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idea James had a son, and she’d never mentioned it. Typical. Shrugging, I took a seat after helping my grandmother sit down, and James and Mom stayed standing. They both looked nervous, and a waiter quickly deposited a premium bottle of champagne in a wine cooler bucket next to the table before scurrying away.
    “All right, you two, what’s going on?” Grandma asked. “I didn’t come down in the last shower. I know there’s something going on, and I’m an old woman, so you better damn well tell me now before I drop dead.”
    “Abuela!” I said, shaking my head and grinning at her sharp tongue. “Don’t talk about yourself like that. You aren’t that old.”
    “Even though I had pet dinosaurs as a child?” she said, flashing me an amused look. “That’s what you used to tell me when you were younger.”
    I giggled, and Mom rolled her eyes at us and waved her hands. “Okay, okay, shush. You’re right. We invited you to dinner to tell you the news.”
    “And what’s the news?” I asked before catching a glimpse of her left hand as she waved it. There was a sparking diamond ring the size of Texas on her ring finger, and I gulped. That hadn’t been there before. I guess my earlier suspicion that she and James had gotten engaged had been correct.
    “You’re engaged?” I said.
    “Well…no. We’re married.”
    My eyes widened, and I simply stared at the two of them for a moment. “I’m sorry…what?”
    “We’re married!” she repeated.
    My jaw dropped, and out of the corner of my eye, I could see my grandmother having the same reaction. “Married…wow. I mean, I thought you might be engaged, but already married?” I said.
    “You’re upset?” James asked, looking even more anxious. “Anna, you told me they’d be okay with—“
    Mom waved her hand at him, cutting him off. “Oh, they’re fine. Aren’t you, Rory? And Mama? You guys aren’t upset, are you?”
    I exchanged a glance with Grandma before turning back to Mom. “No…I’m not upset. I just…um…” I started slowly, trying to put my emotions into words.
    Although I was surprised, this wasn’t exactly atypical behavior for my mother. She’d never actually eloped before, but she did tend to make all kinds of decisions without anyone else’s input, especially when it came to men. When she’d gotten engaged to my father at the age of nineteen, my Grandma hadn’t even been aware that she was seeing anyone, let alone already six weeks pregnant with me. Yup, that had been a shotgun wedding.
    “It’s just unexpected,” Grandma said. “I think that’s what Rory is trying to say. Right, mi niña ?”
    I nodded. “Yes. I mean, you two have only known each other for a couple of months, right?”
    “Yes, but it just seemed so right,” Mom said with a dreamy expression on her face. “As soon as we met, we both knew right away that we’d end up married eventually. Even though we come from two different worlds, that just never mattered. Then James took me on a trip up to his lake house and surprised me with a ring.”
    “I’d only planned on proposing,” James interjected. “But it was so beautiful up there with the views of the water and the mountains, and I suddenly felt we had to seize the moment. So I made some calls and arranged for the nearest officiant to marry us right by the water that afternoon. We both wished you could have been there, but like I said, we just seized the moment and did it as quickly as possible. It was an engagement, wedding and honeymoon all in one.”
    “I see,” I replied. “Well, congratulations! Shouldn’t you have waited until Flynn got here to tell us all, though?”
    “It’s Finn,” James said. “He already knows. He found out thanks to my big-mouthed general manager.”
    “Sorry, I meant Finn,” I said with an apologetic smile. “Well, I…um…I can’t wait to meet him.”
    I was trying to sound happy, but my mind was whirling too much to register much of any emotion. This