Page 30

Thirty

Luna

“Just breathe, honey,” Kathy says, slowly smoothing her hand up and down my back.

“I should go out and talk to them.” The words sound a lot surer than I feel, mostly because I’m shaking, my stomach in knots.

I’m used to the way they talk to me, used to the vitriol and rage.

What if they tell Aiden something truly awful?

What if he believes them?

What if my part of the curse isn’t to die young like Becky, my sister, like my mom, but to be like Grams—alone and left behind, living without the man I love for the majority of my adult years.

Wishing things had gone differently.

That circumstances could have been altered.

And knowing there was nothing I could do to change it.

I close my eyes, hate that a tear slips free, slides down my cheek.

“It’ll be okay,” Kathy murmurs and my lids peel back when she wipes gently beneath one set of lashes and then the other. “I promise.”

It’s sweet of her to say that, beyond kind.

But I can’t stop the sinking feeling in my belly that this has all gone too easy before now—Aiden accepting my reappearance, us getting married, the sex, him knowing instinctively that I wouldn’t want to give up Grams’s place—and I’m worried this is going to blow up in my face, no matter how much I need, and want, it to work out.

Doing something better.

Having Aiden in my life.

Having…something more.

Something that means everything .

And an everything that slides just out of reach.

“How do you know it’ll be okay?” I whisper, heart squeezing painfully.

“Because you know as well as I do,” she says, “that when Aiden says he’ll take care of it, he’ll take care of it.”

I do know that.

He’s the one person in my life who has never ever failed me.

If anyone can handle my brother and father, he can.

The only question is—why should he have to?

Stifling a groan, I blink the tears away and whisper, “Yes, he will.”

“Exactly, honey.” She cups my cheek. “I see you’re getting it now.”

“It’s just…it’s not that simple,” I whisper.

A gentle smile. “I can promise you that the Black men are simple when it comes to the women they love.”

My heart squeezes again and then the words just…slip out. “But it’s not like you think, Kathy.”

A long pause before she asks, “What do you mean, sweetheart?”

Shit.

Yet, I can’t stop myself from admitting, “We didn’t just get married because we’re in love and reconnected after all these years.”

Her mouth curves and it’s so much like Aiden’s smile that my lungs hitch, but the movement, my words, don’t have her releasing me. Instead, she holds me a little tighter, brushes back the hair from my face. “I figured as much.”

My mouth drops open. “You did?”

She nods. “Like I said, Aiden goes his own way. But eloping is out there, even for him.” A beat. “Especially in the middle of the season.”

I wince. “Right,” I whisper.

Because he would have timed it better.

Of course he would have.

“So,” I whisper, “you shouldn’t spend money or time on the party, on Grams’s back yard. Aiden’s doing me a favor— did me a favor by marrying me—but we don’t need a party and you definitely shouldn’t put yourself out to celebrate our marriage.”

She’s quiet again for a long moment. Then, “He did you a favor?”

I hesitate, shame eating at my insides, but I know I owe her an explanation, owe her the truth.

“When Grams died…” I put my pride aside and tell her all about Grams’s will, about the shares, about wanting to do something better with all that Smythe is, watching her face carefully as I speak, worry knotting my insides as I search for any sign of disappointment, of disgust, of despair.

Because her son deserves more.

“It’s really wonderful he’s doing this for me,” I whisper. “But I should have stopped things from going this far, should have known that the curse would have struck—” My throat stoppers up, words caught so tightly they can’t keep escaping.

“Um, honey,” she murmurs after several seconds. “I don’t want to interject when you’re being so open, but you’ve given me a lot of information here—information that all makes sense…all of it except whatever this is about a curse.”

Dammit.

I’m an idiot.

And one look at her face tells me that she’s not going to let this go.

And maybe…I just need to finally tell someone.

Exhaling, I stare into green eyes that are similar to Aiden’s, except with more gold flecks. “You’re going to think I’m ridiculous,” I hedge.

“There’s nothing ridiculous about any of this.” She takes my hand. “Now, sweetheart, tell me about the curse.”

My gaze slides to the side, still delaying, but the part of me that needs to tell someone has grown, taking over, and I release another breath, the truth slipping free.

“I remember hearing about it for the first time when my mom was telling her best friend that Maybelle women are cursed with one of three fates—to choose their partners poorly, to die young, or to be left behind pining for the men they love but who don’t love them back. ”

“Honey—”

“Or worse to be cursed to live all three.” I shake my head.

“I know it sounds stupid, and I remember being old enough, having read enough books, having seen enough Disney movies to think that happy endings were guaranteed, that curses didn’t really exist—or at the very least, that curses were meant to be broken by heroes with hearts of gold and really great hair and smiles that never fail to make the fair maidens melt.

” Her hand tightens around mine, as though she instinctively knows that something bad is going to happen.

And she’s right.

“Then my mom died in the car accident and my sister spent all those months in the hospital before she eventually passed away too, and I started to believe in the curse. Two Maybelles, two victims of the curse.” I press my lips together.

“And eventually I realized Grams was a victim too—she chose poorly, picking my grandfather, who only spent long enough with her to make my dad before going right back to his mistress. She waited for almost forty years wishing for him to come home, pining away and living a life that wasn’t fully for herself.

And that pattern has continued back for generations—my aunt was left at the altar, my great grandmother died in childbirth, taking her youngest daughter with her, my cousin’s husband took her for every bit of her worth, leaving her homeless until Grams stepped in, and…

” I sigh. “The list goes on and on and on . Every woman in my family has the same story—we’re cursed when it comes to love. ”

“But not you.”

I rub at my forehead. “Because I had absolutely no intention of putting myself in the curse’s crosshairs.

” I glance at my lap, admit, “It’s why I pushed Aiden away when we were teenagers.

Why I couldn’t so much step foot in the rink after he left to play juniors—too many memories, too much temptation to reach out again, too high of a risk if I did. ”

Her fingers wrap around mine. “I don’t blame you for keeping your distance, sweetheart.”

My eyes fly to hers, shock rippling through me. “You don’t?”

“With that family track record,” she says dryly, “it’s no wonder that you were a little gun shy.

” She straightens, shakes her head. “I can almost see why your Grams felt like she needed to give you a push. Now is it the way I would have gone about it? No—” Her lips twitch.

“Okay, fine. I actually think it’s pretty brilliant.

I definitely would have done something like that, especially if it meant that the granddaughter I loved would finally step off the sidelines of her life and start living. ”

“I—”

But I can’t finish the sentence.

Because I think I finally might understand a bit about why Grams did what she did.

Trust the process, break the curse, and know I love you so, so much.

Maybe she truly didn’t believe in the Maybelle Curse.

Maybe she gave me this push so I wouldn’t end up alone.

Maybe…

The future I’ve dreamed of—the fantasy, the dashing hero, the happy ending—can actually be mine.

“Thank you,” I whisper, tucking those realizations close, the wound in my heart slightly smaller for the first time ever.

“For what?”

“For making it make sense.”

Expression gentling, she bumps her shoulder against mine. “Thank you for sharing this with me.” Another squeeze of her fingers. “For sharing all of it.”

“I have to admit”—the words just flow out of me, probably imprudently but also, I don’t have any hope of stopping their flow, not now that I’ve let this all come out—“I worried I might not know how to handle you and Carrie.”

Kathy laughs. “Why’s that?”

“Because you guys are so…” I was going to say much , but that’s rude, yet the delay of me searching for a word that isn’t rude (and coming up blank) has her laughing.

“I’m used to Grams,” I blather, “but she wasn’t like you guys—your family is so close, and you all know so much about each other.

And you’re so comfortable in yourselves.

I don’t think Grams or I have ever had that. ”

If Grams had, she wouldn’t have spent years pining away for a man who hurt her over and over again.

And I wouldn’t have spent far too long letting my father and brother walk all over me, wouldn’t have pushed Aiden away because I was scared we wouldn’t work out.

Only…he’s not away now, is he?

My heart flutters, but before I can truly sit in that thought, she’s speaking again, “You know the one rejoinder I’ve heard my whole life?”

I shake my head.

“That I’m always too loud, too brash, too much .

” She shrugs. “Quiet down. Make yourself smaller. Fit in. Over and over again—” A sigh.

“But eventually, as I got older, the words everyone kept telling me stopped meaning so much. I finally realized that I am who I am and…” Another shrug.

“I’m not going to apologize for that any longer. ”

Guilt wraps itself tightly around my heart. “I’m sorry.”

“For stating the truth?” She tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear. “Don’t be. It’s reminded me that while I am who I am, that is a lot.” A tap to the tip of my nose. “So, it’s important to go slowly and say”—her mouth curves—“ not force fed my son’s new wife pastries until she’s ready to burst.”

I giggle. “For the record, they’re delicious so I wasn’t exactly complaining.”

“Because you were too full to get the words out?”

I giggle again. “Maybe.”

She touches my cheek, eyes going serious. “Want something else that’s for the record ?”

“Sure,” I murmur.

“Life’s not full of fairytales, sweetheart.”

My heart pulses but she goes on before I can speak.

“But if there is ever a prince and princess who can break an evil curse, it’s you and Aiden.”