Page 19 of His Greatest Treasure

Gracie Bateman is standing directly in front of me, her platinum hair pin straight and her blue eyes still electric. Tall and lean, she doesn’t look her age in the slightest.

“Avery! Oh my God! Look at you,” she shouts, not caring for the curious people watching. Even in a pair of wedges, she moves quickly through the crowd until we’re close enough she can set her hands on my shoulders.

“Hi, Gray,” I murmur.

Her eyes water as she stares at me for a beat longer before looking down at Nova, a sheen of wonder flashing across them. Bottom lip wobbling, she drops to a crouch in front of her and offers her hands for Nova to take.

“I’m Gracie Bateman, Nova. It’s so, so good to finally meet you. Your mormor has told me so much about you.”

If I wasn’t so in my head, I’d have laughed at how she pronounces the Swedish term. Her heart is so golden that I’d bet she knows how terrible it sounded but doesn’t care about looking silly.

“Hi. You’re one of my mormor’s friends, right?” Nova asks, offering her hand for a shake.

Gracie giggles at her and takes her hand in a soft shake. “Yes I am. And I’ve known your mom for a very long time.”

“That’s cool. I’ve known her longer.” She puffs her chest out.

“Is that so? Well, I guess that makes you pretty lucky.”

“It does.”

Gracie glances up at me before standing and flashing me a wobbly smile. “I’m so glad you’re here. You’ve grown up so beautifully, Avery.”

My appreciation is sincere enough to have my eyes watering now. “Thank you. And you don’t look like you’ve aged at all.”

“Oh, please. Where did you get your sweetness from? Because I know it wasn’t from your mother. She told me just last week that my hair looked dehydrated like silver streamers.”

“She’s ever the sweet talker,” I muse. “I had to have gotten it from my dad.”

A voice comes from behind me, accompanied by the clip of heels on the floor. “No way you’re doing introductions without me, Auntie! You’re absolutely no fun.”

“You snooze, you lose, Addie,” Gracie says with a smirk.

Nova turns beside me, her features calm. “There’s a lot of people here. When did you make so many friends, Mom?”

Adalyn Hutton stops in her tracks a few feet from us, and one glance at her shows that she’s stricken by my daughter’s voice.

“Yeah, I guess I do, sweetheart. Do you want to meet them?” I ask.

She jerks a shoulder nonchalantly. “Sure.”

“Alright,” I say.

Adalyn continues toward us after getting permission. The man at her side takes me an embarrassing amount of time to recognize. Cooper White, her husband, is the son of another of my parents’ friends but is the oldest of everyone, myself included.

Tall and built in a slimmer way than Oliver is, he’s not as intimidating as I expected. There’s something warm about his features despite their sharpness. Ten years older than his wife, he carries himself with a maturity that I can’t help but resonate with. Addie has always been the liveliest person at the party, and even now, watching as she almost skips over to us, Cooper keeps a steady, calm hand on her back.

I never saw their marriage coming, but watching their relationship on social media has made it hard to believe that they’re not sickeningly in love with each other.

Addie’s purple curls bounce when she stops in front of us and surprises me by pulling me into her arms. I expected a hug from her aunt, but getting one from her . . . it has the burn returning to my eyes.

“I missed you, Avery. It’s been so damn long since I’ve seen you. I tried to text and message the last few years, but you never responded,” she whispers while we’re hugging.

I swallow, blinking away tears. “I’m sorry. It’s been a busy few years. I didn’t even think you’d recognize me after all this time.”

She shakes her head on my shoulder. “Don’t apologize. Of course I did. I just didn’t want to scare you by swarming you out there. I’ve kept up with you on social media, even if you don’t post, like,ever, so I’ve had a good idea of what you looked like now. We’ll have lots of time to talk soon. I’m just glad you’re here.”

Relief fills me from bottom to top. The last time I saw her, she was twelve . . . yet she still recognized me upon first glance.

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