Vanessa held up Sophia’s left hand. The heart-shaped diamond sparkled.
Jane gasped, while Ginger continued to rock Ryan back and forth, a big grin splitting her face. “You have to tell us everything,” she said. “Every detail!”
“Oh, absolutely. I simply have to hear this.” Vanessa leaned forward. Dane had anti-freeze running in his veins. She still had a hard time accepting that someone as warm and sweet as Sophia was with him. Dane must’ve done something very special for the proposal for Sophia to say yes. Vanessa knew they were living together without any firm commitment about the future, but she also knew that her oldest brother wanted more.
“Have you set a date?” Jane chimed in.
“Oh no.” Sophia let out a shaky laugh. “We aren’t engaged, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“You aren’t?” Vanessa’s gaze dropped to her hand. “But…that’s his ring, right?”
“Yes, but it’s just to, you know, reaffirm our love for each other.”
“Oh.” Ginger blinked. Jane merely frowned.
“Can I ask you something?” Vanessa said.
“Go ahead,” Sophia answered.
“You love my brother, right?”
“Yes.”
“And you know he loves you.”
“Yes.”
“And you also know he’s never loved anybody before, and you are it for him.”
Sophia’s throat worked as she swallowed. “Yes.”
Vanessa softened her tone so it didn’t sound like she was cross-examining Sophia. Sometimes all the years of attorney training got the best of her. “So why aren’t you engaged yet? Is it because he hasn’t proposed?” Even as she asked, she knew that wasn’t the reason. Dane was an asshole, but he was a decisive asshole, one who didn’t let anything get in the way of what he wanted.
Sophia exhaled roughly. “My dad had…Huntington’s disease. It’s incurable. And it’s not really treatable. And it’s genetic on top of that.”
There was a silence in the room. “I’m sorry to hear that,” Jane whispered.
“Yeah, me too.”
Ginger’s brows pinched. “Dane isn’t the type to let something like that get in his way.”
“No, he isn’t. If I let him, he’d take me to the courthouse tomorrow.”
“Absolutely not. You should insist on the kind of wedding you deserve,” Vanessa said.
“You eloped,” Ginger pointed out.
“Well, okay, yeah, but we were flying over Niagara Falls in a helicopter. Totally different from a courthouse wedding.”
“I really don’t care about the ceremony,” Sophia said. “I want him, but I worry about the toll the disease may take—especially on him.”
Vanessa tilted her head. “Isn’t there some test to find out for sure if you have it?”
“Yes, but…I haven’t taken it yet.” Sophia clasped her hands together. “Maybe I’m too much of a coward. I have a fifty-fifty chance. But if I have it… I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Vanessa made a sympathetic noise and hugged Sophia. “We will all be on your side. You won’t have to deal with it alone, you know that, right?”
Sophia sniffed.
“And you never know. With all the advancements in medical technology, it may become treatable in the next few years.”
Jane and Ginger nodded in unison.
“Thank you,” Sophia whispered. “I… You don’t know how much this means to me.”
“It’s our pleasure, Sophia. You deserve our support.” Jane squeezed her knee. “I feel so awful you’re going through this. If there’s anything Iain and I can do, you just call any time, okay?”
Sophia nodded, her eyes bright with unshed tears.
“You poor thing,” Ginger said. “It must’ve been really tough to lose your father that way and have to agonize over it all this time.”
“I actually didn’t know until recently,” Sophia murmured. “George told me at the hospital.”
Vanessa’s face twisted. She’d heard of the asshole who’d tried to rape Sophia, and the only reason Sophia had been at the hospital was because of her—she’d just had Ryan. “That b-a-s-t-a-r-d.”
“Why are you spelling it?” Ginger asked.
“Because Ryan can hear me,” Vanessa whispered fiercely. “That lowlife is going to pay dearly for what he’s done.”
Jane’s worried gaze darted to Sophia. “Won’t she have to testify and answer…you know, a lot of nasty questions about her sexual history and stuff?”
Vanessa snorted. “That probably won’t even be necessary. Barron Sterling himself is going to testify, along with Dane, Iain and whoever else we need on our side of the family to get that scumbag convicted and put away for good. I’d love to see that a-hole’s lawyer try to character assassinate them.”
“I understand Dane and Iain wanting to testify on her behalf, but Barron? I thought he hated to bother himself with things like this,” Ginger said.
“Except it is absolutely worth his time,” Vanessa declared. “Besides, it’s a kind of christening gift. I told him I don’t want to raise my son in a world where men that vile walk around free. And he agreed.”
“Thank you,” Sophia said sincerely. “Having someone like that on my side helps a lot.”
“Don’t thank me. He would’ve done it even if I hadn’t asked. He’s very old-fashioned and proper. Despite his crazy high-handed ways, I actually like him. He can be oblivious at times, but he means well.”
“Speaking of Barron…” Jane cleared her throat. “He called Iain yesterday.”
Vanessa raised both of her eyebrows. “About?”
“Our wedding.”
“Did you invite him?”
Jane shook her head. “No. I don’t know how he heard about it, but he said he’d love to help plan it. You know, with so little time and all.”
“Oh my god, just say no,” Vanessa said. “You do not want him helping you out.”
“Iain told him he’d talk with me first. Why does he want to help anyway? He and I barely know each other. Iain seemed a little confused by the offer, too.”
Vanessa rolled her eyes. “He wants an excuse to come to L.A. At which point he’ll somehow finagle a way to stay at our place so he can spoil Ryan. He’ll probably bring Ethan and Kerri over too, ostensibly to ‘spend some time with Gavin and Amandine’.”
“Aren’t Gavin and Ethan brothers?” Jane asked.
“They are, but Barron basically wants an excuse to force everyone he’s related to into one city, so he can spoil two new babies.” Seeing Jane’s look of confusion, Vanessa added, “Kerri is Barron’s granddaughter, and she also just had a baby.”
“Oh.”
“Jane, seriously. I’ve heard too many horror stories about how everything had to be exactly to Barron’s satisfaction at Kerri’s wedding. That poor girl. If you want to keep your ceremony small, intimate and just for the family, politely decline. Or have Iain do it. That’s what he’s for.” Jane was so sweet and accommodating that Barron might just get his way. As much as Vanessa loved the curmudgeon, she did not want to live with him for the next couple of months.