At Your Most Beautiful, Harper Bliss [books to get back into reading .TXT] 📗

remembering the day Beth had arrived at Maya’s unannounced with the baby. “He’s so cute.”

“But don’t you want children, darling?” her mother blurted out. “Of your own, I mean. Not… I don’t know what to call him. Tommy’s son is hardly your grandchild now, is he?”

Maya had told Quinn about her mother’s fixation on Maya being a grandmother—and what that might make Quinn.

“Of course, he’s not.”

“But Drew’s new wife, what’s her name…” Her mother waved her hand about. “She’s Tommy’s stepmom.”

“Is she?” Quinn guessed her mother was getting so worked up about semantics because it was the easiest way to vent her frustration. She took a sip of coffee. “Look, I’m never going to be Tommy’s stepmother, okay? That’s not what this is.”

“Your mother, like me, is concerned that you might not get out of this relationship… what you put into it,” her father added.

“Because I’m younger?”

“Yes,” Quinn’s mom said.

“I’ve told you this before. I don’t want children. I’ve never wanted them. I’m almost thirty-five. I don’t think that’s going to change.”

“But, darling, you say that now.” Her mother scratched her nose. “What if this thing with Maya goes on as long as your previous… affair,” she as good as spat out the word, “with Morgan. You’ll be almost forty. What if you change your mind then?”

“Why would I change my mind? I’ve never been the slightest bit broody. Some women simply don’t want children. I’m one of them.” It wasn’t as if it would be so much easier to have children with someone her own age, she thought, but didn’t think it wise to share. Maybe her mother was jealous of Maya because she was a granny more than she was angry about how it related to Quinn.

“I don’t think wanting kids or not is really the point here,” her father said.

“Look.” A dull headache started throbbing at the base of Quinn’s skull. “I know that me being with Maya is not what you want for me. I get that it’s this parental instinct kicking in and that you need time to get past that. But I’m not with Maya just so that I can disappoint you or annoy you. I’m with her because… she makes me feel alive. She makes me feel like I can do anything. Because she’s the only person I want to be with.”

Her mother inhaled audibly through her nose. “It’s not ill will,” her mom said, her voice breaking a fraction. “It’s not that I don’t want to deal with this, but I don’t know how. I tried to talk to Maya last night. God knows, over the years, we’ve spent many evenings in each other’s company, chatting the hours away, but that shared history was all gone. It was like she had become a different person to me.”

“It won’t stay that way, Mom,” Quinn urged. “You’re still shocked. You’re still processing. It’s probably going to take some time to adjust to the idea of us.”

“What struck me the most last night was how casual Tommy seemed about the whole thing,” her dad said.

You and me both, Quinn thought. “Did you talk to him about us?”

Her dad nodded. “He’s from the generation that finds it easy to accept things that for people our age are much harder to swallow.”

“Maybe, but…” Quinn wasn’t sure how to make the rest of her argument and whether there was an argument to make at all. Maybe they just needed some time. She’d had a chat with Tommy herself and he’d been much more fun than she remembered—it must be the influence of his hot semi-celebrity wife. “I’m not expecting you to invite Maya and me over for dinner next weekend. In fact, I have no expectations of you when it comes to this because I know that you love me and I also know that my unconventional choice of partner is not going to make you stop loving me. If that were the case, we would have become estranged a long time ago.” Quinn allowed herself a quick albeit nervous chuckle. “And look at it this way: at least you know Maya. You know that she’s a good person with her heart in the right place. Doesn’t that count for a lot?”

“It counts for something,” her dad said. “And let’s not forget she’s single.” He flashed her the beginnings of a smile.

“Good grief,” her mother joined in. “When did Maya even become interested in women? In all the years I’ve known her, she’s never said a word about that being the case.”

“I think you’re going to have to accept that it was a later in life epiphany for her,” Quinn lied, because some things could never be said out loud.

Her dad lifted his glass of water. “To time,” he said. “That it may guide us well.”

Quinn snorted at his attempt at adding gravitas to the conversation, although she did appreciate the sentiment.

“And always keep us together as a family, no matter who our daughter falls for,” her mother added.

Quinn grinned at her parents. At their core, this was who they were. Practical. Forward-looking. Easily shaken perhaps when it came to their daughter’s antics, despite loads of practice, but never willing to stew in their pessimism for too long. Above all, she knew they loved her, and they always would.

Chapter 43

“It’s all going to be all right,” Quinn said. “I know that now.”

Maya had to get a move on if she wanted to be in Manhattan on time to teach. But she’d wanted to stay at Quinn’s until she came back from brunch with her parents.

“I can’t believe I actually entertained the thought that they wouldn’t even show up.” Quinn looked tired, but a lot more relaxed than before she’d left. “They were always going to. I also know that now.” She walked over to Maya and, as though this was their custom, sat astride her lap. “It’s like Tommy. He reacted the way he did because you’re his mother. Because you being the person you are,