Page 147 of Free to Fall

“I love you too, Laura.”

For long moments, I just absorb my mother’s love before I twist my head and catch sight of the picture of me and my two brothers holding the balloon—a recreation of one of my mother and my Uncle Keene for a grandmother I’m named after taken close to sixty years ago. It was a genius gift, but I have no idea how to show the two people I love that I want to be a family. Unless ... “Do you have any ideas about how I should let Liam know I’m ready to trust him again?”

My mother pulls back and presses a kiss to the top of my head. “No. But if we don’t let your aunts and uncle help us plan, we’ll never hear the end of it.”

As if we conjured him with the word plan, my Uncle Phil pops his head into my mother’s office. “Plan what? What’s going on?”

My mother catches my eye and the two of us burst into gales of laughter.

“This isn’t funny. We need cake. I’ll just go get Ali, Em, and Holly and we’ll meet you in the kitchen.”

With a sigh, my mother reaches across and grabs her phone. She presses a button and Aunt Corinna answers. “What’s up, Cass?”

“He’s on his way and will be demanding dessert.”

She hangs up just as Corinna starts threatening Phil. “And something else about love you’ll learn?”

“What’s that, Mama?”

“How to manage those you love to actively avoid strangling them.”

With that, she stands and offers me her hand. “Now, let’s go save your uncle from wearing a batch of Cori’s frosting when we could be eating it.”

Linking our arms together, we head downstairs just in time for Phil’s screeching.

Filled to the brim with sweets, we migrate to Emily’s workroom. Finally, I have the opportunity to bring up my idea to let Liam know I’m all in. My mother, who hasn’t strayed that far from my side, wraps her arm around my shoulders. Pressing a kiss to the side of my head, she murmurs, “I love the idea of turning her into a princess here.”

Emily has a faraway look in her eyes that only appears when she’s designing. Sure enough, she’s reaching for her family sketchbook and begins lazily drawing before she opens her mouth to contribute. “I need two days and I’m all set.”

“What are you thinking, Aunt Em?”

Emily lips curve before she turns her sketch pad around and shows us the dress. It’s a recreation of my gala dress—with a twist.

“Thank God. I was thinking you were going to whip out her gown,” my mother says faintly.

“I wouldn’t do that, Cass.”

“I mean, it’s not like you don’t already have her wedding dress in the vault,” my mother reminds her.

I try to find my voice. When I do, it comes out like a strangled squeak. “You what?”

Emily flaps her hand at me as if my question isn’t of importance.

I turn to Corinna for some speck of sanity. But I should have known better. When my mother and her siblings are aligned, they’re an unstoppable force. In a dreamy voice, she speculates, “I think there needs to be champagne. Plus our newest princess needs cocoa. Maybe we’ll change her favorite buttercup cupcake into a tiered cake?”

“Oh, I love that idea,” I enthuse, finally able to find something sane to get behind.

“Me too,” Kalie admits from the floor where she’s sitting at her mother’s feet. “What can we do to help?”

Alison leans down and whispers in her daughter’s ear. Kalie’s head snaps up. “You think so?”

“I guarantee it. Just watch her.” Alison jerks her chin in Emily’s direction, who is frantically sketching.

“Right. So, I’m updating Aunt Em’s copyright. What else?”

I yelp. “What else? There’s more?”

Kalie just flaps her hand in my direction. “Don’t you worry about that. Mama? What about you and Aunt Cass? Uncle Phil should do the flowers just like the ones Liam’s been sending Laura.”

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