“Thank you. And so have you. Getting to know you all has been a pleasure.” Alexa spoke the words like they would never see each other after tomorrow.

And maybe they wouldn’t, so Abigail took a big swing. “Why did you decide to have a child on your own? If you don’t mind my asking.”

Alexa did mind a bit, but she did understand why Abigail might be curious. Her grandchildren would have been related to a man with a lab number, not a name. “I had love to give and I wanted to give that to a child.” Alexa told Abigail about her mother and the accident and the lonely years afterward. She explained how her mother’s family had shunned her when she was pregnant, so her mother’s parents went out of their way to show support to her even though her decisions were nontraditional. “I felt like I could give a child a beautiful life, even if it was only the two of us.”

“I’m so sorry you’ve been through all this. How terrible to lose your mother at that age. And Penny’s father? Is there contact?”

This was way beyond the bounds, but it was too late now. The question was out there. “Penny’s father is a sperm donor. Whose family did not come over on the Mayflower.”

“Touché!” Abigail said, acknowledging Alexa’s victory in the retort. Then she turned serious again. “You must miss your father and the rest of your family.”

“I do and I don’t. Please understand, my father and my brothers are wonderful men, but they haven’t always understood me. And I haven’t lived with them in almost fifty years, since I was sent to boarding school. I think it made my decision easier for my family to support, because Penny and I are a continent away most of the year,” Alexa explained. “For all I know, my father tells people in Greece that I have a husband who never leaves the States. That’s why I stayed in California, so I didn’t have to curtail my life to fit the expectations of others.”

There was a flash of discomfort in Abigail’s expression, as if Alexa had identified an issue that hit close to home for the MOG. Perhaps she shouldn’t have used the word “curtail”? She quickly turned the topic. “Penny’s let Big Wedding undermine her usual optimism and energy. I hope Chase can be patient.”

“Nobody’s forcing her to do a wedding like a magazine spread,” Abigail said because she couldn’t hold her opinions back. And then she noticed the look of horror on Alexa’s face. Oh, dear. She tried to salvage her comment with some generalizations. “Do bridal magazines even exist anymore? Or is it social media that drove them to the brink? Young women need to calm down.”