“Riley.” Annette’s voice was velvet-soft.
“Hmm?”
“Thank you—for pushing me, for helping me see that I was stuck, that it was long past time for me to give up my rules and move on.”
Riley chuckled. “Hey, I’m here for you, ready and willing to give you a gentle shove whenever you need one.”
“And what about you?” Annette looked at her so tenderly.
Riley stalled. “What do you mean?”
“Do you need a shove—gentle or otherwise?”
“Uh, no. No, of course not. Annette, honestly, I—”
“It does seem that you have a few rules of your own.”
Denial rose to her lips. But why lie? “I do have my own rules, yes. Two of them, to be specific. I am never falling in love again, and I am never getting married again.”
“Oh, sweetheart. You know they call it ‘falling’ for a reason.”
Riley kept her mouth shut. She tried to look stern in the hopes that Annette would abandon this topic.
No such luck. Her mother-in-law went on, “They call it ‘falling’ in love because there’s a point where you are no longer in control of how far you’ll go. I say ‘no longer’ because until you get to that point, you do have a choice. You can break it off and walk away—sadder and wiser, possibly. But with your heart unbroken. Once you reach that certain point, though, it’s too late. By then, you are falling. If you try to stop yourself, you can’t. Gravity owns you. You are tumbling into love, and there is no going back.”
Riley teased, “You made that up.”
“That doesn’t make it any less true.”
“Oh, come on. You just want me to marry the father of my baby.”
Annette lifted one shoulder in an elegant shrug. “I do want you to marry Joshua, and that’s partly because he is the father of your baby. I’m old-fashioned that way. But there are other, more important reasons why you should marry that man.”
She didn’t want to hear it—yet she opened her mouth and demanded, “What reasons?”
“You and Joshua are good together.”
“What else?”
“The big reason. The main reason. Riley, you’re in love with him.”
“Annette. No. I didn’t say—”
“You didn’t have to say it. It’s obvious. You’re in love with Joshua Bravo. And you are miserable without him.”
That one cut deep. Because she did miss him. She missed him so much.
And before she could think of a suitable comeback, Annette rose. “You’re upset with me now.”
“No. Annette, I’m not…” It was a lie.
And her mother-in-law knew it. “I am sorry if I’ve gone too far.”
“You have a right to your opinion.”
“Do you want me to go?”
Riley didn’t say no fast enough.
