Maid for Love (A Romantic Comedy) by Caroline Mickelson

caught totally off guard by her mother's arrival. Just why Marlene had turned up out of nowhere, he didn't have time to ask when she'd called to announce her plans but it served his purpose admirably. With Zoe's mother there when he proposed, it would be a true family affair.
    "You look pretty calm for a guy's who about to shackle himself to someone for a really long time."
    Michael shot a sideways look at his nephew. "I should have let your sister ride shotgun."   "Just kidding." Josh grinned. "I'm actually kind of nervous for you."
    Michael followed the GPS provided directions and turned right. "Why?"
    "What if Zoe says no?"
    "I hadn't thought of that," Michael confessed. He probably should have given how spooked Zoe had been when he'd brought up marriage last year. She'd been unsettled enough at the idea of matrimony that she'd broken up with him. But a lot had changed in a year's time and he knew that Zoe loved him. Marriage seemed the inevitable next step.
    "Uncle M? Hello?" Kathryn called from the back seat. "Are you still with us?"
    Michael met her gaze in the rear view mirror. He smiled reassuringly. "I was just thinking. Don't tell me you're worried too?"
    She shook her head. "Not really. I think Zoe will say yes. I hope she does. I really like her. We both do." She reached forward and poked her brother's shoulder to get his attention. "Did Zoe act suspicious when you guys were getting ice cream?"
    "Nope." Josh's smile was smug. "She didn't have a clue that you two were looking for a ring. I was asking her for fashion advice and had her totally distracted."
    "Yeah, cause you're such a fashion nightmare," Kathryn teased him.
    Michael laughed. "Sorry but you set yourself up for that one."
    Josh rolled his eyes. "Whatever."
    Michael pulled into the restaurant parking lot. He switched off the engine. "Wish me luck."
    Kathryn leaned forward and patted his shoulder. "You don't need luck, you've got love on your side."
    Josh's smile was reassuring. "You've got this, Uncle Michael. It's totally going to work."
    ***
    "I'm telling you, Zoe, it's not going to work. Not the way you think it will."
    Zoe still couldn't believe her mother had come all the way up to Nantucket. But here she was, sitting in the passenger seat, her bracelets making a tinkling sound and her jasmine perfume overwhelming Zoe's senses. All of this was vintage Marlene, except for the doom and gloom predictions that she'd been issuing non-stop since they got in the car.
    "Are you not hearing me?" A sigh of epic proportions conveyed the extent of Marlene's frustration. "It's not like you to be so closed off to reason, Zoe. This is not how I raised you."
    This comment Zoe couldn't leave unchallenged. "Untrue, mother. If you've said it once, you've said a trillion times that a woman should know her own mind. Not only that, I've heard you decry women who won't live and love with passion. So it's highly hypocritical for you to begrudge me my time with Michael."
    "Is that what you think I'm doing here? How ridiculous." Her mother spent the next few moments looking out the window at the passing scenery without saying a word.
    Which only meant she was searching her arsenal of words for the most pointed ones. The battle wasn't over. Sure she knew what was coming, Zoe began to count backwards from five. Four, three, two, one....
    "I want nothing more than for you to be happy," her mother began, right on cue. "Which is why I want to stop you from throwing away your chance at happiness with Michael. He's a good man."
    "Ah, we can agree on that, at least."
    "Don't be smart with me, young lady. You may be too old for me to ground but I am still your mother. And I care desperately what happens to you."
    Her mother's last few words took the fight right out of Zoe. "I know, mother. And I realize that I sound ungrateful to you," she took one hand off the steering wheel and held it up to forestall her mother from launching into a long speech. "But I have to do what I have to