“I hear congratulations are in order twice,” Sabrina said.
“Yes,” she said, brightly.
At least, she was trying to be bright, and not embarrassed. She knew no one here was going to judge her; she really did. But that didn’t mean she didn’t harbor some... Well, a little bit of shame over the fact that she’d been caught up in passion and gotten pregnant after sleeping with a man she barely knew.
She had known that her pregnancy was public knowledge in the family. But still, acknowledging it just at the moment was a little bit of a whole thing.
“So the wedding should be soon,” Lane said pragmatically. “Or later. But you hate to catch it right in the middle.”
“I think we should give ourselves enough time to plan something really wonderful,” Alison said. “You don’t need to rush into anything.”
“Maybe she wants to rush,” Sabrina said. “When you’ve found the one that you want to be with, why wait?”
“Theydidn’twait,” Clara said, cheerfully.
“Hey,” Alison said. “I sincerely doubt any of you were pure as the driven snow.”
“Obviously, your father and I were,” Alison continued, turning to Violet, her face overly grave.
“Ha! Liar,” Sabrina said. “All it takes is a glass and a half of wine and you are full of stories of your decidedly unchaste behavior. I once heard a story about you, Cain and a certain table in the bakery...”
Violet blinked rapidly. “No!” she said. “Please don’t tell me this.”
“You’re an adult now,” Sabrina said, putting her hand over Violet’s, her expression vaguely mocking. “It’s time you learned the facts of life. And the truest fact is that you don’t have the monopoly on losing your head and getting physically involved with a cowboy. We’re basically a support group for that.”
“No, I want to go back to the kids’ table,” Violet said.
“Too late,” Lane said cheerfully.
Once she got over the horror of having to know that her dad and stepmother had...on a table in the bakery, it was... It was incredibly soothing to be with this group of women and not feel judged. Or like she was an idiot. Or any of the other things she’d said to herself several times over the past couple of months.
By the late afternoon, Lane, Sabrina and Clara had all gone back home. It was just Alison and Violet still wandering around the shops.
“Dinner?” Alison asked. “We can go to the fancy place on the wharf.”
Violet felt...light. Both younger than she had for weeks, and older. She was home, which felt soothing. But she also felt alien in it, because Four Corners had become part of her life, her story, too. But one thing she knew, she didn’t want her afternoon with Alison to end. “Sure. That would be nice.”
Alison hastily texted Cain, and the two of them went down to the restaurant on the wharf, getting a table for two.
“Get something really fancy,” Alison said. “You deserve it.”
“I’m getting the filet mignon,” Violet said, “since it’s on offer.”
They made casual conversation over cheddar bread while they waited for their food to arrive, and once it did, Alison cut one bite of her food, and suddenly looked thoughtful.
“Violet,” she said. “I just wanted to say to you, absolutely and sincerely, congratulations. You’re going to be a really great mother.”
Violet’s throat suddenly went tight. Tears pushed against her eyes. “Oh. Don’t do that. I...”
“I was so afraid to step in and try to be your stepmother after everything that had happened to you. And after everything that I’d been through I wasn’t sure that I could do a good job. I was really scared when I got pregnant with Jonah. I was sure that I wasn’t going to be a good mother to a boy. To a young child. I have felt doubts every step of the way, actually. And I just want you to know that.”
Violet looked down. “I would never have known,” she said.
“I know,” she responded. “So I wanted you to know that it wasn’t smooth sailing so that when you had your own doubts you didn’t question yourself. So that when you had your own doubts you didn’t think...but my parents always knew what they were doing. Because we didn’t. We don’t.”
“That actually does help.”
They ate in silence for a while, and Violet listened to the sounds of cutlery and conversation around them. Her eyes felt scratchy.