“I know, Mom.”
They came back smiling. I filed it under future-mother-in-law weirdness and poured everyone another glass.
“Just remember what we talked about.”
***
Ten months after that, I proposed in our living room. Claire cried right on cue. The girls cheered so loudly the neighbor’s dog started barking!
Lily tugged at Claire’s sleeve. “Can I call you ‘Mom’ someday?”
“Whenever you’re ready, sweetheart,” my fiancée said, kissing her forehead.
Behind them, Isla stood with her hands crossed, an approving smile on her face.
Claire cried right on cue.
My future mother-in-law’s mouth was smiling; her eyes weren’t. She looked, I remember thinking, like a coach who’d just watched her player nail a routine.
I told myself I was overthinking it.
***
Three weeks before the wedding, I was sitting on the edge of the bed, folding a mountain of laundry that somehow appeared to multiply every time I turned my back.
