Page 64 of Mine to Promise

“That does not make me feel better at all.” She shakes her head, and fifteen minutes later she walks out of the closet wearing a long floral skirt with a sleeveless white shirt. “These shoes—” She lifts her dress. “These are the ones fromSex in the City. They are the Carrie shoes.” She points at the blue shoe. “They also cost eight hundred and ninety dollars,” she huffs. “Trust me, I know because they are my dream shoes.”

“You look beautiful,” I compliment her, “so, so beautiful.” I get up and she looks at me as I wear my beige linen suit. “Shall we go?”

“Sure,” she says as I slide my hand into hers. “I’m doing this for Avery,” she mumbles to me as we walk out, “and for your mom.”

“Thank you,” I say as we walk toward the living room. There is a woman in the corner playing the harp.

“Our daughter is going to have to marry the King of England at this point.” She side-eyes me as we see the outside patio has been transformed with a round table in the middle. The table has trays of food all over it and of course teapots everywhere.

My parents are taking pictures of Avery, who is dressed like Cinderella, with a crown on her head. “Show the shoes, my love,” my mother urges her and she smiles as she picks up her dress and shows us glass shoes. “You are a true princess.” My father looks at my mother with all the love in the world. I know she pushes it, but this is how she shows her love. What I didn’t tell Addison is the number of times my mother has cried because she missed so much. The number of times she calls me to make sure I’m making them feel loved. This is her way of making up for lost time. “I love you so much.”

We walk out onto the patio but Addison doesn’t follow me, so I stop. “I can’t go out there,” she says to me as she wrings her hands in front of her.

“What, why not?” I ask her, wondering if she is sick.

“I can’t mess up the bottom of the shoes or else we can’t return them,” she says softly.

“Addison.” I grab her face in my hands. “Those shoes are never being returned, my love.” I see how her eyes get big when I call her my love. “Now, let’s have tea with our daughter.”

addison

He stands in front of me, this man who has literally thrown my world upside down, asking me to have tea with our daughter. Our daughter. The tears so evident in his eyes that he wants to give this moment to our daughter. If I wasn’t sure I loved him before, I love him now. This whole day has been out of a dream. It’s been out of a fairy tale, to say the very least. Being swept away in a private plane to my bucket-list destination. Then to have this suite that is four times the size of my apartment, to having a whole closet full of clothes that I would only dream of buying. To walking out to a harp playing for a tea party for a four-year-old. It’s literally the definition of a fairy tale. These things don’t happen, at least I didn’t think they did.

“Okay,” I give in and take a step forward, even though inwardly I cringe thinking about the fact I can’t ever return these shoes.

The pair of shoes that were going to be my gift to myself after I booked fifty clients, are now on my feet. “Oh, there they are,” Markos says, looking at us and smiling. He also has changed into a suit, his hands in his pockets.

“Momma,” Avery says, coming over to me wearing her Cinderella gown, looking like a princess, the sound of her dress swishing along the way. Her hair is softly curled with a new tiara on her head, this one with baby-blue rhinestones to match the dress, obviously. “Look at my glass shoes.”

“They aren’t real glass,” Markos assures me. I chuckle and shake my head as she lifts her big poofy dress to show me the clear plastic shoes. “Vivienne knows someone who—” I laugh because whereas this would have shocked me, I don’t know why I’ve come to expect it.

“Look at them,” Vivienne says, the smile on her face from ear to ear. She also has changed into a beautiful baby-blue lace dress that fits her amazingly. “We should get a family picture.”

“Yes,” Stefano agrees, slipping his hand in mine, “let’s get a family picture.”

I walk with him to the corner of the patio and stand next to him. He places his arm around me, pulling me to his side, with Avery in front of us. Vivienne takes the picture and then I call over one of the people who are setting up this tea party. “Would you mind taking a picture of us?” I then look over at Vivienne. “Come on, Grand-mère,” I say in the best French I can muster. She comes over and stands next to me as Markos goes on the side of Stefano. The five of us smile for the picture. “Now, just the three of you,” I tell Vivienne and Markos as they stand with Avery. Instead of standing behind her, Vivienne gets down to Avery’s level and Markos follows as they hug her in the middle. The picture is so beautiful, I know I’m going to get it framed for her room.

“Now, shall we have tea?” Vivienne asks, clapping her hands as Avery walks over to the table.

“Vivienne,” I call her name softly and she looks over at me. The smile on her face fades as she comes over to me.

“Is everything okay?” she asks me, the worry etched over her face.

Her hands reach for mine. “I just want to thank you,” I say nervously, “for everything you’ve done for us.”

“Oh, Addison.” She smiles. “I’m just thankful you aren’t keeping Avery from me.” She blinks away the tears and all I can do is squeeze her hand.

“I will never keep her away from you,” I say honestly. “My girl deserves all the love in the world.” I look over at Avery, who is sitting in a chair with Markos and Stefano on each side of her as she explains to them how to drink tea. They both hang on to every word she says as if she’s describing how the sun and moon work.

“We would do anything for the two of you,” Vivienne assures me softly and I look back at her. “Nothing can take the place of your mom,” she says gently, “but I’ll be here for you in whatever you need even if it’s to talk about Stefano. Or complain about him. I love my son but no one is perfect.” She tries to make a joke of it, but all I can do is try not to become a blubbering mess in front of her.

I swallow the lump in my throat, breathing out slowly before I answer her, “You’ve known about her for two weeks and you’ve done more than my mother has ever done for us. And she’s known about her for her whole life.”

“Are you guys going to join us?” Markos asks from his seat, holding a teacup with his pinky up. “She’s already eating all the cakes.” I look over at Avery, who has chocolate on her cheek and also whipped cream on her nose. Stefano grabs a napkin and cleans her face and she just smiles at him, the two of them scrunching up their noses at each other.

I stand here while Vivienne walks over to the table and Markos gets up to pull out her chair. She kisses his lips softly before sitting down and grabbing one of the linen napkins to put across her lap. Stefano gets up from his chair and comes over to me, bending his head. “Are you staying here so you don’t scuff the shoes?” he whispers in my ear and I can’t help but chuckle. “Do you want me to carry you there?”

“I’m good,” I reply, looking down and taking a step and then another one. He pulls out the chair for me, just like his father did to his mother. “Thank you,” I say and he bends his head and kisses my lips.

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