She learned that being married to George meant standing one step behind him so she had a view from the rear. She worked in the background, taking over the bills, making the hard choices about paring down their expenses and presenting her decisions to George as if they were the norm, the right thing to do so she didn’t hurt his pride. In exchange, he carried on with the appearance of success, wore the ties she picked out and mixed her drinks like he always had. The charade worked for them, and she didn’t want to change a thing about George or herself, really. Not that she could now anyway. But did she really want that limited kind of relationship for her children and their partners? Choosing comfortable and familiar over world-expanding?

No, she had to admit, she didn’t. Look at the blossoming of Sarah with this new beau who didn’t fit the Fairfield County mold! And hearing all the praise about Penny on her home turf made Abigail realize that she was complementary to Chase in every way he needed: global perspective, genuinely thoughtful of others, and possessed of an understanding of how money worked in the real world. (Granted, she had grown up on “the wrong side of the tracks” in Montecito, but it was always the wrong side of the tracks somewhere! She and George had shielded their kids from their money issues and now they were paying for a tent they couldn’t afford. If the wedding went on, that is.)

As she ran her palm along the hand-carved library shelves and the leather-bound books, the MOG realized something: Penny was a great match for her son. And Abigail was going to use all her new tools and her connections to make sure the Blakeman-Diamandis wedding happened.

Chapter 22
The Conversation

The Mother of the Bride
The Mother of the Groom

The scene was the same as the night before, two women with a cheese plate between them on the patio at Ming’s house. The dinner at Toots’s had ended quickly after the announcement of the broken engagement. Ming and Sarah had both retired to their rooms for the night, but Alexa and Abigail agreed to a drink and some food before turning in. There were things to be said beyond the ears of the Widows. Last night, they struggled for conversation because it seemed they had nothing in common and nothing to say to each other beyond the logistics of the weekend. But tonight, they shared one critical element: a child with a broken heart.