“Hayden, what is it?”
“Well, um… Darcy thinks he found a wife.”
“Hmm, that’s good,” she mumbles as she dumps coffee grinds into the filter, then picks up the pot. “Who is it?”
After a beat, I answer. “Me.”
The sound of glass shattering echoes from the other end of the phone.
“Stella! Are you okay?” Lucas shouts. Moments later, his face enters the screen. He stares at Stella as she stares at me with wild, gray eyes.
“You said yes?” she finally asks.
“What? Of course not. I haven’t said anything.”
“Somebody tell me what happened,” Lucas demands. “My favorite household appliance is shattered on the floor.”
“Darcy proposed to Hayden,” Stella responds, still seemingly in shock.
Now, Lucas looks like a deer in the headlights. “Hayden. He’s a billionaire. And running for president of the United States.The United States!”
“I know,” I groan.
“You could be First Lady. I could say I know the First Lady of the United States,” he continues in his southern drawl. “Do it. Marry him.”
Stella and I both glare at him.
“What?” he asks in an innocent tone. Stella shoves him out of the frame.
“Will you clean this up, Luca? I really need to talk to Hayden.” There’s a pause, and then she adds, “Alone.”
“Fine,” he sulks. “Though you broke it.”
“I owe you one.” Stella smiles broadly off camera, then leaves the kitchen.
“Well, I guess I don’t need coffee. That news alone is like an IV line of caffeine straight to the heart.”
“Stella. I need help,” I snap a finger in front of my face to capture her attention. “I’m actually considering his offer. Talk me out of it. Tell me I’m being utterly ridiculous and anti-woman. Tell me that I’m not being a good Christian and am making the biggest mistake of my existence.”
Stella hums to herself for a moment, her eyes looking everywhere but at me. “What’s in it for you?” she finally asks.
“No more student loans. A place to live. A nearly tripled salary,” I huff. “A big enticer, right?”
“But if he wins—”
“When he wins,” I correct her. She raises an eyebrow.
“When he wins, then you will become First Lady of the United States. Hayden Bennett, First Lady. It has a nice ring to it,” Stella muses.
Heat creeps up my face. “Um, well. I think my name would legally be Hayden Marshall.”
“I’ll be.” She shakes her head, while I bite my tongue not to comment on how southern she sounds right now. “That sounds better than your real name. Hayden Marshall, First Lady of the United States.”
My stomach twists, and I have the urge to vomit. I swallow it down. “No more vomiting just because something makes you uncomfortable,” I chastise myself. Hayden Bennett. HaydenMarshall. Hayden Bennett Marshall. Hayden has-no-middle-name Bennett Marshall.
How can a woman without a middle name be the First Lady? Or marry a man of Darcy’s caliber? I don’t like this feeling of inferiority; I work hard to remind myself that the Lord says no human is above another human. But right now…
“What’s that?” Stella asks, pulling me from my thoughts.
