“The blonde guy who’s always riding the elevators,” Kelsey asked, momentarily distracted from her sister’s astounding news.
“Yes.” Amy nodded and giggled. “Then Doug showed up outside of Pietro’s and kept trying to talk to me.”
“He proposed.” Kelsey felt stunned at the wonderful turn of events. In the face of her own devastating emotional turmoil, at least her sister’s life had taken a turn for the better. “Wow. So, I guess Doug’s not the idiot we’d decided he was?”
“I don’t know,” Amy responded happily, “but regardless, he’s my idiot now.”
“And you’re not mad at me anymore?” Kelsey ventured hopefully. Having her sister so withdrawn and angry had made the past few days even more horrible. Her heart was mangled inside and she couldn’t even turn to Amy.
“No. I never was really mad at you. I was just furious with everything and you got tangled up in it.” Her sister smiled at her. “Doug told me you asked him to marry you—“
“What?” Kelsey gasped. “I did not!”
“Well, later he admitted that you’d just said you should have married him instead of falling in love with Jared,” Amy conceded. “But that was enough. That was what did the trick.”
“You’re kidding.” Confused, Kelsey stared at her sister.
“Nope. It was like, suddenly the thing he thought he’d always wanted was in sight and he realized he didn’t really want you,” Amy concluded beatifically. “No offense.”
“None taken,” Kelsey responded immediately. “That’s what did the trick? Me making a stupid, miserable comment about marrying him? I was talking about the mistake I made in marrying Jared.”
“Well,” Amy said, blowing on her ever present cup of coffee, “that’s what did the trick. Combined, of course, with his misery at not seeing me.”
“Of course.” Kelsey smiled at her sister, her own misery lessening some. “So you’re getting married next week? That’s incredibly fast. You’re sure you don’t want the big church ceremony thing?”
“Yes. We want to get married as quickly as possible. Doug says he’s wasted too much time already,” Amy told her smugly.
“Speaking as the woman who was the focus of his wasted time,” Kelsey said dryly, “I agree.”
“Kels,” Amy said after a moment. “I’m thinking of inviting Dad to the wedding.”
“Dad?” Kelsey looked at her blankly. “Our father, you mean?”
“Yes,” Amy laughed. “Our father.”
Kelsey hesitated, remembering the stranger she’d gone to the investment seminar to see. She still couldn’t reach out to him herself, couldn’t put aside the anger that had grown in her since seeing him. “Of course, it’s up to you, but he’s never chosen to be a part of our lives.”
“I know,” Amy said wryly. “I’m not doing something so silly as asking him to walk me down the aisle. I’ll do that like you did—walk alone. I don’t know. I’m just considering inviting him. But I kind of feel like it’s time to heal the breach.”
“That’s not something you can do alone if he’s not willing,” Kelsey warned her, not sure how she felt about her sister’s overture toward the man who abandoned them both.
“No. But maybe he’s ready to make amends and just doesn’t know how to find us,” Amy paused. “Maybe he made a mistake a long time ago and doesn’t know how to mend it.”
“That would certainly be consistent with the way the rest of us in this family work,” Kelsey said heavily, her own errors in judgment returning to mind. She’d known Jared would be dangerous to her heart, but she’d married him anyway. The end result—Amy’s happiness—was wonderful, but in the meantime, Kelsey knew she’d never be the same woman. She wondered if she’d ever find a way to stop missing Jared. Ever wake up and not long for his arms around her.
The scent of roses still lingered in the room despite her ruthlessly removing every bouquet, every last fluttering rose petal.
“Sis?” Amy blew on her coffee again, her gaze downward. “Are you sure marrying Jared was a mistake?”
The question hung in the air between them for a long moment before Kelsey could muster the strength to respond. “Yes. I’m afraid it’s beginning to look like I’m more like Mother than I’d realized.”
“That’s absolutely not true,” Amy disagreed flatly, setting her coffee cup down. “Just completely not true.”