#Chapter 88 – Meeting the Family

When we arrive over an hour later, the boys are thrilled, but everyone else is, I think, feeling the strain. The boys spent the rest of the ride continuing to needle Amelia about little things, despite Victor and my equal attempts at intervention.

I may not like the girl, but it’s her wedding – she doesn’t deserve to be tortured just because the boys are bitter that their father has chosen her over me.

I bite my tongue at this thought, unwilling to admit…well. That’s all beside the point.

As I climb out of the van I can feel a little mist in the air. Curious, I walk a few steps around the van towards a great rushing sound and gasp, taking in the sight of the gigantic waterfall that plunges from a cliff face several stories above us. It’s absolutely breathtaking.

“Whoaaa!” Ian shouts, running over towards the rail that separates the wedding facility from the plunging cataract. “That’s incredible!”

“It’s so cool!” Alvin shouts, following him. “Mom! Can I go over it in a barrel!?”

“What!?” I shout, horrified at the idea. I stride over to them, grabbing both their hands.

“It’s safe!” Alvin whines.

“We watched a documentary about Niagara Falls!” Ian continues the protest.

“None of that,” I say, stern, eager to knock this idea out of their heads. “Absolutely no more conversation on that point. Waterfalls are for looking, not for touching.”

I haul them back to a smirking Victor, who stands by the van. “To be fair,” he says, “at their age I would have had the same impulse.”

“Encourage them any more,” I mutter, “and I’ll shove you into the barrel myself.”

He laughs and then turns away to help Amelia begin to unload the bags. Spotting our own luggage by the side of the van, I bring the boys over to grab it. As we turn back towards the venue, we see a man dressed in black tails walking over to us.

“Madame Ortega, I presume?” He asks.

say in my head,

you would, madame,” he says, bowing again and gesturing towards the face of the venue. “We have a suite prepared for you and your sons.” I pop up the handle

The main drive circles at the foot of the falls but the building itself climbs several stories into the air, a beautiful hodgepodge of terraces and balconies from individual rooms and suites. The ballroom, I know, from Amelia telling us perhaps a hundred times, is on the roof of the building, a gorgeous space with three-hundred-and-sixty degree views of the

I can’t wait to see it. Amelia’s excellent

Ian calls behind him, waving to Victor, who

over my shoulder and see that Victor is

front desk. We take the leftmost elevator, all shiny brass and ivory buttons. The butler presses 12 – the top floor – and we zip upwards, my ears popping as

door and bows slightly as we enter before him. “Mademoiselle Jones had you listed for a more junior suite, in the floors below, but when I saw

the room I meet the butler’s eye and he gives me a small smirk. I laugh a little, pleased, and remind myself to ask Victor to

of the couch, his hands and face pressed against the windows behind it which – oh, wow –

I call, hurrying over to him. “Don’t touch the windows – you’re

after me. “If I may, the falls deserve to be admired, and we have staff who are used to cleaning much worse than a few smudges from the

the boys down nonetheless. I think I’m going

madame?…” the butler asks, bowing

the door, but I

gives me a warm smile and nods. “Of

he goes, and I heave a deep sigh, steeling myself for what is surely going to be a complicated

caught it when the butler left, before it closed. She’s a tall woman, about twenty years older than me, with light brown hair coiled into a neat chignon at the back of her neck. She wears a stunning blue dress. It’s refined, but doesn’t shy from taking the sensuous curves of her body

corner of her

hesitating. “I’m

and into my suite. “Must be my grandchildren.” She kneels on the ground and opens her arms to my two boys. “Come and see me,” she calls, her voice friendly but not without

long dreading meeting Victor’s family, though I knew it would be inevitable. I just never imagined I’d

boys rush over to her. “Are you our other grandmama?”

little bit ago!” Alvin chimes in, following close on his

I am pleased to hear that I am better. But you must

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