled off the pink fingerless gloves she’d been wearing, which had hidden her engagement ring. “We were going to tell you all soon,” she said, laughing breathlessly and holding up her hand. “But we wanted to wait a little while first. We didn’t want to steal Dean and Noelle’s thunder.”

Everyone erupted into cheers, and Faith was soon in the center of a giant group hug. Once the initial hubbub had calmed down and everyone was talking and laughing, Noelle wrapped her arms around Faith and rocked her back and forth.

“You’re a sweetheart,” she told her. “Why would you worry we’d feel that way? This news makes our upcoming wedding all the more thrilling—I love weddings best when I know there’s going to be another one soon.”

“We’re so happy for you,” Dean said, embracing Faith in turn. “Ryan almost deserves you. I can’t wait for him to officially become part of the family.”

Faith beamed. “I can’t wait either! He loves you guys. We have the best family.”

Dean grinned, knowing that he completely agreed with her. “Hey, everybody,” he said, “we’re going to be here longer than we thought—now we have to pick out two wedding cake flavors instead of one!”

“Somebody get Ryan down here,” Jacob said, grinning.

He’d meant it as a joke, but in the end, it happened. Faith called Ryan and asked him to stop by the bakery to help them all sample cakes, and he swung by a few minutes later. Since everyone had been careful to only sample small slices of all the cakes, there was plenty for second and third tastings of the various flavors. Dean and Noelle decided to get the chocolate raspberry cake they’d thought of on the way there, but with theFrench silk filling as well. Faith and Ryan said they were going to keep deliberating, but they seemed delighted to have gotten a head start on picking the cake flavor for their wedding.

As everyone spilled out of the bakery together and took deep breaths of the spicy autumn air, Dean and Noelle shared a tender kiss.

“I can’t wait to marry you,” she whispered.

“Right back at you,” he whispered back.

As he smiled down at his fiancée and then looked up at his happy, chattering family, Dean knew that he was looking forward to even more than that.

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