LITMIR.BIZ

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the lush green grass. With respectful faces, we stood huddled by the newly pruned maze.

      “Ready?” I asked and gave Mom’s hand a squeeze.

      “Ready.”

      Hand in hand we wandered through the entrance. Mom knew her way even after all these years. When we came to the middle, the large square, we stopped short. Mom gasped and covered her face. After a minute she removed her hands, and said, “It’s beautiful, Clio.”

      In the small square clearing at the center of the maze, we’d planted a bed, and laid a length of grass. In the middle of the grass patch sat a stone memorial bench with Tabitha’s name engraved on a gold plaque.

      Mom reached out, ran the pad of her finger along the plaque and said, “I’ll never forget you, Tabitha, but today I’m saying goodbye.” Her small shoulders shook with the effort of her farewells.

      Tabitha was gone but never forgotten. And now Mom could let the past go.

      Kai wandered over, a pot of roses in his hand. “Any place in particular?” he gently asked Mom, who pointed to a spot. He dug out the earth, and planted the pretty pale-peach rosebush. Mom had asked for a rose garden, and a rose garden she would have. The maze was a place of solitude for her now, a place to visit and reflect. Her days sitting in her cottage alone were over. She’d moved into one of the chalets, and spent her days with Isla, manicuring the gardens and the grounds – just like she’d always dreamed of doing. The work had made her stronger, in myriad ways, and her cheeks weren’t as hollow any more.

      Reaching forward I gave her a tight hug, glad to have her back in my life now. And grateful that we had made it through everything to be here today. Not quite the TV mother and daughter I’d pictured, but close enough.

      Pulling back she laid a hand on my cheek and smiled. “I’m just going to sit here awhile,” she said, shading her eyes from the spring sunshine, which we took as our cue to leave.

      As we left the maze behind us, Kai reached out to me. Hand in hand we walked back to the lodge, and took a pitcher of iced tea to the deck. Kai’s mom and dad were sleeping off their jetlag in one of the suites upstairs, and I was eager to show them around once they’d napped. They were a lovely couple; I’d spent two weeks last winter with them when we made a flying visit to Sydney, Australia. They’d promised us then that they’d come and visit Cedarwood, and here they were. I was proud of Kai – he was their boy again, and it didn’t matter that they were bound only by love, not blood. They were eager to see what Kai did, and where he lived, but I was more nervous about the secret we’d kept from them.

      It was getting harder to keep it secret, too, as each day went on and the weather grew warmer. Tonight, we’d surprise them all. Mom and Aunt Bessie were staying for dinner. They’d assembled the world’s biggest donut tower to wow Kai’s parents. Aunt Bessie was leaving Puft in Mom’s capable hands a week later because she was being interviewed for a segment on a cooking show with the potential to have her own show if ratings were good. It was mind-bending that my aunt had set Instagram on fire with her donut pictures. People adored her, worshipped the bubbly woman, and we had a constant stream of visitors at the lodge who came all this way to meet her in person. To know Aunt Bessie was to love her, and I was so proud of her. And Mom too. Mom still struggled being the center of attention in town, but she didn’t run and hide any more, just faced it head-on and smiled her way through it, claiming that each day it got a little easier.

      Cruz and Amory would also be joining us. They were eager to meet Kai’s parents, and eager to show off the newest edition to the family. Scotty the dog now had a sibling, a little fluffball named Hem. Amory worked hard planning parties, and keeping me sane at the lodge just like normal, but on Saturday afternoons she volunteered at the local dog shelter, and it lit her up from the inside out. While party planning would always be her passion, I think the work at the shelter grounded her.

      Even Micah and Isla were taking time out of their renovations to the new house they’d just bought and would attend dinner tonight. They worked at the lodge during the day, and spent most nights bashing down walls and then rebuilding them, hoping to get their house finished by summer. I could only imagine how amazing it would look once Isla planted a garden out front and Micah painted the new roof. Their wedding had been a hugely fun night, our bellies had hurt from laughter, and it was obvious how perfect they were for each other. When Micah had serenaded her, there hadn’t been a dry eye in the house. I was glad they were taking a night off their renovations tonight, because I wanted them to share in the special moment with us too.

      Summer was around the corner and the lodge was completely booked out for the season. We’d soon be run off our feet, which was very exciting – that and the secret we’d managed to keep thrilled me. I only had to keep my mouth clamped closed for a few more hours, and then I could tell my family and my friends. Finally! It had been torture not confiding in my best friends, but I figured our parents should all find out at the same time.

      Everyone would be together and it would be the perfect time for Kai to brandish the tiniest of hiking boots we could find, and tell our loved ones there was a baby on the way…

      When you know, you know.

      As the sun colored the sky saffron, Kai leaned over and planted a kiss on the soft swell of my belly, and I sent up a thank you to the universe. It was true: coming home had been the best thing I’d ever done…

       Christmas at Cedarwood Lodge

       Five years later

      The office door swung open with a bang, bringing with it the sound of Christmas carols and Cruz’s dark face. Amory moved quickly to hide the gift she’d only half-wrapped.

      “What is it?” I asked. Cruz was usually the epitome of cool, but something bothered him this fine Christmas Eve.

      “Have you seen the ham hock?”

      I pressed my lips together to stifle the laugh that threatened to escape. Ham hock? When no response was forthcoming from me he turned his steely gaze on Amory. “Well?”

      She shook her head, innocent eyes wide. Just then a little giggle carried from down the hallway. We did our best to ignore it, knowing quite suddenly where the ham hock had gone.

      “What did you need it for exactly?” I asked, buying time. The little giggle was edging closer, bringing with it the cheery notes of ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’.

      “I need the hock for soup; waste not, want not.” His words were clipped as they so often were, having given up on me and Amory eons ago when it came to our education in the culinary arts. The only part we were interested in was consuming the delicious dishes – quality control; we wanted no part in the making of them.

      “Didn’t we just eat our body weight in ham?” Amory asked. We’d been feasting on Christmas menus for the month of December in light of our festive season guests.

      “Yes,” he said, his voice huffy. “And the remnants would make a fine soup. Running a kitchen is all about budgeting and minimizing food waste…”

      Amory held up a hand, her eyes getting that particular glaze when Cruz tried to explain his position to her.

      Unbeknownst to Cruz, five-year-old Millie appeared, light shining on her blonde head like a halo, the perfect disguise for the little minx she was. In her hand was the vestige of the ham hock, or at least that’s what it appeared to be to my untrained eye. Either that or she’d been excavating the garden for dinosaur bones again, but perhaps not in such snowy weather. You never could tell with Millie, though.

      Cruz sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. “It was Millie again, wasn’t it? And she’s behind me, isn’t she?”

      Millie let her giggles spill out, and we soon followed suit. “Yes,” I said, lips twitching. She wore a bright-red Christmas onesie

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