“Hide what?” Rebecca asked. “You’re on the wagon?”
“Very funny.” Robin grinned. “But not exactly.”
“Then what?”
“She’s pregnant,” Jake announced matter-of-factly, and shrugged when Robin shrieked.
“I was going to tell her!”
“Not until you had tortured her.”
“Robin! When?” Rebecca cried.
“Due in the spring,” she said, with a whimper, however, as Rebecca had flung her arms around her.
“Who knows?” Rebecca asked breathlessly as the dogs barked excitedly. “Does Mom know? Rachel?”
“I told Mom before she headed for Seattle. She was out of her mind excited. And I told Rachel on the way down yesterday, who said she knew, of course, because my horoscope said something about big changes.” She laughed.
“And Dad?”
Robin’s grin faded a little. “Umm . . . not yet. I thought I’d tell him this weekend.”
“Robbie!” Rebecca cried. “This weekend?”
“I thought it would be better to do it in person, because you know what he is going to say. When—”
“—are you getting married,” Rebecca chimed in with Robin. “So? Are you?”
“Yeah,” Robin said, smiling softly at Jake’s back.
“Maybe,” Jake corrected her, deadpan. “I’ll see how you conduct yourself this weekend and then decide.”
“He’d die without me,” Robin said, shrugging. “So what about you?” she asked, hiding a smirk when Rebecca almost dropped the knife she had just picked up.
“What about me?” Rebecca asked, but Robin noticed she was avoiding eye contact.
“Come on, Bec. It’s obvious.”
The blood drained from her sister’s face, and she immediately began stirring a sauce for the pork with a vengeance. “I am not pregnant, if that’s—”
“That’s not what I mean,” Robin laughed. “But come on—are you getting married?”
Rebecca did not look up from her stirring of the sauce, refused to look at perhaps the one person on the face of the earth who would know if she was lying or not. How lucky for Robin, then, that the doorbell rang at that very moment. “I knew it. You’re in love!” she exclaimed as she whirled and started for the door. “Rachel was right!”
“Robin, don’t you dare answer that door!” Rebecca cried, and Robin heard a clattering of utensils as she reached the door before Rebecca, flung it open, and stood, hand on hip, sizing up the new guy from the top of his head to the tips of his polished loafers, almost pitching right into him when Rebecca collided with her back.
The new, very handsome guy clasped his hands behind his back and patiently waited for Robin to complete her inspection, at which point, he asked, “So what do you think? Do I pass?”
“Oh my God,” Rebecca muttered helplessly behind her.
“Oh, you pass, all right,” Robin said, smiling brightly. “I mean, dude—”
“She means,” Rebecca said, elbowing her sister sharply, “that she’s pleased to meet you.”
Robin could only nod violently in agreement that she was very pleased to meet who she was now firmly convinced was her future brother-in-law.
“Hey,” Jake said, stepping around and in front of Robin to extend his hand. “I’m Jake, this one’s keeper. Come on in and I’ll get you a beer, and if she gets out of hand, just give me the sign, and I’ll handle it.”
“Thanks,” Matt said, “I might have to take you up on that.” To Robin, he grinned as he shook her hand. “I’ve been anxious to meet you,” he said, and paused briefly to kiss Rebecca, at which point Robin saw The Look, the very same look she often saw in Jake’s eyes, the look of love, but hello, it was nothing compared to the look in Rebecca’s eyes. Robin could not recall ever seeing Rebecca so . . . happy. “So,” she said to Matt, batting her eyes. “You’ve heard about me?”
“Yes. And I’ve been retained to represent Rebecca Lear in a very old dispute. Does a certain pair of red, high-heeled shoes mean anything to you?”
Robin laughed. “Does a black eye mean anything to you?” she shot back, just as Jake dragged her inside with an arm around her waist, rolling his eyes as he handed Matt a beer and Robin complained that certainly after twenty years, Rebecca should let bygones be bygones, and besides, the last she saw, the red shoes were still hanging from the high wire above River Oaks.
It was one of the best dinners Rebecca had ever had—Matt fit in so easily, and the four of them laughed and carried on until well after midnight, long after Grayson and Cole had turned in.
Matt was finally coaxed into telling a nosey Robin how he’d met Rebecca, and watched Rebecca’s face flame with shame as Robin and Jake doubled over with laughter.
“Come on, Robbie,” Rebecca pleaded. “Haven’t you ever made a boneheaded mistake before?”
“Nothing like that! You thought he stole your quesadilla?” Robin doubled over again.