Raina squeaked and slammed the shower door shut. “Oh my God. I can’t meet my mother-in-law looking like a drowned rat. I am going to kill Nick! I thought he was going to wait to tell everyone.”

“Raina, it’s all over the internet that you got married.”

“It is?”

“Yes. Everybody knows now. Come on, it’s time to face the music.”

“Can’t you stall her?” Raina whined. It was cowardly, yes, but dammit, she wasn’t good with parents. They wanted nice, sweet, daughters-in-law who baked cupcakes and stuff. Not girls like her who were better at pouting on a sexy ad campaign.

This is going to be a disaster.

Ridley pulled open the shower door, letting in a blast of freezing air. “You’re saying that because you don’t know Julia Alexander. Trust me, if I don’t come down there with you in a few minutes, she’ll come up here and find you herself.”

Raina pushed her wet hair off her face and shut the water off. “Okay, I’m coming.” She took the towel her sister handed through the open door and wrapped it around herself, trying to stop the shivers wracking her body.

“I’ll go pick you out some clothes.” Ridley left, leaving the bathroom door wide open.

Raina toweled off quickly, then wrapped the towel around her body and knotted it under her arm.

Ridley came back in with her clothes and dropped them on the counter. “Okay, I’m going back down there to help with dinner. Hopefully cooking will distract her.”

Raina’s head shot up. “Dinner? I don’t have any food in the house.”

“She brought it all with her. I guess this is your ‘welcome to the family’ dinner. Now hurry up!”

As soon as Ridley left, Raina yanked off the towel and pulled on her clothes. She pulled out a wide-toothed comb and gently detangled her hair section by section. There was no time for blow-drying and flat-ironing. She’d have to just put it back in a braid.

The doorbell rang downstairs and she paused. Had Mrs. Alexander gone to get something from her car and gotten locked out? When it didn’t ring again, she figured Ridley must have opened the door for her, so she hurriedly applied tinted moisturizer and swept a single coat of mascara on her lashes. She surveyed herself in the mirror.

She looked terrified.

“Here goes nothing,” she muttered.

As soon as she descended the stairs, she could hear them. How can two people make that much noise? It sounded like a circus troupe had set up shop in her kitchen. She rounded the corner and stopped at the sight of the full room.

“There she is,” someone said.

The entire room went silent and what felt like a million pairs of eyes fixed on her at the same time.

A short woman in a lacy blue dress came forward and grabbed her hands. “Raina, we’re all so glad to meet you. I’m Nick’s mother, Julia.”

She’d met Steven’s mother once when she’d been in New York for the symphony. She was tall, thin, impeccably dressed, and just as stuffy and formal as her son.

Julia Alexander, on the other hand, was a short plump woman with a café-au-lait complexion. She wore her dark hair in a bob of pin curls that made Raina think of the old-fashioned pink rollers her mother used to wear.

She looked warm, Raina decided.

“Hello. I’m so glad to meet you, Mrs. Alexander.”

“Oh sweetheart, just call me Julia. Or Mom. After all, you’re Mrs. Alexander now, too.”

Raina felt like her head was spinning as she was enveloped into a warm hug.

Julia pulled back and preened. “Oh, just look at you. Just as pretty as a picture! Of course, we knew that already. Come, come and meet the family.”

Raina followed silently as she was led over to the group. She was hugged by Nick’s father, Mark, first. Then she said hello to Nick’s older brother, Bennett. He shook her hand and smiled politely. Then Mark introduced her to his younger sister, Maria. Next was Maria’s daughter, Laura, her husband, Peter and their two children, Isabelle and Annabelle. She placed a hand over her racing heart. What if she couldn’t remember any of their names? By the time they circled around to where Jackson and Ridley stood, Raina felt like her head was spinning with faces.

Ridley pulled her in for a hug and said in a low voice, “I had no idea she invited the whole family!”

Before Raina could respond, the front door opened. Nick stood in the doorway, breathing hard. “Raina!” he called out. He took a few steps then stopped short when he finally noticed everyone in the kitchen. “Oh boy.”

Raina walked over to him and hugged him.

“I am so sorry,” he whispered. “When Elliot warned me, I came as fast as I could.”

He looked like he’d run from the car to the house. Her earlier annoyance vanished as he struggled to catch his breath. It was kind of sweet that he’d come so quickly to “rescue” her.

“It’s okay,” she said. “I think I can handle a little family time.”

“You might not say that after an hour of this,” Nick warned.

Raina watched as everyone moved around her kitchen, following Julia’s orders to set the table and carry the food out. It was so odd to see the dining room table her decorator had ordered filled to overflowing with platters and bowls of food. There was macaroni and cheese, chicken, both baked and southern-fried, and the most delicious potato salad she’d ever tasted. It was also loud. Everyone talked over everyone else in a delightful jumble of sound.