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“Don’t be ridiculous,” Belinda replied. She forced Noelle to look up. “You never have to apologize for falling in love with someone else.”
“But Kevin...”
“Kevin would want you to move on. So would Ned and I. You’re much too young to spend your life alone.”
Right, because Belinda was leaving. The reminder she would soon be alone in Fryberg only made the hollow feeling in Noelle’s chest grow larger. “What if I’m wrong?” she asked. “What if James isn’t as awesome as I think?”
“Then you try again,” Belinda told her. “Relationships don’t come with guarantees. Some work. Some don’t.”
“Yeah, but if I choose him, and we don’t make it, then I’ll be alone again.” Her eyes had lost the battle and teared up again. One dripped down her cheek onto Belinda’s fingers. “You’re the only family I’ve ever had. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“My goodness, is that what you’re scared of? Losing your family?”
She didn’t see how she could move on and keep them. “I’m only family because I married Kevin. If I move on, I won’t belong anymore.”
“What are you talking about? Of course you’ll belong. Don’t you realize that with Kevin gone, I need you more than ever?”
Before she could say another word, Noelle found herself back in Belinda’s embrace. Her mother-in-law squeezed her tight. “You, Noelle Fryberg, have always been more than Kevin’s wife,” she said. “I love you like a daughter, and that’s never going to change, whether you fall in love with James Hammond or a hundred different men. Family is forever, and you...”
She kissed Noelle’s forehead. “You are my family. Got that?”
Noelle tried to keep her jaw from trembling as she nodded. What a fool she was. So busy being grateful for Belinda and Ned’s affections, she couldn’t see that when it came to Belinda, family wasn’t an either-or proposition. Her heart was large enough to accommodate everyone. Take Thanksgiving and the mishmash of characters who joined every year. Todd, Jake from the mail room, Nadifa from sales. None of them blood related and yet all of them embraced like they were.
When she thought about it, Belinda had pulled Noelle into that welcoming web the day Kevin brought her home. She didn’t inherit a family because she dated Kevin; dating Kevin was an added bonus. Chances are she would have been enfolded into the Thanksgiving Day group regardless. After all, the only qualification was being alone at the holidays.
“Your family was—is—the greatest gift I could ever ask for,” she told Belinda. “Being a Fryberg was a dream come true. It was all I ever wanted.”
By now Belinda’s eyes were shining too. “Oh, sweetheart, you’re my dream come true too. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Kevin, but I always wanted a daughter to keep the family traditions alive.”
Offering a smile, the older woman bent down and kissed Noelle on the forehead. “I never imagined I’d end up with a daughter who’s more Fryberg than anyone with actual Fryberg blood.”
They both laughed. “Does that mean I can still have Grandma Fryberg’s recipe book?” Noelle asked, wiping her eyes.
“Absolutely. I’ll even laminate the pages so you can pass the book along to your daughter.
“And you will have a daughter. Or daughter-in-law,” Belinda added. Her smile faded and once again, her expression grew serious. “There’s a whole world out there beyond this store and our family name. I fully expect you to build a happy life beyond Fryberg’s. You deserve one.”
“But I wouldn’t have a life without Fryberg’s,” Noelle replied. Breaking out of her mother-in-law’s grasp, she reached for the box of tissues on her desk. Her eyes and nose were runny with tears. “I can’t imagine anything else.”
“Really? Then why are you crying over James Hammond?”
All right, maybe Noelle could imagine a little more. The other night, in James’s arms, she’d imagined all types of future. “Doesn’t matter whether I’m crying over him or not,” she said, blowing her nose. “He and I are finished.”
“Are you certain?”
“Man said so himself.”
Forget it, Noelle. I already have.
She blew her nose. “You should have heard his voice, Belinda.” Remembering sent a chill down her spine. “I called him to discuss his email, and I might as well have been talking to a stranger.”
A feeling of hopelessness washed over her. “I thought... That is, the whole reason I freaked out was because I thought we had some kind of special connection. Now I wonder if maybe I wasn’t simply confusing good sex with affection and blew the weekend out of proportion.”
