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“What about my sisters?” Sterling asked with a frown. “I am absolutely not allowing them to have half naked pictures taken so they can end up on the internet.”
Veronica smiled. She really should get to know Sterling a little better. They seemed to have the same fears when it came to teenaged girls. “I agree. They can still have their photos taken, but for them it would be more like a fashion shoot. And we’d be sure to keep the doors closed on the other sessions.”
“That’s a great idea.” Penn was fully on board. “So it’s settled? We’re taking sexy photos.”
“On one condition.” Sterling turned to Veronica. “You need to join us.”
“Oh! I…” She didn’t have the words. Veronica didn’t have many girlfriends. Most of her friendships had dwindled as soon as she decided to adopt her two younger siblings. “Thank you. I would love to.”
“Don’t forget to bring your sister.”
A grin spread across Veronica’s face. She had known Finn and his brothers a long time, and loved them all. And Sterling had just proven why Jack was a very lucky man.
“Ali is away at school and probably won’t make it, but I’ll call my photographer friend tonight and set everything up. I do have a wedding every Saturday until the end of the year, and I’ve got a couple bridezillas, so I expect my Friday nights will be hectic. Can we do a Sunday?”
“Sunday’s fine with me,” Penn said. “I don’t think my boss will mind if I’m hungover Monday morning.”
“Sunday works for me, too,” Sterling said. “What about Carson?”
“She’ll be in, for sure.” Penn said.
Carson Kelly was another soon-to-be sister-in-law—Neil’s girlfriend. They had just started dating officially a few weeks ago, after a sex tape scandal had shocked the Madewood world. But everyone saw where their relationship was headed—right down the aisle.
“I really love this idea.” Sterling reached across the table and sifted through the photos. “Why don’t we have it at Vivian’s? That big ol’ house is just sitting there with no one to love it.”
Penn lunged and pulled Veronica into a hug. “You are the best wedding planner ever.”
Oh, Veronica was great with the ideas. Of that she had no doubt. It was the joining in, the being involved, that had always presented problems for her. Another item to add to her list of getting-her-life-back. Spending an afternoon with friends sounded like exactly what she needed to break out of her shell.
Sterling pursed her lips. “Why don’t we kill two birds with one stone? We can have the photo shoot during the day, and then the rehearsal and dinner that same evening. Invite the boys over. Your brothers, too, Veronica.” She made a face. “Giving my parents almost a week between the wedding and the rehearsal might mean they’ll actually show up.”
“Are you sure you don’t mind me tagging along?” Veronica asked, tactfully sidestepping the parents remark.
Sterling waved her off. “You’re practically family. Finn’s told me all about you and the trouble you two used to get into.”
“He has?” Why would he talk about her?
“From what Finn tells me, he, Cole, and Mark were inseparable.”
Veronica nodded, her mind swamped with so many great memories. “They were…still are.” At least, until Mark had moved out west. “When I was fourteen a really nice family took me in and the three of them used to come and visit me. I lived an hour away. Eventually, my foster family realized my brother was a good kid, and took him in, as well.”
That had been the temporary breakup of the three musketeers. It wasn’t until they had all graduated from high school and Mark had moved back to the city to go to college that they saw one another as often.
Penn picked up the book of fabric swatches and leafed through it. “Funny how things turn out,” she mused. “If I’d had to choose, I would have picked Finn to get married first.”
“Yeah. So did Vivian,” Veronica murmured wistfully.
At the sudden eerie silence, she sucked in a quick breath and looked up. Both women stared at her as if she had two heads. Damn. She had to remember some things didn’t need to be said. She shared a past with the Madewood family that these women could never know or understand. It wasn’t her place to disclose Finn’s deep and darkest secrets. Not that Veronica knew them all.
Still, what she was about to reveal wasn’t really a secret. It was plain as day within two minutes of meeting the man.
“Finn wants a wife and babies,” Veronica explained. “He wants the family life he never had. Vivian knew that.” A part of Veronica always believed Vivian shared the same daydream, the one where Veronica would someday m
arry Finn. There was something in the way she’d looked at her, in the way she’d knowingly smiled whenever they were together.
But Vivian had passed away much too early, and now the idea of raising babies gave Veronica the hives.
“I forget that you’ve known them all for a long time.” Sterling stood up from the table and walked closer.
