It's Better This Way(37)

    “I’d be willing to give a relationship with Dad a try,” Marie said, abruptly taking Julia’s thoughts off her niece, “but he still refuses to see us unless we include Laura. That’s the issue.”

“I doubt we’ll hear from him again,” Hillary said. “I made my wishes known. It’s up to him what he decides.”

“Dad insisted he should be part of the wedding, seeing that he’s Hillary’s father,” Marie added.

“And I told him it’s my wedding and I’m the one writing out the guest list. I made sure he understood Laura’s name isn’t on it and won’t be. Dad has a choice. He’s welcome to be part of the wedding, only Laura can’t attend with him.”

Julia started to speak. Hillary stopped her by holding up her hand.

“Don’t say it, Mom. Nothing you can add is going to change my mind. Dad’s the one who drew the line in the sand, and he’s going to need to be the one to step over it first.”

The way Julia saw it, Eddie had stepped over it by being the one to reach out to his daughters. She couldn’t understand why he couldn’t start with something easy, like taking Hillary and Marie to coffee and talking. It wasn’t like Laura was attached to his hip or should be. If Hillary’s heart didn’t change, she feared that one day, her daughter would grow to regret not letting her father back into her life.

    “Enough about Dad,” Marie said. “This is a day to celebrate. Hillary is choosing her wedding dress.”

“And paying for it myself,” she added, before anyone else could suggest she accept Eddie’s offer to pay the difference above what she had budgeted.

“And I’m enjoying lunch with my favorite women in the world,” Carrie added.

The girls were right. Discussing Eddie had put a damper on what should be a happy day.

Hillary reached inside her purse and grabbed a pad. “This is my list of everything I need to arrange before the wedding,” she said, and put a check by where she had listed the wedding dress.

“Blake and I need to order the save-the-date cards next. We plan to do that the first of next week and order the invitations at the same time. Which means we have to decide exactly what we want printed. Blake is leaning toward the traditional, with our parents’ names listed. Personally, I’d rather not.”

Julia swallowed down another groan. If Blake got his way, then it went without saying Hillary would leave her father’s name off the invitation. That would be another slight toward Eddie that was sure to widen the gap between them.

“You’re both old enough to make your own decisions,” Julia said. “You haven’t lived at home since you started college.”

Her daughter gently shook her head. “Mom, stop. I know what you’re doing. You think it would be best if we kept our parents’ names off the invite because you want to spare Dad’s feelings. It’s sweet of you, but unnecessary. Blake and I are discussing this and will likely compromise.”

    “Understood.”

The girls chatted among themselves while Julia’s stomach clenched as she braced herself for what she would tell them next. She had barely touched her food. It was now or never. She knew Heath was anxiously waiting back at the condo to hear her daughters’ reaction to her news.

“Hillary, Marie,” she said. “I need to tell you something.”

Her tone must have alerted them that whatever she was about to say was important. As soon as she spoke, all three girls reverted their attention to her.

Julia’s mouth went completely dry.

“Mom,” Hillary said, her eyes widening with concern, “what is it?”





Chapter 14




Julia’s daughters continued to stare at her. Carrie, too. For the life of her, she couldn’t find the right words or even where to start. She had thought it best to simply explain the truth. However, now, when she had their full attention, she discovered her tongue had grown thick, and she was hardly able to speak.

“Are you sick?” Marie asked, reaching across the table to take hold of Julia’s hand and tightly hanging on to it. “Is it cancer?”

“No. No,” she whispered, shaking her head. “It’s nothing like that.”

“Mom, you’re scaring me.” This was from Hillary, who was almost always unshakable.

“Aunt Julia, you know there isn’t anything you can’t tell us. We love you.”

“I know…” She straightened and looked at the beautiful faces of these three women who were in possession of her very heart. “I’ve fallen in love,” she whispered.

    All three of the girls broke into huge smiles as relief relaxed their shoulders.

“Mom, did you seriously think you finding love would upset us?” Marie asked, laughing softly.

“That’s wonderful, Mom,” Hillary added, her relief evident.

“It’s Mr. Wilson, isn’t it?” Carrie said knowingly. “I’ve seen the two of you together having coffee every morning at the Busy Bean. Then you went on that pub crawl together.”

“How did you know that?” Julia was surprised word had gotten around the building, until she remembered she’d run into Kennedy, and then later a couple of the board members, at the event.