“What if I had said that Thad was the only man for me, and I never moved forward? I wouldn’t have Parker now.”
“Yes, but Thad is gay.” Tilley smiled at Amelia pertly.
She laughed. “Yes. True. But his being gay didn’t change my being in love with him, so I could have just held on to that love forever.” She paused. “Same with Parker.”
“Yes, darling, but you moved on to that doll Parker Thaysden, and Parker Thaysden moved on to my peerless, perfect niece. It is not the same, in my estimation.”
Amelia held up a pair of jean shorts, and Tilley groaned. “So that’s a no on the shorts,” Amelia said. “But what if you found your Parker or Amelia? What about then?”
Tilley sighed, but inside, something, a little flicker, welled up. Had it truly been thirty-nine years since Robert died? She knew it had. She had never really considered that she could move on now. But maybe Amelia was right.
“All right. If I find my Parker or my Amelia, then I will go on a date. Does that satisfy you?”
“Yes. Very much,” Amelia said. “And why do you hate my jean shorts so much?”
Tilley made a sour-milk face. “They are not elegant or refined or lovely, and you are.”
Amelia kissed Tilley on the cheek. “All right, then. That’s good enough for me.”
Then she said, “Oh, did I tell you Big George might be coming for Easter?”
Big George was Parker’s deceased wife’s father. He had no family after she died except an estranged daughter, and so, when Parker and Amelia married, he became family.
Tilley clapped her hands together. She adored Big George. Everyone did. He was imposing and powerful, but he was also funny and had this sadness inside him from losing his wife and his daughter—the two loves of his life—from the same hideous illness: ovarian cancer. It made him vulnerable in a way that powerful men often aren’t. At any rate, Tilley enjoyed him thoroughly.
“If he comes, I will make lemon meringue pie.”
Amelia gasped. “Aunt Tilley! You only makepecanpie for Easter.”
She was right. It was a rule. “Sure. But George loves lemon meringue best, and it is quite Eastery, isn’t it?”
“The Lord is risen, so it’s time for tart fruit?”
They both laughed.
Tilley was about to ask her more about George’s potential visit when there was a knock at the door. Amelia peeked her head through the open bedroom window and called, “Come on up! We’re in my room!”
She turned back to Tilley. “It’s Daisy. I’m going to get her all ready for the kids.” She scooted out the door, and Tilley heard her footsteps on the stairs.
Tilley folded two more sundresses in lovely shades of lemon and lime and put them in the suitcase. She had beautiful things, Amelia.And she deserved them. She’d worked so hard taking over the magazine that had always been her favorite. She wasn’t even gone yet, and Tilley already missed her.
It would be easy to make her stay, the other voice, the other Tilley, said.
“Oh, stop it,” Tilley said out loud. There had been times when Tilley would have made her stay. Tilley would like to think it wasn’t on purpose, but was it? Was it something she could control? It seemed, after all these years, she was more aware of slipping into this other self. That was progress.
I will be normal and happy and kind, and I will let Amelia go out and live her life, Tilley thought. Plus, were Tilley to fall ill, Elizabeth would likely be the one to care for her anyway, not Amelia. But, again, it would make Amelia feel guilty as she left, which Tilley did not want. Plus, what she had told Mason was true: Tilley very much wanted to get to know this Daisy better.
“Daisy, you are a godsend,” Tilley heard Amelia say as they walked up the steps.
“Well, hi, Aunt Tilley!” Daisy said. It was a chipper voice but not a patronizing one, not the one that Tilley could imagine her using on her patients, she was happy to report. She hated being infantilized. “I’m so glad you’re going to be here to help me with the twins.”
Tilley studied Daisy’s face. And do you know what? She believed her.
DAISYA Whole Passel
I used to watchFull Housea lot, and I always wished for a family like that. Big and loud and full of mishaps and love. I feel guilty thinking that now, that I wished for something different, because I love my dad so much, and I am so aware of how much he sacrificed to be everything for me.
But being with the Thaysdens felt a little likeFull House. And I knew I had to be super careful to keep my feelings for Mason’s family separate from my feelings for him. I couldn’t fall in love with a family, even if it was tempting.
