Not Your Ex's Hexes (Supernatural Singles, #2)(92)
“Fine! Have it your way.” Christina backed down and shot a playful look toward Rose and the others. “And you’re not in a magical bubble. We can hear you.”
“We know.” Rose grinned.
Christina rolled her eyes playfully. “I blame this all on you, Mother.”
“Me?” Edie failed to suppress a chuckle. “They’re your daughters.”
“But you raised them more than I did.” Christina blinked and looked away, but not before hiding the sheen of tears.
This woman in front of them looked like their mom, decked out in her gala finest with her curled hair sitting high on top of her head. But she didn’t sound accusatory, and there wasn’t an ounce of her usual Southern passive-aggressive haughtiness. Christina looked a bit guilty, and a smidge sad.
Rose exchanged silent looks with her sisters.
“Mom, are you okay?” Rose reached out to squeeze her mother’s arm. “You haven’t seemed yourself lately.”
“I’m fine. I just…” She sniffed. “Had a little health scare and—”
“You’re sick?” Olive asked.
Vi gasped. “What’s wrong?”
Christina held up her hand, silencing everyone’s concerned questions. “It was a scare. I’m fine. But it was potent enough to wake me up a bit, and I realized I haven’t been there for you girls the way I should’ve been.”
Her gaze flickered to Edie. “It wasn’t easy growing up under the shadow of the Prima. The expectations people made of me because of it … it was stressful to say the least.”
Edie frowned. “Oh, sweetheart…”
“No, no. I’m not trying to gain sympathy. I know it doesn’t excuse my actions through the years, but…” Christina took her time looking at each of her daughters. “I knew the pressure each of you would be under as you carry around the Maxwell name, and in my quest to prepare you for it, I unwittingly placed more of it on your shoulders … and I’m sorry.”
Christina turned to Vi. “If you don’t want to wear the heels, then don’t. You’ll be the only one of us that isn’t applying ointment to raging blisters by the end of the night.”
She turned to Olive. “And I know I haven’t always been supportive in your career shift, but you should know I’m immensely proud of you. You are good at everything you do, and your students are lucky to learn from the best.”
Finally, she turned to Rose, whose mouth had already gone dry.
Christina smiled wanly. “And you will find your thing, Rose Marie. And when your heart tells you it’s the right fit, hold on to it with everything you have.”
If she wasn’t so shocked at this new, emotionally open mother, she would’ve laughed at the abrupt, awkward silence filling the room.
“You had me at I don’t have to wear the shoes.” Vi flung off her heels, the move dropping her three inches closer to the floor and creating a tear-streaked round of laughter.
Five minutes later, they were off to Guastavino’s, enough behind schedule to meet up with her father, Linc, Bax, and Adrian, and still arrive fashionably late.
Rose hung back and let the couples walk into the event center first. It gave her a prime view of her parents—who’d never been the PDA type even at these kinds of affairs—holding hands as they walked into the hall. Linc and Vi were Linc and Vi, deeply in love and practically wrapped around one another with cartoon hearts twinkling in their eyes. Harper did her best to avoid Adrian’s excessive flirting.
And Olive …
Walking next to Bax, her triplet seemed oblivious to the way the Guardian Angel watched her every move. She shifted left, he shifted. She slowed, he slowed. As if knowing he was being studied, the angel glanced over his shoulder.
Rose flashed him a caught-you smirk and he quickly looked away, immediately engaging Adrian in conversation.
She chuckled.
Once upon a time, she’d told her sisters—and Damian—that romantic entanglements weren’t in her future, and she’d meant it. But she couldn’t deny something felt missing …
She had the friends. The dress. In five minutes, she’d have yummy pigs in blankets.
It was Damian.
She missed the grumpy, half-demon veterinarian who never ceased to make her blood—and her body—boil.
She’d almost invited him multiple times, but did FBs attend events like this? She didn’t think so, and so she’d kept quiet, not wanting to put additional strain on their already strained relationship. She resigned herself to being the seventh wheel on what she hoped would be a quick, entertaining night.
The second their party stepped into the gorgeously decorated Guastavino’s, Edie quickly whisked Vi and Linc away, and Harper beelined it for the bathroom in the hopes of losing Adrian. It wasn’t long before it was only Olive and Rose.
The youngest triplet pushed her glasses up her nose. “What do you say to finding drinks, and then a corner we can hide in until it’s socially acceptable to go home?”
Rose glanced at the overfilled room. “You had me at hide-and-drink. But do you think there’s any such place we won’t be found? Pretty sure everyone in the city is here tonight. Too bad you didn’t bring a book with you. You could’ve commandeered a seat and then glared at anyone who dared interrupt your page time.”