“James, how are you?” Fiona jumped up to give me a quick hug before gesturing to the empty chair beside her. “Sit. Tell me everything. We’ve only just returned from our trip to Chicago, but I know the whole sordid story already.”

  “Already?”

  “Mama and Addie came by earlier. On their way to see Aunt Annabelle.” She shot me a mischievous look. “But we’ll talk about that in a moment. Have you just dropped Lena and her father at the train?”

  “Yes, they’re on their way. I can’t say I’m sorry to see them go.” I lowered myself into the chair, brushing aside a meandering ant before directing my attention toward my companion.

  “They were on their way to have Addie measured for a wedding dress. You didn’t waste any time.” She jabbed my shoulder. “Good for you. And Addie, of course. I’m so relieved. When I left I thought she’d be heartbroken by the time I returned and you’d be trapped in a loveless marriage.”

  “There will be a wedding. Just not the one we anticipated.”

  Her hands flew to her mouth. “Oh, James, I’m so happy.”

  “I hope you’re not angry with me.”

  “Why would I be?”

  “It hasn’t exactly been a proper courtship. Rather messy, in fact.”

  “What do they say about the path to true love? Li and I were messy too, and look how happy we are.”

  I reached over to brush my fingers against her wrist. “Has it been all right? Harder than you thought?”

  “Not harder than we thought, but hard at times. People stare at us when we’re away from here. It’s what we expected. Fortunately for us, we’re talented enough that people want to hire us anyway, even if our heritages don’t match.”

  We sat for a moment in silence. The garden had a humming sound to it this time of year, with insects and bees busy with their flower work.

  “Mama told me about Delphia’s part in all of this. Are you all still mad at her?”

  I chuckled. “Who can be mad at her for long? She meant well. Delphia might be the most loyal person I’ve ever met.”

  “True enough. If she finds the right man, he’ll be lucky.”

  “As it turned out, she did the right thing,” I said. “It forced everything to come out in the open.”

  “I suppose so, but what a thing to do. Paying a boy to seduce her. Who thinks of these things?”

  “Apparently, Delphia.”

  “That girl.” She stretched her legs out long. “The sooner we get her married off the better.”

  Good luck with that, I thought. Delphia would decide for herself who and when she married. I hoped for her sake that her path to love was easier than mine and Addie’s or Li and Fiona’s.

  The twins, who must have had enough playing on the swing for the afternoon, ran over to ask their mother if they could have a cookie.

  “Go ask Gabriella,” Fiona said. “But just one.”

  They ran off happily for their treat. What a gift it was to be unencumbered with adult worries and responsibilities and delighted by just the thought of a cookie.

  Fiona and I chatted for a moment about the musical composition she and Li had just finished for the movie studio. “We’re glad to be done with it, to be honest. I don’t care for the city, as you know. I yearned to get home to my garden and piano. But they needed us in Chicago to record and that was that.”

  “Will you do more of this kind of work?”

  “Yes, if we’re asked to. The money’s good. We were growing a little weary of giving all those music lessons. Li especially. It hurts his ears to hear some of the children.” She brushed back a tendril of hair and directed her gaze at me. “Mama told me about the job at the school. Is this what you want, or are you doing it for Addie?”

  “A little of both. Love, you know.”

  “Yes, love has a way of changing everything.” She nodded but didn’t say anything further. Fiona and I had met when we were both a lot younger. I’d been so full of ambition then, determined to become an editor. Now I could find that place inside me that had wanted all of it so badly. Love had replaced my ambition, at least for the time being.

  “I should have figured it out about you and Addie,” Fiona said. “Looking back, I can see the signs of how she felt about you. But she had to grow up first.”

  “Yes, I guess she did. We’re anxious to start a life together. I’ve got to figure out how to make a home like this.” I waved my hand toward the row of pots that contained purple and red flowers, none of which I knew the name of. “Maybe I’ll learn to grow a garden.”

  “You’ll make a wonderful nest for Addie. I’ve no doubt. In the meantime, we have a wedding to plan. What kind of music do you want?”

  That night after dinner, Addie and I strolled through the rose garden at the big house. We talked about where we might like to decorate our little cottage and when I would start at the school and the latest edits on her manuscript. This would be my life, I thought. Sweet and uncomplicated, with Addie at my side.

  “Do you want children?” Addie asked. “I’ve never asked you that.”

  “I’ll be happy either way. As long as I have you.” Now that we’d moved behind some large shrubbery, I pulled her against me to kiss her. She tasted of Lizzie’s sweet lemonade.

  With her arms around my neck, she spoke against my mouth. “Did you ever think you’d feel this happy?”

  “No, never.” I kissed her again with all those pink roses around us. My pink rose of a girl.

  24

  ADDIE

  On my wedding day, I stood in front of the mirror in my bedroom. We’d just buttoned my dress, and I stared back at my reflection. Aunt Annabelle hadn’t had time to make anything elaborate, but the simple white silk with its modest neckline suited me just fine. Tucked in at the waist, the bodice hugged my gentle curves.

  My mother fastened the veil to my hair and stood back to look at me. “Lovely, darling,” she said.

  Fiona smoothed the short train of my dress and stood next to me in the mirror. “Perfectly perfect.”

  Cymbeline, powder brush in hand, gave me an up-and-down assessment. “Yes, you look beautiful.”

  Delphia, sitting on the window seat with Josephine, had been surprisingly subdued all day. She would not say it, but I knew this rite of passage pained her. For the first time in her life, she would go to sleep tonight without me in the same house.

  After we’d moved all of my things to the cottage yesterday, I’d caught Delphia crying on the porch. She waved me away and refused to talk, but I knew it hurt to let me go. It had been the two of us for a long time now.

  I turned to Delphia. “What do you think?”

  “I think you’ll do fine.” Delphia gave me a weak smile. “And James better treat you like the queen you are.”

  Josephine wrapped her arm around Delphia. “Don’t worry, sweetheart, you’ll be next. Soon we’ll be putting you into a wedding dress.”

  “I don’t know,” Delphia said. “Viktor hasn’t brought any prospects to me.”

  Cym laughed. “Are you still waiting for that?”

  “He promised me when I was a little girl that he would find my husband,” Delphia said, jutting out her chin. “And none of you are allowed to make fun of me about it. He knows the kind of man I want.”

  “One like him,” Cym said. “But you’ll have your own man, uniquely made by God just for you.”

  Delphia looked skeptical but said nothing further, getting up to kiss my cheek. “Come on, sister of mine. It’s time.”

  Suddenly, I was nervous. I looked around at the loving faces of my sisters and Mama. They were all smiling. Jo and Mama both had tears in their eyes. “All the people will be looking at me.”

  “Aren’t they lucky to see such a pretty bride?” Cym said. “And I promise, it’s over before you know it. I barely remember my ceremony.”

  “Same with me,” Jo said. “And anyway, it’s just the first day of saying ‘I do.’ Every single day of your marriage requires you to say yes all over again. Try to remember that during the hard times—love is always worth recommitting to. It’s a choice every day to love each other and to make sure the other knows how much.”

  “Quite true,” Mama said. “There will be times when you have to try a little harder to understand each other and come to compromises. Regardless, you’ll find it the very best kind of work. Nothing will ever be as rewarding. Except your children, of course.” Mama started crying. “Oh, my dears. How can it be that the years went so fast? I can see each of you as little girls by just closing my eyes. Now you’re all grown. Even my babies.”

  Jo and Cym wrapped their arms around Mama, kissing her cheeks and reassuring her that they would always need her.

  “Think of all your grandchildren,” Fiona said.

  “I’m very blessed,” Mama said. “To have them all near me and to have the pleasure of watching them grow up without having to do any of the work.”

  “You’re about to be blessed again,” Fiona said. “It’s confirmed. I’m having another.”

  “Fiona, you never said a word,” Mama said.

  “I didn’t want to say anything until I knew for sure,” Fiona said. “Anyway, we’ve been busy planning the wedding.”

  “I’m delighted for you,” Jo said, beaming. “For me, too. I love being an auntie.”

  “I’m tired,” Fiona said. “Worried, too. How will I take care of them all?”

  “That’s what you have all of us for,” Cym said. “There’s always someone to call in this family.”

  “You’ve all given me such a good life,” Mama said, crying again. “I love being your mother.”

  “We love you, Mama,” Fiona said. “More than you could ever know.”

  “All this fuss. I’m so sorry,” Mama said. “I’m overcome suddenly and blubbering like a fool. I wish my mother could see you, Addie. She’d be very proud to see you in one of Annabelle’s dresses.”

  “She’s with me, Mama,” I said, tapping my chest. “Always.”

  “Let us pray before going to the church,” Mama said. “On this most joyous of days.”

  “Won’t we be praying at church, too?” Delphia asked. “Why should we do it now?”

  Josephine turned to address my little sister. “Delphia, please, try to be a good girl today. And don’t give Mama any sass.” She smiled, indulgently, and gestured for her to come and stand next to her.

  Delphia stuck out her bottom lip. “I wasn’t trying to cause trouble, I was just asking.”

  “Come here, goose.” Cym wrapped her arm around Delphia’s shoulders. “I know it’s hard to be good.”

  “It really is. Especially when I never know what the rules are,” Delphia said.

  “Would you obey them if you knew?” Fiona asked, teasing.

  “I might,” Delphia mumbled.

  We made a circle, holding hands. Mama’s voice was soft and sweet in the warm room. A breeze rustled the curtains as we bowed our heads.

  “Dear Lord, thank you for this day and for my beautiful girls. Thank you for blessing us with another happy union. Please be with my baby today as she marries James. Amen.”

  We echoed her amen and stood for a few seconds gazing at the floor for fear that we’d all burst into tears.

  Regardless of the sentimentality of the moment, we broke apart. There were vows to exchange and a celebration to enjoy. A marriage to begin.

  After the ceremony at the church, we all traipsed back to the big house, as we always did after one of us was married. Finally, it had been my turn to walk down the aisle on Papa’s arm. I’d been strangely calm. My groom, however, had spent most of the short ceremony with misty eyes and a trembling voice as he answered the pastor’s questions.

  Now we were in the backyard. The sun had set already, and stars had appeared. Fiona and Li started in with a rousing jazz number, and most of us wandered out to the grass to dance. Instead of a formal meal inside, I’d asked if we could enjoy our wedding feast on the back porch. Lizzie had gladly arranged for it to be so, and she and Mrs. Wu had cooked all day yesterday and today to prepare cakes and treats as well as a roast pig. Not Daisy, mind you, who as far as I knew was behaving herself in the barn. The wedding cake, white with buttercream frosting, had been cut and consumed. Champagne continued to flow, and even the staff had been convinced to join us for dancing and drinks.

  The air, scented with roses and lavender, had cooled and felt nice on my bare arms after the heat of the afternoon. James held me close despite the fast pace of the music. We had our own rhythm to begin this new season of our lives and eyes only for each other.

  “Mrs. West, are you enjoying yourself?” James whispered in my ear. His breath smelled sweetly of champagne and cake. I shivered in his arms, nervous and excited about what would happen later when the party was finally over and everyone had gone to bed.

  “It’s been a lovely day.”

  “No regrets?”

  “About what?”

  “The wedding, I guess. Or me.” He smiled down at me, his eyes catching the light cast from the porch.

  “I’ll never regret either.”

  “I meant what I said during the ceremony,” he said. “Whatever you want, I will give you. If I can, of course.”

  “And I you.”

  “Are you worried about later?”

  “A little. You?” I asked, knowing he referred to our wedding night. My sisters had gone out earlier and filled the kitchen of our newly cleaned and decorated cottage with food for our first days together. They’d also made up the bed in the room I would now share with my husband. Husband! I still couldn’t quite believe it. James was mine and I was his.

  We’d agreed to have our honeymoon next summer, for school would start in a few weeks and Mr. West, teacher of English and history, would be busy preparing. My mother had agreed to help him prepare, reassuring him that all would be well. James’s mother had declined our invitation to move to Colorado, for now, at least. She’d written to tell him that his father was not well and that she could not leave him to die alone. In addition, his sister had eloped with her childhood sweetheart and hadn’t been heard from since. I’d worried the news would send James into a mourning of some kind, but instead, he’d seemed resigned to whatever came. “I can no longer hold on to the belief that my actions can save any of them. It’s a relief to finally accept that fact,” he’d said to me a few days before the wedding.

  “Was it strange for you?” I asked him now. “To marry without any of your family here?”

  “Not really. I’ve spent all these years without them.” He paused, obviously thinking through what he would say. “My sister’s escaped as well, you know, and this makes me happy. My mother and father have made each other miserable all their married life, but at least she has a chance for a good life.”

  “I hope she will be as happy as we are,” I said.

  “I can wish for nothing better for her.”

  The song changed to a ballad, and he drew me closer and whispered in my ear. “When can we leave? I love your family, but I’m longing to be alone with you.”

  “Another hour? I don’t really know, now that you ask. At my siblings’ weddings, I can’t remember ever wanting the party to end, but tonight it’s a different story.”

  “It will be the longest hour in the history of man.”

  I laughed and rested my cheek against the lapel of his new suit, made in haste by our own Mr. Olofsson. “We have so much to look forward to.” I gazed up at him, wondering what it would feel like to wake up in the morning and see his beautiful eyes staring back at me from across the pillow. “I still can’t quite believe it’s you.”

  He brushed his mouth against a spot just below my ear. “I can’t believe you would pick me. Of all the men in the world?”

  “You’ve always been the one. My one and only.”

  “It wasn’t obvious to me at first, of course, but I am a man and therefore less intelligent than the woman who loves me.”

  “Oh, I do love you, James West.” I wriggled my hand from his to touch the side of his smooth face. “You’re mine for always, which makes me the happiest woman in the entire world.”

  He chuckled and brought my hand to his mouth and kissed the palm. “You smell very nice. If you were wondering about that.”

  I laughed. “Thank you. You smell nice, too.” Over his shoulder, I saw my mother and father sitting together on the bottom steps of the porch. How many other exchanges had happened there over the years? Many, I suspected, given the largeness of our family.

  Tonight, my parents sat side by side. My father had his arm around her shoulders, and her head was resting against him. Instead of looking at each other, they were watching us. A gentle smile on my mother’s face told me of her delight in my happiness, but there was a bittersweet quality, too. I was one of her babies, after all, and this was the end of an era.

  My father winked at me and then turned away to whisper something to my mother. She laughed and nodded, then took his hand and they joined us on the lawn to dance.

  Along with Fiona and Delphia, my sisters and brothers were there too, all dancing with their spouses. Delphia was in the corner of the yard with the Depaul brothers playing some kind of game with marbles. I’m fairly sure money was exchanging hands. Given her self-satisfied grin, she must have been winning.

  I nestled closer to James, knowing I would always remember this moment when my world was absolutely perfectly perfect. Whatever tomorrow brought, I would always have this rose-scented night and the sounds of Fiona’s music in accompaniment to the joyous sounds of my family celebrating that once again love had conquered all. A match that had made no sense to anyone but me had finally come to fruition. I would not ever forget what a miracle it all was or the generosity of my parents. What a thing to be a Barnes, I thought. A glorious, lucky blessed thing.

  Now, however, I was also a West. Mrs. James West. I could hardly wait to write it on an envelope, although I’d promised my new husband that I would use Barnes for my pen name. I might be Addie West at home, but the world would know me as Adelaide Barnes, author. Would his prediction come true? Only time would tell. Until then, I was content to be under the stars in the arms of the man I loved with my family all around me.