PROLOGUE
NORA
“Nora, get down here, please.” My mother called me from downstairs, and I knew what was about to happen. She’d been dating Grayson Foster for months, and I knew it was getting serious between them. I knew that because Mom and I had no secrets, I could tell her anything, and she was always upfront with me.
“Coming, Mom!” I shouted back and closed the magazine I’d been looking at. My new favorite band, Rebellious Dynasty, was on the cover. They were an up-and-coming band and totally awesome. Xander Scott was fucking hot, add to that his sexy voice, and the man was any teenager’s fantasy.
I went downstairs to find Mom in the kitchen cooking. “Dang, did you make enough food? I thought it was just going to be us and Mr. Foster.”
“Not this time. We thought it would be best to have a family dinner tonight with his sons.”
Shit. They were that serious? I mean, it was one thing for me to meet him, but for him to bring his kids over too. This was big. “Mom, are you getting married again?” I straight up asked what was on my mind. I wasn’t sure if I wanted her to go through that again. She’d been through hell when my sperm donor left us. He went and started over somewhere else with a woman who was half my mom’s age and the child he’d had while still married to mom.
I won’t say that my dad’s rejection didn’t hurt, it did, but I had Mom. Since she’d started seeing Mr. Foster, she’d been happy again, but I didn’t see her getting married again after just a few months.
“I promised you long ago that I wouldn’t lie to you. Not about the small things like Santa Claus and definitely not about the big things, Nora. Grayson hasn’t asked me yet, but I expect he will be soon.”
“And what are you going to say when he does?” I asked, sitting down on the kitchen stool, not sure that my knees would hold me up for this.
My mother beamed, her blue eyes sparkled and misted with unshed tears. “If he asks me, Nora, I want to say yes. Would you be okay with that?”
Would I be okay with Mr. Foster being my stepdad? He was nice enough. He was always kind, and he tried to include me in conversation when he came over here for dinner. He also seemed interested in my day when I came home from school each day. I knew he had sons, and that they went to public school here in town, while I went to an all-girls’ private school in Savannah. Mom commuted to work there each day, and I commuted with her to go to school.
We had been talking about selling this house and us moving up to Savannah, but that was before she met Mr. Foster. After she met him, she stopped talking about moving to Savannah and even discussed trying to get hired on at the local college, so we didn’t have to commute each day. That would mean I would go from a private all-girls’ school to a public school system.
“I like him, Mom. He’s nice, and he makes you happy.” I shrugged. “I can’t take that away from you, not when you’ve given up so much for me.”
“Oh honey.” Mom moved around the island and pulled me into a tight hug. Her eyes misted over before were spilling over with tears and happiness. “I love you so much. That will never change, no matter what. You know that, right?”
I hugged her back and breathed in deeply. “Yeah, Mom. I know. I love you too. If he asks—and if you want—say yes. I’m okay with it.”
My mom kissed my head and pulled away when the pot of water boiled over. She was happy and smiling, and I knew it made all the difference in the world to her for me to be okay with her moving on. I would not be there forever, and Mr. Foster made her happy. There was no way I could stand in the way.
“Go get dressed for dinner, Nora. Grayson and his boys will be here shortly.”
“Alright, Mom.” I went back up to my room and shut the door, leaning back against the solid wood for a minute just to process. If Mom thought he was going to propose soon, then she knew for a fact that he was. She wouldn’t bring something like that up for no reason.
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly before moving to my dresser to pull out a pair of jeans and a tee shirt. The doorbell chimed throughout the house, so I hurried and finished getting changed out of my school uniform and into my normal, everyday clothes. My hair had been French braided all day, so I loosened the braid and ran a brush through it, leaving my hair wavy, curling, and frizzy around my shoulders. It was time to go meet my future siblings.
I made my way back downstairs and into the kitchen, where everyone gathered. Mr. Foster noticed me first. “There she is.” He smiled brightly at me, and I watched as two teenaged boys turned to look at me.
They both favored their dad in the looks department, with the same dark hair and tanned skin. In fact, the younger one was the spitting image of Mr. Foster and looked like a carbon copy of the man that my mom was thinking about marrying. My eyes met the intense brown gaze of the older brother. “Nora, these are my boys, Drew.” The younger brother said hello and gave me a small nod. “And Dean.”
Dean looked like his dad, but he also didn’t. His hair was a little longer, and he wore rebelliousness around himself like a prized cloak. He was intense and brooding, and it sent butterflies dancing in my stomach. He nodded abruptly and looked away from me.
“Nice to meet y’all.” I greeted them both together rather than trying to actually talk to them separately.
“Dean’s going into the Army after graduation next month.” Mr. Foster grumbled the words, letting his disapproval show. “We wanted y’all to meet before he headed out for basic.”
My gaze flicked over Dean’s face as I took my seat next to my mother. The dynamic between the family was tense, and I was wondering if Mom felt it too. “Cool.” I said, for lack of a better statement.
I was halfway through dinner and I could tell why Dean was enlisting. Mr. Foster wasn’t outright mean to his older son, but he favored his younger child’s grade point average and intended path in life. My stomach twisted as I sat through half of dinner, not really eating what was on my plate. I pushed it around with my fork more than anything.
My future stepdad went on and on about how Drew was a straight-A student and how he played sports. His youngest son seemed embarrassed about how his dad carried on, and the older one seemed to ignore it altogether.
I couldn’t help but feel for Dean because I knew what it was like to be ignored by a parent, but at least I had my mom. From what Mom told me of Mr. Foster, I knew his wife passed away about eight years ago from an aggressive form of breast cancer.
“Dean, Drew, Nora.” Mr. Foster said our names, gathering our attention. I knew what was coming before he even said the words. I looked at his sons across the table and saw no surprise on their faces. “My love.” He took my mother’s hand, and her eyes glistened with tears. “I wanted to do this with the kids here. They are our worlds, so I figured they needed to be present when I asked you to combine our worlds and our families together.” He kneeled down and pulled the ring from his pocket. My mom’s face lit up with a happiness I hadn’t seen from her in a long time.
