The Best Next Thing

Gracie threw her arms around Charity’s neck to give her a squeeze.

“I’m glad you’re here, Auntie Cherry.” Charity tried not to wince at the nickname and hugged her niece close for a long moment. Loving the sweet smell of her. How could she have stayed away for so long?

“I’m glad too, Gracie,” she admitted. The words sincere. She wasn’t happy about the circumstances that had led to this moment, but now that she was surrounded by these people who loved her so dearly, she couldn’t regret being here.

She released Gracie reluctantly, and Stuart gave her an affectionate smile. “Thank you for coming, Charity, it means the world to all of us.”

Charity swallowed past the lump in her throat and gave her brother-in-law a watery smile. He steered Gracie away, telling the excited little girl that she had to get to the venue to greet her guests.

Her father had joined Miles in the doorway and grabbed hold of his hand to shake it vigorously. The older, taller man slung a familiar arm around Miles’s shoulders and led him toward the table.

“We have so much to talk about,” Faith said, drawing Charity’s attention away from where her father was ushering Miles into a chair beside her mother. “But I’m afraid that duty calls. Mr. Hollingsworth told me that he’d booked a couple of rooms for you guys for the night. That’s great. We’re here for the weekend, and once the guests are gone and Gracie has crashed from all the sugar and excitement, the adults can have dinner and wine and catch up.”

“Can I help with anything?” Charity asked, not wanting to watch her parents fuss over Miles any longer.

“There’s nothing much to do. The venue has taken care of everything. You stay here for a while longer, catch up with Mom and Dad. And I know Sandra and Paul have been dying to talk with you.”

Something in her face must have revealed how she felt about that idea, because Faith gave her a sad, sympathetic smile and squeezed her forearm reassuringly.

“I know it’s hard, Cherry,” she said, clearly misinterpreting the emotion behind Charity’s reluctance. “But they love you too, and they’ve missed you so much. You’re like a daughter to them. And honestly? I think having you around, keeps some vestige of Blaine alive for them.”

The thought of keeping any part of Blaine alive was sickening to Charity, and she swallowed down her nausea before forcing herself to smile.

“We all have a lot to talk about, Faith,” Charity said in a husky undertone, not wanting anyone to overhear her. “I haven’t been fair to all of you. Or completely honest with you.”

Faith’s dark eyes gave her a lingering once-over.

“You seem so different,” she said. “Good different. Mellow, self-confident…I haven’t seen you like this in so long, Charity. I thought you were hiding from the world out there in the middle of nowhere. But I can’t deny that whatever you’ve been doing over there, has truly worked wonders on the fragile, sad creature who left us three years ago.”

“I’ll tell you about it later, okay? Let’s have fun today.”

Miles couldn’t ever recall being at a children’s party before. The low-key celebrations his mother had given his siblings had been limited by budget. Miles had always been deemed too old for a birthday party.

Vicki’s sixth birthday had been the closest any of them had come to having a proper childhood party. She had demanded princesses, poofy dresses, and lots of pink. She had received an acid pink sheet cake with Happy Birthday, Victorya piped in white icing across the top. Somebody had attempted to fix the spelling mistake, by turning the y into an i, but they had only succeeded in making the error more obvious. Luckily Vicki, who at that point could barely spell her own name, hadn’t noticed.

Their mother, Hugh, and Miles had made a huge fuss over the birthday girl. And she had been ecstatic in her “princess” dress made from one of their mother’s old skirts, the tiara Miles had fabricated with pipe cleaners and foil, and the makeup, Hugh had caked onto her face.

It had been memorable. And nowhere near the scale of this event.

Faith and Stuart Culpepper had rented the entire kids carnival section of the estate. As far as Miles could tell, there were in excess of fifty rug rats, hopped up on sugar and the lukewarm winter sunshine, dashing around the place. There were trampolines, play gyms, a freaking bouncy castle, and a seemingly endless supply of food.

Miles stood apart, watching Charity with the kids. She didn’t seem to care that she was wearing a pretty, feminine dress, she had kicked off her shoes, tucked her skirt into her underwear and was on one of the trampolines, having an absolute blast. He didn’t like that some of the dads present appeared to be enjoying the view as much as he was, but who could blame them?