“I’ve had all the sex I can take for a while.”

“Ah. Spoken like a wife!”

“And a mother?” Peyton asked.

“Oh, my God, you’re pregnant?”

“Just a little,” she said. “I wasn’t going to tell anyone, but you’re not just anyone.”

“This is fabulous! I’ll be counting the days! Our kids will be so close to the same age! Have a girl, will you?”

“I’ll see what I can do. Now don’t tell anyone, all right? Because we should concentrate on the wedding, not the pregnancy.”

“Everyone will know the second you say no thank you to a glass of wine.”

“It’s not like I drink that much wine,” Peyton said. “You didn’t notice last night.”

“You appeared to have wine!”

“No, that was citrus green tea in a wineglass.” She grinned. “I can fake my way through this.”

“Oh, this is going to be so fun! Thank you for getting rid of that ass Ted and finding adorable Scott. I love him. What ever happened to Ted?”

“Last time I talked to his daughter, she said they had a very nice housekeeper and he was playing grandfather. Apparently he’s better with her little one than he ever was with his kids. A transformation, it sounds like. Good for him.”

“No regrets?”

“Are you kidding me?” she asked. “Scott is my dream man.”

The drive to the farm, near Portland, was four hours from Thunder Point. Adele lived in San Francisco and had arrived two days ago; her husband would be driving up on Friday morning in a catering truck stocked with prepared dishes—he was a restaurateur and would be catering much of the reception, but not all—Peyton’s mother, sisters, aunts, grandmother and cousins would not be held back from sharing their special Basque dishes. But Lucas was an amazing chef and wanted to do this for Peyton. He would follow Adele back to the city on Sunday.

Peyton and her youngest sister were best friends. It was odd in a large family how the siblings paired up and there was no formula to it. Peyton was always there for Adele and vice versa. They talked all the way to the farm—about their men, their jobs, the wedding, the other siblings, their parents.

When they arrived, all was as expected. There were vans, RVs, trailers and trucks with camper shells everywhere. The kitchen was full of women, talking, laughing, some arguing here and there. Adele walked in ahead of Peyton, carrying baby Rose, named for her great-grandmother and at least three women on Lucas’s side of the family. Peyton followed with her wedding dress hidden by a garment bag so that Scott wouldn’t see it.

“We’re here,” Adele said. “Peyton’s pregnant.”

Peyton gasped but the women shrieked and came running, fussing over her, hugging her, laughing and shouting, “Way to go, Adele,” Peyton said when the din died down.

“It’s an icebreaker. They’re going to find out within twenty-four hours anyway. It’s not like you’re a virgin bride. And besides, they’re Basque women. They have a couple of pregnant brides every year. We have the passion,” she added with a heavy accent.

“Now I’ll have to call Scott so he can tell the grandmothers. I’m never telling you another secret.”

“Yes, you will,” Adele said with a grin. “I’m very responsible. Most of the time.”

* * *

Grace and Ginger were under way with the flowers by seven on Friday morning. Grace was so glad to be leaving town.

Troy had texted her once in the past twenty-four hours— Are you okay? She texted back one word. Fine. Was she angry? Damn straight. This was all so familiar. Her mother had furs and jewelry, so that made her life simple? Easy? The reverse was also not true—there was family money and that made her tragic, evil and doomed? No. It made her an individual. We’re all very different with our own challenges and joys.

What could Troy give her since she had everything? Well, she didn’t have a father for her baby. My mistake, she mused. I thought he could love me no matter what.

She didn’t betray her feelings, something she’d become an expert at. She’d done it for years, starting when she was a young girl. She could be terrified and her heart breaking, but she could smile for the judges like she had the world on a string. She knew how to cope. Or cover.

She used the time to get Ginger’s story. When she gave her the job in the shop, she had no idea what Ginger had been through, the selfish husband, the baby’s death. “I think the job at the flower shop has saved me,” she told Grace. “It’s like a brand-new chapter for me. I haven’t been happy in so long, but I get excited to go to work every day. I hope you’ll need me for a while.”

“Are you kidding? You’re doing wonderfully. And my mother will be moving here in a month or so and you know all about that. I want to be able to see about her if she needs me or wants me. It’s so nice to know there’s someone who can take care of the flowers. I might have had to go to part-time hours, but with you in the shop and Justin to deliver, I’m in great shape. I can give my mother some time. When you get down to it, that’s the one thing you can’t buy or trade or borrow.”

“And you’re close to your mother?” Ginger asked.

“Yes and no. My mother was always so proud of me and my father died when I was young, so it was just the two of us, no siblings. But she was also demanding and impatient and sometimes she angered too easily. But now her life is slowly ending and all she wants is to be comfortable and near me. This is our chance to close on a good note.”

“A second chance. We should never take that for granted.”

“Your husband,” Grace said. “You said you should’ve known. Why did you marry him if you should’ve known?”

“Oh, it’s a long story, but the truth is, I loved the wrong man. I wanted him so much and put up with so much to have him. And in the end he wasn’t worth it. Listen, it was very nice of Peyton to invite us to the wedding, but do you think she’d be offended if I didn’t go? I’m completely over my ex, but a wedding might just make me very sad. I could go to the reception for a little while, just to see the wedding party with their flowers, but not the wedding ceremony. Would it hurt Peyton’s feelings?”

“Not at all. I’m going—she’s a friend of mine. But the way we usually service a wedding is to deliver the flowers early, arrange and stage them in the church and make sure the bride and her wedding party have theirs, leave the centerpieces and any other decorations either with the catering staff or if the tables are ready, put them out, then leave. Just that much takes quite a while. When we’ve done our work and are ready to go clean up, I can drop you anywhere you like.”