Page 102 of Can't Fight the Moonlight

"Because they gave me a family, which is something you two couldn't give me." He paused. "Why did you stay here after I left last night? You don't usually stick around when things get tense."

His mom gave him a helpless smile. "Your friend, Lizzie, said some pointed things to us, and they were hard to hear, but she was right. She said we needed to show you that we cared enough to fight, and we do. Maybe it's too late. I hope it's not. But we want a chance to know you now. We can't go back, but maybe we can go forward."

"I wanted you to care enough to know me for most of my life, but it doesn’t really matter to me anymore. I don't need you."

"Maybe we need you now."

"Why should I care what you need?" he asked harshly.

"You shouldn't. I just want you to understand that we're coming from a place of love. We made a lot of mistakes, Justin," she said. "We let our careers consume us."

"Just as you're doing," his father pointed out.

"That might be true, but I don't have a family."

"That's a high cost to pay for success in your job," his dad said. "Don't make the same mistakes we made, Justin. Put the people you love first."

He wanted to say he didn't love anyone, but then Lizzie's pretty face filled his head. He shoved her image aside. He was no longer angry with her about the blindside, but he was still leaving tomorrow. He still had a career to get back to. They'd had one incredible night. Maybe that was all they were ever meant to have.

He shoved back his chair and stood up. "I'll see you at the ceremony. Beyond that, we'll have to see how it goes." He'd like to believe things could change with his parents, but he'd been burned by that thought before, far too many times.

* * *

"It's almost time," Lizzie told Marie as she looked over her shoulder at their reflection in the mirror. After a day of pampering, massage, nails, and hair, she'd helped Marie get dressed in a white silk dress. In twenty minutes, they'd make their way down to the garden for the ceremony. "You look beautiful. Just like a bride should," she added.

"It's funny that I feel as nervous and excited as I did fifty-seven years ago. I was twenty years old when I walked down the aisle. I had no idea what my life would be like, but I couldn't wait to start it. Ben was twenty-two and in graduate school, getting a teaching degree. We had hardly any money. After our marriage, we lived in a tiny one-bedroom apartment that barely fit a double bed and a small sofa. The kitchen only fit one person and the countertop was barely big enough to hold a toaster."

She smiled at the look of wonder in Marie's eyes. "But you were in love, so it didn't matter."

"Exactly. We were in love from the first moment we met. We got engaged after six months and married two months later. It was a whirlwind of passion. We had Grant right before our first anniversary. We were so young. We made a lot of mistakes, and we've had our share of disagreements, but we always found a way to work through them."

"You were lucky."

"Not lucky, just determined. Deep down, no matter how angry we were about something, we both knew we weren't going to walk away. We were going to fight to stay together. That's what love is. That's what marriage is."

"Well, you two make it look easy."

"Never easy, but always worth it." Marie paused. "I want Justin to have that kind of love, but he doesn't like to open his heart. I was surprised and impressed that he told you about Sean, that he let you in that way. You two got close. I had a feeling you would like each other."

"That's why you set us up on the boat."

"I hope you don't hate me for that or for putting you in an awkward position with my secret."

"I don't hate you, Marie. I understand everything that you did. But I shouldn't have promised to keep your secret, not when I knew Justin would be hurt. I was actually going to talk to you about it last night, but then his parents showed up."

"I was going to tell him, too. Ben had just convinced me to come clean when Grant texted that they'd decided to come early."

"Well, it's done now."

"And I am hopeful that we may have turned an important corner," Marie said. "That's probably because of you."

"I don't think so."

"You told Grant and Katherine that they needed to fight for Justin, and that's why they stayed, why they all talked this morning."

"You're giving me too much credit, but I'm glad that they spoke." She'd been wondering all day what had happened, but she hadn't had a chance to ask Marie until now. Marie and Katherine had spent most of the day together, and she'd only popped in every now and then to let them know what was next. She hadn't really wanted to talk to Katherine at all, although she'd noticed Justin's mother giving her more than a few speculative looks.

Marie stood up. "I think I'm ready."

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