who’d wanted a speedy wedding before the baby was born. Tess and I were the only unattached ones in the family.
“Okay, so I’m sensing that we won’t get too many details, but that’s okay. We can circle back to the topic once you’re not jet lagged anymore.”
“Why, thank you for being so merciful, sister,” I said mockingly. Tess just wiggled her eyebrows. I laughed, now focusing on them. “Anyone have any news?”
“Heather and I are thinking about giving Avery a sibling,” Ryker said.
It was my turn to be stunned. I knew my brother was happily married, and he’d just finalized the adoption of his wife’s daughter, but this was definitely news.
“Congrats on deciding on that step,” I said. Tess hugged him.
Skye patted her belly. “Our kids could play together. That would be awesome.”
I agreed with Skye. It would be great for the next generation of Winchesters to grow up together. I remembered early on feeling that I could count on my family no matter what—except my dad, obviously, but I’d always had this uncanny ability of focusing on what was instead of what was missing, and it had always brought me a lot of joy. I’d been twelve when our father had bailed on us. To me, it had seemed that everything had happened from one day to the next. On the evening before we were set to move to New York, I found my mom sobbing in a corner. She tried to hide it when she noticed me, but I couldn’t unsee it. I’d made myself a promise that night not to give my mother further reason to be sad. I pestered Ryker until he agreed with me.
The Winchester clan lived by policies and pacts, and I liked it that way. Tess had insisted that there should be no secrets among us. Ryker and I had, in turn, insisted on the pact that we’d always have each other’s backs.
I couldn’t help laughing as I remembered that evening, how determined Ryker and I were to take care of our sisters, even though we were younger.
We all coped in our own way. Mom threw herself into her work as a teacher, taking on every additional job at the school that was available to make ends meet.
Tess and Skye helped, waitressing after school. I got my first job when I was thirteen, mowing lawns after school. It had been rather grueling, especially in the humid summer days, but it had taught me the value of hard work. And when I’d been old enough to work in restaurants, I’d found a job waiting tables on top of that. Even now, when I was in my office late at night, handling projects or double-checking cost structures, it didn’t feel gruesome at all.
Mom had insisted with all of us that we focus on school and learning so we could get good jobs in the future. The truth was, we probably would have anyway, but we wanted her to feel that she could count on us, that she didn’t have the weight of the entire family on her shoulders.
Even to this day, I wanted to make sure Mom never felt financially insecure. She wasn’t, of course, between her pension and savings. She and Mick had done well for themselves, but that impulse to protect her was still there. It probably always would be. It extended to my sisters too, whether they wanted it or not—most often they didn’t, but some things couldn’t be helped.
That was what it meant to have a family to us, and I could see this dynamic being passed to the next generation. And just like that, Laney popped back in my thoughts...
“Any other news?” I asked, trying to distract myself.
Tess nodded. “Yes. The good news is, the next ballroom gala is our busiest yet. It will likely be the last one for this season.”
Terrific! We ran these events for charity, and busy events meant we raised a lot of money. The gala season lasted from September to June, and the number of events always depended on how fast we gathered the necessary funds.
“And the bad news?”
“The bad news is, we need your approval on a few details right away.”
“I see. You brought the sign so you could guilt me into working,” I teased.
Skye grinned. “No, that’s what breakfast was for.”
“It can’t wait until the next working lunch?” We had one coming up on Wednesday. “The event is mid-May. That’s two months away.”
“We need to get the ball rolling right away,” Ryker explained.
“I