I smiled tightly. “Thank you.”
She patted my hand and said, “I just want you to know that I think your dad is a fine man, but my Timmy was the love of my life, my one husband, same as your mother was for your father.”
I could feel my eyes welling, and I felt a little guilty for thinking she was a hussy.
“I know you’re a grown woman,” Mary said, “but I think even a grown woman needs to know that another woman is not trying to replace her mother—or be the new woman in her father’s life.”
I put my hand up. “You don’t have to—”
She smiled warmly. “But I do, dear. I do.”
And, well, she was right. I did feel better after that.
I would talk to them all that night. Dad and Quinn, Diana and Frank, Mary Ellen, Megan, and the rest of the girls. But as I kissed Andrew, to the delight of the onlooking surprisers, I realized that something my mom had told me all those years ago was true: it doesn’t have to look perfect to be perfect for you.
Probably the best part of the whole night was when my dad came up and whispered in my ear, “How did my little girl get to be thirty-five?” I squeezed his hand, and I knew that things between us might not ever be like they were between my mom and me. But we were trying. We were figuring it out. And, with family, I believe with my whole heart that that’s what counts.
Despite my shock at the party, it was actually Greg who gave me the biggest surprise of the night. “I have a gift for you,” he said, interrupting Dad. He put an envelope in my hand. I raised my eyebrow.
“I’ve accepted the terms of the settlement that, weirdly, Marcy negotiated.”
I gasped. “No! Are you serious? Don’t toy with me, Greg.”
He laughed. “I’m not. And I signed your damn noncompete.” He cleared his throat. “Brooke and I talked about it, andshe helped me see that you’re right. It’s your company. You deserve it. I still want my money and—”
I shocked him silent by throwing my arms around him. It was like a million pounds had flown off my shoulders. No court date. No fighting. We could be finished. We could move on. “As a husband, you really sucked, but as an almost ex-husband, you’re pretty great.”
He was saying, “Um, thanks, I guess.…” as I turned to go tell Andrew.
Later that night, so late that it was actually early the next morning, Marcy, Quinn, Diana, and I were sitting in my kitchen. “You want a snack?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Diana said. “Always.”
“But since we’re getting a little”—Marcy dropped her voice and whispered, “older,” then grinned at me—“maybe we could make it something healthy.” I opened the sparse fridge, almost excited about taking Wagner to the grocery store the next day to fill it up. I was officially turning over a new cooking leaf. I took out a couple of apples and a jar of peanut butter.
“I can cut the apples,” Quinn said.
“No!” we all responded at once.
She rolled her eyes. “Y’all have to relax about that. It’s not like I’d stabyou.”
Marcy examined the diamond on her left hand. As I’d suspected, she and Price had realized they were soul mates in short order. “So, should we have a double wedding?” she asked.
I laughed. “I’m not getting married, if you’ll remember.”
“Just a matter of time.” She grinned.
I shook my head. I had told Andrew on the beach that I wasn’t sure if I wanted to get married again. But with my past finally feeling like it might be in the past, I had to admit that it was a more tempting thought. “You are such a dork.”
“You know,” Diana said, “it might be real good for you to marry Andrew now. He’s young. He isn’t set in his ways.”
“Uh-oh,” Quinn said. “Is Frank a little set in his?”
Diana rolled her eyes. “Well, you know, he has to have everything a certain way.” She paused and smiled. “But he is still the love of my life.”
I felt a familiar sadness that I couldn’t name as I began to chop the apples, admiring the three bangles on my wrist. And then it hit me. “Wait. So when are you moving?” I asked.
“Moving?” Quinn asked. “I’m going to live in your guesthouse forever.”
