Lovey clasped her hands in delight. “It’s exactly how I imagined it. It should be tasty, too. Two layers are vanilla with strawberry filling, and two are vanilla with Swiss meringue filling, and then it’s all covered in white fondant. It’s supposed to serve several hundred. I hope the turnout is good.”

“Are you kidding?” Melissa said. “That’s all people have talked about in town since you put up the signs. I heard all of the businesses along Main Street have volunteered their parking spaces, including the Crown which is closing early so their parking lot can be utilized as parking for this event.”

Lovey looked up at Sully, briefly touching his cheek.

“So dear to my heart,” she said softly, then blinked away tears. “After tonight, I can officially call you my son.”

“It’s getting close to time,” Sully said. “We’ll keep a little distance away from you until you’re ready to make the announcement so it won’t give away the surprise.”

Lovey nodded. “Okay, guys. Let’s do this,” she said.

By the time she reached the front lobby, people were already coming in.

And so began the excitement of people seeing Lovey’s appearance and how the interior of Granny’s had been transformed. Almost immediately, the caterers began moving through the gathering crowd with finger foods and drinks.

Melissa’s status as a newly engaged woman was noted, and the word quickly spread, with most of the crowd assuming this party was for her and Sully, until they mingled their way into the banquet room and saw the cake. Now they didn’t know what to think.

It was 6:30 on the dot when Lovey gave Sully and Melissa a nod, then headed for the podium. Sully escorted her up the steps and then stood aside. Lovey turned on the microphone, then tapped it to make sure it was live.

The room had already quieted down and everyone was waiting, but they didn’t know what for until Lovey began to speak.

“I know you all want to know what’s going on, so I won’t keep you in suspense any longer. I have a story to tell about the saddest and happiest times of my life. When I was barely sixteen years old, I was forced, by my parents, to give my baby boy up for adoption. I never thought I’d see him again.”

She paused and drew a deep, shaky breath. “So you know how I don’t hear things so good anymore, and how most of my attention is always focused on Granny’s…which is how I completely missed details that could have saved this delay. You all know Sully here has been looking for his birth mother, Janie Chapman.”

Sully walked up beside her and winked.

Lovey blinked away tears as she reached for his hand.

“Although I’ve been Lovey to all of you for as long as I’ve lived here…I was born Loretta Jane Chapman, and tonight I want to introduce you to my son, John Sullivan Raines.”

The room erupted in cries of shock, then surprise and delight. And when Sully wrapped his arms around her and hugged her, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.