Page 82 of Sincerely, Mr. Braden

“I did that twenty minutes after he arrived,” Seth says proudly. “Now I’m giving my date the attention she deserves.”

“Seth’s not too competitive,” I tease as Belinda and Lara join us. “He’s a lot, but I wouldn’t trade him for the world.”

Seth hugs me, beaming like a proud peacock, earning adoring looks from his mother and grandmother.

“I can vouch for Braden men being a lot,” Lara says. “I’ve got three with my two sons.”

“Try being married to a Braden man and having four Braden boys and one stubborn Braden girl underfoot in jungles and deserts,” Belinda says. “And then wrangling all five of them in a small town, where it’s even easier to find trouble.”

We all laugh.

“I’m not sure Bentleys are any less trouble,” Aubrey says, putting a hand on her baby bump. “If you’ll excuse me, my little Bentley is dancing on my bladder.”

“And if you’ll excuse me, I think I hear champagne calling my name,” Becca says.

“Oh, me too,” Sutton says.

“I’d better go with them so they don’t stir up any trouble,” Victory says, and follows the others into the crowd.

“Speaking of trouble,” Seth says. “Mom, were you matchmaking Patsy and Frank?”

“You saw that, huh? I thought I could do it on the sly.” Belinda looks at me with a spark in her eyes and says, “I couldn’t help myself. Your father is an extraordinarily interesting man, and Patsy is an extraordinarily interesting woman. I think they might be good together.”

“Maybe they would be,” I say, feeling surprisingly hopeful for that. “I love my father to the ends of the earth, but you might want to warn Patsy that he can be stubborn and a bit reckless.”

Belinda smiles. “Extraordinary men are never easy, honey. Patsy knows that. I know my husband seems laid-back and easygoing, and he is most of the time, but he wasn’t always that way.”

“He was as far back as I can remember,” Seth says.

“Where do you think you got your penchant for working every waking hour?” she asks. “Your brain works just like your father’s. When we were raising you kids, he’d stay up until all hours working on projects, analyzing data and the behavior of animals and everything else under the sun.”

“I don’t remember him working late like that,” Seth says.

“That’s because when we lived overseas, you kids wore yourselves out every day, and you’d read yourself to sleep every night. When we moved back to Ridgeport, you were thirteen and too busy trying to figure out how to conquer the world to worry about what your parents were doing. I’m not saying your father was alone in his desire to do whatever it took to get his job done. I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to stay in one spot for hours just to get the right picture.”

“I do remember that,” Seth says. “Fondly—mostly.”

“It wasn’t easy with a gaggle of kids underfoot, and oftentimes wrangling you kids fell on your father,” Belinda says.

“That’s because extraordinary men need extraordinary women,” his grandmother says, smiling warmly at Belinda.

“Which brings us back to your father, Taylor,” his mother says. “He may be stubborn and even reckless, but he raised two lovely daughters, and that tells us the kind of man he really is.”

“Thank you. My father has had to put up with a lot. Under all that gruffness, he has a big heart, and I want him to be happy. He definitely deserves a lot better than what he got with my mother,” I say honestly.

“Yes, he mentioned something about that,” his mother says. “I’m sorry she wasn’t there for you and Becca. I don’t know if Seth told you or not, but my parents are very conservative, and my relationship with them is troublesome.”

“I told her,” Seth says carefully.

“I thought you might,” she says. “I learned early on not to go to my parents for comfort and support unless I was making decisions they agreed with. They love me, but their support is selective. When Charles and I decided to raise our children less conventionally than they approved of, it led to a rift that never healed.”

Becca’s voice whispers through my mind. The only time she was really happy was when you were talking about traveling with her. “I’m sorry to hear that. I think my mother’s support was selective, too.”

Seth holds me tighter and kisses the top of my head.

Belinda and Lara exchange a glance that tells of years of shared confidences and comfort.

“I know a little something about selective support, too,” Lara says. “My parents were a piece of work. It took me a very long time to learn that when parents make choices that distance them from their children, it’s not a reflection of who we are. It’s a window into who they are and the love they’re not able to give.”