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“But me, especially,” Abby said. “Because I’ve always wanted a sister.”
“Believe me. Me, too.” She took in all the beautiful faces smiling at her. “So, thank you. For everything. You’ve all earned free pastries for life.”
They all laughed and clapped, and Jaime held onto her hips and lifted her off the chair. He hugged her tightly, and she knew everything had aligned to bring her to this moment.
“Now, are you ready?” he asked.
“So ready.”
As soon as he set her down, she slid into her clogs and headed to the door. When he didn’t follow, she turned back to him. “Aren’t you coming?”
“This moment’s all yours.”
A crowd had already gathered, though she couldn’t see them through the temporary gauze curtain Knox Holliday had hung to make sure no one could see the beauty of her bakery until the opening.
So, she turned the sign over, opened the door, and started to say, “Welcome,” when she saw a whole bunch of familiar faces.
“Mom?” Tears sprang. She fell against her dad’s chest. “Dad.” She drew out that single syllable until she was bawling as they both embraced her, hugging her tightly. “You’re here. You came to my opening.”
“We wouldn’t miss it, sweetheart,” her dad said.
“You gonna let us in or what?” Romeo’s voice had her pulling away to see that all her brothers had come.
“What are you doing here? Who’s taking care of Renzo’s?”
“Hey, sis.” Her brothers took turns hugging and kissing her.
“Where’s the chow?” Marco asked.
“You got anything other than cake in here?” Rocco asked.
And then, they pushed past her to get inside.
They moved to a corner of the bakery so the rest of the crowd could get in. “I can’t believe you all came out here,” she said.
“We wanted to share this day with you,” her mom said.
“I thought you were angry, that you were trying to teach me a lesson or something.”
“What? Where do you get these ideas?” Her mom scowled. “If I haven’t been in touch, it’s because we’ve been busy making some changes, and we have you to thank for that.”
“Me? What did I do?”
“We’ve done the same thing for generations, and we never bothered to question it. But you made us think. When you moved away… Oh, I was scared. I was so angry.”
“She was hurt,” her dad said.
Her mom just shrugged. “Can you blame me? How can I protect you from two thousand miles away?” She cut a look across the bakery, and Grace turned to see she was looking at Jaime.
“I don’t need your protection, Mom. I just need your love. I need your support.”
“I know that now. Your dad and I were taught to fear outsiders, and we passed that along to you guys because we didn’t know any other way. But you changed all that. We see how happy you are, how in love you are with this very good man—”
“How do you know he’s a good man? You’ve never met him. You haven’t even talked to him.”
“Oh, but we have,” her dad smiled. “Why do you think we’re all out here?”
“Jaimedid this?”
