Reunion Beach by Elin Hilderbrand

Author:Elin Hilderbrand
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: William Morrow
Published: 2021-03-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Three

Reunion

MOTHER

Elinor put the final touches on the bouquet of flowers she’d arranged especially for Kristina’s visit. White roses and lilies with blue hydrangeas. Her favorites. Only the best for today, she thought with a final adjustment.

Stepping back, she perused the dining table. It sat in the middle of the brilliant turquoise-colored room enclosed on three sides with white plantation shutters. The epitome of a beach room, she thought with pleasure. The flowers were a counterpoint to the large coconut cake with the words “Happy Birthday Kristina, 40!” encircled in roses made of blue and white icing.

She glanced at her watch. Dinner reservations were for six-thirty. Her plan was for them to meet on neutral territory, on the beach. Then they could walk back here, have a bit of cake and champagne, then go out to the Long Island Cafe for a leisurely dinner. This would be followed by bedtime. “Keep moving,” Maeve had advised. “You don’t want to get stuck in the mud.”

Elinor smoothed out her white linen tunic top, thinking what a shame how linen wrinkled up so quickly. She spread out her blue silk scarf across her chest. She paused to look at her hands. They were shaking!

She shook them and puffed out a plume of air. She was being silly. This wasn’t like her. She could face down a classroom full of students, speak to a large group without skipping a beat. Today she only had to meet one woman. What was there to be nervous about? She’d been waiting for this day for forty years. To the very day. She inhaled and blew out slowly, calming herself. She chose to meet at four o’clock today because forty years ago, that was the time Kristina was born—4:18 p.m. to be exact. Elinor hoped Kristina would be pleased to learn that. It was one of a series of little surprises she had planned for Kristina.

Including her birthday gift.

She picked up the small, wrapped package from the side table and carried it to the Sheraton dining table, setting the box beside the cake. She pinched the white bow to perk it up a bit. Elinor had thought long and hard about what might make a suitable birthday gift for Kristina’s fortieth birthday. It was the first time they’d be celebrating her birth together.

She didn’t want Kristina to think she was taking her adopted mother’s place. She would never do that. Yet she wanted her daughter to know that she was loved and cherished by another woman . . . another mother, as well. Elinor agonized over the decision, plaguing Maeve with a series of texts listing possibilities. She kept coming back to her original idea like a broken record. Maeve finally texted back in capital letters: JUST GO WITH YOUR HEART!

So, she did. Elinor moved her hand over her bare neckline. She was giving Kristina a gold turtle necklace. It had been her favorite for years, a rare extravagant purchase when she’d traveled to Hawaii. She rarely took it off.

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