Page 154 of Westin

“What’s wrong?” she breathes.

I shake my head. “Nothing,” I say, refusing to cry. “I just...don’t have any family.”

Eva steps forward and pulls me in, wrapping her arms around me. She smells good, like what I imagine mothers smell like. Cinnamon, like a warm hearth in autumn. I bury my face against her shoulder and wonder if my mother would have smelled like this too.

She holds me for a minute and pulls back, tucking my hair behind my ear. I see a hint of Westin then. Her kindness reminds me of him.

“You’re beautiful,” she says. “Westin is very lucky.”

I smile, wiping my face. “I’m glad you think so. I’m lucky to have Westin.”

“Oh, just you wait until he stirs up trouble,” she says, her tone light. “Then you’ll be trying to pack him up and send him back.”

I laugh, glad she’s changing the subject. I don’t want my eyes to be puffy on my wedding day. Keira goes to the bathroom and turns on the tub. She leans in the doorway and crosses her arms.

“All these men are trouble,” she says. “But they’re worth it.”

“Sovereign spent so much time at our house when they were younger,” Eve says reflectively. “He was a good influence on Westin, especially when he got sober.”

“What was Westin doing?” I ask curiously.

She sighs, waving a hand. “Oh, drinking, getting in trouble, you name it. They were both rowdy, fighting each other and eating us out of house and home. It cost me a fortune to feed those boys.”

Keira nods, smiling. “I’ve noticed. Luckily, they pay their own bills now.”

“Anyway, Westin’s a good one, just a bit like his father,” Eve says. “He’ll always treat you right, Diane.”

“Does…he look like him?” I ask.

She nods. “He looks a bit like my father, but mostly like my first husband. So, yes. Anyway, show me your ring, honey.”

She’s trying to change the subject again—I can tell she doesn’t like talking about Westin’s father. I hold out my hand, and she inspects the diamond against the light.

“It’s beautiful. He did a good job.” She nods, pride in her eyes.

“Better have something more to eat,” Keira says. “I’m running a bath, and then we’ll do your hair.”

I shake my head. “My stomach is a little unsettled.”

Eve sets her purse down and sits on the edge of the bed. “Are you sick?”

“No, just nervous.”

Truthfully, it’s the fact that we’re throwing the biggest wedding of the year today, and I’m the centerpiece. And David will be there. As much as I want him to see that everything he did to me was in vain, I’m starting to regret having invited him. I don’t want to see his face.

Maybe I should have let the past lie.

Keira takes my elbow and pulls me into the bathroom. Bobby pins in her teeth, she gets to work fastening my hair up in curlers. Eve starts working on the other side, following after Keira to spray it into place. It feels nice that she’s here, even though I don’t know her well.

My stomach rumbles, and I put a hand over it, hoping it settles soon.

“Are you sure you’re not…you know?” Keira asks quietly.

“Pregnant?” I say. “No, it’s not that.”

I don’t want to explain about David, or that my husband-to-be is planning to do something terrible but I don’t know what.

“I was pregnant with Westin on my wedding day,” Eve says casually.

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