The Erik triplets reassured her that she had nothing to apologize for. They left the plans with her so she and Daniel could look over them at a less hormonal moment and Emily told them she’d see them later that day.

Just then Chantelle ran into the room. Yvonne must have just dropped her home following her sleep-over with Bailey.

“Mommy!” she cried, running toward Emily and throwing her arms around her neck. She bestowed kisses onto her cheeks. “Wait, why are you crying?” she asked, moving away.

Emily wiped the tears away. “Pregnancy hormones,” she said in a hushed voice. Then she put a finger to her lips.

“Our secret,” Chantelle said with a nod. She jumped up off Emily’s lap. “When does the Memorial Day Parade start?”

Emily checked the time. “Not long now. Once Daddy’s back from the store we can all go together.”

Chantelle clapped her hands. She loved a parade, and anything where she got to spend time with her friends.

Emily, too, was excited. Not just because she loved the memorial parade, but because Amy was in Sunset Harbor at the moment visiting her new boyfriend, Harry, the younger brother of Daniel’s friend George. So far, Amy had kept him completely to herself. Emily was growing increasingly curious about meeting him. In fact, she’d only seen him once, before Amy had revealed they were dating, and just fleetingly. She couldn’t even remember what he looked like, other than boyish. Amy was clearly in the beginning throes of lust because she’d been keeping her relationship very private, just as she had done with Fraser. Amy had a habit of not wanting any external sources to influence her relationship decisions. It had taken ages for Emily to get Amy to relent to introducing Harry, reminding Amy that she hadn’t let her vet Fraser and that had ended disastrously. Amy had finally agreed that the parade was a suitable place for them to have an actual conversation, and now the time had finally arrived for Emily to meet the man who had managed to change Amy’s mind about her little old town so thoroughly. She couldn’t wait!

Maybe Harry was Amy’s The One?

As expected, the town was packed with all the locals and many tourists out in force to show their respect to the troops of yore. In fact, Emily was certain she’d never seen Sunset Harbor this busy. It felt as if the place had changed quite a bit in the time she’d lived here. It wasn’t as sleepy anymore.

“Is it me, or are there more people here than usual?” Daniel asked her, as they strolled along together hand in hand.

“I was just thinking the same thing,” Emily said, looking about her to see if she could spot Amy and Harry anywhere in the crowd.

Just then, they saw Karen from the convenience store up ahead. They walked toward her and she turned as they drew up to her side. She hugged them all, thrilled to see them as always.

“It’s so busy, isn’t it?” she exclaimed, echoing their sentiments.

“More so than usual,” Emily agreed.

“It’s because of Roman Westbrook,” Karen said, and she pointed to the other side of the road where the famous singer was waiting to watch the parade. Her eyes sparkled with excitement at the presence of the pop star on their humble streets.

Roman was standing with an entourage, something that he hadn’t needed before. Emily realized that someone must have blabbed to the papers about him moving here, and she couldn’t help but feel disappointed to know that word had gotten to the press so quickly. He’d been trying to keep his move here a secret to keep his privacy for as long as possible.