“I’m sure your mother’s afraid you might be repeating her mistake—or what she sees as one,” Anne Marie said as gently as she could. She didn’t want to suggest the marriage had been a mistake, although in retrospect it probably was.
“She started yelling at me and said I’d regret this for the rest of my life.”
Pamela’s temper was legendary.
“I asked her if she regretted having Brandon and me and she said…” Melissa swallowed hard. “She said if she had to do it over again, she wouldn’t have had either one of us because we’ve done nothing but let her down.”
“She didn’t mean that! She couldn’t mean it.” Anne Marie was horrified by such a cruel remark, even if Pamela had lashed out, unthinking.
“I know,” Melissa said in a small voice. “Afterward she e-mailed me and apologized, but she still said she wanted no part of the wedding.”
The wedding. Melissa and Michael were going to have a wedding. Of course they were.
“Will you come to our wedding?” Melissa asked tentatively.
“Absolutely! I wouldn’t miss it for anything.”
Melissa smiled, and Anne Marie saw tears in her eyes. “I still can’t believe this, you know,” she muttered.
“What your mother said?”
“No, me coming to you for advice. And support. A year ago, even three months ago, I would never have done that. I…I thought I hated you.”
“Let’s try to forget all that, okay?”
“I blamed you for the divorce, although I know it wasn’t your fault at all. Brandon and I had a long talk about you, and he’s helped me figure things out. Emotions can become habits,” she said haltingly as she wiped her eyes. “But habits can be changed.”
There was a silence, and Anne Marie found herself blinking back tears of her own. “Can I help with the wedding?” she finally asked, diverting the subject from herself and their painful past.
“You’d do that?”
“I offered, didn’t I?”
“Well, yes, but I never expected… I didn’t think you’d have time.”
“I’ll make time.” Anne Marie wanted to help Melissa. The possibility filled her with hope and a kind of exultation. For nearly thirteen years her relationship with her stepdaughter had been nothing less than turbulent. Then, for reasons she didn’t completely understand, it had begun to change.
“I wasn’t going to tell you, but…”
“Tell me what?” Melissa glanced at her suspiciously.
“I’m taking knitting classes and I bought yarn for a baby blanket.”
Melissa smiled tremulously. “You did that for me?”
“I’m going to be a stepgrandma, aren’t I?”
Melissa nodded, and tears coursed down her cheeks unrestrained. “I can’t believe how wonderful you’ve been to me.” Melissa reached for her hand and squeezed it. “Thank you, Anne Marie,” she whispered.
Anne Marie put aside her half-finished sandwich. “Ellen picked out the yarn,” she said, clearing her throat. “It’s a variegated one with yellow, pink, pale blue and lavender.” Anne Marie was eager to start. As soon as she’d finished the lap robe for Dolores, she’d knit the blanket for Melissa and Michael’s baby. Her stepgrandchild.
“I’ll treasure it. And please thank Ellen. I hope I can meet her soon.” Melissa used a napkin to mop her face as she spoke. Except for her reddened eyes, she looked as beautiful as ever.
“We’ll arrange something,” Anne Marie said. “Now, have you and Michael set a date?”
“July twelfth.”
It was almost the middle of April. That didn’t leave them much time, especially with Melissa and Michael both graduating from college in the next month.
“You’re reinstated in your classes, but what about the work you missed? Have you caught up?”
“Yes, Mom,” Melissa said with a laugh.
Anne Marie was beginning to feel like a parent, or rather Melissa was letting her feel like one. Melissa’s stepmom. Darn it, she loved how that felt.
Robert would be so proud of them. This was what he’d always wanted for her and Melissa. How sad that it hadn’t happened until he was gone. Somehow, though, she had the feeling he knew and approved.
“Your father would’ve wanted you to get your degree,” she murmured.
“I know,” Melissa said.
“Okay, let’s discuss the wedding.”
Melissa sighed. “It’s a bit overwhelming. We have no idea where to start. Michael’s mother said we should set a date and get the minister first, but I don’t know any.”
“I do.”
“Really?”
“Sort of. Alix Turner, who works at the French Café, is married to a minister. Would you like me to get his phone number for you?”
Melissa nodded. “That would be great.”
“What about your dress?” Anne Marie asked.
Another deep sigh. “I haven’t even thought about that yet.”
“I’ll do some research—a friend of mine owns a dress shop, and if she doesn’t have what you need, she’ll know someone who does. Then I’ll make an appointment with Alix over at the French Café so we can check out a catering menu and look at wedding cake designs.”
“You’re sure you have time for all this?”
“For you, Melissa, yes,” Anne Marie told her. “Ellen will help, too. It’ll be good to get her mind off her grandmother.”
“Thank you,” Melissa whispered with a watery smile.
She might not ever be a mother, Anne Marie realized, but she was a stepmom and she’d make a wonderful grandmother for Melissa’s baby.
She’d learned two things from Melissa. The habits of a lifetime could be changed. And family could come about in the most unexpected ways.
Chapter 26
When Barbie approached the ticket window at the movie complex, she was pleased to note that Tessa was handling sales again that night. As soon as she’d advanced to the front of the line, Tessa broke into a huge smile.
“Uncle Mark left a ticket for you.”
Barbie hesitated. “He bought my ticket?” So far, they’d met at the pool four times for the adult lap swim session—and that was it. Although they’d kissed that first day in the water, they hadn’t since. Not for any lack of desire, at least on Barbie’s part. But the circumstances weren’t ideal; their privacy the first time hadn’t been repeated, and she wasn’t interested in giving the seniors’ swim class an eyeful.
“It’s a date,” Tessa said, as if she needed to clarify.
“Please tell me we’re not seeing another horror movie.”
“No,” Tessa assured her. “It’s a courtroom drama. Lots of talking. You don’t have to worry about being scared out of your wits.”
But Barbie was scared. She’d fallen for Mark and fallen hard. The wheelchair didn’t frighten her, but the man who sat in it did. Their relationship wouldn’t be easy and the realities of a future with him were intimidating.