She resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the mention of Nicole Sutton, Cooper’s mother. Scott had dated the actress for several months long before he met his wife. Even before Scott ended their relationship because he found out she was cheating on him, Courtney hadn’t cared for the woman or understood why her brother was wasting his time with her. Her opinion of Nicole only deteriorated more after she leaned Nicole had waited until after Cooper was born to tell Scott he might be the father. Since she’d been sleeping with two other men while with Scott, it had taken a paternity test to identify whom Cooper belonged to. While she might be able to forgive the woman for cheating, she couldn’t forgive her for hiding the truth about Cooper for so long. Especially since Scott was a fantastic father. There wasn’t anything her brother wouldn’t do for his son. And when Paige gave birth later in the year, the same would be true for those children. Considering the lengths Josh was going to to make sure he retained joint custody of his daughter, Josh shared the same trait.
Children. She smiled at the image of her brother trying to handle twins, and she was glad Scott was the one expecting
twins and not her. If and when she had children, she wanted them to come one at a time and preferably a few years apart.
“Care to share what’s so amusing?” Scott asked.
She considered his question or at least made it look as if she was considering it. “No, not really. But I do think it’s time to eat.” Across the room, her father and uncles stood as her mom headed their way.
As if he did it every day, Josh’s arm went around her waist after she handed Cooper back to Scott. Before she could think about her motives, she leaned into him.
“What was so funny?” His voice remained low.
She slowed her pace so everyone else could pass by them. “Scott and Paige are expecting twins. I was picturing my always-in-control brother trying to handle two babies.”
“Twins. Ouch. Better him than me. Taking care of Adalynn after she was born was exhausting enough.”
The same sadness she’d heard earlier in the week when he mentioned his daughter resonated in his tone and pulled at her heart. And now, like before, she wanted to hunt down his ex-girlfriend and tell her what a bitch she was being. She understood wanting what was best for your child, and in some cases that meant limiting how much influence a parent would have on a son or daughter. As far as she was concerned, that wasn’t necessary in this situation, and she’d do whatever she could to help Josh.
Ten
When it came to preparing meals, not many people did it better than her parents’ chef, Paulette. The woman could take a piece of toast and turn it into a masterpiece of flavor. The meal served tonight was nothing short of perfection. In fact, it had Courtney thinking she should visit more often, specifically around dinnertime. As for the dessert, well, there weren’t words to describe it, and if there was any left in the kitchen, she might take some home with her.
“Where are you going on your honeymoon?” Charlie, Jake’s wife, asked. With dinner over, the whole family except for Uncle Jonathan, who’d received a call from her cousin, was once again gathered in the living room.
Beats me. Considering the detailed storyline they’d devised, you would have thought the topic of a honeymoon would’ve come up at some point. Somehow though it’d slipped both their minds.
Josh gently squeezed her leg, and she took that as a signal to leave the answer to him. “Courtney doesn’t want to take time off from the foundation right now, so we decided to wait and go somewhere this summer.”
Well, he wasn’t wrong. She’d only been with the Helping Hands Foundation since the middle of December. It was a little too soon to be taking a vacation. But at some point they’d need to go on a honeymoon, so it was a topic they’d need to discuss later.
“If you postponed the wedding by six or seven months, taking a few weeks off wouldn’t be an issue,” her mom said.
She’d expected her mom to mention changing the date long before now. The fact she’d made it until after dessert without mentioning it was amazing.
“And then you could have everything outside at Cliff House.” Now that Mom had started, she wasn’t ready to give up. “We could plan something similar to Gray and Kiera’s wedding. The winter isn’t a good time to get married. You never know what the weather will be.”
She couldn’t deny her cousin Gray’s wedding back in June had been gorgeous and romantic. Under different circumstances, she wouldn’t mind something similar, but time wasn’t on their side. And as far as the season went, her cousin Trent had gotten married in January and everything had run smoothly.
“Trent and Addie got married in January without any problems.” Perhaps a little childish, but she couldn’t help remind her mom of that fact. “Besides, the weather can cause problems in the summer too. We all thought Gray and Kiera would have to move everything inside, remember?”
For days leading up to her cousin’s wedding, the family kept their fingers crossed that the storm moving up across the Atlantic would stall or change course.
“When it comes to planning something like a wedding, every season has its drawbacks,” Aunt Judith added. “Jonathan and I got married in September, and a nor’easter hit two days before the wedding.”
Courtney wasn’t a meteorologist, but she knew most nor’easters tended to occur sometime between late fall and early spring, but they could happen at other times as well. Later, she’d have to thank her aunt for pointing out how unpredictable the weather could be regardless of the time of the year.
Marilyn pinched her lips together and reached for her tea without commenting.
“I think we should just be happy they’re inviting us to the wedding, unlike someone else in this room that we know and love,” Juliette said, looking everywhere but at Jake and Charlie.
She hadn’t been surprised when the couple had a secret wedding without his parents or the majority of the family in attendance. Her cousin Jake liked to do things his own way. Courtney suspected no one in the family had really been shocked when they found out either, including his parents.
“Hey, I recommend doing it our way. If the media doesn’t know it’s about to happen, they can’t get in the way.” For the most part, the only time he landed in the news these days was when it pertained to his disaster relief organization. However, before he met and married Charlie, the media had constantly hounded him.
Josh moved his hand off her leg and put his arm around her shoulders. “I suggested we elope,” he said before kissing her temple. “But Courtney was against it. She wanted her family there.”
He’s definitely playing the part tonight. When he wasn’t touching her hand, he was putting an arm around her, and forget about the way he looked at her. Occasionally, she almost forgot their relationship wasn’t real.