“When is your sister coming in?” Jane asked.

“She’ll be here on Friday, along with my mom, my dad, and my brother. She’s working on a research project. Of course she’s always doing that, being a biologist. I’m just happy she’s going to be in the wedding.”

Emma squeezed her hand. “I’m so happy your family is going to be here.”

Des grinned. “Me, too.”

“Tony’s coming with Colt, too, isn’t he?” Samantha asked.

“He told me he wouldn’t miss it,” Des said. “Now that the two of them have outed their relationship, they try to never be apart.”

“Great,” Chelsea said. “Now, if you’ll all excuse me, I need to go mix some of those drinks so we can get our bride-to-be drunk.”

She heard Des giggle as she left the room. The one thing Chelsea loved about Des was that even though she was a highly sought-after and successful actress, she defied the image of Hollywood. When she was here on the ranch and around Hope, she was simply one of them. She liked hanging out with them and shopping with them, and she hated having photographers following her around. She preferred her life to be as normal as possible, which is why she loved the ranch so much. It gave her the privacy she craved.

Plus, she loved Logan, she loved his family, and she especially loved Martha. They’d all grown close to Des in a hurry. She’d become best friends with all of them. To Chelsea’s way of thinking, that made her part of Hope, even if she hadn’t grown up here.

She fixed drinks and put them on a tray.

“You two,” she said, casting a stern look at Martha and Megan. “Out of the kitchen and into the living room for cocktails and frivolity right now.”

Martha balked, but Megan gave her a gentle shove, and Martha capitulated.

Samantha had brought flowers from her shop, and the room smelled so good. Des looked beautiful, which was no surprise at all, and Emma had decked them all out in boas and tiaras. Molly had put up an adorable sign she’d made with Des and Logan’s name and the date of their wedding. Jane had turned on music, and Chelsea started handing out cocktails. She also laid out shot glasses and liquor and started mixing up a few enhanced shots.

They all sat around eating and talking, mostly about the wedding, but it was easy conversation, drifting in and out of several topics. Emma’s sister Molly was still working at her boyfriend Carter’s auto repair shop, revitalizing his systems and developing sales plans.

“How’s that working for you?” she asked Molly.

“Shockingly well, actually.”

“There’s no friction with the two of you spending so much time together?”

“We don’t spend as much time together at work as you might think. With the new computer system in place, Carter has more free time to spend at the different shop locations instead of having to be at one shop for an entire day. Now he’s more mobile, which means I don’t see him as much since I concentrate most of my time at the main shop in Hope. And if I need something, I can call or text him.”

“And soon enough you’ll be planning your own wedding,” Megan said.

Molly smiled. “This is true. My mother is beside herself with the plans. You all know how she loves the planning. And now that she’s completely healed from her injury and back on her feet—”

“More like running back on her feet,” Emma added.

Molly laughed. “This is true. She’s all over the wedding planning. It’s like I don’t have to do a thing.”

“Which reminds me,” Emma said, whipping out her phone. “We’re scheduled to meet at Samantha’s a week from Wednesday to look at flowers?”

“Yes. I can’t believe we’re only six months away from my wedding. I can’t believe we’re doing this so soon.”

Emma squeezed Molly’s hand. “You two were apart a long time. Why wait any longer?”

Molly gave her sister a loving smile. “That’s what Carter said. He proposed so fast it made my head spin.”

“And put quite the rock on your finger as well,” Chelsea added.

Molly wriggled the fingers of her left hand. “Yes. Totally unnecessary, but who was I to object?”

“What woman in her right mind would?” Since she was a kid, all Chelsea had ever dreamed about was finding a man and getting married. She was an independent woman with a great career—one that satisfied her. But she wanted love.

Maybe it was because she’d had so little of it when she was younger.

Not that she expected a man to be the be-all and end-all of her happily ever after. She created her own satisfaction in life. That’s why she’d become a teacher. She loved her kids, even when they were a pain. All it took was one bright mind who reached for the stars, one kid who saw beyond math as something that had to be done, as a class they were required to pass, to the possibilities of a bright future such as engineering or medicine, and she counted it as a success. She’d seen it countless times in the ten years she’d been teaching.

She had a multitude of friends who’d been her lifeline on so many occasions. They’d been there for her, and she’d been there for them. Her life had been full and blessed.

There was her happiness. Or at least it had been.

But now she wanted something more. She’d wanted something more for a few years now—a home and a family of her own. But she wouldn’t settle for less than the perfect man.