“Good advice.” Lucas nods. “You’re a certified communication expert. How’d that happen?”
“Marriage is the best practice.” He grins as Lucas puffs out air and agrees, tugging at the sleeves of his flannel shirt.
“I’ll think about it,” I say. “There’s a lot I would have to do with both of the community centers to plan my absence.”
“Plan your absence through New Year's,” Lucas mentions with a wink. “Just in case the woman is stupid enough to keep a hopeless fool like you around.” But as he says those words, he laughs and draws me in for a bro-hug.
“Love you, man,” I say through my laugh, feeling a little more confident than I did before, though the fear is still lurking somewhere in the depths of my nervous system.
The next day, as I’m making the long drive back to Juniper Grove, I look up plane tickets to Korsa. I also take a huge risk, asking the mayor of Juniper Grove for Lucy’s sister’s phone number,since he used to be her boss. I reckoned if he didn’t have it then it would be a sign not to go.
But he did have it.
And Lorelei answers my call.
“Lorelei Spence,” she answers in a voice that’s slightly deeper than her sister’s. “Who am I speaking with?”
I swallow and release a breath away from the speaker of my phone. “Hi, Lorelei,” I begin. “My name is Stone Harper, and I’d like to talk to you about your sister.”
Silence ensues between us, just the rumble of the road beneath my tires. Finally, she clears her throat. “What about my sister?”If a tone could cut and kill…
“To be frank,” my voice shakes. I try again. “I love her, and I would like to show her I love her by honoring an agreement we had regarding your wedding. I promised her a regency dance to a Taylor Swift instrumental, and I want to follow through.”
Lorelei is quick as a whip to answer. “What are your intentions post-dance?”
“If Lucy May will have me, I plan to honestly date her with the intention of marriage.”
She laughs, murmuring something about intentions of marriage. For a moment, fear grips me. She’s going to turn me away. And if the bride doesn’t want me at the wedding, there’s no way I’m going.
Especially to a royal wedding.
“She told me everything, Stone. Did you actually do what you said you would do and work on your relationship with Christ? Can you truly love my sister?”
I vehemently nod though she can’t see me. “Yes. I can. And I do. I want to prove it to her.”
“You hurt her badly. I know—and she knows—that she allowed it to happen because of her own attachment issues. She’s been working hard on overcoming her anxious attachment. If you show up to my wedding, which I am allowing you to do only because she sent me pictures of the little book you wrote her, and I found it to be honest and true, then you better be one-hundred percent sure that you will not play around with her feelings.”
I take a deep breath, a smile breaking out across my face. I’m too relieved to care that Lucy showed Lorelei my story. That’s her twin sister, after all. Of course they talk. “Thank you so much, Lorelei. I look forward to meeting my future sister-in-law.”
BEAT SEVEN
CLIMAX // "DAYLIGHT"
Chapter 23
Lucy
“My baby, you are breathtaking,” Mama blubbers, reaching out her hands as if to touch Lorelei’s pinned-up, slicked back hair but remembering she shouldn’t mess it up.
“I never thought this would happen to someone in our family,” Dad exclaims. “You’re royalty. Do I look good enough to walk you down the aisle?”
“Dad, you look snazzy in your suit,” I comment.
“Very decadent, indeed, Mr. Spence,” Mama coos, running her hand down his chest.
Dad beams. “Don’t get me started on how attractive my wife looks in that navy blue dress.”
“Okay, enough you two.” Lorelei laughs. “You both look stunning.”
