“Sabrina, we need your talents. There’s a dress emergency.” Jane explained the details. She was a frighteningly efficient woman, full of itineraries and introductions and solutions, and it was easy to see where Calder got the organizational gene.
“I’m on it.” Sabrina cast an appraising eye on Madeline. “Size 10/12? Are we talking super-fancy princess or more grown-up Hollywood or casual fun?”
“We’re going to a play. Calder got us tickets. I want to look thirteen,” Madeline said as I groaned.
“How about you be ten awhile longer?” I suggested to much laughter from the table.
“Elegant it is.” Sabrina clicked around on her phone. “There’s an outlet store not far from here. I can order a car with my app. Who’s up for a field trip?”
“Oh, me,” Jane volunteered.
“You don’t have to come.” I was sure that with less than forty-eight hours until the wedding, she was needed for far more important things.
“But I want to.” She blinked like she wasn’t used to being contradicted. “We don’t have enough little girls in the family to spoil. And that Calder obtained tickets to a musical is an event worthy of celebration.”
“Amen,” Sabrina agreed. “Great guy, but dragging him away from the card table prior to the ceremony is a feat. Must be true love.”
Her joke earned another huge round of laughter, while making a prickle race up my spine. Was it love? The whole boyfriend label was new enough. Madeline had pinned it on us, and Calder had quickly adopted the term like that might make me less likely to bolt back to friends-only land. Traveling together to the wedding was a big step as was letting Calder introduce me as more than a friend.
The Eulers were a delightfully welcoming bunch, but ever since our afternoon arrival, there had been subtle references to our future. The last couple of weeks, I’d been carefully avoiding dwelling on anything other than the present moment. Calder, on the other hand, liked making casual mention of summer plans and upcoming birthdays, assuming a certain level of togetherness. But even he never used the L-word.
The question continued to tumble around in my head as plans were quickly made for an impromptu shopping trip. Assorted Euler women and Sabrina invited themselves along. I insisted Calder go off with the cousins and his brothers. He needed the bonding time more than he needed to tag along with us.
Madeline and Charlotte preened like visiting celebrities under all the female attention. A single dress turned into multiple items carted off to the dressing room.
“Oh, look at you.” Jane did the whole hand-on-her-chest fake-swoon thing as Madeline emerged in a navy blue dress, long shimmery satin with a lacy top part. She twirled and my own breath caught. The light danced off her curls, and her angelic expression shook loose a cascade of old memories.
“You look like...” Courtney. A sharp pang of loss hit me. She should be here, admiring the dress and joking about how Madeline did indeed look like a teenager. She turned again, and in her smile, I saw a glimpse of the person she’d become. Eyes stinging, I sent a brief thank-you heavenward for trusting me with this responsibility. “Beautiful. You look beautiful.”
“Thank you.” She gave me a beatific grin, and I hoped somewhere Courtney was proud of both of us, hoped I didn’t let her down. Calder often made offhand comments about me as a parent, but as Madeline spun, I truly felt parental, down to the soles of my shoes, and all I could think was That’s my girl.
“I don’t want to take it off.” Madeline made the skirt swish again.
“You can’t sleep in it, silly.” Charlotte opened the adjacent changing cubicle door, revealing the biggest, pinkest, fluffiest dress I’d ever seen paired with a black Halloween-themed shrug she’d found on the clearance rank with skeletons dancing up the sleeves. “Do you like mine?”
“I love it.” My voice came out all scratchy. “Very you.”
I managed to push back the waterfall of emotions and let the girls enjoy all the fashion tips and accessory suggestions from the women with us. Eventually we made our way to the registers, and Sabrina used her app to order cars back to the hotel.
“Now who’s up for movie night!” Jane asked as we exited the cars and collected our many shopping bags.
“That’s next on the agenda?” I braced myself for a late night of loud kids and undoubtedly one of the live-action musicals I already knew by heart.
“Not for you.” She laughed and touched my sleeve. “We’re having a bunch of the grandkids over to our suite for movies and popcorn and a sleepover.”
“God bless Grandma,” one of the sisters-in-law added reverently.
“Please.” Charlotte didn’t waste any time in getting her request in, and even Madeline looked eager to go.
“Don’t worry. I make sure everyone actually sleeps at some point, and I’ll have them at breakfast looking sharp.”
I didn’t doubt that. This was a woman who could run a whole battle regiment on her own, but she shouldn’t have to. I took a breath and reminded myself how much fun the girls would have.
“I can’t let you take on all that work yourself. I can be an extra set of adult hands for you.”
My back would hate me later for agreeing to sleep on the floor and passing up the chance to sneak a cuddle with Calder, but it was the right thing to do.
“Nope.” Calder’s mom shook her head. “That’s what the older cousins are for. I’ll have help, promise.”
“You certainly seem to have an answer for everything.” For so long I’d done it all on my own, and not having to was still a novel sensation, one my body couldn’t seem to decide whether it liked.
“Enjoy one of the best benefits of a big family—built-in babysitters.” She steered me toward the bank of elevators. “Go find your man. Play cards. Drink a beer. Go wild. You deserve a night for you.”
“I guess I could play a few hands.” My pulse galloped. Parts of me were already on board, and I nodded. Maybe I did deserve a night off. I was working on believing that I deserved someone like Calder, deserved a happiness that was all my own. But was it really only for me? One look at the girls’ beaming faces revealed that me seizing a little slice of bliss for myself meant more enjoyment for them.
I would go find my man, make sure he knew how damn much I appreciated all he brought to our lives.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Calder
“Ha. You might be getting lucky this weekend, but your card-playing skills are rusty as hell.” Laughing, I shook a finger at Derrick after he folded. We were having a great time in the suite a couple of the single cousins were sharing, drinking beer, playing cards, and catching up.