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Cody’s brothers followed them out.
I gazed at the crowd. They were looking from me to the exit.
I exchanged a look with Thelma. What did I do now? She nodded her encouragement. To what?
Whatever I thought was right. I never felt the need to explain myself, and there wasn’t much need to—or time. But Frederick had aired my laundry and acted like it was the dirtiest. I had a chance to explain myself. To tell them how much this town and the Knights meant to me.
“I’m just a girl who loves to dance. The only thing I love more is teaching others so they can find their own delight in it. That’s all I want to do here. Dance, teach, and hang out with my most favorite people in the world.”
“Damn straight.” Thelma held her hands above her head and clapped.
The audience joined in. Aggie put two fingers to her mouth and wolf-whistled. I was dying to know what was going on with Cody, but there were people who worked hard for today and needed their time to shine.
I waved the kids out. “Time to take a bow.”
Hesitantly, they took center stage, and I joined in with the applause to support these kids. The rest could wait. I wasn’t going anywhere.
Epilogue
Tova
Applause rang through the theater like it had almost exactly a year ago. I stood behind all the kids, taking my bows with them. The second annual summer show was over.
The timing was perfect. We’d moved into our brand-new house. The theater would close for a couple of months this fall to finish some remodeling.
Mytheater. The one with the marquee Cody had built and put my name on.
Thanks to my pit bull lawyer, Lauri, I got all my money back. She hadn’t been satisfied with Frederick returning my assets. She’d gone after damages—for trying to traffic me, for stalking, and for the theater stunt. Thanks to the high-profile last name Frederick was so proud of, he settled without a fight. The threat of family shame and public humiliation had been enough.
Cody leaned over and murmured something to Mom. She had a spot in front for her wheelchair. Accessible seating was one of the first changes I made to the theater after I bought it with the settlement money.
I’d tried to pay Lauri, but she’d refused.My pleasure,she’d said, and she meant it. If Meg had been anything like her, Ivy was going to grow into a fearsome woman, and I couldn’t wait to see it.
Mom’s eyes twinkled, and she clapped her left hand against her thigh. We’d asked her to move to North Dakota almost immediately after I decided to stay. She hated to leave the center that had become her home, but she wanted to be closer to me. Cody said she could stay with us after the house was built, but Mom insisted she’d be more comfortable in her own space with her care team close by.
She was in a nursing home in Bismarck. I could visit her a lot easier than when we’d both been in California. The kids decorated her room with artwork, and she hadn’t missed a single recital. She’d been next to me with Thelma at my intimate outdoor wedding to Cody last October. Cody’s siblings had been there, along with Sutton, Vienne, Catherine, and the kids from the summer recital. Everyone important in my life and Cody’s had attended.
Catherine helped me herd the kids off stage.
“You guys did so good,” I said to them all. “I can’t be any prouder than I am right now.”
Ivy threw her arms around me, her face squishing against my belly. “Thank you.”
Strong arms embraced me from behind. I closed my eyes and leaned into Cody’s touch.
“The audience is excited to meet the performers, Miss T.”
I grinned. My students called me Miss T. My pole dancing class insisted on calling me Fannie Grace.
Grayson and Ivy had wanted to know what to call me after Cody and I married. They stuck with Tova, and that was just fine. Cody and I supported memories of their mom and encouraged celebrating Meg as much as possible. Her pictures with the kids hung with our family pictures in the new house.
I caught Lauri blinking tears away every time she walked by. She’d confessed that she’d been terrified I would wipe out memories of her daughter. I admitted that I was terrified she’d never accept me. Now I called her and Curtis my in-laws, and they referred to me as a daughter-in-law, too, since Cody was like a son to them.
As the kids filed out to meet their families, I tucked myself into Cody’s side to follow.
He caressed his hand over my stomach. “You were amazing. I’ll never get tired of watching you.”
“I wasn’t sure how people would handle watching a pregnant lady dance.”
