Page 57 of Three Little Wishes

“You need to cut yourself some slack. It’s in the past. You have a second chance. You and Riley can make up for the time you lost. And maybe you need to give Billy one too. At least don’t threaten him before you have a conversation about Riley.”

“What did I do to get so lucky to have you—” He sighed when Lucky jumped onto Willow’s lap. “I wasn’t calling you—” Lucky cut him off by excitedly licking his face.

Willow laughed, picked up Lucky, stood, and then returned the puppy to Noah’s lap. “I’d better get going.” She kissed the top of Lucky’s head. “You should bring him to bed with you instead of putting him in the crate. He’s probably as tired as you are, and you’ll all get some sleep.”

“I’d rather bring you to bed with me, but I’ll settle for a kiss.”

She leaned in, placing a hand on his chest while fighting the urge to tell him her choice would be option one. She kissed him on the top of his head instead.

“That wasn’t exactly the kiss I was hoping for.”

“After what you just said, I don’t trust myself with Half-Naked Noah. We have twoteenagersand my sister in the house, and I have a meeting with my mom in”—she looked at her phone—“an hour, and I have to convince her you are a great guy or I’m afraid she’ll lock me away in her apartment.”

“No lock could keep me out,” he said, then he grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing her palm. “Thanks for what you said about Riley. It helped.”

“She loves you, Noah. Never doubt that she does.” Willow walked to the house, afraid that she might be falling a little in love with Noah herself.

Chapter Eighteen

An hour later, as Willow walked to where her mother stood on the beach in front of La Dolce Vita, all thoughts about her feelings for Noah disappeared. Her mother looked as if she’d been crying for a week.

Willow ran across the sand and wrapped her arms around her. “Mom, what’s wrong?”

“Oh, baby, I’m so sorry,” she said, holding Willow tight. “I’d hoped and prayed that I’d never have to do this to you. But I don’t have a choice.”

Willow stepped back. “You’re scaring me.”

“I know.” She nodded and then lifted her chin at the almost deserted stretch of sand to the left of the restaurant. “Let’s walk.”

The other side of the beach was starting to fill with people saving their spots with chairs and umbrellas.

“Mom, if this is about Noah, you don’t have anything to worry about. He’s…” She trailed off and lifted a shoulder. “I think I’m falling in love with him,” she admitted.

Her mom stopped walking to stare at her, and then her face crumpled. She covered it with her hands, silently sobbing into them.

“Mom, stop,” Willow pleaded. She couldn’t remember ever seeing her mother this upset, and the muscles in her chest tightened with panic. “I can’t make it better if you don’t tell me what’s wrong. And if you’re worried about the Rosetti curse, you’re worrying for nothing. Zia and Lila broke it. We’re no more cursed in love than anyone else. We can fall in love and marry whomever we want.”

Her mom lowered her hands, revealing her pale, tear-streaked face and bloodshot eyes. “You can’t, baby. You can’t fall in love with Noah,” she whispered.

“Why? I don’t understand what you have against him. You haven’t even met him. If you had, you’d know there’s no better man than him. He’s beautiful and brilliant, and more than that, he’s kind, and caring, and thoughtful, and he makes me laugh. He believes in me, Mom. He makes me believe in myself.”

Her mother gave an angry shake of her head, shocking Willow by swearing. They heard a gasp and turned to see a family walking toward them, a woman carrying a toddler on her hip shooting an offended glare their way.

Her mother mouthed an apology at the woman before saying to Willow, “I think it’s best if we continue this in the restaurant.”

“No. Just say whatever it is you have to say.”

“I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t think this through.” She reached for Willow’s hand and squeezed. “But trust me, this isn’t something you’ll want to hear with an audience.”

Whatever her mother needed to tell her was sounding worse than Willow could’ve imagined, and she had to order her legs to start moving. She followed her up the stairs and onto the deck, barely able to resist the urge to tug her handfree of her mother’s when she opened the door. As she walked into the restaurant, Willow instinctively knew her life was about to change, and not for the better.

After closing the door behind her, Willow followed her mother to the family table and pulled out a chair, expecting her mother to do the same. But as Willow lowered herself onto the seat, her mother knelt in front of her, taking both of her hands in hers.

“I love you, Willow. I loved you from the moment I held you in my arms. You have been nothing but a blessing to me, to our family, and I would cut off my arms, my legs, I would do anything not to hurt you, but I can’t protect you from this.”

“I love you too, Mom. There’s nothing you could tell me that will change how I feel about you.”

Her mother’s bottom lip trembled, and a tear rolled down her cheek. “I pray that’s true because I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”

---