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“My darling girl,” Neil murmured against Olivia’s cheek as he hugged her.
“I missed you,” Olivia said, leaning back to frown at him in concern. “I thought you would miss Christmas. Where were you?”
“We were right here, getting Christmas ready for you,” he said, and I saw a flicker of pain cross his face. One of his biggest regrets in life was the time he’d spent away from Emma as he and Valerie had split custody. I knew it bothered him to be away from Olivia, even though she wasn’t our child to keep to ourselves.
“Sophie, look at my bow!” Olivia reached up to the giant blue ribbon tied around her ponytail.
“It’s awesome!” I caught her hand and kissed it before she could muss her hair up too much. I glanced toward Valerie, who approached us. “Did grandma pick it out?”
“Uh-huh.” Olivia nodded and squirmed down from Neil’s arms. “I wore this to the wedding.”
“Wedding?” Neil asked, taking Valerie’s hand and kissing the air beside her cheek. “You look great, by the way, Vee.”
It was a miracle my jaw didn’t lock up, as hard I ground my teeth.
Old, possessive habits died hard. Even though Valerie no longer had designs on my husband—thank God—her shared history with Neil always seemed so much bigger and more important due to how long they’d known each other. Longer than I’d even been alive, which made things extra awkward. I was constantly reassuring myself that I wasn’t the villainous younger woman in a Hallmark movie about second chances.
“Thank you.” She touched her hair.
“Sophie looks pretty, too!” Olivia practically shouted, and I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me. If the kid was already detecting relationship friction at three, we were fucking doomed.
“That she does, Angel,” Valerie agreed with a stiff smile.
“So, you took her to a wedding?” Neil asked, tilting his head. “I assume one of Laurence’s friends? Or did one of ours get married and not invite me?”
“I’m sure someone, somewhere, is happily having a wedding without you,” Valerie said wryly. “But no. I don’t know where she’s gotten that from.”
“It’s probably a new pretending phase,” Neil said while Olivia pulled hard on his hand.
“Let’s see the tree, Afi!” Olivia demanded, trying to drag him off. Of course, he gave in quickly.
I glance down at Valerie’s left hand. “Hey, if you want to keep up the ruse, you might want to take the wedding ring off.”
Valerie gasped and quickly transferred the gold and diamond set to her right hand.
“So, you guys are keeping the marriage a secret, too?” I asked. That was weird, but not the first time someone I knew had done that. My friend Penny had kept her elopement secret for months. But though Valerie and Laurence hadn’t announced their engagement publicly, Neil and I had both known about it. What was the point of lying about the wedding?
“No, not a secret, really,” she hedged. “I just didn’t want to tell Neil during the holidays. You know how he can be.”
My hackles poised to rise. “You think he would be upset that you got married?”
“I think he would be upset that there was a tiny part of his life he couldn’t control,” she said with a jut of her chin in the direction he’d gone with Olivia. “He doesn’t like change. Or closed doors.”
Okay, hackles fully, entirely raised. “You know, I honestly think he’s so focused right now on our family that he wouldn’t have time to worry about butting into your business. If that’s what you’re concerned about.”
It had better be the only thing you’re concerned about.
She glossed right past that remark. “Of course, we’ll let everyone know, eventually. Do me a favor and don’t mention it until then?”
I opened my mouth to snap at her, but Laurence came in, and she said, “Excuse me, won’t you?”
Across the room, I caught El-Mudad’s eye. He winked at me. Beside him, Amal glowered. I looked around for Rashida and, to my utter, heart-melting delight, I found her with Neil and Olivia. Rashida had Olivia’s chubby little hand in hers and led her around the base of the tree, pointing out ornaments.
I didn’t need to be threatened by Valerie at all, because what I’d said was true. Neil really was focused on our family.
By the time all of Neil’s relatives and mine had made it into the ballroom, the noise was unbelievable. The elegant piano arrangements were not helping. I saw my grandmother approach El-Mudad. He nodded as she spoke, then he put two fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly. Even the pianist went silent.
“Everybody, listen!” Grandma shouted. “The housekeeper says she’s gonna open up those doors over there, so we have a place to sit while we’re eating. But first, we’re gonna pray.”
I had forgotten entirely about grace. I spotted Neil’s brother, Runólf, looking uncomfortable. From what I understood, the Elwood family had never been the grace-saying type, even though they’d attended church regularly. It had apparently been like a club they’d been expected to attend for social reasons. Now, they were held hostage by my grandmother’s recitation of the all the people who’d died during the year and Catholic call-and-response style grace.
