Maisie groaned, shaking her head at Sadie. “Jeez. No woman ever wants to hear that, Sades. Seriously.”
Sadie batted her eyelashes at her before turning back to me. “Aurelia doesn’t mind, do you? She knows my brain is broken right now. Twice. It’s not my fault. It’s Jameson’s. He’s the one who put twins in me.”
“We should probably ask her about the wedding first,” Maisie said, a small smile creeping across her lips. “I’m not sure it’sentirely fair for you to blame Jamie for the twins, though. That’s just not an argument I’m willing to take on until I’ve done some research. Either way, usually, when a woman is newly engaged, you ask her about the wedding, not the babies.”
“Sure, but she wasn’t staring at a wedding with hearts in her eyes. She was staring at a baby.” Sadie looked back at me. “I do want to hear about the wedding, though. What are your plans? Do you have any yet? Because if not, King Sterling has a magnificent castle in Scotland. I doubt I’ll be able to travel there again until after the babies are born, but if you can wait?—”
Laney nudged her with her elbow, her eyes soft but assessing as they swept over my face. “Cut it out, guys. Has anyone bothered to ask her what’s going on? What’s happened, Aurelia? And don’t you dare say it’s nothing. It’s obviouslynotnothing.”
I inhaled a deep breath, about to dodge the question. Tell them I had a headache. Anything but the truth. Instead, when I started speaking, the truth was exactly what came out.
Breaking down completely, I told them everything. About my mother and CC, their history and the fact that the boyfriend my mother had stolen from CC had been my father. I told them about how hard Harrison and I had tried to find out the truth so we could try to smooth things over, and then I told them about last night.
The text. My mother’s ultimatum—them or Harrison. The phone call that had sent him racing over at the drop of a hat. The fact that I hadn’t heard from him since and wasn’t going to.
“So, uh, I know you guys must feel pretty betrayed,” I finished, quiet tears spilling across my cheeks at this point. “I’ll just get an Uber home. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier. I should have?—”
As I moved to pull my phone out of my pocket, Claire started fussing and Laney shushed her gently, carefully sliding herhands underneath that tiny body to lift her up. Then she swiftly passed her to me. “Here. Hold this.”
My eyes widened, but I reached out on instinct and she grinned. “There we go. You can’t go doing something silly like call an Uber while you’re holding on to her for me.”
I blinked hard. “You don’t want me to leave?”
“Of course not,” she said without skipping a beat. “Gosh, this is going to seem so weird. I mean, you and I haven’t even ever really had a conversation before, but you’re family, Aurelia. I know it doesn’t feel like it right now, but trust me, Sterling and I had plenty of ups and downs to get to where we are now.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but she wasn’t done yet. “I know it feels like it’s the end, but it doesn’t have to be. My dad and Harlan had a lot of bad blood between them. They’re still never going to be best friends, but they’ve accepted that Sterling and I love each other.”
“Jameson and I were chaos at one point, too,” Sadie agreed thoughtfully. “You think you’re the only one losing your mind while you’re falling in love and you’re so uncertain how it’s all going to play out, but you’re not. The guys are losing theirs too, and so are the families.”
I felt my eyes stretch a little wider. “Your family was against your marriage to Jameson?”
She nodded vigorously. “Jameson and my big brother, Trent, have been best friends for years. He was furious. My parents didn’t have much of a problem, but the Westwoods? At least you’ve got Harlan in your corner. I had only Jameson, and even then, I wasn’t sure if that tenacity would hold once he had to face Trent.”
“In our story,” Maisie said, seamlessly picking up from her, “I was the bad guy. Just like I’m sure you’re feeling right now. I never meant to hurt Callum, but I did.”
“And if any of us had let those things stop us, we’d still be hiding in our apartments, terrified of the drama,” Laney said decisively, her gaze lowering to the baby in my arms and a soft smile spreading on her lips. “I know how daunting it can be, but you need to do what’s best foryou. It’s your life, not your mother’s.”
Sadie leaned in, her voice gentle but firm. “Sometimes you just have to see it for what it is. The fights, the interference from family, none of it changes what’s real. None of it changes what really matters. That’s something only you and Harrison can figure out.”
I blinked at them, feeling my stomach tighten as the truth hit me like a brick. They weren’t just sharing stories, they were holding up a mirror—and it made me realize that I’d been very, very dense.
Gently tightening my grip on Claire, I felt my hands trembling with a desperate kind of urgency. Finally realizing how blind I’d been, I suddenly saw Harrison for what he really was—the one for me.
In comparison to what these girls had gone through with their men, which I knew about from Harrison telling me before as well as what they’d just shared, Harrison was by far the easiest going brother.
The real catch. Yet, they’d fought for the men they loved and Harrison had fought for me. He’d raced over in the dead of night. Even faced by all the signs that I wasn’t going through with it, he’d looked me in the eyes and told me he’d be waiting.
I couldn’t let him go. I loved him.
All of him.
And I wasn’t about to let my mom, or his, get in the way of that. That thought settled like a wildfire in my chest, giving me courage I hadn’t felt since I’d walked into my parents’ house last night.
“I have to tell you something,” I said finally, my voice shaky but the decision firm. “The Christmas party Harrison and I are hosting at his house here at the estate tomorrow is a ruse. Our plan was to the surprise everyone with our wedding.”
Their eyes went wide, all three of them practically vibrating with excitement. Sadie grinned from ear to ear. “Oh, that’s brilliant. I love it.”
Laney clapped her hands together. “I can’t wait. You’re still doing it, right? You’re going through with it?”
