"If we're going to talk about that silly old myth, we definitely need alcohol. How about mimosas, Mom? Champagne versus vodka?" Aria made teeter-totter, weighing-it-out motions with her hand.
"No hooch." Mom shook her head.
"Bummer." Aria sank her butt against the kitchen counter, folded her arms over her chest. Looked defeated.
"Cheer up," Ember said, bumping Aria with her hip. "In a couple of hours you can have all the Bloody Marys and Mimosas you want."
"Within reason," Mom added.
"Are you guys purposely trying to stop Granny Blue from telling me about the legend?" Casey asked.
"Pay no attention to them. They're skeptics," Granny Blue said. "Scared of what they do not understand."
Kaia finished up the bell peppers, reached for the porcini mushrooms, and started chopping. She was on the fence about the family legend. She didn't believe it, but she wanted to.
"Well," Casey said. "I want to understand. Tell me."
Granny Blue stacked her palms on the table in front of her. "It is simple. When the women from my bloodline kiss their soul mate, they hear a soft, but distinct humming at the base of their brains."
"That's just tinnitus," Vivi said. "Ringing in the ears. I hear it after I listen to loud music on my headphones."
Granny Blue stared at Vivi until she sheepishly glanced away. "It is not ringing in the ears."
"That's wacky. I mean, c'mon," Aria said. "How could kissing someone make your head hum?"
"Wish fulfillment?" Lynne asked, bouncing Atticus on her knee, playing giddy-up horsey. "Power of suggestion?"
"I do not know the answer to the mystery," Granny Blue said. "I only know that it is so."
"Too bad the rest of us don't have such a clear-cut signal," Vivi muttered, and everyone turned to look at her. "What? I'm not allowed to question my choices?"
No one was touching that with a ten-foot pole. The entire town had questioned Vivi's choice when she threw Ridge over for his father.
"Mom," Ember said. "Do you hear humming when you kiss Daddy?"
"I'm not from your granny's bloodline," Mom said, trying to look neutral. Kaia already knew Mom thought Granny Blue's head humming tale was bunk, but she respected her mother-in-law too much to say so.
"Is it a Native American thing?" Casey asked.
Granny shrugged, a casual gesture that said she didn't care if anyone believed her or not. "It is a family thing."
"But only for the women?" Casey asked.
"Only for the women."
"That hardly seems fair."
"Fair has nothing to do with life," Granny Blue said sagely. "It just is."
"So there's no way to know for sure if I'm Archer's soul mate." Casey pouched out her bottom lip in disappointment. "No song for us."
"My granddaughters are lucky to have an undeniable way to know if they've found their true loves." Granny Blue leaned over and placed a wrinkled hand on the left side of Casey's chest. "But anyone can know for certain if they just get quiet, be still, and listen to their hearts."
Casey locked gazes with Granny Blue. "Archer is my soul mate."
"And so you know." Granny Blue smiled. Straightened. "You are smarter than all four of my granddaughters put together."
Tears formed in Casey's eyes. "I know."
"Did Casey just dis the shit out of us?" Aria asked.
"Language!" Mom scolded.
"Sorry." Aria did not look the least bit contrite.
"I didn't mean I was smarter than you," Casey apologized. "I meant I knew for sure that Archer is the one I'm meant to be with."
"That's good." Ember crunched a carrot. "Seeing as how you're about to marry him and all."
"Just like I knew about Armand," Mom murmured, and a dreamy smile came over her face.
"Ooh," Lynne said. "I've got a question. What if you were already happily married, and then you kissed someone else and heard the humming? What then?"
Casey whipped her head around to stare at her sister. "Why would you kiss someone else if you were happily married?"
"Not me," Lynne said. "But someone might. Just saying. Mistletoe at a drunken Christmas party or something."
Everyone looked at Vivi again.
"What?" Vivi glared. "Am I officially the town ho' bag? It was ten years ago, people. Let it go."
"Thank you for hosting the brunch, Vivi," Casey said. "It was very nice of you to offer. I know this can't be easy."