Page 363 of Saving Forever with the Hockey Captain

"We really were," my mother agrees, reaching for a tissue. Jamie's mother dabs carefully beneath one eye before laughing at herself.

"I promised Jamie I wouldn't cry until the ceremony."

"You may have set unrealistic expectations."

"I think I did."

The three of us laugh together and the emotion eases. Jamie's mother walks across the room and takes both of my hands in hers. "I need to tell you something, Annette" Her smile is warm enough to quiet every nervous thought racing through my mind.

"Each time Jamie mentioned you..."

She pauses, remembering. "...he was trying very hard to convince us that you were simply his therapist."

He talked about how kind you were to every patient."

She laughs softly. "And he complained that you wouldn't let him skip a single exercise."

"I definitely didn't."

***

"But do you know what I remember most?"

I shake my head. "He smiled through every story."

Tears sting unexpectedly behind my eyes as she adds: "I don't think he realized he was doing it."

She brushes a loose curl away from my face with the same tenderness she might have shown her own daughter. "We all knew long before he did."

My mother smiles through tears. "So did we."

I look from one woman to the other. "I'm beginning to think we were the last two people to figure it out."

"Oh," my mother says with a laugh. "Not the last - Liam."

The three of us burst into laughter.

"But I think Liam still figured it out sometime before Jamie did," his mother says.

"Then announced it to half the county," I reply.

"That sounds about right."

The laughter fades into a comfortable silence.

***

Mom reaches into her overnight bag for a small cream-colored velvet box.

"I've been waiting a long time for this."

She opens it carefully, revealing a delicate strand of freshwater pearls nestled inside with matching pearl earrings.

"They were my wedding gift from your grandmother to me."

She smiles softly as she lifts the necklace into the light. "I've worn them on every anniversary since."

Emotion catches in my throat. "I remember them, Mom. They're beautiful."