Page 104 of Old Fashioned
“Shecan watch over you,” I said, putting an arm around Sydney. “ButIwill be your coach, and I’ll likely be harder on you than on any of the other players.”
“I can handle it,” she said, chin high.
“Oh, I don’t doubt that for a minute.” I held up my hand, and we did our secret handshake that lasted a full sixty seconds and ended with me throwing an imaginary ball to her and her throwing it down to the ground in a victorious touchdown dance.
Sydney rolled her eyes, ruffling her daughter’s wild curls once she was upright again. “We’re about ready to eat,” she said to all of us, then she turned back to her daughter. “Go wash your hands and help me bring the food out of the kitchen.”
Paige saluted, giving me a knowing smirk before she ran off toward the house.
My nerves came back at once.
It was a beautiful day for November — the sun high and warm, a few clouds floating by to give us brief moments of shade, and a cool breeze sweeping over the yard. It wasn’t too cold to be outside, though — which was a blessing, considering we had grown so much that we wouldn’t fitinsideanymore.
I took a seat at one of the folding tables, pulling out the chair next to Eli. He was in the middle of a riveting story that had Noah and Ruby Grace wide-eyed and leaning over the table toward him, anxious to know more.
I’d learned over the last few years thatallhis stories felt like that.
It had been easy, getting to know Eli and falling into a relationship with him. We spent a lot of time together, eating dinner or hanging out at football practice or me spending days on the job with him. He was getting older and needed the help, and I loved to see him in his element, helping people no matter their circumstances.
We’d been building our relationship for three years, and though I felt closer to him than I ever imagined I could be, I also learned something new every day.
What I loved learningmostwas about his family,myfamily, our ancestors and more. Because in addition to discovering him, I’d found that I had two aunts and five cousins who lived in Virginia, ones who I’d metlastThanksgiving when we joined them. I was finally able to explore all the pieces of what andwhomade me the man I was today.
At the table behind us, chatting with Mom, was Mary Scooter — myothermom.
Our relationship was a little more rocky.
We were trying, though it was stickier with us. She struggled with how she had left me with my adopted parents, though I’d assured her time and time again that it was the best thing she ever did for me. I loved my family, and I was blessed to have them — no matter the circumstances that landed me in their arms.
Still, Mary was in a dark place for a long time after Patrick was arrested. Everything fell into her lap then — the distillery, the Will, the flurry of court dates that had her testifying against the man she had loved and had children with. She was torn, there was no doubt about it, and we’d had little time to talk aboutuswhen so much of our focus had been on Patrick and Randy and everyone else involved in my father’s murder.
Slowly, things were getting better — especially since the case had finally been closed. Patrick, Randy, three firefighters, and four members of the distillery board were all serving prison sentences of varying lengths — Patrick for life, Randy for forty years which might aswellhave been life. And as much as it broke Mary’s heart that Patrick had been put away, I knew it brought her peace, too.
Mallory and Logan having little Tamara had sewed Mary even tighter into our family, and she and Mom worked well together as grandmothers. There was no way to say that little girl was anything less than spoiled by those two women. And the more time they spent together, the more we all saw their old friendship blooming again — one that had been tainted by a man no longer in our lives.
As for the distillery, Mary had been given charge of it, and after the history she’d had with the place, she wanted little to do with it in the end. She kept ten percent of the shares to live on and to remain on the board, but she signed the other ninety percent of the shares over to my family.
It’s what Robert would have wanted, she’d said.
Now, Mom sat on the board, too — along with Noah and Logan. Noah served as President, with Logan as Vice, Mom as Secretary, and Mary as Treasurer. Together, they named the other members of the board — those they could trust — and were steering Scooter Whiskey into a new direction, a new era, born of the Beckers.
“Mallory, are you ready for the big grand opening of your studio next week?” Ruby Grace asked as we all started to gather around the tables. Mom had lined them up into one long one that spread half the yard, and Paige and Sydney were delivering giant dishes of food from the kitchen. Mom and Mary had hopped up to help while the rest of us got settled.
“More than ready,” Logan answered for her, squeezing her knee with pride in his eyes. “She can’t shut up about it.”
Mallory pinched his side, leaning into his embrace next as they looked lovingly at each other. They’d morphed since becoming parents, and somehow dadhood had softened my brother. He wasn’t wound as tight as he used to be — probably because he realized no matter what he did, his daughter was going to get dirty and messy and probably mess up everything else in her wake, too.
As was the beauty of being a parent.
He and Mallory had just bought land on the west edge of town to build their first home together, and Mallory had also purchased the same spot on Main Street that her dad had once owned. It was where her first shop had been set up and then ripped away from her a month later, and it was where she would be re-opening again next week.
On her own, this time.
“He’s right,” Mallory admitted on a sigh. “I’m excited, to say the least. Although, it’s been a bit more challenging to get everything set up and ready to go with that little girl keeping me busy.” She nodded down the table to where Tamara sat on Kylie’s lap, Mikey playing peek-a-boo with her.
“Want me to come help this week?” Ruby Grace offered, then she rubbed her extremely swollen belly. “Honestly, anything to be moving and keep my mind off the fact that I’m about to pop is welcome.”
Mallory chuckled. “As long as you don’t pop on my new studio floor.”
