“Enough about Dad,” Marie said. “This is a day to celebrate. Hillary is choosing her wedding dress.”
“And paying for it myself,” she added, before anyone else could suggest she accept Eddie’s offer to pay the difference above what she had budgeted.
“And I’m enjoying lunch with my favorite women in the world,” Carrie added.
The girls were right. Discussing Eddie had put a damper on what should be a happy day.
Hillary reached inside her purse and grabbed a pad. “This is my list of everything I need to arrange before the wedding,” she said, and put a check by where she had listed the wedding dress.
“Blake and I need to order the save-the-date cards next. We plan to do that the first of next week and order the invitations at the same time. Which means we have to decide exactly what we want printed. Blake is leaning toward the traditional, with our parents’ names listed. Personally, I’d rather not.”
Julia swallowed down another groan. If Blake got his way, then it went without saying Hillary would leave her father’s name off the invitation. That would be another slight toward Eddie that was sure to widen the gap between them.
“You’re both old enough to make your own decisions,” Julia said. “You haven’t lived at home since you started college.”
Her daughter gently shook her head. “Mom, stop. I know what you’re doing. You think it would be best if we kept our parents’ names off the invite because you want to spare Dad’s feelings. It’s sweet of you, but unnecessary. Blake and I are discussing this and will likely compromise.”
“Understood.”
The girls chatted among themselves while Julia’s stomach clenched as she braced herself for what she would tell them next. She had barely touched her food. It was now or never. She knew Heath was anxiously waiting back at the condo to hear her daughters’ reaction to her news.
“Hillary, Marie,” she said. “I need to tell you something.”
Her tone must have alerted them that whatever she was about to say was important. As soon as she spoke, all three girls reverted their attention to her.
Julia’s mouth went completely dry.
“Mom,” Hillary said, her eyes widening with concern, “what is it?”
Chapter 14
Julia’s daughters continued to stare at her. Carrie, too. For the life of her, she couldn’t find the right words or even where to start. She had thought it best to simply explain the truth. However, now, when she had their full attention, she discovered her tongue had grown thick, and she was hardly able to speak.
“Are you sick?” Marie asked, reaching across the table to take hold of Julia’s hand and tightly hanging on to it. “Is it cancer?”
“No. No,” she whispered, shaking her head. “It’s nothing like that.”
“Mom, you’re scaring me.” This was from Hillary, who was almost always unshakable.
“Aunt Julia, you know there isn’t anything you can’t tell us. We love you.”
“I know…” She straightened and looked at the beautiful faces of these three women who were in possession of her very heart. “I’ve fallen in love,” she whispered.
All three of the girls broke into huge smiles as relief relaxed their shoulders.
“Mom, did you seriously think you finding love would upset us?” Marie asked, laughing softly.
“That’s wonderful, Mom,” Hillary added, her relief evident.
“It’s Mr. Wilson, isn’t it?” Carrie said knowingly. “I’ve seen the two of you together having coffee every morning at the Busy Bean. Then you went on that pub crawl together.”
“How did you know that?” Julia was surprised word had gotten around the building, until she remembered she’d run into Kennedy, and then later a couple of the board members, at the event.
“It wasn’t a secret, was it?”
“No, not at all.” The pub crawl had been the turning point in their relationship. That was the night Heath had first kissed her. The night she felt the thick wall around her heart crack open with the possibility of falling in love again. Love had deeply wounded her before, and she’d been afraid until Heath had kissed her. That first kiss had changed everything.
“It is Heath,” she agreed. “We’ve been spending a lot of time together, and it’s been wonderful. Neither of us set out to care for each other the way we do. It simply happened. We share a lot in common. Until Heath, I didn’t believe I would ever find someone again. It’s like my whole world has opened up since we’ve been together.”