“Do you love him?” Mom covered Vi’s and Eve’s hands with her own. “That’s the important thing. You have to love him for who he is. People don’t change.”
“Mom’s right,” Vi said, still on her high horse.
“I love him.” The words rang with conviction Eve hadn’t realized she’d had before. She’d chalked up her fondness for Hayden to a childhood crush. But this felt different. “I do. I love him.”
“You can’t love him,” Vi said wearily. “You haven’t seen him in ten years. And you were a baby back then.”
“I can. He’s always been kind to me,” Eve said slowly, still wrestling with her epiphany about love and what it meant to a temporary marriage. Bad news, she bet. “He sees me for who I am. In here.” Eve tapped her heart, wanting to believe it was true. “We’re both responsible adults who are willing to sacrifice for what we want. For those we hold dear and family.”
Vi scoffed. “If Hayden valued his family, he would have made up with his grandfather a decade ago. Instead, he ran off.”
“After you dumped him,” Eve reminded her gently.
“I couldn’t marry him,” Vi said with just a hint of vulnerability, getting to her feet and propping her hands on her hips. “And you shouldn’t either.”
Eve stood, mirroring Vi’s stance. “So, if you can’t have him, no one can? How can you be so cruel? He’s a good man.”
Violet laughed mirthlessly. “I knew you always had a crush on him. You just bided your time, didn’t you?”
“Yes. All right.” Eve’s voice rose. “I thought the world of Hayden when you dated him. But that crush ended when I moved away.”
“It doesn’t feel as if it ever ended,” Vi countered.
“You’re so annoying,” Eve sniped.
“And you’re so naïve,” Vi snapped back.
“Girls, don’t fight.” Mom rapped her knuckles on the coffee table. “I should never have told Eve that Hayden was back.”
“We would have bumped into each other anyway,” Eve said in a downtrodden tone of voice. She hated fighting with Vi about this. “It’s a small town.”
“Convenient that you’re a nurse and Irene needs caring for,” Vi said slyly, too close to the truth for comfort.
“It’s not like that.” Eve sank back down on the couch, leaning her head on Mom’s shoulder. “I knew you wouldn’t understand.”
The house fell silent.
After a moment, Violet sat beside Eve. “I only want what’s best for you. At least, tell me his proposal was romantic.”
It hadn’t been.
Eve closed the medical textbook on the coffee table, stalling for time, not wanting to rely on her teenage daydream for inspiration. But what else did she have?
She smiled weakly. “Hayden got down on one knee and said he loved me. He gave me a flower every time he told me something he admired about me. He said he was surprised by the strength of his feelings, and then he promised he’d never disappoint me or break my heart. And he… He promised to make all my dreams come true.”
“No one can promise that.” Vi looked away.
But not before Eve noticed tears in her eyes. Her sister had once shared that Charlie had promised to try anything to have kids—from changing his diet to counting his sperm to putting “sexy time” on his schedule. But he’d drawn the line at the cost of in vitro fertilization. And Vi had been crushed.
“I’m sorry,” Eve said quietly.
“This is no time to get maudlin.” Mom got to her feet, a fragile smile on her lips. “Come on, girls. Get up. Group hug.”
Slowly, Vi and Eve did as she asked.
Silence settled over the trio as they huddled together.
“Are you okay with this, Vi?” Eve whispered.