Chapter Twelve
There were more than one hundred and fifty guests gathered to witness the nuptials between Alice and Drew Rayburn. It was an eclectic group, with people dressed in everything from tuxedos and dresses to shorts and jeans. It was like a window into Lina’s childhood, where people from all walks of life, from poets to dishwashers, would have equal access to the Rayburn house. What they did have in common was a belief in the occult and a love for Alice Rayburn, who shared her vast knowledge of astrology with anyone who was interested. And often those who weren’t, spouting out her unorthodox beliefs without filter.
Phil could still remember the first time his parents met Alice Rayburn. His mother had insisted she and his father needed to see where their son was spending so much of his time. Alice agreed that it was time to meet Lina’s future in-laws. She’d done Phil’s astrological chart months earlier and determined, according to her, that they were cosmic soul mates destined to be together not only in their current lifetime but for all lifetimes.
His mother baked a cake, and she, along with Phil and his father, stopped over early on a Sunday afternoon. The first thing Alice said after greeting them was that their son possessed a gold aura, indicating the highest spiritual level a person could attain. At that point the Hunters’ eyes had glossed over and opinions had been formed. Alice Rayburn was eccentric.
Phil’s parents had been noticeably absent from the wedding invitation list. Alice had finally showed her cards, saying without words what Phil had known for years: Alice didn’t like his parents. She’d resented them since they’d taken Lina in when she was sixteen. It didn’t matter that it was Lina’s idea, that she didn’t feel safe after the home invasion unless she was with Phil. Alice felt that the Hunters should have encouraged her to go home. When they didn’t, instead embracing Lina and treating her like one of their own, Alice considered it an affront to her role as Lina’s mother. Normally free-loving and nonjudgmental, Alice had shown up at the Hunter household the day before Lina’s seventeenth birthday and accused them of trying to steal her daughter. Lina, who was present for her mother’s tirade, told Alice she belonged with Phil and was never going to live apart from him again.
Alice left without her daughter that day. It was never spoken of again. Over the ensuing decades, through college graduations, births, and holidays, Alice appeared outwardly friendly to his parents, but it never felt authentic to Phil. Lina reprimanded her mother on more than a few occasions, especially when the children were younger, because Alice would literally pluck the children from Susan’s arms as if she had more rights to them than Susan.
“They’re more mine than hers,” Alice would say. “Everyone knows grandchildren are connected more to their maternal grandparents. It’s just natural. They came from the mother’s body, after all.”
“She’s beautiful,” Lina whispered, pulling Phil’s thoughts back to the wedding.
“She is,” Phil agreed, watching a tuxedo-clad Logan lead his grandmother down the aisle. Alice Rayburn, in a white cocktail-length wedding dress, her hair swept up in a chignon, looked radiant. Today, Alice was a bride.
His thoughts drifted to Lina and how he’d felt twenty-one years earlier, when his father walked her down the aisle to him. He remembered the lump in his throat and how he’d prayed he’d be able to say his vows without crying. He’d somehow managed. He took a deep breath. The twenty-two-year-old him wouldn’t have believed him capable of being with another woman. The forty-three-year-old him could barely conceive it. And yet the proof of his infidelity was now seven months old.
He felt Lina’s fingers slide over his palm before entwining with his. Her lips were turned up in a soft smile as she watched Logan deliver her mother to her father. “You’re actually enjoying this,” he whispered in her ear.
“Shhh,” she chastised him, squeezing his hand.
“Are you sure you don’t want my handkerchief?” he teased.
“Yes.”
“Good, because I really think I might cry. The thought of having to endure him at every family function—”
“Phil—stop,” she whispered. She was attempting to frown at him, but he could tell from the twitching at the corners of her lips that she was trying not to laugh.
His focus shifted to Shiloh who was sitting with her husband, Julian, on the groom’s side of the aisle. Julian was an improvement over Shiloh’s first husband, who’d physically abused her, but not by much. Phil had banned him from his house after Julian yelled at Shiloh in a drunken rage at a party. The rest of the family had since forgiven him. Shiloh had been in a car accident a few months earlier and Julian had patiently nursed her back to health. It was enough to redeem him in Alice and Adele’s eyes. Phil wasn’t as forgiving.
***
“Apparently, I’m next,” Adele said after slipping into the chair beside Lina’s at one of several tables surrounding the makeshift dance floor in Alice’s backyard. “According to my solar return, anyway.”
“Next?” Lina pulled her gaze from the dance floor.
“For marriage. Mom said he’s so close she’s surprised I haven’t met him yet.” She lifted her wineglass to her lips.
“Nice.” Lina nodded.
“I’m not getting married again,” Adele said dryly.
“You never know. The right guy could come along and sweep you off your feet.”
“I just wish I could find someone to fuck.”
“Adele!” Lina frowned at her.
“What?” Adele’s eye’s widened. “I do. We both know what you’re doing every night. You’ve been smiling since you got back with him. Why should you be the only one getting action? Do you know how long it’s been for me?”
“No, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”
“Six weeks. And after today it’s going to be six weeks and one day, because there is absolutely no one fuckable here.” She looked around at the other guests, who were spread out between the dance area, the tables, and the patio. “I find myself wanting to believe in astrology. I want—no, strike that—I need to find someone. Doesn’t Phil know anyone?”
“You know that’s not going to happen,” Lina said. Phil had set Adele up twice, and both times she’d dated the men just long enough for them to fall in love with her and then promptly dumped them. Phil was convinced Adele’s special talent was breaking men’s hearts, and he was no longer willing to provide the victims.
“He can’t hold those two against me forever. It’s been more than three years.”
“I think he can,” Lina said. Her gaze shifted to the dance floor, where Phil was dancing with her mother, smiling down at her and looking amused as she talked nonstop.
“Do you think we should start calling Drew Dad again?”
“No.” Lina’s gaze shifted from Phil and her mother to Katie and Drew. “I stopped thinking of him as a dad so long ago, I don’t think I could switch back.”
“He’s starting to grow on me. I could do without his diarrhea of the mouth, but he makes Mom happy. I like the idea of her having someone to grow old with.”
“Me too.” Lina’s gaze returned to her mother and Phil. He whispered something in Alice’s ear, and she slapped his chest. Lina smiled. As much as her mom could get frustrated with what she considered Phil’s controlling personality, she adored him. He was the son she’d never had.
“Do you have to look so happy?” Adele asked. “You’re making it hard for me to continue to hate him.”
“I love him.”
“Obviously.”
“This may sound odd, but I think we may be closer now than we were before Kim.”
“It does sound odd,” Adele said. “Especially considering you have yet to meet the baby.”
Lina’s stomach dropped at the mention of Liam. “I plan to meet him,” she insisted. “I just—Phil and I are still getting used to being together again.”
Adele quirked an eyebrow. “Are you believing yourself right now? You’ve been with him practically your entire life. You didn’t get used to not being with him when you were apart. Do you want to know what I think?”
“No,” Lina answered.
“I think you’re trying to pretend Liam doesn’t exist.”
“You’re wrong. It’s impossible to pretend he doesn’t exist when Phil disappears once a week to visit him. I don’t really want to talk about this right now.”
“Is she still leaving random receipts in his pockets?”
“No,” Lina answered. “It was just the one time. He never mentioned it, so she probably assumes it was never found. Things have been quiet since.” For the most part she barely thought about Kim except on the days Phil was with Liam.
“Maybe she’s met someone else to stick her claws in.”
“I can only hope,” Lina said.