Page 121 of Lost in the Moonlight

“You don’t have to leave on my account,” my mom said.

He shook his head. “I’ve got an early rise tomorrow as I’ve given Willow the rest of the week off.”

“What?” Willow's eyes took in Hector’s face with a frown.

“I need your next food art piece. People are clamoring for it, and I don’t like customers leaving my shop unfulfilled. Do your thing, come back on Sunday refreshed, and bring your desserts and art with you.”

“Hector!” she protested.

He patted Willow’s shoulder. “I need to do this for you.Youneed to do this for yourself.”

He and Shay bid everyone goodbye, and Erica said, “I’ll walk you out.”

As they moved down the hall, I reached for Willow, bringing her to me and kissing her temple while my mother watched with curious eyes. “Let him do this for you, Sweetness.”

She elbowed me. “Did you arrange this with him just so I wouldn’t leave the house?”

I chuckled. “No, but I like the idea of you here, concocting your art while I’m upstairs creating mine.” Now that I’d brought a large portion of my supplies home with me due to the construction, I wasn’t sure I’d take any of it back. I loved the idea of being here while Willow and I both created our art.

“You’re really painting that much?” Mom asked.

“Too many pieces, actually. But I’m nearing completion on a duet.” The angel and the demon were almost finished. The cemetery scene with Willow at the center was close as well, but I was still hanging on to that one for some reason. Holding back. Waiting for a missing detail. It would come to me. It hadsomething to do with the broken-winged angel. Something I hadn’t quite put my finger on yet.

Mom pulled a chair out and sat. “I’m a little at a loss for words.”

“You?” I winked at Mom. “Impossible.”

“Smart aleck,” Mom said with no heat, lips twitching.

I chuckled and drew Willow back to the table, and once we were sitting, I shifted so my knees tangled with hers, so I was touching her as much as I could.

My mother watched, looking from me to Willow again before saying, “I’m sorry I’m staring. It’s just that you really do look so much like her.”

“Mom,” I warned.

She waved me off. “I don’t mean to upset anyone, and I don’t expect Willow to be her. I have twins, for heaven’s sake. I know two people can look alike and be complete opposites. It’s just a shock of sorts.”

Willow tensed, and I took her hand, rubbing it. Trying to soothe her. Trying to reassure her I wasn’t with her, didn’t love her, because of Sienna.

“One of the things I’ve always adored about my son is the way he gives himself completely to the love that enters his life. It’s always been fast and furious but so fully embraced,” Mom said, and I made a strangled noise of protest she ignored. “Over the last year or so, I was worried he’d lost that ability. I’m happy to see he hasn’t.”

“Mrs. Matherton, I know it’s ridiculous,” Willow said, and my hand squeezed her hip. There would be retaliation for that word, and she knew it, but she just shot me a coy little smile before she turned back to my mother. “It seems impossible to methat in mere days—hours, really—I’ve gone from not knowing Lincoln to being unable to imagine my life without him.”

“Please, call me Cordelia. And the truth is, I know how ridiculous it can feel. I fell in love with Guy over a weekend,” my mother said, and I raised a brow. I’d heard the story many times, but it wasn’t something she readily shared. The press had a version of it they’d gotten from old friends of the family, but whenever Mom was asked about it, she usually clamped her lips and said nothing.

“You did?” Willow’s voice held surprise.

“He had so much charm I accused him of having inherited selkie powers from his Scottish ancestors, luring me in with a single glance. I’d never seen myself as married with kids. I certainly had no interest in being a politician’s wife, and even in college, that was always Guy’s goal.”

“What did you want to do?” Willow asked.

“I wanted to be Madonna. Or maybe an actress. I was thinking of skipping out on the rest of college and heading to Hollywood. Then I fell in love, and my life changed.”

Willow laughed. “I’m sorry. That’s not funny. It’s just…I can’t imagine Madonna being our first lady.”

“Well, here I am.” Mom’s lips curved upward, tossing her shoulder and hair like a pop star.

Willow giggled, her body relaxing, and mine did as well. I was amazed all over again at how right she felt there, not just at the table in the home I’d renovated, imagining family around it, but also with my mom. Before, it had simply been my parents and siblings in those hopeful fantasies I’d had about this house. Not once had I imagined my own wife and kids at the table, and yet now I saw the possibility of them around every corner of the Colonial. Little Willow mini-mes. Boys with wavy hair andblue eyes who started a ruckus. Maybe half a dozen of them. I supposed I needed to talk to Willow about it and see what she wanted, but I knew enough to wait until we had the results of her tests. She wouldn’t even entertain the thought of children before then.

---