Which she had, of course.
Such was the genius of Antoine.
If she could just get the caterers and maids in line, she might actually have a decent party. And, as everyone knew, a decent party in Lilah’s estimation was actually a fucking fantastic party. Which was exactly what her three older brothers deserved. A fucking fantastic party.
Life had been clicking into place for each of them. Ian was married. Harry was getting married. And James was about to become a father. Which left Lilah as the last unattached Moore—a status that was fine with her. Finding a decent match was more challenging than it was for her brothers. Lilah had standards. She wouldn't settle for just anyone. She was fine to wait until she found someone who would treat her the way she deserved to be treated. Someone who could provide the lifestyle she was accustomed to.
Finally, after all the flower arrangements were in just the right place, after every pillow had been fluffed and straightened at least twice, after the food lining the counters looked just as mouth-watering as it smelled, Lilah shooed the help from her house. Then she wandered around, checking and double checking that everything was exactly as it needed to be.
Ever the punctual first-born, Ian arrived first with his new wife, Juliet, clinging to his arm as if he were her life raft. Next came Harry, accompanied by his fiancé, Willow, looking perfectly waifish and wide-eyed as she took in Lilah’s home. Finally, in sauntered James—late as usual—with his very pregnant girlfriend, Ellie, waddling in after him.
Lilah was in tip-top, positively perfect form, ushering people to the chairs she’d arranged specifically for each person in the living room. Not that they knew she had a seating arrangement in her head. God, no. James would never let her live that down. But just because she didn’t tell anyone there was a plan didn’t mean she hadn’t made one. She understood the ebb and flow of socializing, and the need for the perfect arrangement of, well, everything, to make a gathering go well.
After exactly twenty minutes of conversation, Lilah was back up, ushering everyone out of the living room and into the dining room for dinner and—thank God—the food tasted just as delicious as it looked. Which was only appropriate, considering how much it all cost.
As dinner wound down, Lilah held up her drink and waited for all eyes to focus on her. “Thank you all for coming...” She smiled and squared her shoulders. “I’m just so happy for my brothers. good, strong men who have taken such good care of me. Sometimes too good…” She paused, waiting for the light laughter she expected.
“We wouldn’t have to take such good care of you if you didn’t make such bad choices with boyfriends.” James leaned forward and crossed his arms on the table. “I mean, we’re the reason you made it through high school without getting your heart broken.
“Or, you know, actually falling in love.” Lilah shrugged, still mildly annoyed with her over-protective brothers and the bossy gene that came with being a Moore. “Six of one, half dozen of the other, really.”
“Here we go again.” Ian rolled his eyes and sat back in his chair, running a hand through his dark hair. “Come on, Lilah. You were crazy in love with Braydon Fletcher.”
She hit him with her most condescending look. “I might have been, if you hadn’t broken his nose right after Junior Prom. I never saw the guy again after that.”
“Hey! I was the one who broke his nose.” James thumbed at his puffed-up chest. “These guys just made sure good old Braydon knew why he got the shit beaten out of him.”
Ellie, James’ girlfriend, leaned forward and placed a hand on his arm. “You broke his nose? Why?” She sounded more awed than appalled, which had Lilah shaking her head. There was nothing awe-inspiring about James’ quick temper.
The truth of the matter was that Braydon Fletcher had his nose broken because that night because the guys came home a half an hour earlier than she expected. They found her on the couch, a little drunk, a lot undressed, and completely hidden under a very handsy guy in a rented tux. It didn’t matter how fine she was with what was happening, poor Braydon was brought to the full and complete realization that her brothers were not.
“None of that’s important right now.” Lilah laughed as she silently willed her brothers to shut up. The night was not supposed to be about her. It was for them.
And if they would just shut the hell up and let me talk, she thought to herself, we can move on to the next thing I have planned.
She plastered a bright smile on her face. “What’s important is that you’re all here and you’re all happy. I couldn’t have picked a better set of women to be with my brothers.”
There.
That settled everyone down.
“To love.” Lilah held up her glass. With beaming smiles, her guests echoed her toast and drank. “You girls must feel like you won the lottery, getting to join the Moore family,” she continued, lowering her glass to the table. “Even you Ellie, although officially it’s only your baby who’s part of the family.” Ellie’s jaw dropped, but Lilah didn’t notice. “It must be nice to have everything just fall into your lap like it has.” She smiled at each of the three women in turn before casually sipping her whiskey sour.
“Lilah!” All three brothers barked in unison, none of them sounding pleased, and all of them glaring at her across the table.
“What?” She flinched, taken aback by their sharp tone.
“You need to think about the things you say,” Harry said, as if that was enough clear everything up.
“What did I say?”
“Everything just fell into their lap? What are you implying?”
“They did each manage to pull off a pretty major Cinderella story without having to work for anything. And now, they’ll never have to work
