Zelda tilted her face up and Stephen planted a kiss on her lips and whispered something in Zelda’s ear that made her giggle like a schoolgirl. After another quick peck, she walked away with her puppy and Stephen made his way to their table.
“I’m not interrupting, am I?”
His interruption was welcome after the heavy turn their conversation had taken.
“Not at all.” Kate patted the empty chair next to her. “Join us.”
Stephen looked handsome in khaki pants and an expensive-looking cobalt blue button-down. He was clean-shaven, and his thick brown hair was cut short. Despite the hint of gray at the temples, Kate wondered if he might not be a few years younger than her mother. Maybe even as much as five or seven years.
You go, girl.
Age aside, he seemed nice and he was clearly crazy about Zelda. He made her happy and that was all that mattered.
“Would you like some tea or something else to drink?” Jane stood.
“No. Thanks, though,” he said. “Please sit down. I don’t want you to go to any trouble.”
“Really, it is no trouble,” Jane said.
Stephen glanced over his shoulder at the place where he and Zelda had stood. “I was hoping to speak with the three of you. I need to ask you something before your mother returns. It is fortuitous that the three of you are here right now.”
The sisters exchanged looks. Kate had a feeling she knew what Stephen was going to say even before he said it. Although she hadn’t quite expected it the way he delivered it.
“I would like to ask the three of you for your mother’s hand in marriage.”
Jane gasped. Elle’s hand flew to her mouth. Kate opened her mouth to say something, but Stephen said, “Family is important to both of us and the three of you are so important to your mother. I want you to know how important it is to me to have your blessing. I love her.”
Jane and Elle were making the appropriate happy noises, murmuring things like Yes, of course, and She’s going to be so happy, and When will you propose? and Where will you live?
Kate was silently beating herself up because the first thing that crossed her mind after she heard the news was Mom said she never wanted to get married again. Her sisters seemed to have forgotten that declaration because they were all but planning the wedding.
“Shhh,” Elle said. “Here she comes.”
Stephen stood. “Thanks, ladies. We’re going to get a bite to eat. I would invite you to join us, but—” he winked “—I have something I have to do. More very soon.”
The sisters nodded and watched him walk away toward their mother, who was standing at the entrance of the tearoom.
“That was so sweet of him to ask for our blessing,” Elle gushed. “Oh, and speaking of things that are sweet, Kate, didn’t you say that Chloe was involved in some sort of rock-painting club?”
“Yes, it is with friends from her school. Why?”
Elle fished in her pocket and pulled out a pink painted stone. “I think she left this for you on the kitchen steps at the inn. It is so cute. I’m sure she wanted you to find it. I saw it this afternoon on my way back from the art walk, and I was afraid if I put it back someone else would pick it up. Look, she wrote her name on the back—Chloe Quindlin. On the other side is a message for you.”
Elle held up the rock and Kate took it from her, first examining the side with Chloe’s name lettered in gold paint, then flipping it over and seeing the message: “Come home soon, Mommy. I miss you.”
Kate’s heart leaped into her throat, lodging there. Her hand fluttered to her mouth.
“What does that mean?” Jane said. “You’re still living with them, aren’t you? Wait—Kate, are you crying? Why are you crying?”
“Kate? What’s going on,” Elle asked.
Kate gave her head a sharp shake. If she uttered one word right now, she knew she’d lose it.
Suddenly, it was as if everything snapped into sharp focus. She was an idiot for allowing her father to hold her heart hostage all these years. With the way her heart ached at the thought of Chloe missing her—and Aidan, no doubt, taking her to the inn to leave the stone, there was no way that she was like her own father, who clearly didn’t give a damn about his own flesh and blood. The truly perverse thing was that he had moved on. He and Beverly were still together. They were probably happy, in their own way, in their own little world, which did not include them. If he had come face-to-face with Elle, the sweetest and most forgiving of his daughters, and had treated her like a stranger, he had made a choice.
Now, the question wasn’t why she had given him so much power over her all these years, but how she would move forward.
“I have to go,” Kate said.
“What’s wrong? Is everything okay?” her sisters asked as Kate scooted out of her chair and gathered her purse, all the while holding tight to the rock.
“I’ll explain later, but right now, I have to go.”
Ten minutes later, Kate steered her car onto Aidan’s street. Since it was difficult to find street parking, she parked in the first space she could find, which was about three houses down, and got out and walked. Maybe she should have called, but she needed to see Aidan and talk to him face-to-face. She needed to tell him she loved him, and she was sorry she had let this ridiculousness go on too long. She finally knew what she wanted, and she wasn’t going to waste another day.
When she cleared the mammoth azalea bush that separated Aidan’s yard from his neighbor’s, she stopped short. Dori Watson and Beatrice were walking hand in hand up the walk that led to Aidan’s door. Dori looked cute in a red sundress that showed off her figure
