"Until you were born."
The words hit her like a slap. She pulled her hand away slightly, heart pounding now for a different reason.
"Grandma, no. You can't mean me," she said in a low and strained voice. But Genevieve wouldn't meet her eyes.
"You're not saying what I think you're saying, right?" Shantel whispered.
Still no answer. Just the slow blinking of an old woman who had said too much—and yet not nearly enough.
In a much sharper voice, Shantel leaned closer. "Did you all plan this for me? Is that why you kept pushing the idea of marriage? Was this whole thing some… old-fashioned matchmaking pact?"
"We were only hoping," Genevieve murmured. "Not planning, neither were we forcing you. We just wanted… to see if destiny might still care."
Shantel's voice broke. "Destiny? Destiny doesn't work that way, grandma."
There was a long silence as Genevieve refused to respond to Shantel's remark.
"I don't understand. Why now? Why tell me all this now?"
