Page 91 of A Heart Falls Cowboy Christmas

“Oh, really?” Lisa peered around at the small space. “Not much in sight.”

“Good.” Josiah pressed his hand to her lower back and slid their bodies together. He took her lips, a sweet, lingering kiss that lit her up inside and simultaneously made her want to laugh.

It was so them.

He broke the kiss and dipped her back, and Lisa was left completely supported in his arms. She knew she was safe and cared for by this man who’d become more than her best friend, the same way she was everything to him.

Josiah pulled her upright and grinned. “There. Our moment of quiet branding on the new hall. We belong here.”

“We do.” Lisa bounced a little with excitement as she tugged his hand. “Okay, time to overload on family and friends.”

They met up with Tamara and Caleb, rearranged children, then took off in different directions. Josiah and Caleb took the big kids to grab tables, Tyler, Mason, and Zoë all happily marching in a row. Lisa slipped Silas into a chest wrap while Tamara picked up Nathan.

Tamara laughed softly as they headed toward the kitchen area. “You’d think the guys hadn’t seen each other in days the way they pound each other on the back every time they meet. But Josiah was over at Silver Stone this morning.”

“It is funny, but I like it,” Lisa confessed. “I’m glad they had a connection before our family ties got involved, but I like to think it’s gotten even stronger after we showed up on the scene.”

“Of course,” Tamara agreed. She grinned at her sister as they pushed through the doors into the bright, clean kitchen. “We made everything that much better, don’t you know? Whiskey Creek women are magical.”

The kitchen was full to the brim with people doing the final prep on food to place on the buffet line in a few minutes. They chatted excitedly; laughter bounced around the room. With their holiday best on, the entire room and the people sparkled.

Karen was at one of the long silver counters, cutting buns before dropping them into a massive bowl. “I heard that magical comment, and I have to agree.”

“What are we agreeing with?” Beside her, Julia lifted a massive pan from the oven then placed it carefully on the hot pad so she could stir meatballs into the hot gravy.

Another amazing connection that had bloomed right here in Heart Falls. The fourth of them, Julia was one hundred percent family now.

Lisa gestured to all of them. “That the Whiskeyteers make life better, no matter where they go.”

“Aww.” Tamara pulled a salad from one of the oversized fridges. “That name still makes me feel as if I need mouse ears, but the sentiment is perfect.”

Karen draped an arm around Lisa’s shoulders and squeezed. “We might not be Colemans anymore, or from Whiskey Creek, but you’re right. What we’ve got here is pretty magical.”

An hour later, Lisa was still buzzing, but at a lower level. Her stomach was full of great food, her head stuffed with conversations, and contentment covered her from head to toe.

Even while she and Josiah wrangled their children, ate the food shared by neighbours and friends, Lisa soaked it all in. The moments when a person would pause, look around the new hall, and a smile full of happiness and hope would bloom.

She noticed the conversations and connections. The ones that made sense and the ones that surprised her.

Like Dustin and Cody at the table next to theirs. The two men were ten years apart in age but had come together over the past year in a way that made perfect sense. Their wives, Charity and Fern, being best friends was the catalyst, but the men—both younger brothers, both with giving hearts—had grown in the direction they’d needed to and arrived in a good spot.

Josiah’s words from earlier that night repeated in her head. We belong here.

She and Josiah absolutely did. So did so many others.

In a room filled with babies, food, decorations, and total holiday chaos, they had built more than a community hall. They’d built a community.

Not the one where she grew up, but one that fit even better because she’d gotten to grow with it over the past years.

Heart Falls was absolutely home. That was a sweet thought.

“You’re smiling hard,” her dad noted. Mason was perched on his right leg, working on a colouring page.

“Am I?” Lisa splayed a hand over Silas’s back. Under her palm, her baby’s contented breaths made his little back rise and fall slowly. “Guess I’m feeling grateful for a ton of things. Including you,” she added.

His face lit up. “Love you.”

And that was another bit of holiday perfection. “Love you, too, Dad.”