“Oh my God!” she gasps. “Oh my God, oh my God!”
Tracy gets to her first, wrapping her in a hug. “Happy birthday! Surprise. Did you have any idea?”
“No!” Madison is laughing and crying at the same time. “You all knew?”
Her swim team friends swarm her, all talking at once about how hard it was to keep the secret. Madison looks overwhelmed in the best possible way, her face glowing with happiness.
Thorne steps forward and the teenagers part, Tracy still watching him with her lovestuck expression. He pulls Madison into a hug, and she melts into it.
“Happy birthday, sweetheart,” he says.
“You did all this for me?” Her voice is muffled against his shoulder.
“Of course we did.” He pulls back, and his smile is soft, vulnerable. The expression used to be foreign on his face until Ivy and Madison crashed into his life. “You’re family. This is what family does.”
Ivy appears at his side, and Madison launches herself at her next. “I can’t believe you kept this secret!”
“I had help.” Her gaze finds Thorne’s, and there’s an easy intimacy of two people who’ve learned how to be partners.
It’s in the way he has to touch her. The way she leans into him. Like they're each other's true north. They might be taking things slow, but they’re building something real. Something that lasts.
I'm so happy my brothers have found love. Sebastian and Rosila, so perfectly matched. Watching Thorne transform from an angry, closed-off man to someone who throws surprise parties for a teenage girl makes something inside me ache.
Sebastian has Rosalia. Thorne has Ivy. Mother has her freedom and her European life.
And I have... what? A penthouse apartment that still smells like fresh paint. A closet full of designer clothes I wore to events I can barely remember. A passport stamped with cities where I was running from something instead of running toward it.
Madison turns and spots me. “Lilly!”
“Happy birthday, sweetheart.” I hug her tight, and most of the ache evaporates.
“Did you do the decorations? They’re perfect.”
“Purple and silver, your favorite colors.”
She pulls back, eyes shining. “This is the best birthday I’ve ever had, and it just started!”
Sebastian steps forward with Rosalia. “Well, it’s not over yet. We have—”
“A pony?” she jokes.
Rosalia laughs. “You already have Atticus.” Sebastain has always taken in rescue horses, but Madison and Rosalia have made it their mission to save every horse in Kentucky.
Madison nods. “That’s true.”
Mother rises from her chair with perfect grace. “Happy birthday, Madison. Welcome to fifteen.”
Madison hugs her too, and I see Mother’s expression gentle. This girl, a product of his affair, the living reminder of his betrayal, is being welcomed into the family in a way that would have been impossible when Father was alive.
But even more so by Thorne and Ivy. They've become the family Madison needed: protective, present, and unconditionally hers.
The party kicks into gear. Music starts playing. It’s a playlist I helped Madison create last week under the guise of “just curious what you’re listening to these days.” Her friends pull her toward the food, talking over each other. Waiters circulate with trays of appetizers and mocktails in fancy glasses.
I watch it all unfold, satisfaction warm in my chest. This is what we’ve built. Not the cold, formal gatherings Father used to preside over, but something real. Something full of love and laughter.
“You did good, Lilly,” Thorne says, appearing beside me with a glass bottle of sparkling water. He’s switched from one drink at work events.
“We all did.” I gesture to the room. “Look at her. She’s so happy.”
