2. Raina

" Y ou can't cater your own wedding, Tori Wingate!" Raina reached over and jabbed her sister playfully. "You can manage another caterer, and Suze has a ton we can pick from."

Tori rose from her comfy position on the floor, kneeling next to Charlie's tiny body, getting a gooey smile from the four-month-old baby lying on a bunny blanket.

"Uh, Charlotte Wingate, will you please tell your mother it's not just my wedding." She bopped her button nose. "It's both of our weddings. Not to each other, dear niece of mine, but to our dream men. And you better not cry during the ceremony." She shifted to the right and gave little Charlie's twin sister the same face. "Or you, lovely Lily."

A foot away and also on the floor, Raina dropped back against the sofa. "They'll be perfectly well-behaved," she promised her sister. "And if not, who cares? That's why we're having two weddings on one day. It's an excuse for a Wingate party."

Tori tore her attention from the babies, leveling her gaze on Raina. "It's more than that, Rain. Didn't you hear me? We're marrying our dream men."

"That we are," Raina agreed. "And if you'd have suggested that to me when these two were but mere seedlings and you forced me to take a pregnancy test, I'd have never believed you."

"Remember? You found out you were pregnant and discovered the baby's father was a snake all in the same five minutes." Tori brushed back a long lock of strawberry-blond hair with a chuckle. "It does seem like I'm always there for the pivotal moments in your life, doesn't it?"

"Yep." Raina smiled and stood. "My butt's asleep. And we'd better get going to Wingate House. Suze is chomping at the bit to get this double wedding on the schedule and start ordering whatever we need. Although we've got dresses, flowers, and dessert covered by our sisters."

"And catering."

Raina rolled her eyes. "And we're back to square one. You are not catering your own wedding and that's final."

"Okay, okay." Tori leaned back on her hands, glowing as she had been since the day Dr. Justin Verona proposed to her. "I guess we'll have more fun that way, although I hate to give up the control."

"Please. If I can give up control of Wingate Properties to my fiancé, anyone can give up control of anything."

"It's going well with Chase at the company, though, isn't it?" Tori asked.

"Dad's happy," Raina said, thinking of her last conversation with the man whose name was on the door, the street, and seven birth certificates.

Rex Wingate had been the one to put Chase Madison in charge when he recognized what Raina already knew— motherhood trumped her career, at least at this tender time in her life. "Chase may not be a Wingate—"

"Not yet, but he can change his name when you marry him," Tori joked.

Raina laughed, then grew serious. "I'm not sure about my name. What about you?"

"Of course I'm changing it. Tori Hottypants. Has a ring to it, don't you think?"

"Definitely, but I've never been anything but Raina Wingate, and, if I'm being honest, I'm worried Dad might be disappointed."

"Why?"

"I don't know. No sons to carry on the Wingate name."

Tori lifted a shoulder. "Do what feels right to you."

"I will. I'm giving it some thought. Whatever my last name, I know I'll be happy with Chase. He's so amazing," she added, not caring that her voice cracked with emotion that she didn't try to hide. "Did I tell you he's already started the adoption process to become the girls' father? We have our first consultation with the lawyer tomorrow."

"Oh, I love that," Tori gushed. "Let me know how it goes every step of the way."

Raina eyed her. "You're not thinking about having Justin adopt Kenzie and Finn, are you?"

"As if my ex would ever allow that. No. It's perfect for you, though, since Jack backed out of their lives completely." Tori pushed up from the floor. "All right, let's get moving before we're late. I'm glad I came early to get some time alone with you and help you pack up the babies. Where do you hide the diaper bags?"

"Hang on." Raina lifted her phone. "Text from Suze." She read it and frowned. "Oh, dang. Chloe canceled."

"Really? When are we going to plan this thing?"

Raina skimmed the text, definitely confused. "Suze is on her way over here—"

"All right, we'll do it without Chloe. But Suze doesn't even know I came here to pick you up, does she?" Tori pulled out her phone. "I didn't get a text from her."

Raina shook her head, holding up her hand. "She says she wants to talk to me. Privately. In fact, she wanted to be sure Chase wasn't home."

Tori drew back and made a face. "Well, then, I guess I'm officially chopped liver. Why wouldn't she want me here? It's both of our weddings."

"I don't know, ask her when— Oh, look!" She squealed and pointed. "Charlie's pushing her arm. She's gonna turn over!"

But Raina's raised voice startled the baby, and she stopped mid-roll to look at her mother and let out a little cry of distress.

"Oh, darling, I didn't mean to scare you." Raina was next to her in a flash, folding next to the bunny blanket to love on her sweet pea.

Charlie thought about it for a second, stared at Raina, and opened her mouth to wail.

"You'll get it, little one."

"So am I just squeezed out of my own wedding?" Tori asked, sounding more concerned about that than a baby rolling for the first time.

"Don't be ridiculous," Raina said. "It's probably about something completely different." But she had to acknowledge that the text was kind of odd, and not at all like their mother.

"You think it's about Chloe canceling? Is something wrong? Or something with Dad? What—"

Raina lifted the crying baby and tipped her head toward the front door at the sound of a car pulling into the driveway. "That's probably her. Feel free to ask."

Lily started crying, too, so Tori picked her up.

They were both holding babies and trying to calm them down when Susannah tapped lightly on the front door and called Raina's name.

"Come on in," Raina said. "Brace for crying babies."

She pushed the door open and stepped inside, looking surprised when she saw Tori.

"Oh, I didn't realize you were here," she said.

Tori lifted a brow. "I thought I'd come here first to help Raina get the babies over to Wingate House," she said.

Susannah stared at them, a blank look on her face.

"For our meeting," Tori reminded her. "You know, the one we scheduled before Chloe bailed?"

Holding Charlie, Raina took a few steps closer. "You okay, Suze?"

The fact was, her mother looked pale and troubled, and not at all like her usually joyous self.

"Yes, yes…I'm…fine." She closed her eyes as she placed her bag on the entry table.

She didn't seem fine. "Look, Grannie Suze is here," Raina whispered to the baby, searching her mother's face for a clue.

"What's going on with you?" Tori asked, coming closer with Lily in her arms.

"Oh, nothing, I just…wanted to check on my grandbabies," she said with what sounded a little like false brightness. "I'll take Lily, since you're leaving, Tori."

Tori handed over the baby. "And the wedding meeting?"

"Oh, well, we'll have to reschedule. I wanted to talk to Raina."

Tori's gaze flickered. "All righty, then. Now that I have an open window in my schedule, I'll swing by the café and see how it's going after the breakfast rush."

"Okay," Susannah said absently, glancing at the baby in her arms, but not giving her usual expression of delight. "What were you two talking about?" she asked, still sounding way too fake and, frankly, weird.

"We were talking about Chase adopting the babies," Tori said. "Raina was going to tell me the process."

"Oh? You've started?" Susannah asked, suddenly very interested—or just jumping on the change of subject.

"Chase set up the first appointment," Raina told her. "He thinks we can do it fast. Like, if we're lucky, right after the wedding…or maybe before, if we can't nail down a summer date. How long did it take you, Suze?"

Her mother looked up from her intense study of Lily, who was attempting to get her tiny thumb in her mouth. "Take me…to do what?"

"To adopt us," Raina said, frustration growing.

Susannah stared at her, then at Tori, then down at the baby.

"Suze?" Tori pressed.

"I, um, never did adopt you four girls."

For a moment, Raina's world tipped. How could she have not known that?

"Excuse me?" Was that why she'd let them call her Suze all these years, and never insisted on being "Mom" like she was to the three youngest?

"I didn't get around to it," she confessed. "And I know it sounds ridiculous, but I had my hands full. Four new daughters and a new husband."

Raina could have sworn her voice cracked on the last word. "It's fine, Suze."

"Is it?" she asked, sounding like she was on the edge of a breakdown. "I…I…I should have…"

"Susannah Wingate," Tori said, swooping in to put an arm around her. "It's a little late to worry about technicalities."

Susannah looked up, her eyes filled with unshed tears.

"Suze!" Raina and Tori exclaimed at the same time.

"Here. Take Lily." She held the baby out to Tori and backed away. "Excuse me for a minute."

Before either of them could react, she rushed out of the room, disappearing into the hall and, presumably, the powder room.

Tori and Raina just stared at each other, gobsmacked.

"What the heck is going on?" Tori asked on a whisper. "And also, she never adopted us? Did you know that? Do Rose or Madeline?"

Raina shook her head. "I never really thought about it, you know? I just assumed we were as much hers as we were Dad's."

"I know." Tori carefully placed Lily on the bunny blanket. "She clearly wants to confide in you, so I'm going to skedaddle."

"I don't know why you can't stay."

Tori shrugged. "Neither do I, but I can't."

"Girls," Susannah called as she came down the hall. "I think I'm going to take off."

Raina did a double-take. What the heck? "You just got here."

"I know, but I…I have to…do something." She looked like she'd dried her eyes and dabbed at any mascara that might have smeared, and smoothed her chin-length blond bob. But even with all that, her complexion looked pale and her lips drawn to a tight, unnatural smile. "So let's reschedule when Chloe's available."

"I thought you had something you wanted to talk to me about," Raina said, truly baffled by this change of heart.

"Oh, it can wait." She waved off any more questions and hustled over to the entryway to get her bag. "I'll call you. Bye!"

She was out the door before they could breathe—and without saying goodbye to the babies.

"Something is really wrong with her," Raina muttered as Charlie fussed in her arms, squiggling like she didn't want to be held anymore. Or maybe she was put out by Grannie Suze's unusual departure.

"Do you think she just remembered she forgot to legally adopt her four oldest daughters and is headed off to the courthouse?" Tori asked.

"She was upset before we brought that up. But, honestly, that is so wrong." Raina walked to the blankets and carefully laid Charlie next to Lily. "I thought she'd adopted us, I really did."

"But imagine what those days were like," Tori said. "She was a brand-new wife. You and Rose were not a whole lot older than these twins, and she had two more daughters looking at her to be their replacement mom. Madeline was an angel, but I'm sure I was a holy terror."

Raina felt a smile pull, but her heart dropped. "I wonder if that's weighed on her all these years."

"She could still do it, you know," Tori said. "People adopt adult children all…the…Raina? Oh, Raina. I know that face. That's your Fix-It Face. What are you cooking up in that problem-solving brain of yours?"

"Well, I can't fix whatever is bothering Suze today, but the adoption thing? I'm about to go through the whole process of adopting stepchildren. What if I nudged whatever powers that be so Susannah could legally be our mother? Would that be crazy?"

"You could ask her."

"Or…" Raina lifted both brows. "We could surprise her."

"Oh!" Tori shuddered and rubbed her arms. "That just gave me chills."

"Right? Can you imagine how happy that would make her?"

"That would be the best gift ever," Tori agreed. "But it doesn't address what's eating at her now."

"My guess is Chloe told her something that upset her," Raina said. "She was all ready to meet with us and plan, then she suddenly got a text from Chloe and the wedding was forgotten. So probably— Oh!" She covered her mouth to keep the exclamation quiet, pointing at Lily with one hand. "Look, Aunt Tori. Lily just turned herself over."

Now on her stomach, Lily lifted her fuzzy head, bracing herself with her tiny hands, her face about an inch from the blanket. Her big eyes looked surprised at first, but then she looked right at Raina and grinned.

"Lily!" Raina snagged her phone and stabbed at the camera button. "You did it!"

"I'll leave you to your inevitable photo shoot," Tori said as she slipped her purse on her arm and walked toward the door, pausing as she opened it. "Let me know if you hear from Suze. Also if you do something to finally get us a legal mother."

Raina chuckled. "I'll do my best."

"Good, because if anyone can pull off the surprise adoption of four adult women, it's you, Raina Wingate." She crinkled her nose. "Or soon-to-be Raina Madison."

Raina held up her hand. "Not sure yet."

"Hyphenate?"

"Ugh. No, thanks."

"We can't all be Mrs. Hottypants," Tori quipped. "If you figure out what's bothering Suze, call me."

"I will," Raina promised, and meant it. Something was wrong with Susannah, and she intended to find out exactly what it was.