A Family, At Last

“I rode the bus to school, too,” Karyn said. “From kindergarten to eleventh grade.”

“Why did you stop?”

“My brother bought a car. He drove.” The happy memory was welcome, something she hadn’t thought about for a while.

“I wish I had a brother to drive me,” Cassidy said. “I don’t like riding the bus. It takes forever. Hours.”

“Twenty minutes,” Vaughn said, glancing at his rearview mirror.

Cassidy giggled. Apparently it was an ongoing complaint and correction between them.

“The homestead,” Vaughn said, pulling between two other pickup trucks, with several others parked around the property.

“Are we late?”

“Nope. We’re flexible. Everyone has jobs to do, regardless of the holiday, then they need time to get dressed up for the occasion. Whatever works.”

“The house is huge,” Karyn said after she got out.

“Eight bedrooms. They remodeled not too long ago, opened the kitchen and dining room to the living room. They’re anxious for enough grandchildren to fill the bedrooms.” Cassidy jumped into his arms, and he carried her across the yard of the sprawling two-story structure, while Karyn navigated the dirt terrain. A lit Christmas tree was framed by a huge window. Colored lights hung along the eaves and windows, twinkling in the night sky, like the Christmases of her childhood, prompting a twinge of nostalgia for those wonderful times. She couldn’t even blame her parents for their lack of interest now either because she didn’t even decorate her own apartment.

Inside it was magical, with reflections of Christmas everywhere. A roaring fire burned in the hearth below an enormous mantel, where eleven stockings hung. Music competed with laughter. Karyn’s head spun from the cacophony of sights and sounds. Everything was bigger than her own memories of the occasion, more magnificent.

“Here you are,” Vaughn’s mother said, making her way through the crowd.

“Hi, Grammie!”

“Hello, sweet girl. No more red and green hair.”

“I ate it off. Well, some of it,” she said with a glance at her father. “It was good!”

He ruffled her hair.

“C’mere, Karyn. I want to show you the portraits,” Cassidy said.

Karyn followed her into a hallway that held many doors. There was a painting next to each door.

“See?”

Karyn almost choked. Each portrait was of a child sitting atop a horse. A horse! It was bad enough she was supposed to paint a human being, but a horse?

“This is my Daddy’s room.” She pointed to a boy on a horse, wearing all the requisite cowboy riding gear. He looked to be about Cassidy’s age, as did the rest of the children as they continued down the hall. “I want to wear sparkly shoes. Like yours.”

Then Cassidy took off to join a few other children, older and younger. Karyn followed more slowly, in a daze. Vaughn met her at the door into the living room.

“You could’ve told me,” she said. “I can’t do that. A horse? An entire body? I might’ve fudged a normal, chest-up portrait, but not that. No way. No how.”

“We’ll figure out something.”

His mother came up to them. “Is everything okay?”

“Um, yes, thank you. I’ve seen some incredible homes,” Karyn said, gathering composure. “But nothing that compares to this, Dori. You must be able to feed a hundred.”

“Not quite that many, not indoors anyway, but lots. We’ll have thirty tonight. That’s a small crowd for us. Come, I’ll introduce you to everyone. Vaughn, please get her something to drink. We’ve got eggnog or champagne or coffee or tea. Hot chocolate. All kinds of sodas.”

“Champagne, definitely.” Frankly, she wouldn’t have turned down having her own bottle.

Dori took her through the crowd, making introductions. There were brothers and sisters and cowboys and herdsmen and other titles she couldn’t remember.

“I’m going to leave you with my son Mitch’s wife, Annie,” Dori said, “while I tend to dinner.”

“May I help?”

“I’ve had lots of help. We’re down to the last bit, and everything’s under control, but thank you.”

Karyn took a sip of the champagne Vaughn had delivered to her.

“Quite a crowd, isn’t it?” Annie asked. She seemed to be about the same age as Karyn, but she was blonde and curvier. Karyn noticed how Annie and Mitch kept each other in sight and smiled a lot.

Karyn was used to hordes, although the tone was not usually like this happy, congenial group. “A good-looking group, too,” Karyn said. “The men are all ruggedly attractive, and the women are stunning, starting with the matriarch.” She looked around. “I haven’t met the patriarch.”

“He’s tending the beef outdoors. You can’t miss him. The Ryder men were made from the same mold. He’s just an older version. Fit and authoritative, and he loves Dori with his whole heart.” Annie sipped from her mug of cocoa. “I hear you’ve been hired to paint Cass’s portrait. Is that what you do for a living?”

Karyn tried not to roll her eyes. “I do lots of things. Mostly I’m a personal shopper. I live in Hollywood.”

“Really? Dori didn’t tell us that.”

“I don’t think she knows.” Karyn wasn’t sure how much to say but decided to be as honest as possible. “We didn’t get much of a chance to speak when we met.”

“How did Vaughn find you?”

“He did some research and discovered me. What’s your story?”

“I’m a farmer. I grow only organics.”

“How long have you known Mitch?”

“We met last summer and got married in October.”

Karyn keyed in on that. “That was quick.”

“When it’s right, it’s right.”

“Dinner’s on,” Dori shouted while ringing a small cowbell.

A dining room table was set for sixteen, with other smaller tables scattered here and there, most seating four. A long peninsula that separated the kitchen from the dining area was loaded with food—prime rib, a mound of baked potatoes with all the fixings, tortellini with pesto, the largest bowl of green beans Karyn had ever seen plus several kinds of salads.

On the far side of the kitchen, on a counter atop two dishwashers, were four pies and four plates stacked with cookies. There was good-natured shoving and insulting until everyone loaded their plates and found seats.