Page 92 of Songs of Summer

Were the two having words?

“What was that about?” she asked when V had reached the top of the stairs, without a beverage in hand.

“Nothing, I’ll tell you later.”

“Tell me now,” she insisted, with adamant older sister authority.

Veronica stood motionless, unable to speak. It was clearly not nothing, Bea thought, as others began to ascend the stairs toward them. She put her hand on her sister’s shoulder and gently shook it.

“What is it?”

In the foreground, Renee and Jake gestured upward, prompting the crowd to erupt in applause. Fireworks boisterously lit the night sky, casting bursts of color on the calm bay and the upturned faces of the wedding guests.

All but two.

“Maggie is your daughter,” Veronica managed above the racket.

On the outside Bea looked expressionless, as if Veronica had said nothing of any importance. She felt lightheaded and her ears seemed clogged. She could see the fireworks lighting up the sky, but she could barely hear them.

She had never felt so confused in all her life.

Maggie was not close enough to hear the words that came out of Veronica’s mouth, but from Bea’s head, cocked to theside and covered in shock, it was easy to figure out what they were. There was no denying the expression on Bea’s face. For whatever reason, Veronica had told her.

“Oh boy,” Matt said out loud. Jason just shook his head, while reaching for Maggie. She stepped forward, unsurprisingly pushing aside both Matt and Jason to go it alone.

Maggie stepped between the sisters, looked into her mother’s tear-filled eyes, and squeezed her own tight, trying to keep her composure.

“Is it true?” Bea asked, rendering Maggie speechless.

Maggie let out a sob and nodded her head.

The color drained from Bea’s skin, and her eyes grew wide and intense. They scrutinized Maggie’s face, as if she were an alien from another planet. Maggie must have mistaken her expression for anger, because she pleaded:

“Please, don’t be angry, Matt is not really my boyfriend, he was just helping me. I came here to find you. I was going to tell you after the wedding, tonight,” she had to shout it over the oohs and aahs the fireworks were prompting from the wedding guests.

Bea felt her shock dissipate, replaced with a feeling she would later describe as pure joy. She leaned in and took her daughter’s face in her hands.

“My baby?” she said, mouthing the words more than speaking them.

“Yes, I’m your baby,” Maggie managed before her mother opened her arms and pulled her into what may have been the sweetest, most welcome embrace either of them had ever experienced.

And it all fell away: the pain, the betrayal, the longing, allinstantly replaced by love. They held each other so tightly that Bea felt like she would shatter into a million pieces if Maggie were to let go.

Those who understood what was happening cried too, and in Veronica’s case all-out weeping, miraculously paying no mind to her makeup. Matt and Jason found themselves embracing in a giant bear hug. When they broke away, Jason explained the basics to Paul, whose eyes immediately welled with happiness as Matt panned the crowd for Shep to do the same. He barely got the words out when the old man rushed over and threw his arms around his daughter and granddaughter. The two women broke away, laughing through their tears.

“Can you believe this, Daddy?” Bea managed.

Shep squeezed Maggie’s face, absorbing every inch of it.

“How did I not know?”

He hugged her again just as the explosive grand finale faded in the night sky, followed by a round of applause and then…silence.

“I see my mamma in you, like I see her in Bea,” Shep cried. Which set everyone off again, especially Maggie. Shep wiped a tear from her face as the iconic first notes of Donna Summer’s “Last Dance” echoed from the speakers.

“May I have the last dance with my granddaughter, please?”

“I would love that,” Maggie said, collecting herself.

---