Page 67 of Rescuing Erin

I sighed at the old, familiar nickname and cuddled in closer. My parents had called me, little rabbit until I’d become an obnoxious teenager and deemed myself too old for the name. I think my dad started it after I asked him to read me Guess How Much I Love You for the five hundredth time.

“And all the way back,” I finished.

There was a knock on the door, and my mom slowly pulled back, straightening her skirt before she turned in the direction of the sound.

“Yes?”

“Excuse me, ma’am. Miss Anderson,” the secret service agent started. “Mrs. Parker, Mrs. Cain, Mrs. Lewis, and Mrs. Gillonardo are here to see you. They were not on your schedule but they are on your approved list. Would you like me to send them up?”

“Yes, of course. And would you please ask Betty to send up some refreshments. Oh, and make sure there is a can of Dr. Pepper included.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Dr. Pepper?” I laughed. “You don’t drink soda.”

“No, but I know poor Olivia would like one. You know when I was pregnant with you, I still drank coffee and had iced tea everyday. I don’t buy into this whole no caffeine thing. Look at you, you came out perfect.”

“Thanks, Mom. What else did you do? Smoke a pack a day?”

“Erin! I’ve never smoked a day in my life. Though I did try one of my daddy’s cigars once. My girlfriends and I snuck into Daddy’s study and got into his bourbon.” My mom chuckled, and her slow Texan twang came out. “We were drunker than Cooter Brown. Molly Hayworth thought we should smoke a cigar. We were sophisticated ladies, you know.”

“How old were you?” I couldn’t help but laugh at my mom.

“We were sixteen and tying one on for sure. Anyway, we finally got it lit, and I was getting lightheaded from trying to inhale. We were a mess.”

“What happened?”

“Daddy came home early and caught us. He was madder than a wet hen.” My mom was grinning ear to ear. “Not because we were in his study smokin’ his cigar, but we’d drank his expensive, sixteen-year-old bourbon.” My mom stopped to laugh some more. “Daddy was yelling the house down about how a bunch of girls had wasted a bottle of twenty-four-hundred-dollar whiskey. He wasn’t wrong, the whole bottle was gone, and we spent the rest of the night taking turns in the bathroom upchucking.”

We were both laughing at my mom’s retelling of her wild years when the girls walked in.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Liv said.

“Nonsense. Come in.” My mom waved them into the living room.

“What’s so funny?” Jasmin asked, pushing a stroller.

“My mom was just telling about her drinking her—”

“Erin Lynn Anderson. Hush up now.” Boy, it was easy to ruffle my mom. “Bring those babies over here and let me see them.”

Jasmin pushed the huge contraption in my mom’s direction. “Do you have any idea how hard it was to get this up here? I was worried, Asher and Robby were going to need a full cavity inspection. Sheesh.”

“She’s not joking. Everyone is a little uptight today. Everything okay?” Violet asked.

“Yes. Yes. You know how it is. Now, what did you bring?”

My mom pointed to the box in Olivia’s arms.

“Wedding magazines.” She smiled.

“And I picked up a planning book, just in case Colin gives you time to plan. Though Zane said Colin said he wanted to marry you, like, yesterday.” Ivy pulled a spiral organizer out of her bag.

“And Leo told me last night that Colin said he would marry you today if you’d agree,” Liv threw in. “Oh, and he does want kids. Like, a lot.”

“Today?” The four women standing in front of me all nodded. “That’s crazy.”

“Let’s all sit down,” my mom offered. “What kind of wedding do you want, Erin?” She cut straight to the chase.