Page 107 of Holding on to Chaos
“And you won’t feel the need to keep things from the rest of us?”
“I promise, Dad. And next time, it won’t take a ride in a cop car for me to come clean, okay?”
He beamed at her. The man who had loved her unconditionally since birth. The man who had made her favorite meal when she was sad, the one who had made emergency runs to the drug store for tampons and chocolate. The man who would someday walk her down the aisle. She saw a flash of the day. Of Donovan, steadfast and patient waiting for her. His blue eyes gleaming. The faces of her family and friends.
Her mother wouldn’t be there. But Eva didn’t need her. That spot had long since been filled by her sisters and Phoebe and by friends and neighbors.
“Dad, I’m in love with Donovan.” She admitted it in a rush.
His silvery eyebrows winged up. “Well,” he said. “What does he say about all this?”
“I haven’t told him yet. He thinks he’s head over heels for me.”
“Well, of course he is, Eva,” Franklin sighed.
“Don’t go all ‘of course he is.’ You’re biased,” she pointed out.
“With good reason,” he argued. “And you’re going to add a whole new layer of disappointment to how I’m feeling if you actually believe that you’re not worthy. It’s long past time you got your mother’s voice out of your head, Eva.”
Is that what it was? That doubt that Donovan might notreallylove her?
“I wouldn’t say she’s the voice in my head. But I’m willing to admit I might hear her whisper occasionally.”
“Do you doubt that you love him?”
She felt the smile, blindingly bright, spread across her face. She shook her head. “Nope. I think this is the real deal. We’ve been moving so fast. I’d like to slow it down a little bit.”
“Sometimes fast doesn’t mean wrong,” Franklin said with a wink. “Not when happiness is on the line.”
“My own father quoting my writing back to me,” Eva laughed.
“Maybe you should start listening to yourself. Or at least your characters,” he suggested.
Eva blew out a breath. “I feel like today was one really long, painful therapy session.”
“Then let’s go take our medicine.” Franklin pointed behind her. Eva turned. Phoebe was standing on the other side of the doors wiggling two empty glasses and a bottle of wine. They met her at the door. Phoebe poured, and Eva sipped as they headed back to the kitchen.
“Just to recap,” Phoebe said, gesturing with the bottle. “I’m a lot mad at Agnes and only a tiny bit mad at you, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t love you.”
Eva wrapped an arm around Phoebe’s shoulders. “Thanks, Mom.” She gave her a smacking kiss on the cheek.
“Now, come on and help me figure out why Emma turned down a glass of wine.”
Eva’s gaze flew to her sister’s face. Emma, stylish as ever with her swing of red hair and designer clothes, was sipping ice water and laughing at a story about Aurora that Gia was telling.
“Holy. Shit. You’re glowing,” Eva gasped.
Emma flushed scarlet to the roots of her hair. “No. I’m not.”
“You’re glowing, and you’re drinking ice water instead of day drinking with the rest of us,” Eva pointed out.
“Oh, my God!” Gia squealed. “You’re—”
“Don’t you dare say it,” Emma shrieked, holding her hands up. “No one say the word.”
“What word?” Franklin asked, baffled.
“Okay, no one is saying the ‘p’ word. But are you?” Eva asked, bouncing on her toes.
