Page 60 of Promised to the Cowboy

Daniel appears behind her and gently plucks the notebook from her hands.

“I haven’t even started the checklist,” Delaney objects, frowning at her husband. “I’ve got a list of birthing classes, car seats, bassinets, and?—”

Daniel raises an eyebrow. “Laney.”

She sighs. “Okay, I’ll wait until after lunch.”

Jenna slips her arm through Delaney’s. “Come on. Let the poor woman finish one meal before you organize the next eighteen years of her life.”

Delaney considers that. “That’s probably fair.”

I watch them drift back toward the kitchen together.

Daniel shakes his head affectionately while Delaney continues talking, clearly undeterred.

“You know,” he says, “it’s how she shows she loves people.”

I smile as the words settle warmly in my chest. “I know.”

A few weeks ago, these people were strangers. Now they’re making room for me like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

By the time we all sit down, the table has somehow grown.

Someone’s added leaves to it. Extra chairs have appeared from nowhere. Every dish seems to have multiplied while my back was turned, and I honestly don’t know how all these people are going to fit.

Somehow, they do.

Ben takes one end of the table, Jacob the other.

Henry and Shay sit together with Max between them in a highchair, where he’s determined to feed himself mashed potato with all the enthusiasm and none of the accuracy of a one-year-old.

Tom quietly swaps napkins with Kitty because Cheese Puff, the family goat, apparently stole one on the way through the kitchen.

Angus reaches for Luna’s hand beneath the table without looking, and she threads her fingers through his as naturally as breathing.

Daniel waits until everyone else has served themselves before reaching for the roast. Delaney notices Shay’s water glass is nearly empty before Shay notices herself and silently refills it.

No one thanks her. Not because they’re ungrateful. Because they all seem to take care of one another without keeping score.

Gabriel pulls out my chair before taking the one beside me. His hand brushes the small of my back for just a second. Checking. Always checking.

I catch myself smiling. Across the table, Shay catches it too. She doesn’t say a word. She just smiles into her own plate like she’s seen exactly what she hoped she would.

Conversation flows around me. Not one conversation. Half a dozen.

Tom is insisting Cheese Puff is smarter than most politicians. Kitty is arguing that’s setting the bar unfairly low. Ben is telling Max in complete seriousness that gravy is an essential food group. Henry is asking Daniel how the veterans’ program is settling in over at Stoneridge.

Daniel nods. “Three new vets last week.”

“How’re they doing?”

“Better than when they arrived.”

“Good.”

That’s all.

Nobody makes a speech about it or pats themselves on the back. Helping people seems to be as ordinary to this family as passing the salt.