So that evening when Ana appeared? When she backed into the driveway?
She didn’t come alone. No, she brought a veritable army with her.
Quinley watched, her entire body beginning to quiver with emotion as Ana got out and opened the rear gate and doors. Quinley gasped, spying Ana’s packed to the gills Rav4.
Elias’s truck backed into the yard next, with what looked to be a round dining table and chairs inside. Then Cole’s Wrangler, then one of those rent-by-the-day moving trucks and two other vehicles.
She couldn’t see the crowd across the street anymore but knew they had to be as curious as she was at what was happening. The front of the house was shielded from view by the height of the vehicles parked tightly together.
The door opened to Elias’s Gladiator, but he wasn’t the young man who emerged. Quinley fought her disappointment at the sight, then searched the tall, dark-haired men getting out of the other vehicles. But no sign of Elias.
Ana greeted Axel warmly, and Dawson appeared from next door, a petite brunette at his side. They also nodded to the guard, setting the guard at ease with low murmurs.
Quinley left the window and moved to the door, opening it as two more women joined Ana at her Rav while the men began to lower rear gates and compartments and unloadfurniture.
Even more surprising was that some of it looked familiar. What on earth?
Quinley stood frozen, shocked and unable to process what was happening—until Cole carried the first item to the porch. She stepped out of the way while Cole backed his way into the house with a cream-colored canvas couch.
“Any idea where you want it?” Cole asked.
A choked laugh bubbled out of her, and she waved a hand toward the longest wall. “Over there for now. Where did this come from?”
“Ana will explain,” Cole said with a grin.
Quinley had spent the afternoon hanging her clothes and storing her boxes out of the way in the walk-in closet. Other than her laptop and the lap desk she’d held onto and found in the bottom of one of the boxes Paul delivered, the house was one big open space.
The younger man who’d arrived in Elias’s truck carried the opposite end of the couch, and he winked at Quinley as he moved by her, biceps bulging as he hefted the weight and flashed her a very friendly smile. Did he…flex?
“Down boy,” Cole growled, catching the young man in the act.
“Quinley, that’s Hudson, the youngest Blackwell brother who’s barely out of diapers,” a man said as he came into the house, carrying a metal bed frame. She really laughed now and wondered what had been said by the youngest Blackwell male beforehand to warrant such a warning to her.
“I’m Brooks, married to Allie,” this brother said, yanking his head to indicate the women outside. “My wife is on her way in with the other girls.”
“Nice to meet you, Brooks. And Hudson,” she added, giving the flirtatious young Blackwell the side-eye but still smiling.
Ana and the other “girls” entered next, carrying throw pillows and couch cushions, along with a beautiful teal and silver throw blanket.
They got out of the way of the door, and Ana made the introductions to her future sisters-in-law—Mia, Allie, and Sophia—before the ladies set about putting the couch to rights.
Ana stayed behind and hugged Quinley close in an embrace only shared by longtime friends. “I can’t believe you…Wheredid all of this come from?”
Ana smiled up at her. “You don’t recognize any of it?”
She took another look, her gaze falling to the lower right-hand side of the couch where a barely perceptible wine stain peeked at the corner of the piping. “Mymother?”
“You had no sooner sent me that message when your mom called to ask me how you were doing. I…told her—please don’t be mad at me—and she said she had a sudden urge to redecorate the downstairs, but the stuff wouldhaveto be gone before your dad got home from work. So we made it happen,” Ana said with a grin. “It helps to have a slew of full-grown and able-bodied men in the family.”
“But I’m not their family,” Quinley said softly, touched by the fact these people—Ana’s future family—had done so much for her when they didn’t even know her.
“You’re extended family,” Ana countered with a pointed stare. “Andmysister. That counts.”
Unbidden, Quinley glanced toward the doorway, and her silent question must have registered on her face.
“Elias didn’t come. He didn’t want to cause more rumors. Though Finn is here, and they’re identical, so I’m sure he’ll probably cause a stir regardless. But Elias had Hudson get his truck so he could help, so he’s here in spirit. Everyone’s here except for Isla, who volunteered to give the mamas a break with the kids so they could pitch in on the decorating.” Ana finally released her and linked their arms. “So that’s the scoop. Now let’s go figure out where to put the bedroom suite your mom sent. By the way, it’s totally gorgeous. Remember when we went against all the parents and moved into our first apartment with nothing more than air mattresses? This iswaybetter.”
An hour or so passed, and with every trip the Blackwell clan carried in furniture, set it up, and rearranged it until everything looked just right.
