the belly, she remained silent.
“Well, have you met anybody interesting?” her mother asked, as Babette had expected that she would.
“No, Mom, I haven’t.”
“Well, that’s okay, dear,” her mother said consolingly. “You still have plenty of time.”
Plenty of time. She could almost hear her biological clock ticking. Tick, tick, clunk. That clock was breaking, and she wasn’t all that certain how much she cared.
“Mom, Dad, Aunt Madge, I’ve got to let you go. I’m actually at a wedding reception, and the groom is getting ready to make a toast.” Richard was, in fact, moving to the stage with a flute of champagne in hand. “Love you.” She waited for them to say bye, then gladly disconnected from the uncomfortable conversation.
“Oh, good, we made it back just in time for the toast,” Granny Gert said, as she and the twins shuffled toward the table. “Olivia went to find Preston.”
Ethan also made his way over, brushing a kiss across Clarise’s cheek before scooping up Lindy in his arms.
“Let’s see what Mr. Richard has to say,” he said to Lindy, while Little Ethan squirmed his way into Clarise’s lap to get closer to the last bit of cake on her plate.
Richard cleared his throat into the microphone, then eloquently thanked everyone for attending the most important event of his life. He smiled at Genie, toasted her, and then proclaimed his endless love for his new bride. It was a beautiful speech, and the entire crowd cheered and applauded when it ended. But then, Richard cleared his throat again, raised his voice a bit more than before, and turned his attention toward another woman in the room.
Babette.
“And I need to add a special thank you to one guest in particular, because without her help, Genie and I would still be denying our love. Please join me in toasting Babette Robinson, my personal love doctor.” The crowd turned toward Babette. Every glass lifted and then toasted her accomplishment.
Granny Gert sipped her champagne and then poked Babette’s arm. “He’s right, you know.”
“Right?” Babette questioned.
“He called you a love doctor, said that he wouldn’t have worked things out with Genie without you. A love doctor. Don’t know why no one has thought of that before. I mean, it isn’t something you’d traditionally think of, when you’re thinking about employment, but given your gift for reading people, I think you could do it. And you are between jobs now,” she added with a wink.
Truth was, Babette had spent most of her adult life between jobs. But she was still itching to know what Granny was talking about. A love doctor?
“Oh, I see what you’re saying, Granny,” Clarise said. “People pay for matchmaking services, don’t they? Just look at eHarmony and Match.com.” Then her mouth quirked to the side. “But Babette didn’t actually match-make Richard and Genie.”
“She wouldn’t be matchmaking, she’d be match-mending. She’d mend relationships that have gone off to the wayside. Heaven knows everyone has someone hiding in their past that they’d like to know . . . what if things would’ve happened differently? Or something like that. Babette could help them find out. Sure, there’s lots of people out there matching people, but there isn’t anyone mending old fences.”
“You think I could actually be a love doctor?”
“People pay real doctors big bucks to fix them when they’re sick,” Granny said. “Why wouldn’t they pay a love doctor big bucks to fix a love gone bad?”
“Clarise,” Ethan said, and Babette sensed the voice of reason about to make an appearance in this bizarre conversation.
But Clarise had other plans. She looked pointedly at her husband. “Yes, Ethan.” Her look said plenty, but mostly, don’t mess with my sister, or you won’t be messing with me tonight.
Evidently he got it, and he grinned. “I think I’ll take the kids over to get some rose petals. Richard and Genie should be leaving soon, and I don’t want them to miss out on tossing them at the bride and groom.”
Clarise returned his grin. “Great idea.”
“A love doctor, huh?” Babette said, after Ethan left.
“I can totally see you doing it,” Clarise said. “You’d be terrific. And you could use your new body language skills.”
Babette thought about it. She’d been through twenty-three jobs with no success, but never had she created her own position. And they were right; she did like helping people get together. Just look at Richard and Genie. She glanced across the room where Jesilyn was standing near Robbie but looking at Babette. Jesilyn waited for Robbie to look in the