Her mother jumped up and tossed her napkin on the table. “Shut it, George! That’s enough! There’s nothing wrong with what Sabrina wears or what she wants. Nor the fact that she’s marrying into a rich family. Just because you never made anything out of yourself, doesn’t mean you can drag down your daughter with you!”

Her father pushed his chair back and rose abruptly. “You know what, Ilene? The reason I was never able to make anything out of myself is because you were hanging around my neck like a heavy chain that was dragging me down. So don’t you criticize me! You lost that right when you divorced me!” Then he looked at Raffaela. “Thanks for the food. It was excellent.”

Without another word he turned and left the room.

Sabrina couldn’t suppress the tears any longer and felt them run down her burning cheeks. “I’m so sorry.” How could her father embarrass her like this in front of her future in-laws? How could he be so cruel?

Suddenly, she felt Raffaela’s soothing arm around her shoulders. “It’s not your fault, cara.”

A moment later, her mother squeezed her hand. “Honey, don’t take any notice of him. At least you’re making a much better match than I did, and not even your father can take that away from you.”

19

“Is Daniel not up yet?” Raffaela asked and opened the refrigerator to search for something.

Sabrina’s father was sitting at the breakfast table, browsing through the paper, and her mother was pouring herself a second cup of coffee, but wasn’t eating anything, which probably meant that whatever outfit she’d chosen for the wedding required her to shed another pound before it fit properly.

Sabrina smiled at her soon-to-be mother-in-law. “It looks like both he and Tim had too much to drink last night. Nobody was sober enough to drive. They’re still at Zach’s house.”

Raffaela shook her head. “Oh, dear! Are you upset about that?”

“I don’t have a problem with it. I would be very upset, though, if either one of them had been driving last night.”

“Well, just a word of caution, Sabrina, and I’m speaking from personal experience,” her mother interjected from the breakfast table. “It’s a hangover here, an outing with his friends there, and suddenly your husband is never at home.” She tossed a pointed look at her ex-husband.

A grunt came from him, then a muffled comment. “Some women just don’t make it worth it for a man to stay at home.”

Sabrina exchanged a look with Raffaela, who gave her an encouraging look and stroked over Sabrina’s arm. Maybe having both her parents stay at the Sinclair’s home hadn’t been the best idea after all. She should have just told them to stay at a Bed and Breakfast.

Sabrina’s mother huffed. “Oh, go ahead, read your outdated paper, and stay out of the conversation like you always do.”

Her father lowered the paper and glared at his ex-wife. “At least an outdated paper isn’t gonna talk back to me.”

“You’re reading an old paper? I thought I’d put them all into recycling.” Raffaela asked.

Sabrina’s father shrugged. “Found it under the seat cushion.” With a sideways glance to his ex-wife he added, “Reading anything is better than having to talk to certain people.”

Sabrina felt tears well up in her eyes again. She knew that the pregnancy was causing her to be so emotional about the smallest things. But her parents’ sniping at each other didn’t help. Raffaela looked at her, pity shining in her eyes. “Just a few more days,” she whispered to Sabrina for only her to hear. A little louder, she addressed Sabrina’s father. “I’m so sorry. I guess I forgot to bring in today’s paper. I’d better get it now. James will want to read it too when he comes down.”

Raffaela left the kitchen, and Sabrina could hear her heels click on the wooden floorboards as she walked toward the foyer. Once Raffaela was out of earshot, she walked to the breakfast table.

“You both should be ashamed of yourselves, behaving like this!” she said while trying to keep her voice from getting shrill.

Her mother raised her eyebrows. “I’m not the one who started it, dear.”

Sabrina turned her face up toward the ceiling. “Why do I even bother?” Then she turned on her heels and headed back to the kitchen counter, when she saw Holly enter.

“Morning!” Holly greeted everybody cheerfully, then instantly joined Sabrina when their gazes met.

Holly put a hand on her shoulder and leaned in. “What’s going on?”