Georgie took a step toward her mom. “You and dad gave me everything I needed to become who I am today. With the books dad left me, I created an imaginary world with my favorite literary characters.”
“Lizzy, Jane, and that poor girl with the unfortunate name that starts with an H,” her mother interjected as Hermione balked.
“You know her name,” Georgie chided.
Lorraine sighed. “Yes, I do. It’s Hermione. I’d hear you talking to them in your room.”
“Do you want to know what you did for me, Mom?” Georgie asked.
“I’m not sure,” her mother replied. “Do I?”
Georgie swallowed past the lump in her throat. “You helped me learn who I am—and who I want to be. All the pageants let me see that I wanted something that was mine and not yours. It gave strength to my convictions.”
Her mother’s twist of a grin was back. “A little rebellion goes a long way. But I do have to say…”
“Yes?”
“I’m still disappointed you weren’t crowned Miss Cherry Pie. That sailor costume was perfect, and your tap skills were top-notch.”
“They still are,” Jordan said under his breath, biting back a dirty grin.
“You’re practicing your tap, pumpkin? I’m so pleased!” Lorraine replied with a little clap.
Georgie shared a look with her very naughty husband.
“Something like that,” she answered when her mother’s expression grew pensive.
“I don’t say this enough, but I’m proud of you, Georgiana. Even though I’d like for you to incorporate more designer pieces into your wardrobe—”
“Mom…” she warned.
“But you’ve made your way in the world, and you’ve done it on your own terms. I don’t say this often because sentimental talk often leads to tears and tears lead to streaked mascara. But I love you very much,” her mother finished, eyes shining.
Georgie leaned in, and mother and daughter embraced in an overdue hug. And despite her mother’s mascara warning, tears trailed down the woman’s cheeks.
The room exploded into applause, and she looked up at her husband. “We’re making another scene, aren’t we?”
“It wouldn’t be us if we didn’t,” he replied, then gestured behind her.
She turned to find that everyone from the shower had come to the country club.
Barry, Becca, Brice, Denny, Maureen, Hector, Bobby, Marjory, Gene, and even the blue-haired knitting brigade had filed into the country club.
“You all came!” she exclaimed, emotion or another contraction welling in her belly.
“We had to see how it turned out,” Gene said, giving her a hug and then turning to embrace her mother.
“Thank you for suggesting we give Georgie The Tale of Peter Rabbit,” Marjory said to her mother.
Georgie’s jaw nearly hit the floor. “You suggested it?”
Lorraine Vanderdinkle smoothed that same blond lock of hair that never required smoothing. “I can be sentimental from time to time, can’t I, Howard?”
“She can, especially for the spa. It’s her Sankalpa.”
“The spa is your Sankalpa?” Bobby asked.
Her mother lifted her chin. “It would probably come out sooner or later, but yes, after my time spent enhancing my spiritual skills, my Sankalpa came to me in a dream.”
“And,” Hector pressed.
“My innermost desire is to spend the day in the lap of luxury, and that’s when I knew.”
“Knew what?” Jordan asked.
Her mother glanced over her shoulder at Howard, then leaned in. “That this psychic energist business was for the birds,” she whispered as the group chuckled.
“But it wasn’t just the spa, was it?” Howard asked with a knowing twist to his lips.
Her mother’s expression softened. “I wasn’t alone in my Sankalpa vision. In my dream, you were with me at the spa. I’d suggested you choose a pink polish for your manicure. But you dismissed my comment and chose a rose shade instead.”
Georgie brushed a tear from her cheek. “That sounds like us.”
Her mother chuckled. “It does indeed.”
“I know what makes me happy. Thanks to you, Mom, I know how to fight for what I want,” she said, her voice thick with emotion.
Her mother nodded. “You certainly do.”
Despite the country club crowd hanging on every word of their brunch bonding session, a profound sense of certainty held them cocooned inside this moment where the connection between mother and daughter, no matter how strained, could never be broken.
“We’re so glad to see you and Georgie getting along so well,” Maureen said, popping the bubble and bringing them back from that place only mothers and daughters reside.
“We sure are,” Denny agreed.
Georgie glanced around. They’d become a giant spectacle.
“Mom, do you think we should leave? I didn’t mean to bring an entourage on my brunch crashing.”
Teary-eyed, Lorraine shook her head, then waved over the country club manager. “Gustavo, we’ll need the gazebo set up immediately. I’ve got an impromptu baby shower to host for my daughter—which is where it should have been to begin with, but…”
“Mom…” Georgie began, but her mother kept going.
“But…I’m grateful everyone’s here now,” she added, dropping the socialite pretenses.
Howard jumped up, whipped off his sport coat, and made little okay signs with his fingers.
“Should we chant?”
“No!” she and her mother replied at the same time.
“Georgie, could you look this way? This is great stuff!” Barry called, still rolling.
She turned to Jordan as her mother went about throwing together part two of the baby shower.
“Why didn’t you say anything and let me know everyone was here?” she asked.
Jordan gave her that cocky pantie-melter of a grin. “And ruin the moment? Only an asshat would do that.”
“Then, we’re lucky that you’re not just any asshat but the emperor of them all,” she replied.
She started to push up onto her tiptoes, not an easy thing to do when carrying a watermelon in your belly, to press a kiss to his cheek. But just before she could pucker up, a splash of liquid hit the marble floor and stopped her mid-lift.
Jordan’s eyes went wide as he held onto her forearms, keeping her upright.
The breath caught in her throat as another contraction hit.
They were coming faster now.
“Did someone spill a glass of water?” she asked on a tight exhale, once the pain subsided.
He shook his head, wide-eyed as his gaze bobbed between her face and the floor.
“No, that was all you,” he replied, looking shell-shocked.
She stared at the liquid pooling on the pristine marble tiles.
“Messy bun girl,” he said, his voice full of wonder.
She held his gaze. “Yeah?”
“Your water broke in the middle of brunch.”
20
Jordan
“The baby’s coming! This is it, Georgie!”