Love had changed the physics of their lives and redrawn the boundary of what they’d believed about the world and the magic that was truly possible.
And as they reached love’s glorious pinnacle, separated only by the thinnest rind of skin, their fate was sealed, their destinies forever intertwined.
15
WHEN HER CELL PHONE rang the next morning, Katie rolled over with a smile on her face. She glanced to see Liam asleep beside her and Duke dozing at the foot of the bed. Her grin widened. It wasn’t a dream. Quietly, she slipped out of the bed and snatched her purse up off the floor, digging out her cell phone on the fly as she hustled to the living room.
“Hello.”
“Katie, where are you? I went by your condo to see if you wanted to do breakfast but you weren’t there.”
“Brooke, how are you?” She felt so wonderful she wanted to share her joy with her sister but wasn’t sure how she would feel about the news that Katie and Liam were an item.
“I think I’m finally feeling strong enough to go through mother’s things. Joey’s up for it, too. How about you?”
Sorting through their mother’s personal effects was going to be an emotional experience and until now, she’d rigorously avoided it. Honestly, all three of them had. But it needed to be done. And being with Liam had given Katie the courage she needed to face her shortcomings and problems in the moment, and deal with them.
“When?”
“You’ll come?”
“Yes.”
“This afternoon.”
“I’ll be there.”
“You sound different,” Brooke observed.
“How so?”
“You sound like you’ve accepted Mom’s death.”
Katie realized it was true. At some point, she’d let go of her anger. She’d learned to handle her fears honestly and to stop hiding from herself. And in the process, she’d learned to accept the world as it was.
Even though she was sad her mother was gone, she had her memories. So many great memories.
“Actually,” Katie said, “I’m looking forward to doing this. It’s time to give up the grieving and celebrate Mom’s life.”
Brooke made a tiny noise of surprise. “You sound so mature and responsible.”
That acknowledgement from her sister tightened Katie’s throat with emotion. “A lot’s happened to me lately. I’ll tell you about it when I get there.”
Several hours later, after she and Liam had bonded over breakfast in bed, Katie arrived at her family’s home. Her sisters were already there, sitting cross-legged on the floor of their mother’s bedroom looking at photo albums, a box of tissues sitting between them.
“Katie,” Brooke said, getting to her feet to hug her.
How incredibly beautiful her sister was with her dreamy light brown eyes, long, silky caramel-colored hair and arched widow’s peak. They didn’t know where Brooke had inherited it. No one else in the family had one.
Her oldest sister possessed a seriousness that Katie lacked. But Brooke also had a way about her that instantly put others at ease. She was soothing as warm milk on a cold winter night. She wore simple, tailored clothes in muted, don’t-notice-me colors, which was odd for an artistic woman who dressed windows for the most exclusive department store in Boston.
Brooke pulled back and gave Katie the once over. “You’re glowing. You look…happy.”
“You look like a woman in love,” Joey commented.
She was aware of the heat of her sister’s gaze on her face. Joey was a lawyer and quite perceptive. Taller than Katie, she was also thinner, with the lithe gait of a dancer. Her hair was styled in a sleek cut that softened her angular face. She had a Mensa IQ and a wickedly sharp sense of humor that often belied her good-girl image.
At her sisters’ comments, Katie could contain herself no longer. A broad smile broke across her face. “I am in love!”
“That’s wonderful,” Joey said, and hugged Katie, too.
Brooke splayed a hand over her heart. “Who is he?”
Here was the hard part. Katie faced Brooke. “I hope you’re not going to be to upset with me, but it’s Liam James.”
“Well, I am a bit surprised, but why would I be mad? Liam and I are just friends and he’s a wonderful guy. I’m so happy you two found each other.”
“It’s been incredible.” Katie had to blink to keep tears of joy from welling up in her eyes.
Joey scooped their mother’s keepsake box up off the floor. “This calls for a celebration. I’ll put on some tea. Brooke can break out that tin of cookies from Worthington’s. And you can tell us how you hooked up with Young Bostonian’s most eligible bachelor, while we go through the keepsake box.”
“Mom would approve.” Brooke nodded.
Katie followed her sisters through the house to the large kitchen where their mother had spent most of her time. Even though they’d had maids, unlike many Beacon Hill Brahmins, Daisy Winfield had preferred to make meals for her family rather than turn the chore over to a professional cook.
Joey put the kettle on and Brooke got out the cookies. Katie took a seat at the kitchen table and opened up the keepsake box. A few minutes later her sisters joined her at the table, armed with cups of Earl Grey and a platter of Scottish shortbread.
They listened while Katie told them about the Ladies League Ball and what had happened in the closet. When she got to the part about getting a letter from Lindsay Beckham about her Martinis and Bikinis group, Joey put down her cup of tea.
“I got one of those,” Joey said. “I tossed it away.”
“I got one, as well,” Brooke admitted. “I hung on to mine. I thought I might go next month.”
“You can come with me,” Katie invited. “Because I gotta tell you, this dare stuff works. Although I have to admit there were times when I thought everything was coming unraveled.”
“What do you mean?”
Katie finished telling them all that had transpired with her three dares. From her tryst with Liam in the movie theatre, to their trip to Fiji, to the miscommunication that had almost torn them apart.
“Wow,” Brooke said when she’d finished. “Maybe I will give this Martinis and Bikinis group a shot.”
“It certainly sounds like you found your match with Liam,” Joey said. It might have been her imagination, but Katie could have sworn her older sister sounded a wee bit envious of her newfound happiness.
Katie took a deep breath. “The Martini dares have certainly empowered me. If I hadn’t gone through all that, I don’t think I could be with you here today, going through Mom’s things.”
At that, the three women turned their attention to the box in front of Katie.
“We might as well dive in,” Brooke said.
Katie took a deep breath and removed the lid from the box. On top were the Valentine’s Day cards they’d made for their mother when they were children. Red construction paper, crayon lettering, paper lace. Katie took them out and passed them around to her sisters. They looked at the cards one by one, reading I LOVE YOU MOMMY written in messy, childish print.
Underneath the cards, Katie found locks of their hair from their first haircuts, graphed growth charts and their baby booties. There were report cards, school pictures and good-conduct medals for Joey and Brooke. And there was a faded Polaroid of Katie holding the first Duke with a happy, gap-toothed grin on her face.
Tears slipped down their faces at the childhood treasures their mother had saved. Brooke passed out tissues. They laughed and cried and talked and remembered their mother’s life. They drank tea and scarfed cookies and bonded in a way they hadn’t in a long time.
Then hours later, as they neared the bottom of the big wooden keepsake box, they discovered something curious.
It was a large yellow envelope that was sealed. On the outside, in Daisy’s handwriting, they read, To be opened by my daughters, Brooke, Joey and Katie, on the event of my death.
A sudden chill of dread ran down Katie’s spine.