Elle gasped and hugged her again. “Oh, Kate. It is wonderful. Really, it is. A baby. You’re going to be a mother. I’m going to be an aunt. Maggie and your baby will be so close in age, they’ll be best friends. This is so exciting.”
“Is it?”
Elle nodded.
“Good. Keep telling me that because I’m not so sure.”
Elle’s eyes narrowed. “How does Aidan feel about it?”
“He couldn’t be happier.” Kate squeezed her eyes shut, knowing she needed to tell her sister the whole story. So she did, starting with the marriage she didn’t remember in Vegas and how they had looked into an annulment, ending with how she had gone to the doctor to find out what was wrong with her only to discover that she was pregnant.
“Dr. Moore said that my blackout was likely an alcohol allergy exacerbated by pregnancy hormones. I only had two sips of that awful Love Potion Number Nine. I wasn’t drunk.”
“It was pretty awful, wasn’t it?” Elle agreed. “Or maybe it was just divine intervention to keep you from drinking too much since you’re pregnant. Oh, Kate, I think you and Aidan are made for each other. I’ve always thought so.”
Kate crossed her arms over her middle. “I wish I could share your confidence. I don’t know that I am made for anyone.”
Elle waved her hand as if clearing the air of Kate’s words. “Don’t be ridiculous. You know the old saying, ‘There’s a lid for every pot.’”
“You’re saying Aidan is my lid?”
Elle nodded, a sweet smile turning up the edges of her lips. “I’ve thought that for a long time. You guys have known each other for such a long time, and you keep finding your way back together.”
“I have to give him credit for that. He hasn’t given up on me yet.”
“Do you think subconsciously you’ve been testing him? To make sure he won’t break your heart the way Fred broke Mom’s heart?”
Kate shrugged. Elle and Jane called their father by his first name because they both agreed he didn’t deserve to be called Father or Dad.
“God knows Mom has been beating herself up for far too long,” Elle said. “You can’t let her bad experience make you think all men are bad.”
Fred Clark was an alcoholic. He had been unemployed more often than he had held a job. At one point, Zelda had finally given up trying to collect child support. She had decided cutting ties and making a clean break was better for her daughters than the occasional check. But even so, Fred would come around occasionally, wanting to see his girls. He’d carried on that way for several years until he decided to sue for half interest in the Forsyth Galloway Inn and lost the case.
They hadn’t seen or heard from him since, saddling their mother and Gigi with mountains of legal fees they were still trying to pay off.
The lawsuit had inspired Gigi to have an attorney strengthen the terms of the trust, to protect the inn from husbands of future generations if they tried pulling a similar stunt. Ever the optimist, Gigi had said that being able to add extra protections to the ownership of their beloved inn had been the silver lining to an otherwise horrible situation.
Zelda, however, simply saw it as a heartbreaking ending. She hadn’t been the same since the divorce. It was as if he had stolen their mother’s spirit.
“It is not just the men that can be bad.”
Elle scrunched up her nose. “What?”
“I worry that I inherited the same defect that made him leave Mom. That weird thing that makes me terrified of love and unable to commit to anything. Elle, I’m that flawed. I know it, and I don’t want to break Aidan and Chloe’s hearts.”
“Oh, and you think divorcing him when you’re pregnant with his child is going to somehow set him free?”
The ripple of silence between them widened as if Elle had just dropped a rock in what had otherwise been a still pool.
She took the skillet off the heat, turned off the burner, walked over and sat on the stool next to Kate.
“Okay, you know I love you. And I’m only saying this because I do. But you need some tough love right now. You need someone to be real with you. You have a child on the way. Life isn’t about you anymore. Actually, let me rephrase that. You and Aidan have a child on the way. This can be the start of a new life for you. A brand-new path full of adventure with a child and a good man who wants to be your husband. It can change your life in ways you never dreamed possible. You are lucky to have Aidan, Kate. Now you have to make up your mind. You have to commit and come to the table prepared to hold up your end or be willing to live with the consequences that you are mirroring Fred. And it is your choice.”
The next morning, Kate stood on Aidan’s front doorstep with coffee in one hand and a paper bag of bagels in the other. When she had called Aidan about getting together to talk—asking if he had time to talk when Chloe wasn’t home—he had suggested this morning.
Aidan had arranged for the parent of one of his daughter’s friends to take her to school this morning. With that set, Kate had offered to stop by and bring breakfast. Aidan had wanted to go out for breakfast, but she needed to have this conversation in private. Aidan had sounded dubious, but he had agreed.
Even though Kate had made up her mind by the time she left Elle’s house yesterday morning, she wanted to give herself the night to sleep on her decision and consider it with a fresh head the next day. Because she knew that with this talk, she was giving Aidan her final answer. There was no going back after today.
She rang the doorbell, taking care not to spill
