Sonya got busy with the coffee. “I wasted a lot of nerves on tonight. You’ve got a great family.”
“We do, and the meal didn’t hurt. It was better than Mom’s, and if you tell her I said that,” Trey added, “I’ll sue you for slander.”
“Lips sealed. Oh God, Anna, that cake’s gorgeous.”
“Tastes even better,” Seth told her. “Do you want me to start on the dishes? I have experience.”
“And I may call on it before we’re done. But let’s leave all that for later, and keep this party rolling.”
As music drifted in, she glanced toward the doorway. “She really can play. It’s the first time I’ve heard the piano when I know someone’s playing it.”
“You hear piano music when there’s not?”
She shrugged at Seth. “Sometimes, late at night.”
A rich baritone joined the piano.
“That’s Ace.” Obviously familiar with the kitchen, the butler’s pantry, Anna got out cake plates, coffee cups, and saucers. “They’re a hell of a pair.”
Together, they loaded up the dessert cart—a first for Sonya.
When they rolled it into the music room, she saw dogs piled together at Deuce’s feet. Ace stood with his hand on his wife’s shoulder, singing “One for My Baby.”
When they finished, she applauded. “You’re hired!”
“Do you play, Sonya?”
Sonya shook her head as Paula played some sort of trill. “My mother plays—not like that, but she plays a little. When she tried to teach me, we both agreed my talents lay elsewhere.”
“Do one more before dessert,” Anna insisted. “Do ‘Embraceable You.’”
“Are you up for a duet, sweets?”
Paula glanced at Ace over her shoulder. “I could be persuaded.”
“I asked them to sing this at my wedding. Our first dance.”
“I’ve still got the moves.” Seth turned Anna into a dance.
“It meant the world to them to sing at Anna’s wedding,” Corrine murmured.
“Their voices just mesh, don’t they?”
“They do. Deuce grew up in a musical household. He can play, and he has a strong voice. I have no musical talent.”
“Yours lay elsewhere. In your photography, your family.”
“They do. Johanna played.”
Glancing over, Sonya saw Corrine studying the portrait. “You were friends.”
“We were. Trey told me you’d found her portrait. Seeing it? It’s like time stopped. They’d like that you put her in here. This was one of her favorite rooms, too.”
“It felt like the right place.”
“Because it is.” She surprised Sonya by linking their hands for a moment. “She’d never hurt you.”
“Do you … Do you think she’s here?”
“We’ll talk sometime. I’ll help with the coffee. I know how everyone likes it.”
Since she felt she had to leave it at that, Sonya sliced cake.
And considered the idea of post-dinner in the music room a perfect choice when Anna sat down to play and dragged a clearly reluctant Trey with her to add his voice.
Anna stopped abruptly, and with wide eyes, pressed a hand to her belly.
Seth had already shoved up from his chair when her face lit up like the sun. “I felt him move! I felt the baby move!” Though she gripped Seth’s hands, she looked at her mother. “Mom.”
“You’re okay?” Seth pressed his hand over hers. “I don’t feel anything.”
“Too early for you to feel,” Corrine told him as those steel-blue eyes went damp. “Right about on time for Anna.”
“It’s normal?” Trey gripped his sister’s free hand. “It’s a good thing?”
“It’s a normal, lovely thing.”
“When do I get to feel him?”
“A few more weeks, Daddy.”
Because it seemed like a family moment, Sonya slipped out. She’d give them a few minutes, and get the dishes started.
She walked into the kitchen and found it spotless. The dishwasher hummed, the sink sparkled, and when she checked the fridge, she found the leftovers—a fraction of what she’d feared and expected—efficiently tubbed.
“I—oh jeez—I appreciate it. You didn’t have to do all this.”
She still stood, at a loss, when Trey came in.
“No way you’re this fast on KP.”