by that success, Lucy’s next husband, number four, appeared with jaw-dropping speed. He was clearly a rebound match, with Lucy falling for the agent who handled the life insurance claim on number three. Before anyone could say double indemnity, it was back to the divorce courts.
Now, here they were. Lucy had lasted several years in the single life, but remained undaunted in her quest to find true love. All things considered, it seemed only a matter of time before Number Five arrived. Her mother was still attractive, in good health and rarely without a date on a Saturday night. She just had a knack for meeting men without even trying.
After all she’d been through, Lucy had never once spoken a single word against matrimony, or soured toward the institution in any way. After being twice widowed and twice divorced, she certainly had enough assets to live independently in fine style for the rest of her days. But marriage meant more to Lucy than financial security. Julia knew her mother’s lace-trimmed valentine heart still yearned to find her perfect match, her “soul mate.” She totally believed in the notion that such a man existed.
Julia didn’t believe in soul mates. Or love at first sight, or any of those worn-out clichés, none of which could describe Lucy’s romantic philosophy. Maybe she was too rational about male-female relationships. Someone in the family had to be.
Julia hadn’t always been this way. Time and experience had worn down her romantic spirit and given her a more realistic view. Julia was actually a bit envious of her mother. Not of Lucy’s addiction to walking down the aisle, but of her unflagging optimism. Julia was secretly starting to lose hope of ever finding Mr. Right. Or even Mr. Fixer-Upper.
Julia sometimes wondered if she really wanted a husband at all. Being perfectly honest with herself, she seemed to have reached the point when the only thing she really wanted was a baby.
As she slowly but surely approached her thirty-second birthday, the biological messages to make a baby were flashing like a warning system gone berserk. She’d just about given up taking the traditional route of romance and marriage.
Julia had only once admitted this aloud to her best pal, Rachel Reilly. Rachel was the perfect advisor on the subject, having faced the same dilemma a little over two years ago when her fiancé had left her at the altar. She’d decided not to wait for a man to give her the life she wanted and had taken a courageous leap, becoming a single mother by choice as a client of a sperm bank.
Julia admired Rachel’s courage and decisiveness. She often wondered if she could ever do the same. As it turned out, Jack Sawyer, the sperm donor dad, eventually sought out Rachel and their little boy. Miraculously, Rachel and Jack eventually found their own happily ever after.
Julia knew their story was a heartwarming fluke. She knew if she took that route, she’d have to be prepared to do it all on her own.
Every time she considered it, the complications of living in a small town where people still clung dearly to traditional ideas about marriage and child-rearing seemed too big an obstacle. Julia was a successful Realtor with a high profile in the community. Having a baby on her own would stir up a storm of gossip. Living under the cloud of her mother’s misadventures had been enough public attention. Julia knew for certain she didn’t want the whole town talking about her, too.
Her livelihood would definitely suffer. Not that she was materialistic, but she had to think about supporting a child.
Mulling over all these familiar questions that never seemed to have answers, Julia drove through the village toward her mother’s house. It was a clear winter night in late February. A fresh dusting of snow made the winding streets and quaint houses look cozy and inviting, like an illustration from a picture book.
Julia knew practically every house on every lane from attic to cellar. And she knew the people within, the previous owners and the ones before that. She loved living in Blue Lake and was a perfect town-booster to newcomers searching for a country retreat or locating out of the city. Which was just the way she and Rachel had first met and become fast friends.
Rachel teased her now about running for mayor. But Julia wasn’t interested in politics. Besides, she knew the job wouldn’t work with the role of motherhood any better than her present profession.
As much as she loved Blue Lake, these days she’d started to regret never taking her chance out in the wide world, where she could be anonymous and private, casting her line in a larger pool of slippery, hard-to-reel-in bachelors.
Maybe the same rule applied to finding a husband as finding a house. Location. Location. Location.
How had she ended up here all this time anyway? She’d always meant to leave. But she’d married a hometown boyfriend right after college and by the time they divorced, her business was firmly established. And it also seemed important by then to stick around to keep an eye on Lucy. As an only child, she felt even more responsible.
Attractive and charming, in a field where she met new people all the time, Julia never lacked invitations from eligible men…and even some that weren’t so eligible. She joked to her friends that she’d dated every male possibility in a fifty-mile radius. But it wasn’t really a joke and those relationships never seemed to lead anywhere.
All she really wanted was a mature, solid relationship. A meeting of the minds…and hearts. Someone she could respect and get along with. Someone who wanted the same things in life she did. Was that so much to ask?
There had to be a spark, of course. Chemistry. Attraction. Julia wasn’t so practical-minded that she’d skip all those heady feelings. Still, being totally swept off her feet scared her, because she knew it could never last. Case in point—her mother. Lucy was always being swept off her feet. Struck by lightning. Head over heels on a first date, before the waiter had even taken her dinner order.
Did any of it last? Of course not.
Julia knew it took a lot for her to fall in love. She knew that her unhappy marriage and divorce made her wary. Sometimes she thought she was too particular. She couldn’t help it. She wasn’t going to get married again just to show the world and herself—and maybe even her mother—that she could.
Meanwhile, her mother was exactly the opposite, in and out of relationships, dating and dumping or being dumped and moving on to the next partner. Her love life was a game of musical chairs and every time she landed, she was sure “This is it!”
Had her mother landed anywhere lately? Lucy hadn’t mentioned dating anyone special that Julia could recall. But her mother was so chatty during their phone calls, Julia knew she may have missed some crucial information while multitasking.
Julia turned down Magnolia Way and pulled into the driveway at her mother’s house. The depressing vision of herself at her mother’s age, living alone, surrounded by cats, rose up to fill her mind. No matter that her mother didn’t have any cats.
She pushed the image out of view. Her mother would doubtlessly ask about her social life tonight and Julia knew it was important to put a positive, upbeat face on the situation. When in fact, it was anything but.
Seven o’clock sharp, Julia stood at the front door, a box from the bakery in hand. A triple-layer chocolate cake laden with chocolate icing. Julia normally stayed away from such potent treats, but it was Lucy’s favorite. Her mother was an unrepentant chocoholic, always had been, stashing candy bars around the house when Julia was growing up. She never knew where she might find them.
Julia had read somewhere that an ingredient in chocolate triggered the same hormonal fireworks in the brain that were set off when people fell in love. No wonder Lucy couldn’t go a day without her Hershey’s Kisses. If the little foil-wrapped version would keep her away from the real ones, Julia was all for it.
She knocked once and the door sprang open. As if Lucy had been standing in the foyer, waiting for her.
“There you are. Right on time. You’re always so punctual, dear. You don’t take after me that way.”
It was a good thing, Julia thought. In more ways than one.
Lucy