Cupid, Texas [1] Love at First Sight by Lori Wilde

get Natalie to give Pilates a go. She was convinced it would help Natalie’s leg, but after years of physical therapy, Natalie knew that this was as good as it got.
    “You should try the Zoom. It’ll do wonders for your smile,” Carol Ann prodded.
    “I’m pretty happy with my smile just as it is.”
    Her aunt shook her head and clicked her tongue. “Tsk.”
    “What?”
    “Honey, why do you settle for so little? You could be so beautiful if you’d just try a bit.” She reached over and pulled Natalie’s hair back. “For instance, a Brazilian blowout would take care of this frizz.”
    That needled her, but she didn’t like dusting things up, so she let it pass.
    “I suppose that’s what happens when you grow up without a mother to guide you.”
    “You’ve mothered me plenty, Auntie.”
    Her aunt stepped back. “Your mom would have been so proud of you and all you’ve achieved, but I know she would have wanted you to spruce yourself up. She’d be disappointed to learn you still weren’t married at twenty-nine. If you wait too long to have children you might discover that you can’t have them at all.”
    “Would that be the end of the world?” Natalie asked, feeling defensive. She had chosen to remain single and virginal, but it was her choice. Never mind that she’d just had a mind-altering morning. In this day and age, a woman should be able to choose whatever path was best for her, whether it be marriage or motherhood or even celibacy. One choice wasn’t any better than another. It wasn’t one size fits all.
    “Not the end of the world, just sad. It would be the end of a tradition. No more eldest daughter of the eldest daughter of the eldest daughter.”
    Natalie shrugged off her overreaction, put it down to Dade Vega. “Oh well.”
    Carol Ann pursed her lips. “I don’t know how you do it.”
    “Do what?”
    “Take life in stride.”
    Natalie shrugged. “What else am I supposed to do? Whine? Complain? Gnash my teeth? Wring my hands? Shake my fist at God? None of that would change anything.”
    “It’s just that . . .” Carol Ann paused, waved a hand, looked pensive a moment. “Oh, never mind.”
    “How’s Melody?” Natalie asked about Aunt Carol Ann’s daughter. Melody had escaped Cupid for New York and she was a hotshot Madison Avenue ad executive.
    “Terrific.” Her aunt brightened. “She’s heading up Charmin’s new ad campaign.”
    “Charmin the toilet paper?” Okay, that was mean. Natalie was a wee bit jealous of Melody.
    Carol Ann proudly raised her chin. “People need toilet paper.”
    “Turns out not so much. People used to use newspaper, magazines, even leaves to cover the job, and in some other countries they simply use their hands.” Oops, where was this tackiness coming from?
    “Well, we’re not in some other country, are we?” Carol Ann sniffed. “This is the God-fearing United States of America and we use toilet paper.”
    “ ’Course we do,” Natalie placated. Her insurrections were few and far between, and when she was snarky she immediately felt guilty about it. “I’m happy for Melody and Charmin.”
    Luckily, at that moment the door opened and her cousin Lace Bettingfield dreamily meandered into the room.
    Lace was three years younger than Natalie and the only daughter of Lincoln and Colleen Bettingfield. Uncle Lincoln was the middle child sandwiched between Natalie’s mom and Aunt Carol Ann. As a child, Lace had battled a severe stutter and it had made her extremely introverted. She’d finally conquered the stutter, but she’d never gotten over the shyness. She was a beautiful girl—the prettiest one in the current crop of Millie Greenwood’s granddaughters—with alabaster skin, in spite of the fact she spent most of her days outdoors as a botanist for the botanical gardens; coal black hair; and startling light blue eyes. Everyone said she looked just like Snow White (and the unkind might silently mumble, If Snow White was thirty pounds