As dinner grew closer, she could feel her anxiety building; she was so nervous her heart was pounding overtime. How would she know if she looked good enough? What if they didn't like her? What was she going to say to them?

Fully in freak-out mode now, she got in the shower and cranked up the heat, relying on her times tables to keep her brain from ramping her anxiety up any further. Once out of the shower, she curled her mahogany hair so that it fell in fat ringlets around her face, and put on her makeup, applying it with a gentle hand, being sure each side of her face was an exact replica of the other. She pulled the royal blue sundress over her head, adjusted the spaghetti straps, and looked at herself in the mirror pulling the white sash that crossed directly under her bust line to the back to tie it in a neat bow. She sat down on her bed to pull on her shoes, a pair of pointed-toe cowboy boots with a brown toe and white tops with brown designs stitched into them. Standing back up, she gave herself a critical glance in the mirror and reapplied her lip-gloss. Realizing this was the best it was going to get, she smacked her lips, drew in a deep breath, and left her room to search for Sean.

Stepping into the kitchen and seeing Sean, she sucked in a sharp breath, drawing the spit into her throat and sending herself into a coughing spasm; and as Sean came over to slap her on the back, she couldn't stop thinking that the man was absolutely breathtaking, literally. Wearing a light blue western shirt with white lines cutting squares into the solid color, creased denim jeans, boots, and a white Stetson, he looked phenomenal. She looked up at his face to see that he was staring at her hard, too, so she cleared her throat and said, "If you're ready, can we leave a little early? I would really like to get there first and give myself some time to prepare."

He was still staring at her with an odd expression and hadn’t acknowledged her words, so she spoke again, "Sean?"

Shaking his head hard, he cleared his throat and said, “Yeah, of course. Let's get going." He walked to the door, opened it, and placed his hand at the small of her back to usher her out the door.

At the diner, they walked in and gave the room a quick glance. She saw no unfamiliar faces, so she waved at people as they passed while they followed the hostess to a large round table with six chairs, then sat down to wait. Attempting to slow her heart, she started counting scratches on the table.

"Are you alright, Peach?"

"I've never had an extended family before, Sean. It's kind of nerve wracking."

"Well, if you want to get out of here, just say the word and we'll leave."

"We can’t just leave. I mean, they’ll be here soon and I have a cousin, did I tell you that? Claire. It will be worth the experience just to meet her, I think. I... Oh, that must be them. Do I look alright?" She waved at the newcomers and hoped that they were her newfound family because otherwise, she surely looked like a mad woman.

"You look beautiful, Peach, so calm down. They are the ones who need to make a good impression, not you. After all, they came looking for you, right?"

Looking at them as they made their way to her table, she could not help but stare. They made such a handsome family. Her uncle, she assumed, was dressed in a black suit with a crisp white dress shirt underneath, his wife dressed in a silk blouse and slacks, finishing off the look with sharp stilettos. The girl, who must be closer to her age than she had assumed, was dressed more simply, in a dressy shirt and fashionably ripped jeans, also wearing boots.

Katherine and Sean stood up as they approached their table, and she self-consciously smoothed her dress. Not sure if she should hug them or shake hands, she mentally prepared herself to do either, following their lead. Her uncle came to her first, so she introduced Sean and herself to him and his family as he reached out to shake her hand. His wife did the same, and he introduced his family to them. "I assume that you know I am your uncle, Donald. This is my wife, Marie, and our daughter, Claire. Claire, your cousin Katherine is exactly two years older than you. The two of you share the same birthday."

As he finished the introductions, Claire reached out and drew Katherine into an unexpected hug before quickly stepping back and shyly offering her hand to Sean, which he gallantly kissed before they sat down, Sean to her left, Claire to her right, Marie next to her, and her uncle sitting next to his wife, leaving an empty chair next to Sean. When the waitress, Judy, whom Sean and Katherine had gone to school with as well, came over to take their orders, her uncle said, "I don't suppose you have any champagne choices?"

“No, sir, we sure don’t. We have diet and regular soda, sweet and unsweet tea, and ice water with a lemon or lime, if you prefer that,” she told him. He muttered under his breath, but neither Sean nor Katherine were close enough to understand.

"This is really a small town, and we usually drive to one of the bigger cities to eat at more extravagant restaurants," she offered in apology.

He seemed to ignore her comment and made small talk with his wife, effectively ignoring them for the most part. Sean and Katherine attempted to carry on a conversation with Claire.

"So, where do you go to school, Claire?" Sean asked.

"Oh, I'm out of school. Graduated this May with my Bachelors in Business Management, and I'm looking for a job so I can get my own place."

"I am a veterinarian here in town, I partnered with the old man who has always run our veterinary clinic when I got out of school, and even though I'm on a leave of absence right now, I could put in a good word for you. We need a new office manager because Sally is about to quit. She's decided to try out being a stay-at-home mom."

"Oh, that would be great! We could work together and get to know each other. A front office job is perfect because that’s what I did in Oklahoma at a doctor’s office."

"I haven't even asked you when you go back to work, Peach."

"Really? You were right across from me when I talked to the doctor about it here in this very building. I still have the rest of this week; Doc Matthews was a good friend of Mom and Dad’s, so he told me if he saw me back in the office before then, he would be reporting me to the good Doctor Beachum post haste."

Claire was cracking up about something, smiling at some unknown joke. Katy inquired, "What is so funny?"

"Did,”—hiccup—“did he just call you Peach, like as in Princess Peach from that old video game?"

"Yeah, it’s his idea of humor," Katherine said with an eye roll.

Sean playfully nudged her and said, "Humor? No, she used to constantly eat peaches. Peaches in her purse, peaches in her car, hell, even peaches in her saddlebags. This girl was never without a peach. Therefore, that became her nickname. Come to think of it, I haven't seen you eat a peach since I've been back. There aren’t even any in the house. What’s up, need a ride to the grocery store or something?"

Still smiling, she replied without thinking, "Oh, I haven't had a peach since high school." The smile quickly left her face as she remembered why, and an awkward silence filled the air as Sean realized that her discontinuance of eating peaches coincided with his departure from her life.

He stared deeply into her eyes before muttering, "Damnit. I am so sorry, Katherine."

The three of them sat in awkward silence, making broken small talk while waiting for their orders to come out.

When their food arrived ten minutes later and her uncle had yet to speak a word to her, she began to wonder if this might have been a bad idea. They ate, but the silence was deafening but for the low murmur of the crowded diner, touched only by the occasional sound of a fork scraping a plate.

When all plates were nearly cleared, her uncle finally broke the tense silence. "I find I must ask you a question, Katherine, but it is a rather delicate subject. Did you by any chance inherit the money from my parents as well as your own?"

"Indirectly, yes, I did. It was left to my father, but upon his death I did inherit it as well."

"You may not know this, Katherine, but they left your father all of their money, cutting us out completely. Of course, their actions were guided by guilt and regret that they had thrown away their relationship with their oldest son in a fit of pique, but unintentionally, I am sure, they left my Claire out completely. Now, that hardly seems fair, does it?"

A look at Claire's face showed that she was very uncomfortable with the conversation as she mouthed, "I'm sorry" to Katherine, silently shaking her head in disappointment.

"I'm guessing that you don’t know the details of the will, do you?" Sean asked.

"No, the lawyer sent me a letter informing me of their death, asking me to get in touch with him at my earliest convenience, but since I was so close, I decided to come straight to my niece."

"While I really hate that you were forced to suffer the inconvenience of coming all this way down here, you really should have consulted the lawyer because he would have told you what I'm about to, and saved you a trip. See, her parents will stipulates that she can’t have access to the inheritance until she’s thirty, at which time she will receive one half of the total inheritance, the rest being placed in an account to be divided equally among her children upon their twenty-first birthdays, and if she has no children by her fiftieth birthday, the money will be donated to a charity of her choice. She has to have three signatures before she can access her half before turning thirty, and only in a clear state of emergency. The three signatures have to be of people also stipulated in the will, meaning people her parents trusted. The lawyer was very clear to us that the will is iron clad."

Sean took her hand under the table.

"I see, so what you are saying is that my dear brother left his will where there was absolutely no way for me to be given my fair share, right? Although I am the one who had to put up with our parents all those years, not him. Even with age the man had not changed a bit, always doing only what benefitted him. You see, he always was selfish, running off to marry some nobody; every time I asked him for help, he would turn me down flat. He has definitely dishonored my family name. My poor father would be rolling over in his grave right now if he knew how we were being treated by Daniel."

"You’ll have to excuse me, Donald, but Daniel was a good man, and if your parents had wanted you to have access to their money, they would have added you to their will, wouldn't they? So, your attack on Katherine is absolutely pointless. I just got through telling you that she can’t do anything about her parents’ will, yet here you sit yelling at her like she owes you something. I happen to know for a fact that you have never once tried to participate in her life, but you waltz in here as if you own the place and don't even pretend to try to play nice so that she will fork over her money? You are a complete stranger to her, and I think you better remember that when you are speaking to her." At the end of his tirade, Sean found himself standing.

"And just who do you think you are, young man? Oh, I had you looked into. I know you are some big-shot cowboy, but I am not impressed. Where I am from, you wouldn't be fit to lick my boots, so why don't you sit back down in your chair and shut up? Let's go, Marie, we are done with these people."

As he and his wife rushed out of their seats, Katy sat there stunned at how the promising evening had ended. She looked across the table at Claire, who was apologizing profusely, "Katherine, I am so sorry. I had no idea what he had planned tonight, and I don't want you to feel guilty about the money. My, well, our grandparents cut him off for a good reason. I promise you."

Before she had a chance to question her cousin further, Donald yelled across the restaurant, "Let's go, Claire Elizabeth!"

"Quick, let me see your cell phone."

In a daze, Katy handed it over hurriedly. Claire dialed a number, and Katy heard a vibration coming from her bag. She ended the call and handed the phone back.

"Now we have each other’s numbers. Please don't allow my father to ruin any chance we may have of being friends, OK? I'll call you later."

She pressed a brief kiss to Katy's cheek and, head down, rushed out of the diner.

Katy looked at Sean helplessly. Sympathetically, he drew their waitress’s attention for the check. When she reached the table, Judy laid the black leather folder on the table, and before walking away, gently patted Katy’s shoulder in a way meant to comfort. Katy reached for the folder when Sean slapped a hand down onto hers and shook his head 'no'. In defeat, she let him slide the check over to his side of the table and sat in silence while he paid.