He took her in his arms and kissed her gently. “Thank you for doing this for us. I can’t wait to move in here with you and begin our fresh start together.”
“You’re so welcome. I can’t wait either. I?—”
She was about to say more, when Hazel, Dean, and Julia burst out onto the balcony.
“Surprise!” Julia said, holding up a large gift basket filled with goodies. “Welcome to your new home!”
“What—how—” Alexis stammered, and Grayson laughed.
“We made this for you,” Hazel said proudly. “We were hiding it in the cupboards downstairs when you almost caught us. As you know, I’ve been perfecting my gift basket making skills recently, and we all chipped in to buy little things for you. There’s scented hand soap for the bathrooms, little towels, tea, coffee, chocolates, cookies already in this adorable cookie jar we found, fridge magnets, and all kinds of other little things we thought you might need.”
“Thank you so much,” Grayson said, taking it from her. “Look, Alexis, this is your favorite type of chocolate.”
“We love you guys,” Dean said, beaming at them. “We’re so happy you found this place. We know you’re going to be very happy here.”
“And you’ll have to be sure to invite us over for meals a lot, because I’m going to miss eating with you,” Hazel said, laughing and wiping away a tear.
Alexis pulled her siblings and Grayson into a group hug. “Of course we will. Thank you guys so much. We love you too.”
Everyone murmured expressions of love and well-wishes, and Alexis met Grayson’s eyes through the hug. They smiled at each other, and she felt almost overwhelmed with happiness. She knew that the next chapter of her life was going to be wonderful, and she felt so grateful that she was going to have not only her husband but also her family by her side.
