“As long as Regan wants them to,” Kate answered. “The Madison is owned by the Hamilton, and the Hamilton hotels are owned by . . .”
“Regan and her brothers,” Isabel said. “I am going to need some clothes,” she admitted then.
“Most of my wardrobe is college grunge. I do have two nice dresses. I wore the blue one when I went to the club and sang.”
“We’ll have fun,” Kate promised. “I’ve missed you, and the last couple of weeks have been crazy with work. It’s nice to kick back and relax.”
“Thursday isn’t going to work for me. Any chance we could go tomorrow?”
“I could make it work. What’s going on Thursday?”
Isabel got up from her chair and went over to the porch swing. It looked so inviting. “You aren’t going to believe me, but I swear I’m telling the truth.”
Kate frowned. “What’d you do?”
How like Kate to assume that Isabel had screwed up. Of course, the assumption was based on the fact that there had been more than a few times she had, in fact, screwed up.
“Do you know who XO is?” She didn’t give her sister time to answer, but continued on. “He called me. I’m rehearsing with him Thursday afternoon, and Friday night I’m performing with him at The Garden.” She laughed then and said, “Kate, your mouth is open, and you look like you just got tasered.”
It took a full minute for Kate to react. Once it sank in, she shouted, she was so excited. “Oh, please let me be there when you tell Laurant,” she begged. “She’s going to die when she hears . . . and Regan will flip, and . . . oh my God, Isabel . . .”
Isabel patiently waited while her sister rambled on and on, and then blurted, “Kate, I’m so nervous about meeting him.”
Kate didn’t downplay or make light of Isabel’s worries. “I’d be in a panic, too, I think, walking on the stage with thousands of people watching. Maybe you can figure out a way to block them and concentrate on your song. I wish I could come up with something better,” she admitted. “And even
though I know you won’t believe me, I think you’re going to be phenomenal. Mom would be so proud of you.”
“I’m not so sure of that.”
Before Kate could argue, she told her about the promise their mother had asked Isabel to make just before she died.
Kate became teary-eyed. “Oh, Isabel, why didn’t you tell Kiera and me? You sang all the time, and I never could understand why you let it go when you went off to college. Now I realize what you sacrificed. I’m so sorry. Mother shouldn’t have asked you to give up what you love. Music is part of who you are.”
“Mother was worried I wouldn’t be able to support myself. I don’t think she had a lot of faith in me. I know she didn’t want me in what she called a cutthroat business. Toward the end she was afraid, and I would have agreed to anything to give her peace.” She took a breath and said, “It’s been over five years and I still miss her.”
“I miss her, too,” Kate said.
The two sisters spent several minutes reminiscing about some of the happier times they’d had with their mother.
“We never could pull anything over on her,” Kate said, a note of pride in her voice.
They were laughing over one particular plan Isabel had hatched, when Regan came out to join them. Her reaction to Isabel’s news about Xavier was as enthusiastic as Kate’s had been, and she agreed they needed to go back to the clothing boutique tomorrow for Isabel.
“Where’s Laurant?” Kate asked. “She’ll freak when she hears.”
“She and Nick went home to be with the kids. They’ll be back tomorrow with Samantha and Tommy for the family dinner.”
Isabel sat quietly while the two women discussed what she should wear to rehearse with XO and what she should wear onstage. Every time Xavier’s name came up Isabel could feel her stomach tighten. She wasn’t sure if it was due to excitement or anxiety. When she wasn’t worrying about XO, she was thinking about Michael. He’d been crowding her thoughts since she’d arrived in Boston.
What was he doing now? she wondered, barely stopping herself before asking her sister. She really needed to get a grip.
Scotland was looking better and better. If she could, she’d leave tonight.
? ? ?
LATER THAT EVENING MICHAEL WAITED UNTIL ISABEL HAD LEFT THE LIVING ROOM TO TALK TO
the others about safety concerns, and it was decided that Nick would accompany her to the rehearsal with Xavier. Noah would let Nick know their plan as soon as he called to check in. It was up to Michael to let Isabel know what was decided.