Before he popped off to tell his aunt exactly where she could shove her opinions on the wisdom of their relationship, Norah pivoted into him, laying a hand on his chest. “Don’t. They love you. They’ve got a right to their concerns.”
The temper in his eyes didn’t cool. “I’m not just gonna stand here and—”
“Campbell, stop.” She framed his face. “You’ve already slain my dragon. They’re not insulting me. They’re not attacking me. And I guarantee they don’t have a single objection I didn’t already throw at you. You won me over. Let me win them. I came prepared for this. You’re not used to being cross-examined and forced to defend your decisions. I am.”
“You don’t have to defend anything.” Miranda looked horrified at the very idea.
Norah shifted to face her. “You’re right, I don’t. I don’t owe y’all an explanation or promises or justification. But I’ll give them anyway because I love and respect this family and the place you’ve given me in it over the years. So please, just listen.”
She paused to pull her thoughts together, steadied when Cam slid an arm around her waist.
“I know I’m not what you want for him.” Several of them started to speak, but Norah just held up a hand. “I’m not. You’d like to see him with some local girl with roots dug as deep as his. Somebody content with a traditional role of wife and mother, who doesn’t have the kind of aspirations that would ever pull her—or him—away from here. And I don’t blame you for that. Everybody who ever mattered put their ambitions before him. You want assurances that I’ll never do that, and I can’t give them.
“I am ambitious and competitive and very, very good at what I do. I was raised to be that way by two brilliant, broken people who wouldn’t recognize a functional, healthy relationship if it knocked them over the head. The only thing they ever taught me about relationships is that they’re secondary. That personal wants take a backseat to the greater good. And you know what? I’m done.” It felt good to say it, to mean it. “I’m done being selfless. I’m done being rational and logical and thinking fifteen steps ahead of everybody else. I’m done living my life based on someone else’s expectations.
“The fact is, Cam’s the best man I know.” Norah looked up, met his eyes, because the rest of this was as much for him as his family. “He matters. More than anyone ever has, or I wouldn’t still be here. I don’t have the first clue how this is going to work in the long term, but I’m sure as hell not going to apologize for not being willing to walk away from the chance to find out.”
“Nor should you have to.”
Norah closed her eyes and wished the sudden burst of mortification had enough gravitational force to suck her into the ground. Of course. Of course Sandra was standing right behind them. Why that was somehow worse than baring her soul to the rest of the Campbell clan, Norah didn’t quite know, but as Sandra came into the room, circling past them, Norah’s ears burned, and the pulse that had calmed by taking control of the situation began to thump erratically. She forced herself to stand straight and meet the other woman’s gaze instead of tucking into Cam to hide. He stood close, pressed against her back. A solid support but not an unnecessary shield.
“Allow me to apologize for the rest of the family for making you feel uncomfortable and like you needed to defend yourself. It was wholly unnecessary. You aren’t careless with people, Norah. I certainly don’t think you’ll be careless with Cam, particularly as you know exactly what it feels like to be second to someone else’s ambitions.”
Norah opened her mouth, closed it again. That wasn’t an insight she’d expected from someone in this family, and she didn’t know what to say, so she inclined her head in
acknowledgment of the point.
“I think it’s high time both of you were a little selfish, and I, for one, am glad you’ve stopped dancing around each other.”
“Wait, you knew?” Cam sounded so affronted.
Sandra shot him an amused look. “Of course, I knew. I’m your mother.”
“How?”
“The same way I knew you, Tucker, and Brody rolled Aggie Crockett’s yard after she gave you a B on your midterm in trig. I just know.”
Norah felt Cam’s jolt of surprise and almost laughed, thinking of his complaint about how hard it was to get away with anything growing up.
Sandra turned to Norah and took her free hand. “It’s a smart thing for a mother to learn to care for the woman her son chooses. It’s a real gift to legitimately like and respect her. I’ve had occasion to know the difference. So, not that you need it, but consider this my blessing.”
Absolutely flummoxed and moved by the show of support, Norah could only stammer. “I—thank you.”
Releasing Norah, Sandra cheerfully turned to the rest of the family. “Mom, the pot roast smells amazing. Please tell me there are mashed potatoes.”
“Only a boatload.”
“Excellent. I’m starving.”
~*~
Dinner was a strangely normal affair, which left Norah feeling completely off balance.
“So, who are you kids taking to the Valentine’s dance?” Sandra asked.
Norah laughed, assuming she was teasing to keep the tone light.
Then Reed spoke up. “Lynnette Rainey.”