Ethan let out a low whistle.
“You’re the only other Smithson to turn down the Smithson Legacy,” Madison said sarcastically. “Does it get better in time?”
“Me? I’m a pathetic loser compared to you. I went through the ropes of going to law school, passing the bar, and living the miserable life of a corporate lawyer for a whole year before I found the guts to say enough. You’re a rock star.”
“Yeah, but you were the first to rebel. Was it worth it?”
“Totally.” Ethan became super serious. “Madison, if you’re sure you don’t want to be a lawyer, believe me, it’s a thousand times better that you’ve said so right away. You can’t force yourself to change. Trust me, I tried, and it didn’t work. I became more miserable with every passing day until I exploded and had to call it quits. This way you save four or five painful years of life no one could ever give back to you. And Uncle John will come round. You’re his only daughter.”
“Which only makes it worse.” Madison chewed on her bottom lip. “At least your father had spares. Vicky is already in the company, and Georgiana may join when the baby is old enough, but I’m an only child. If I don’t join Smithson and Smithson, our side of the family is out, full stop.”
“That’s not true. Uncle John doesn’t have to sell his partnership, and if your kids want to become lawyers, they’ll always have a place there.”
My kids? Madison scoffed inside her head. Assuming I don’t die a spinster.
“But Smithson and Smithson is our fathers’ dream,” Ethan continued, “not ours. And it’s not fair of them to expect us to give up our dreams for theirs.”
“So I made the right choice?”
“One hundred percent. I’m not saying it’ll be easy, but you’re saving yourself a lot of grief by ripping the Band-Aid now. Did the threats already start?”
“Yep. I’m cut-off from his money. Whatever that means.”
“At the worst, it means paying back your tuition. Do you already have a plan in mind?”
“He hasn’t asked for anything yet, but he’s promised to cancel all my credit cards. Anyway, I can apply for a student loan to finish the year, and I hope I’ll manage next year by cutting back a little.”
“You know what you’ll do once you graduate? I mean, I’m here if you ever need help, financially or otherwise.”
“Let’s hope that won’t be necessary. They offered me a scholarship for grad school for a research project I’m working on, and one of my professors wants me to be a TA.” She smiled and shrugged. “Anyway, if things take a turn for the worse, I can always sell the car.”
“Damn, our fathers are real assholes.” Ethan wrapped an arm around Madison’s shoulders and steered her toward the door. “Let’s go pretend to be one big happy family, if only for Grandma’s sake.”
“Hey.” Madison turned her head to look up at him. “You never told me why you came to hide out here?”
Ethan flashed her a wicked smile. “Oh, that. I’m about to do something very stupid, and I just told Grandma, meaning I can’t change my mind now.” It was clear from his tone that Ethan wasn’t going to elaborate further, so Madison followed him to the dining room, wondering what in hell he could possibly mean by “something very stupid.”
***
They were just past the appetizers when Georgiana dropped her fork with a loud clattering of silver on porcelain and let out a pitiful whimper.
“Are you okay?” Almost everyone around the table asked a variation of the question at the same time.
Georgiana stood extra still for a few seconds, and finally smiled. “False alarm. It was a small cramp, but nothing serious.”
The other thirteen people at the table, Madison included, let out a collective sigh of relief, and the first course was served. From that moment on, however, Madison couldn’t help noticing Tyler watching Georgiana as if she were a time bomb, being extra attentive to her cousin’s every movement. Especially since Georgiana kept wincing as if in pain from time to time. Until the winces became full grimaces of pain, and Georgiana grabbed her belly and groaned.
Once again, every head at the table turned toward Georgiana, who grimaced again and announced, “I think the baby wants out.”
She might as well have shouted, “Ready, steady, GO!” because at once everyone dropped glasses, cutlery, bread… whatever it was they had in their hands, and jumped up from the table shouting orders or asking questions.
“We need to drive to the hospital.” Georgiana’s mom.
“Did you bring your bag?” Tyler.
“I’m getting the car.” Both Ethan and his dad.
“Ahhh, it hurts.” Georgiana.
“Deep breaths.” Vicky.
“Oh, dear.” Grandma. “A new baby on Christmas Day.”
“Someone get her coat.” Madison’s father.
“It reeeeah-haaally hurts.” Georgiana again.
In a coat-grabbing rush, everyone was up and moving across the hall to get to the front door. Georgiana was supported by her mom and sister, as she suddenly seemed in too much pain to walk on her own. It was amidst all the frenzy that Ethan rushed back to his chair, unceremoniously yanked his jacket from the back of the seat, and made the world stop for a few seconds.
Everyone in the room—Georgiana included—froze to watch a small, velvety red box fly out of his jacket’s pocket in a wide arc and land on the living room rug. It popped open to reveal a white gold ring with a single, square-cut diamond set on top.
Rose stared at the tiny box, transfixed. Her hands moved up to cover her mouth. Then she looked at Ethan with tears already welling in her eyes.
“Well…” Ethan smiled oh-so-charmingly with his devil-may-care attitude. “That’s not how I intended to do it, but since we’re here.” He got down on one knee to retrieve the red box and then, turning it toward Rose, he asked, “Rose, will you marry me?”
The entire room waited in silence for Rose’s answer. Even Georgiana made an effort not to scream through what must’ve been a really painful contraction, judging by how she scrunched up her face and bit her lower lip, struggling not to cry out.
“Yes,” Rose said, tears running down her cheeks. “Yes, yes, yes.”
She knelt in front of Ethan and kissed him for a long moment, before letting go and allowing him to slide the beautiful ring on her finger. Madison realized it was Grandma’s ring—that must’ve been the very stupid thing Ethan had referred to earlier: he’d asked their grandmother for the ring.
Cheers and claps erupted all around and were promptly interrupted by an inhuman scream coming from Georgiana. “Can we get a move on, people?” she yelled. “I’m kinda having a baby here!”
So it was that the Smithson family spent Christmas Day in a waiting room at Massachusetts General Hospital, and that, at 11:49 p.m., the beautiful Jane Smithson Bronfam came into the world as a screaming, healthy baby girl of seven and a half pounds.
Eighteen
Haley
Haley was in the kitchen with her mom, spending Boxing Day afternoon doing a sweet nothing after the eating marathon that had been Christmas Day. They’d even allowed her dad some diet leeway, and with everyone in a joyful, festive mood, the celebration had passed in a vortex of cheers, good food, family anecdotes, and present unwrapping.
Like many of her fellow students, Haley had the impression the entire month of December had slipped through her fingers in a heartbeat. She’d taken a long breath at the end of the term, to then survive in a revising-exam-taking apnea for twenty days and then, boom, boom, boom: pack, go home, and finish all the last minute Christmas shopping until the twenty-fifth finally arrived. And today, with the holiday behind her, was the first essentially calm day of the month. Which, unfortunately, meant she’d had plenty of time to think.
She would’ve liked to sleep in late, but no, she’d found herself staring wide-eyed at the ceiling at dawn, unable to shake off the fact that no one special had w
ished her a merry Christmas. Next, she’d wondered who she wanted that someone special to be. Blue sparkly eyes and a crooked grin had appeared in answer. David.
Haley hadn’t been surprised at how clear a reply her subconscious had provided. In the one and a half months since the breakup, she’d been taken aback by how easily her life had kept going. No tears, no desperation, no sense of hopelessness. The only explanation she could give herself had been that the real mourning phase of her relationship with Scott had passed during the summer. When she’d had to learn day by painful day not to rely on him, not to see him, not to talk to him… and also when she’d started falling out of love with him…
Ironically, she’d sort of hoped to be heartbroken. A part of her still couldn’t believe she was letting go of such a great guy. One stubborn piece of her heart couldn’t reconcile with not having any more feelings for a boy she’d fallen so hard for. But that was the reality of it.
The only thing that made Haley’s heart beat these days were memories of little moments she’d had with David. She’d walk around with a silly, secret smile stamped on her lips after remembering something David had said, or a cute face he’d pulled, or his concentrated frown while he tried to solve a difficult problem… And more than once, she’d cursed herself for not kissing him the day he’d waited for her after class. The echo of his whispered words in her ear when he hadn’t kissed her—“Pity I have to give you space.”—was enough for her to break out in an all-body case of goosebumps.
“Oh!” Her mom gasped, stopping dead in front of the kitchen’s window and yanking Haley out of her introspective moment.
Haley wiped another one of her secret smiles from her lips and, dipping a cookie into her tea, she asked, “What’s up?”
“Nothing, really.” Her mom shrugged the question off. “The neighbors are… mmm… building a weird-looking snowman.”
“Something worth seeing?”
“No! No. I mean, not really.”
Miranda moved away from the window and took the stool next to Haley, looking pensive. She sat quietly for a while. Then, out of the blue, she asked, “I couldn’t help but notice the lack of text messaging and late-night calls. Is everything all right, honey?”
Haley guessed she must tell her sooner or later. Even though she spoke to her parents twice a week during the school year, she was very private when it came to her romantic life, and hadn’t told them about the breakup yet.
“Scott and I broke up.”
“Mmm…” Atypically, her mom didn’t say ‘sorry’ or offer words of comfort. She only asked, “Why?”
“I’d really rather not talk about it.”
“Was it because of the brother?”
Ah, mothers! They were a dreadful species.
“Mom, I’m serious, not now.”
Even more peculiarly, her mom didn’t insist. Instead, she came out with, “You should go for a walk outside.”
“Are you delirious? It’s thirty degrees out there, and I’m drinking tea.”
“I’ll make you another one later,” she said, grabbing Haley’s mug and emptying it into the sink.
“Hey,” Haley protested. “I was drinking that.”
“Oh, hush, the sun is shining and it’s a beautiful day.” To Haley’s utter dismay, her mom started pushing her out of the kitchen. “Out, out… you’re too young to stay shut in here and drink tea all afternoon like an old lady.”
Okay, something was definitely up with her mom. This was highly unusual behavior. Haley was not in the mood to deal with mommy-strangeness right then, so she donned her coat, beanie, scarf, and Ugg boots, and headed outside just to shut the woman up.
Haley stepped out onto the porch, scanning the neighborhood to decide if she should head right or left. She froze in surprise when she spotted a familiar face leaning against a familiar midnight blue truck, waiting for her.
Her heart skipped a beat.
At that moment, she felt like Molly Ringwald in the final scene of Sixteen Candles—minus the eighties bridesmaid dress and warm weather. Just like Jake Ryan in the movie, David was staring up at her with a small grin on his handsome face. Haley could almost hear the notes of If You Were Here by the Thompson Twins as she hopped down the steps of her parents’ front porch with the same shy anticipation as an insecure sixteen-year-old Sam Baker.
“Hi,” she said.
He watched her approach. “Hi.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I figured you’ve had enough space.”
Judging from the tight pull she’d felt in her chest when she’d spotted him standing outside her home, he was right. She stepped closer. “You must be freezing, waiting out here,” she said softly.
He gestured to his truck. “I’ve only been waiting for about a minute. I got out of my car when I saw your mother waving at me and giving me the thumbs up… I figured you’d come out soon enough.”
Haley turned her head over her shoulder to check the kitchen window. There was a rustling of curtains and then nothing else, as if someone had been spying and now was gone.
Mothers! Really, an impossible breed.
“Can we talk?” David asked.
Haley nodded, and walked around and slid into the passenger’s side. David climbed into the driver’s seat, his long legs and tall frame filling the space next to her.
He started the truck and turned on the heat—even though the inside was still warm—leaving the gear in Park.
“Let’s go somewhere, please?” Haley asked.
As much as she was eager to hear what David had to say, she didn’t want to do so within reach of her mother’s prying eyes.
David smiled and switched the truck into Drive. “You’re the expert; tell me where to go.”
She guided him to a small park just around the corner from her house. It usually wasn’t that scenic a sight, but in winter, coated in snow, with ice crystals as natural decorations, and blue fairy lights wrapped around the various tree trunks, it gained a romantic winter-wonderland vibe.
David parked in the deserted lot and left the car on, warm air blasting all around them from the vents.
Haley angled herself in the seat toward him, unwrapping the scarf from around her neck just to have something to do with her hands. “So? Why are you here?”
Without saying a word, he raised his hand to cup her cheek and leaned forward to kiss her. A long, deep kiss.
“I’m done waiting,” he said when he pulled back.
Fair enough. Now that they were together, so close in the confined space of his truck, Haley was done waiting, too. The test was over. She didn’t miss Scott. He already felt like a distant memory, and she couldn’t believe she’d ever thought of Scott as “the one” because it all paled compared to what she was feeling now as she held David’s deep blue gaze.
He ran a finger along her cheek, his voice soft but firm. “So what’s it gonna be, Haley?”
She leaned in and kissed him again, sliding her arms around David’s neck and pulling him closer until things got so heated that she forcefully had to pull away.
She slid her hands inside her coat and wrapped it more tightly around herself, not because she was cold, but because she was afraid that if she got her hands on David again, she wouldn’t be able to pull back this time. “Where do we go from here?”
“I have to be back in Boston by the second—grad school sucks, and all.” David rolled his eyes. “But we can go wherever you want for the next couple of days…”
“Any place in mind?”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m not planning on letting you out of the room much.”
Something melted in Haley’s belly, and words failed her.
David winked and put his hands back on the wheel. “Let’s get you home now. You need to pack.”
Nineteen
Haley
Haley’s parents didn’t object to her early departure; especially not her mom, who confessed her
secret membership to the #TeamDavid club. And after her dad had given David a thorough grilling on driving on ice, interspersed with not-so-subtle make-my-daughter-suffer-and-you’ll-deal-with-me threats, they were good to go. The most obvious destination was to spend a few days at Niagara Falls State Park. The drive was only thirty minutes from Buffalo, and there were plenty of cozy and romantic cabin lodges not too far from the falls.
Reservations made, all they had to do was follow the GPS instructions which, after a long drive along the I-190 N, brought them to a less beaten, winding road.
“If I didn’t know better,” David commented, observing the forest-y surroundings, “I’d say you’re taking me somewhere you’ll be able to do as you please with me…”
Ah… well, yes, they’d be… pretty isolated.
“I figured this way we wouldn’t have to remember that annoying ‘do not disturb’ sign.”
David flashed her a wolfish smile, giving Haley’s insides another good twist.
Will it ever stop? Haley wondered if he’d always have this effect on her. A part of her hoped he would, and the other was scared to death at that same possibility.
They drove around another few bends, until the road ended in a clearing at what appeared to be the main resort lodge. There were no other cars in the driveway, and the guy they’d talked to over the phone had seemed surprised they’d requested a cabin. These accommodations were more popular in the summer when it wasn’t this freezing outside.
David parked in the spot with the least snow and, after hopping out of the truck, they headed for the small wooden house that must serve as reception.
“Ah, you’re here already,” a short man greeted them from behind the counter. Without wasting time, he grabbed a set of heavy-looking keys and a map and rounded the desk to give them the basic instructions. “You’re in cabin eight. We weren’t expecting anyone so close to Christmas. Usually, our winter guests prefer to come closer to New Year’s Eve and stay only a couple of nights, but I have you down for six nights, correct?”