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Evie, on the other hand, had a notebook and pen at the ready. “There are so many things to do! We only have two weeks!”
While Evie launched into planning mode, my mother sat perfectly still and silent. Both my father and Will stood and shook my hand and then hugged Saryn.
While Saryn was busy talking to her mother and our fathers, I walked over to my mother. She looked lost in thought.
“Mom?”
Her gaze lifted, and she smiled. It wasn’t the distant smile I’d grown up with, yet something was wrong.
“Is everything okay?”
She took in a slow, deep breath, and then exhaled just as slowly. “May we speak, alone?”
“Of course. Back porch?” I asked.
With a nod, I reached out for her and she took my arm. We walked together toward the back of the house.
“We’re going to get some fresh air,” I called back to everyone.
Saryn smiled and nodded as Evie called, “Don’t be long, we have a ton of things to plan!”
My father narrowed his gaze slightly before turning back to the conversation at hand.
We walked through the dining room and into the large open kitchen, then out through the mudroom and onto the back porch that stretched the length of my house.
“This piece of land is so different from the ranch,” she mused.
I looked out over the Hill Country and smiled. “It is.”
“Truitt, why didn’t you build your house on the ranch, like your brother did?”
With a shrug, I replied, “I guess I wanted something that was mine. That I’d earned with my own hands.”
She turned and leaned against the wooden railing. Her eyes were focused so intently on me that I found myself wondering if she was about to tell me she was leaving the country again.
“Truitt, are you sure about this? Getting married so quickly? Why the rush for a wedding right now?”
“I love her, I want to marry her. I thought you liked Saryn.”
“I do!” she was quick to say. “I adore her, as a matter of fact. And Liliana. It’s just, the two of you have had this whirlwind romance, and now barely a few months into being together you want to get married. I’m just worried it’s for the wrong reason.”
“The wrong reason?”
She turned and looked out over the countryside. “Your father and I barely knew each other when we got married. People around town said my father forced your daddy’s father into agreeing to the marriage. Your daddy and I never even had a say in it.”
I looked down and gave a small nod. “Dad told me a little bit about it.”
Her expression was one of utter sadness. “I wasn’t the girl your daddy wanted to marry, but I tried so hard to be the woman he might fall in love with. Rumors flew around town about him stepping out on me, and I looked the other way. I guess I did it because I felt like he had no choice in the matter when it came to marrying me.”
I took a step back. “What?”
She gave me a weak smile. “It’s silly thinking now, I know that. And your father and I are actually in a really good place. Together. But I can’t help but wonder with this rushed wedding and the way you are looking at Saryn…the way you are so protective of her today, well…” She gave a soft laugh. “Once upon a time your father looked at me that way when I was pregnant with your brother.”
I swallowed hard, and she took my hands.
“Was this baby planned, Truitt?” She looked almost sick with herself for even asking.
“Saryn didn’t trap me, Mom. Um…” I felt my cheeks grow hot as I was about to tell her what happened. “We used protection every time, but once my condom did break. Saryn is on the pill, but things happen.”
A wide smile broke out over her face, and she hugged me. “I knew she wasn’t that type of girl, but I don’t want rumors to follow her around like they have me.”
“We’re going to announce the pregnancy when she’s out of the first trimester, and I don’t give two shits if people know that she was pregnant when we got married.”
“So, you’re happy?” Mom asked as she squeezed my hand.
I returned her smile with one of my own. I knew there was a deeper reason she was asking me all of this. My parents hadn’t been happy when they got married. “I’ve never been happier, Mom. I’m glad you’re here to share this with me.”
Tears pooled in her eyes and she looked down to regain composure.
Things with my parents seemed to be getting better. After Christmas Eve they insisted we do a family dinner once a week. Roger hated it at first, but eventually he grew to enjoy our dinner nights.
Liliana adored him. She was calling him Uncle Roger now. Her little family was growing by leaps and bounds, and she was thriving.
