“She didn’t have time to nest.” Jaxi stole Forest from Ashley and cradled the teeny baby against her chest, sighing contentedly. “Now it’s not nesting but organizing. Admit it. You want these things out so you can have more room for art supplies.”
Ashley raised a hand in the air. “Nope. I confess. I have decided to become a clothes hound. I need way more closet space for all the shoes I plan to buy.”
Laurel snickered so hard she ended up gasping for air. Ashley helpfully patted her on the back until the younger woman wiggled away with a laugh. “See, if you’d said rubber boots, I might’ve believed you.”
It took a couple more minutes to get set up, Allison ordering Melody around. “Put the damn box down, pregnant lady. Jeez. You need to stop with the heavy lifting.”
“I’m pregnant, not broken,” Melody complained, but she settled and offered Ashley a wink.
“You’ll be tied up and duct-taped to a chair in your house if you go out on another vet visit,” Laurel said slyly. “Or so I heard Steve threaten after your little adventure the other day.”
Melody rolled her eyes. “I helped deliver kittens. It was not physically demanding.”
Allison patted her arm gently. “It’s hard to stop when you love your job. But go near anything bigger than a kitten, and the entire clan will intervene.”
“I know.” Melody rubbed her small baby bump. “I promise I’ll be good, kiddo, and it’ll be worth it.”
Boxes were opened, and Jaxi began passing out the contents. “Sort into garbage or history first, and later we can create family piles to deal with.”
Conversation continued, quiet and full of everyday things, including lots of discussion of the eclectic mix of items in the stash before them.
“Do we need a grocery list from sometime in the 1960s?” Laurel asked.
“Does it have the prices listed next to it? Because that would be cool, although it would probably break my brain and make me sad at the same time.” Melody leaned over her shoulder. “Nah. It’s just a list.”
“A lot of beans,” Laurel pointed out.
“Dangerous,” Jaxi said, and they all hummed in agreement, which caused laughter to start all over again.
An aged envelope slipped from between the pages of a journal. “Oh look, Canada Post has arrived—” Ashley pulled out a single, torn-edged paper and read quickly. “Oh, dear.”
She got an awful lot of attention with that small, quiet phrase. Four sets of eyes were on her instantly, waiting.
“I take it it’s better than a list of butter and beans?” Melody asked.
“I’m not sure…” Ashley hesitated then turned to Jaxi. “You read it and decide if it’s for public consumption.”
“Oh. It’s one of those kinds of letters.” Allison glanced at Laurel. “Cover your ears, sweetie. We don’t want to corrupt you.”
Laurel lifted a hand and very carefully raised her middle finger at her sister-in-law even as she blinked innocently.
Meanwhile, Jaxi had been examining the note. “It’s not a dirty message. But it’s definitely intriguing.” She glanced around. “Family secrets stay family secrets, right?”
Melody drew an X over her heart. “Now you’ve got me curious.”
Jaxi laid the note on the table, pressing it flat, and they all leaned in to read it themselves.
I never knew it was possible to be so happy and so confused at the same time. I’m not sure why I’m torn. I know I love him, completely and thoroughly, which means having any kind of feelings toward his brother is wrong.
A soft whistle escaped Laurel’s lips. “Oh dear is right.”
“Well, that’s a bit of an unexpected twist.” Ashley glanced at the pile she’d been digging through. She lifted her gaze to Jaxi’s. “There’s a whole lot of Six Pack ranch pictures in here.”
“Marion?” Jaxi shook her head briskly then paused, confusion slipping into her eyes. “Nah. It couldn’t be Marion.”
“Well, given that we’re going through boxes of Coleman memorabilia, it’s one of the aunts.”
“Or a great-aunt,” Laurel pointed out. “You know how everybody gets handed the bits and pieces from past family. They tend to shove it all together then ignore it.”
Allison was nodding. “That makes more sense considering it’s just a loose page all by itself. It’s not the kind of thing someone would leave lying around. Maybe they tore it out of a journal and planned on destroying it.”
The mysterious note was put aside when Melody hit the jackpot and discovered a huge collection of pictures in another box. “Somebody made notes on the back, which I know is terrible for archive quality, but thank goodness for our sake, because otherwise it’s like a million pictures of Uncle Mike and nobody else.”
“Ha—they do all look like Uncle Mike back then.” Laurel examined the pile of pictures she was handed. “Oh, that’s the Angel ranch. I recognize the roofline.” She flipped through the pictures. “It’s before they added the deck, and look—”
Ashley leaned in and whistled. “Auntie Dana. Look at the hottie.”
She snickered as Jaxi absently smacked her on the shoulder. “Stop objectifying our aunt.”
“Just saying.” Ashley stole the pictures and fanned them out on the table. “Hubba-Hubba.”
“You’re terrible,” Laurel complained. “I want to give these to my mother-in-law, but now the entire time I’ll be thinking about how you would’ve hit on her.”
“Whoever took the pictures was definitely hitting on her, and she didn’t mind one bit,” Ashley offered gleefully. “That is a very I’m thinking dirty thoughts about you look in her eyes.”
Laurel put her hands over her ears. “La la la la la la la.”
Laughter burst free. Jaxi laid a hand on Laurel’s shoulder. “Ashley promises to behave herself and not be a terrible sex fiend anymore.”
“Maybe only for the next half-hour or so. I don’t want her to break anything,” Laurel said as she took the pictures back. “These were taken on the rise behind the main house. That crocus field has been there forever, and every spring, it goes wild.”
“I wonder where the wild roses are, though,” Allison said. She picked another picture and waved it. “I like this one even better. Auntie Dana is surrounded by a sea of pink. It’s beautiful.”
Laurel nodded thoughtfully. “You know—her signature perfume is wild roses.”
“That’s neat,” Ashley said. She frowned. “How come I don’t have a signature perfume?”
“Sure, you do,” Melody said. She kept working on the stack in front of her, but her grin slowly widened. “Eau de Testosterone. Aftereffects from those two cavemen you hang out with.”
Which wasn’t all bad, although Ashley was going to give some more serious consideration to real alternative. Something that was a little more floral and less dirt, sweat and sex appeal.
Not that she had a problem with that combination…
She turned back to the women and the task at hand and let the sweet goodness of life wash over her in continuing waves. Mysterious Coleman histories would be chatted about with her guys when they got home.