It's Better This Way(14)

Carrie had gotten to know Blake a bit over the last few years. He was a catch, and if Hillary didn’t want to commit to him, she knew plenty of other women would. He worked at the University of Washington in the IT department.

At her daughter’s news, Julia leaped to her feet, and with tears glistening in her eyes cried out, “Hillary, oh Hillary, that’s wonderful!”

“I knew it would make you happy.”

    “I’m more than happy. I’m over-the-moon thrilled.” Mother and daughter embraced and swayed back and forth a few times, overcome with joy. Like Carrie’s own mother, her aunt Julia looked forward to spoiling grandchildren one day. It would happen, only not anytime soon.

Although she’d never tell her mother, Carrie knew how deeply Hillary’s parents’ divorce had wounded her cousin. Carrie had been afraid Hillary would never marry, for fear of what would happen in her own marriage. If her parents could divorce after being together for more than thirty years, what was to say any marriage would last? For reasons Carrie never fully understood, her cousins seemed to believe that in divorcing Julia, her uncle Eddie had divorced his daughters at the same time.

“Do you have a date for the wedding yet?” Julia asked, sitting down and pressing her hands between her knees, as if to hold herself back from hugging them all half to death.

“Not yet. Blake and I are looking at different venues, and it all depends on what dates are available. We were hoping for mid-November, sometime before the holidays.”

Julia nodded approvingly.

“Pastor Rick has agreed to perform the ceremony and will be counseling us. As soon as we know where we can have the wedding dinner and reception, we’ll coordinate the date with the church.”

The whole family attended the same church. Pastor Rick had been their pastor for as long as Carrie could remember. They’d all grown up with him. If she remembered correctly, Rick had been a youth pastor to her mom and aunt years earlier, when they’d been teenagers. Their history went a long way back.

    “I’ve asked Marie to be my maid of honor and I’d like Carrie to be a bridesmaid,” she said, looking to Carrie.

“I’d love to. Hill, this is such great news.”

Her cousin glowed. “Now that I’ve accepted Blake’s proposal, I’m sorry I waited this long.”

Julia reached for Hillary’s hands and stared at her daughter. “Have you told your father?” she asked, her voice low and serious.

Hillary immediately stiffened. “No.”

“Honey, you need to let him know. This is wonderful news, and you should be the one to tell him. He’ll be happy for you.”

Carrie knew that Hillary’d had little contact with her dad since the divorce. Her uncle had made several attempts to break through, with no success.

“I’m not telling him, Mom.”

“It’s been six years. It’s time to let all this anger go. The only one it’s hurting is you. Your dad loves you and he’d—”

“Mom, please, don’t bring Dad into this. He made it clear who he loves. When he left you, he walked out on us, too.”

“He didn’t walk away from you. He never would; you’re his children, his precious daughters. You need your dad, and I know you might not think it, but this separation has been just as hard on him as it has been on you.”

“Not likely,” Hillary insisted, her back as stiff as a broom handle. “I don’t believe he cares about us the least bit.”

“He misses you.”

“Good. I hope he’s miserable and that this new wife of his makes him suffer.”

“Listen,” her mother said, her expression one of regret and anxiety. “If you believe having a relationship with your father is somehow being disloyal to me, then you’re wrong.”

    “Mom,” Marie butted in, coming to Hillary’s defense. “It isn’t that. Dad is the one who is making any kind of relationship impossible. He refuses to see us unless Laura comes with him. Neither of us wants anything to do with her.”

“He’s trying to force that parasite he married on us,” Hillary added, and shuddered as if she’d bitten into a lemon. “If seeing Dad means I have to deal with Laura, then I refuse.”

“Has Laura reached out?” Carrie asked. She knew her uncle had at least tried, and she wondered about his new wife.

Hillary snickered. “The only time I’ve spoken to her was the day her son and I had it out. She stood between us and shouted at Marie and me to leave, which we were more than happy to do. She was rude and horrible. I have no intention of speaking to her ever.”

“Honey,” Julia said, as if looking to interject reason into this discussion. “Laura was standing up for her son. Had the situation been reversed, I would have leaped to your defense.”

Carrie knew her cousins’ actions had been less than civil. It was shortly after the Lake Sammamish incident that her aunt had finalized the divorce. Whatever had happened that day had deeply impacted her cousins. It was from that point forward that Hillary and Marie refused to have anything more to do with their father.

“You should be able to talk to your father without Laura,” Julia suggested gently. “He’ll want to know you’re engaged.”