City to Sticks

Chapter Eighteen

18-Holly's P.O.V.

Five years later.

I sighed, standing in the middle of Gram's kitchen, now my kitchen apparently. She'd left it all to me. I'd grown to love this house, but I was having a hard time picturing living here, without her here. Gramps had been gone for three years and now Gram's heart had just stopped working during one of her afternoon naps. We'd buried her next to Gramp's two days ago. We'd met with an attorney this morning and I was told that the Triple H was now mine, well, mine and Jake's. After being told that, Jake had gotten up and left the room immediately. I'd noticed tears in his eyes before he stepped out.

Jake hadn't gotten around to buying us a farm yet and now he didn't have to. Gram's just handed us one. We'd basically been living out there anyway, after we'd gotten married last year. Grams hadn't been able to do much around the farm, these last couple years, so Jake and I had taken over most everything.

About the same time Jake and I got married, mom met a new man. He'd just moved to town to take over his Uncle's mechanic shop, when his uncle fell ill. They'd run into each other at the grocery store and had instantly hit it off. He'd asked mom out on a date, which apparently went very well, considering mom moved in with him only a few months later. I'd teased her about how fast they went, considering the numerous talks she'd given me over the years about how Jake and I were too young and moving too fast.

"I still can't believe this." Jake said, joining me in the kitchen.

I nodded, brushing tears from my eyes, "I know, me either. I can almost still feel her in here. It will be weird to try to step into her shoes."

Jake came over and wrapped his arms around me, "Are you going to be ok with living here?"

I nodded, "I think so. I mean, it's been my home for about five and half years now."

"It was nice of your dad to come to the funeral." Jake said, tentatively.

It was nice and I'd told my dad that very thing. He hadn't talked to mom much, other than to express his quick condolences, but it was still nice. Sheila and my brothers were with him. Cody was four and Conner had just turned two. They were the cutest kids in the whole world. Jake and I had visited as much as we could over the years. I'd slowly accepted Sheila, but only because she made a point of trying to give me time with my dad. If she'd been the selfish witch I'd originally thought she was, then it would have been easy to hate her. Instead, she was actually...kind.

I'd graduated from Seward and had found a building, on Main Street, in town for my salon. Hair-by-Holly had been open for almost two years now and business was good. I had four employees so far and wondered if I'd have to hire more. Jake had been working his hands to the bone some days for the last several years, but hadn't managed to save up enough to buy us our farm. His mom had been diagnosed with cancer three years ago and he'd help pay for treatments. The cancer was now in remission, thank God, but it's caused Jake to put his dreams on hold. Now, thanks to my Grams, his dream had come true.

I gave him a watery smile, "You know Grams never would have left the farm to me if I wasn't married to you, right?"

"Bullshit, your Grams loved you." Jake said, adamantly.

I nodded, "I know she did, but what would have been the point in leaving a farm to a stuck up, city girl? So if I hadn't been forced to move here, where I met you, I never would have been the type of person to deserve this farm. So in a way, you saved this farm. Because of you, capturing my heart, the farm gets to stay in the family."

Jake wiped at his own eyes now, "It's all surreal. It's slowly sinking in that I finally got my farm, but I'd give it back in a second if it meant your Grandmother could come back to us. Your Grandpa too, for that matter. They were both awesome people. They always saw the potential in me."

"They did. They loved you and they would have loved to get to know this guy." I tell him and place a hand on my belly. We'd just found out I was pregnant. We hadn't announced it to anyone yet and I was incredibly sad that neither of my Grandparent's would get to meet him.

"How do you know it's a boy?" He asked and placed his hand on top of mind, on my belly, "Maybe it's a girl."

I shook my head, "No, it's definitely a boy. A mother knows these things."

Jake smiled, "You're weird. You know that, Stormy?"

I chuckled, "Yes, but I'm your weirdo."

"Damn straight." He said and dipped his head to give me a sweet kiss.

"So what do you think Gracie will think about our little guy?" I asked, once Jake lifted his lips from mine.

Gracie was the daughter of Davis and Sage Campbell. They'd gotten married two years ago and Gracie surprised them by being conceived on their wedding night. They'd decided not to wait before starting a family, but hadn't expected it to happen quite that fast. Gracie was adorable and I'd done my best to spoil her.

"Gracie will love him or her. She's all about babies right now." Jake said, with a loving grin that told me he would be a great dad. He adored Gracie just as much as I did and had done his own spoiling.

As for Granger Owens, we hadn't heard from him in a while. He'd joined the military right out of high school and went off the grid for some time. Last we'd heard he was being deployed again. I couldn't picture fun-loving, jokester Granger Owens as a serious military man, but it sounds like that's exactly what he'd turned into. Sage, being his relative was a little more in the know and kept us appraised, but even she hadn't heard any word from him in months. It always worried me, not knowing if he was in danger. So I just prayed that he'd be home soon and we'd get to see him. He'd always been like another brother to Jake.

Speaking of Jake's brother's, they were eagerly awaiting instruction outside. Jake and I had talked about hiring them on. When we approached them about it, yesterday, I didn't think I'd ever seen more excitement, than I saw on their faces. Justin was now nineteen and had a dream just like Jake's. He wanted to own his own farm someday. He'd grown into quite the handsome young man and I knew he'd been driving several local girls wild. Jeremy was now fifteen and I could see that he'd be a ladies man someday as well. I could see them both through the kitchen window.

Jake caught me looking and glanced out as well, grinning, "They're super excited to be starting today."

I nodded, "I know. I'm glad we decided to hire them. When this boy makes me huge in a couple months I won't be able to help out much, for a while at least."

Jake shook his head and headed for the door. He called over his shoulder, "It could be a girl."

"It's a boy!" I hollered back.

"We'll see." Jake said with a chuckle as he exited the house.

Later that year...Hanson Jacob Larson was born. He was a healthy eight pound baby boy and was instantly adored by his parents, Jake and Holly Larson. Jake instantly decided they should have an even dozen, but Holly figured one or two more would be quite enough.