“Of course I do!” Daisy exclaimed, taking them in. “Wow. How long’s it been? You two haven’t changed much.”
“Probably four years,” Amber said. “They were at our wedding.”
“And now you’re having your own wedding,” Daisy said. “Congratulations! If you want to get married at Ludbury House, you’d better book soon. Shane swore me to secrecy, but—” she lowered her voice and looked around “—Hailey booked a June wedding and a major movie star will be in attendance. They’re already talking about security. I’m sure the popularity of Ludbury House will explode after that.”
“Oh, wow,” Amber said. “I’ll call Hailey first thing tomorrow.” She turned to Ian and Kate. “That’s the wedding planner I told you about.”
Kate nodded enthusiastically. Ian kept his mouth shut. He thought it was way too soon to book a venue, not knowing where they’d be a year from now, but this wasn’t the time for them to discuss it.
Daisy smiled. “It’s so nice you two are getting married. My sister and I married brothers too.”
“Keeping it all in the family,” Barry said.
“And the kids are close as siblings,” Daisy said. “They fight like siblings too.”
“Well, they do share a lot of DNA,” Barry said.
“True,” Daisy replied. “How’s Violet?”
“She’s great,” Amber said. “How’s Bryce and Cole?”
“Oh, those two!” Daisy said affectionately. “Rough and tumble as ever. Now that Bryce is six, he wants to be more like Daddy. He even drove Trav’s riding mower, on his own, trying to be a landscaper.”
“Ooh, boy!” Barry exclaimed. “Better lock up the machinery.”
“We do, but he stole the key,” Daisy said. “We’ve got to be one step ahead of that one. Unfortunately, Cole worships big brother, so that means we have to be twice as vigilant in case of a copycat move.”
“Daisy, would you and your husband consider yourself a happily married couple?” Kate asked abruptly.
Ian stifled a groan.
Daisy cocked her head. “Yeah, I would.”
“And how long have you been a happily married couple?” Kate asked.
Daisy looked to the ceiling. “I want to say six years.” She looked at Kate. “No, Bryce is six, so it must be five years.”
“You mean the reverse,” Kate said. Ian elbowed her. Kate scooted over like he needed more room. He had to remember she didn’t do subtle.
“No, Bryce came first,” Daisy said with a laugh. “We did everything backwards, but it all worked out.”
Kate pressed on. “May I ask how you decided on careers, child care, and financial decisions?”
Ian dropped his head in his hands.
Daisy laughed. “Trav just wants me to be happy. He’s on board for whatever. He’s so easygoing. Except when it comes to dinner. I’d better get going. I’ve got his favorite meatloaf to go.”
Ian raised his head. “Bye. Nice to see you.”
“Thank you for sharing your marital wisdom,” Kate said solemnly.
Daisy exchanged an amused look with Amber. “Sure thing. Good luck!”
Ian turned to Kate once Daisy was out of earshot. “You have to stop asking people about their marriage.”
Kate huffed. “I’m merely making a scientific inquiry. How else am I supposed to navigate these strange waters?”
“We’ll make our own scientific inquiry,” he said just to shut the whole embarrassing thing down. “Okay? Just the two of us.”
“That would be most satisfactory,” Kate replied. She smoothed her hair. “Please excuse my formal tone. This has been a very emotional couple of days.” And then she took a sip of his beer, which was a very good sign. Maybe he’d get lucky tonight after all.
Or not.
As soon as he and Kate settled in the guest room that night, she shut the door and locked it. That seemed promising. Since he was already in bed under the covers, he went to strip off his boxer briefs, but she caught the movement and stopped him.
“No. We’ll remain dressed for this conversation on our scientific experiment, and I’ll remain by the door.”
“And then will you join me?” She wore an oversized white T-shirt that was practically see-through and barely covered her ass. He couldn’t wait to rip it off her.
“Of course. I need to sleep too.” She paced the room, giving him tantalizing glimpses of pink panties, and finally stopped at the foot of the bed. “So we’ll be running our own scientific inquiry into marriage. This is very important business. I fear everyone knows the secret but us. How do you suggest we proceed?”
He had no idea.
She scowled. “You just said we’d make a scientific inquiry to shut me up, didn’t you?”
“No, no. I really meant it.” He thought fast. What would be a reasonable experiment that wouldn’t be too difficult? “I was thinking…”
She pushed her glasses in place. “Yes?”
He stacked some pillows behind him and maneuvered to a sitting position, needing the extra time to think. “We need a hypothesis.”
“Of course.”
He couldn’t be too elaborate with the hypothesis since they were mostly long distance. Hmm…
She put her hands on her hips. “I’m getting the feeling you have no more clue than I do, which means we…are…doomed!” That doomed part came out awfully loud.
“Shh, we’re not doomed! C’mere, I need a kiss for inspiration.”
“You do not! You’re trying to short-circuit our conversation.” Damn, she was onto him. She started pacing again, muttering to herself. She stopped abruptly, turned to him, and said in a grave voice, “Perhaps I should cancel our experiment.”
His stomach dropped. Fuck. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he had to be honest. “I’m, uh, not sure I’m ready for marriage. I mean, I hoped we’d get married one day, down the road—”
“So you’re calling off the engagement?” she asked in a small voice that made his heart squeeze.
“No,” he said quickly. “I just…” Inspiration struck. “Maybe we could do this experiment, and if it goes well, we—” he cleared his throat “—get married sooner, and if it doesn’t go the way we hoped, we go back to the long-distance thing.” He relaxed a bit. An out clause definitely eased that trapped feeling.
She frowned and sat on the edge of the bed, her hands clasped tightly in her lap.
He joined her, sitting on the edge of the bed, and put his hand on top of hers. “Long distance with the ultimate goal of marriage…down the road.”
She turned to him. “I’m confused.”
He framed it scientifically to make it clearer for her. “Our hypothesis is that small-scale marriage will be an indicator of large-scale success.”
“O-kay,” she said slowly, “tell me the rest of the experiment parameters.”
“Uh…” Think! The pressure of outthinking a brilliant physicist was staggering sometimes. “That means we should do a trial run.”
She tilted her head. “I’m intrigued. A trial run to eliminate any doubts of our future together in a permanent commitment.”
He focused on the first part because “permanent commitment” was still making him jumpy. “It’s a good idea to eliminate any doubts.”
“You have doubts.”
“Not because of you.”
Her blue eyes were direct, pinning him in place. “Then it must be because of you.”
“I guess.” He swallowed, hating to admit anything that might hurt her, like the fact she’d pulled the lever on the trapdoor the moment she proposed and he’d been in a terrifying free fall ever since. “I love you,” he added for good measure.
She sighed. “I love you too. Back to the experiment. When shall we begin?”
“When do you have time off?”
“I can move in with you for the entire month of May. Two weeks of vacation, two weeks of working off-site. I’ve been wanting to focus more on data analysis.”
Whoa
. A whole month. They’d only ever been together two weeks max. He pushed the panicky trapped feeling down. It was only two weeks more than their longest visit. Surely he could manage that. And he had an out clause. They could always go back to their long-distance relationship. This was really a win-win.
“Great!” he exclaimed, putting as much enthusiasm into it as a fiancé should. Technically they were still engaged, and he couldn’t bear to tell her differently so soon after her heartfelt proposal. “We’ll try living together then. See how it goes.” He relaxed. Yes, this was a good idea. A trial run.
“Ian,” she said softly.
He pushed a lock of soft blond hair back from her face. “What?”
She stared straight ahead. “At the conclusion of this experiment, will you be breaking up with me?”
“Kate! Of course not.”
She turned to him, a puzzled look on her face. “Then what’s the point if you’ve already concluded we’ll be together?”
“It’s just a question of when. Right? Should we let the relationship go on longer before tying the knot?”
She nodded once. “Perhaps some compatibility testing is in order.”
“Already compatible.”
She huffed. “If we’re not going to do this scientifically, then I don’t see the point.”
“Okay, okay.”
She stood and paced by the foot of the bed before finally saying in a grave tone, “I’ll research major issues in marriage, and then I’ll construct an experiment, which we’ll do during our trial run of living together.”
Well, that was a helluva lot easier than him coming up with something. He was sure she’d find a flaw in any scientific experiment he devised. Give him coding any day.
“That works,” he said, earning one of her rare beaming smiles. “Let’s keep it just between us, okay?”
“Of course,” she replied. “We don’t want outside influences to hinder the results.”
“I’m sure we’ll pass with flying colors.”
“Please try to be objective.”
“I’ll be completely objective,” he said solemnly.
She held up a finger. “Like an experiment on two chimps in love that you’ve never met. No preconceived judgments on either chimp.”
“Sure.”
Two chimps doing the chimp love thing? Primal animal heat. Yup. Buckle up for a fun ride!
Chapter Five
Let me off this thing!
Kate was scaring the bejeezus out of him and it wasn’t even nine a.m. They were driving over to Ludbury House with Amber to meet with the wedding planner, which would’ve been terrifying all on its own, but then Kate was telling him and Amber all about the twenty journal articles on positive marriage outcomes in America she’d already bookmarked for the experiment. She was tossing out scary words like “transactional analysis” and “differentiation,” and he was desperately trying to steer the conversation to absolutely anything else. The weather, the Sox, Violet, even physics fell flat.
Kate didn’t steer easily.
Or at all.
Amber had announced the wedding planner appointment at breakfast, and then Kate had informed everyone that it was a practical thing to do regardless of their experimental outcome since they were only in town for the weekend.
Amber had laughed. Barry shot Ian a questioning look.
“Don’t ask,” Ian said. The rest had been a blur of excited sister talk that he hadn’t had the heart to stomp on with a reminder of his and Kate’s agreement from last night. He told himself this would just be an exploratory outing. Kate was a practical woman. She understood they would still have a trial run before anything definite was planned.
Now Amber parked, and they all got out of the car at Ludbury House. Kate lagged behind, reading on her cell phone, muttering about a newly discovered mathematical equation of love.
“This is her version of wedding planning,” Amber told him with a smile. “She brings a scientific point of view to everything.”
“I don’t think love is scientific,” he confided.
“Untrue,” Kate said, surprising him. He thought she was thoroughly immersed in her love equation. “There have been numerous scientific studies on chemistry, relationships, and marital outcomes.”
He crossed back to Kate, took her hand, and brushed his lips across her knuckles. Her eyes snapped to his, her jaw dropping.
He smiled and pressed under her chin, closing her mouth. “At least you know we have chemistry.”
“That’s one of the key indicators of long-term relationship success,” she said in a breathy voice.
He cupped her jaw, tilted her head up, and watched her eyes flutter closed. He pressed his lips to hers gently. “It’s fun too.”
“Come on, you two,” Amber called over her shoulder. “We don’t want to be late.”
They caught up with Amber and crossed from the back parking lot around to the front door of what locals called “the mansion.” It was an impressive building, a sprawling two-and-a-half-story white clapboard house with white columns and a wraparound porch. It was a former estate, owned by the town of Clover Park, and used for community events and weddings.
Ian stepped ahead of the women and opened the heavy wooden door for them. He joined them in a large two-story foyer with a crystal chandelier and, beyond that, a huge staircase.
“Welcome to Ludbury House!” a woman exclaimed, rushing to greet them from where she must’ve been waiting in a room next to the foyer. She had long, wavy light red hair, pale blue eyes, and a form-fitting green dress showing off a killer body. Not that he noticed stuff like that anymore. “I’m Hailey Adams, your wedding planner! You must be Ian, Kate, and Amber!”
“That’s right,” Amber said.
Hailey beamed. “Right this way!” She gestured with an enthusiastic wave of her hand and turned on her high heels toward the back of the house. They followed her to a large empty ballroom with a table and chairs set directly in the center under an elaborate gold and crystal chandelier.
“Have a seat,” Hailey said, gesturing to the red velvet cushioned chairs at the table. “I’ll be right back.”
They settled at the table to wait. Amber and Kate admired a vase full of red and pink flowers on the table. Ian stared at three white binders that gave him hives. That looked like a lot of planning, a lot of decisions, and a definite outlay of money that made the trapped feeling worse. This appointment had probably been a mistake.
Hailey returned, holding a small rose corsage in a plastic container. “So which one is the bride?”
Kate raised her hand, her expression serious like they were in school.
“Then this is for you!” Hailey exclaimed. She pulled the red rose with baby’s breath out of the container and pinned it to Kate’s blue sweater.
“Congratulations, Kate!” Hailey exclaimed.
Kate stared at the corsage.
Hailey took her seat across from them and set a few business cards on the table. “We’re meeting in the center of the ballroom because I want you to feel what it’ll be like when you’re the center of attention at the reception.” She smiled at Kate. “Every bride is special at Ludbury House.” At Kate’s continued silent staring at her corsage, Hailey gave her a look of concern. “Are you okay?”
Kate met Hailey’s eyes with an expression of wonder. “I’ve never had a corsage before.”
Ian’s chest clutched. Kate had missed out on so much with her strict formal upbringing. She hadn’t gone to prom or any other dance for that matter. Never even dated before he hooked up with her that first time. He took her hand and squeezed. This appointment hadn’t been a mistake. Kate deserved to feel special, whether or not they waited to get married a comfortable distance down the road.
Kate gazed at him, her eyes a little glassy. “It’s starting to feel real now,” she said hoarsely.
Ian turned to Hailey. “Give the bride whatever she wants.”
Amber sucked in an audible breath.
He’d eat ramen noodles for a year if that was what it took to come up with the money. Nothing mattered except Kate having her moment.
“Ian,” Kate whispered, “we haven’t even completed our experiment yet.”
“I’m postulating the results will be positive,” he returned, trying to sound as scientific as possible.
“Well, I don’t know,” Kate said. “I still think an experiment will be worthwhile.”
“You can do your experiment and plan your wedding at the same time,” Amber put in.
Kate studied her sister and slowly smiled. “Okay.”
“Wonderful!” Hailey exclaimed. “This will be so fun. Kate, tell me how you imagined your big day.”
Kate got a dreamy, faraway look, a wistful smile playing over her lips. “It’s a little out there,” she whispered.
“We want this to be your dream wedding,” Hailey said, leaning across the table eagerly. “Tell me absolutely everything.”
Pink tinged Kate’s cheeks, and she looked over at Amber. “It’s kinda over the top.”
“Now you have to say it,” Amber said with a grin. “You can’t tease us and not spill.”
Hailey nodded and smiled encouragingly at Kate.
“Whatever you want,” Ian said, though he really hoped it wasn’t physics related. Or some kind of sci-fi theme. He wasn’t so into a Star Trek wedding.
Kate wound a lock of hair around her finger, took a deep breath, and then confessed her dream wedding, shocking him. It sounded like a fairy tale. Kate described herself wearing a puffy white gown, gloves up to her elbows, tiara, and silver shoes with crystals. Him in a tux with top hat and tails. Ballroom dancing by candlelight. The two of them leaving in a horse-drawn carriage. It occurred to him that he’d merely scratched the surface with getting to know his fascinating girlfriend. A serious physicist with secret romantic longings. The cool thing was the more he got to know her, the deeper he fell in love.
He tuned out when Hailey cracked open the first binder full of pictures and described all the possibilities for the ceremony, catering, flowers, cake, music, and transportation. He kept his gaze fixed on Kate, glowing and happy, as she pointed to pictures of things she liked. This was all that mattered. A happy Kate.
Almost Hitched Page 4