On the inside, there were windows tall enough to make me dizzy, dark wood finish, and sweeping staircases. Velvet drapesand carved fireplaces. On instinct, I clasped my hands behind my back, feeling like a kid who might get scolded if I touched anything.
Glorious didn’t even begin to cover this place.
“I hope Sterling has a map for us,” Laney muttered as she came up beside me. “I’ll never find my way to the door again without one.”
I chuckled, the sound completely breathless. “I’m glad it’s not just me.”
“You’re right this way, Maisie,” CC called when we reached a landing on the staircase. She smiled at Laney. “Sterling will show you to the master.”
Laney muttered something under her breath that I couldn’t quite make out. She turned to wait for her smirking husband to come upstairs. He looked ridiculously smug as his piercing blue eyes swept across her face. Then he tucked her under his arm, bent his head closer to hers, whispered something that made her blush beet red.
As I watched them go, I sighed, wondering if Callum and I would ever be that happy together. I didn’t dwell on it, though. There was nothing I could do now but brace for impact, so I followed CC to a guest suite with ceilings so high, I’d need a ladder to close the curtains.
The giant four-poster bed against one wall was big enough to fit a dozen of me and a hockey team, and the bathtub in my ensuite could double as a swimming pool. I sank down onto the mattress, trying to take it all in.
This was supposed to have been a courthouse marriage but here I was, preparing for what would inevitably be an unforgettable wedding. It was taking place in a freaking castle, for heaven’s sake. About an hour later, I was still trying not to obsess about whether the wedding was even going to happenwhen I heard loud, familiar voices echoing through the stone wall.
My heart leapt.They’re here! Finally, Brody is here!
That had been the longest we’d ever been apart—by all three days they’d been gone—and regardless of everything else that had been going on, I’d missed him something awful. HimandCallum.
Hurrying out of my room, I followed the voices and finally found myself back in the cavernous main foyer. My heart skipped when I saw Callum, broad-shouldered with his hair a tiny bit messy from travel, standing with Brody at his side.
My little boy looked around with big eyes, clutching the strap of his backpack and talking to Callum, Michael, and Mason about how much this place looked like Hogwarts. My parents were behind them, smiling but looking a little overwhelmed themselves.
I went straight for Brody, crouching to hug him tight, tears jumping to my eyes. “Hey, baby boy. How are you? How was the flight? Did you like the plane?”
“I loved it,” he said, breathless with excitement. “Do you think knights used to live here? Or wizards. It was definitely wizards, right? Has anyone asked if there’s a dungeon? I bet there is one.”
“No dungeon,” CC’s voice rang out as she swept down the staircase as gracefully as a swan, immediately introducing herself and hugging my mom like she’d known her all her life. “Follow me please, everybody. Your things will be taken to your rooms shortly. I’m sure you’re all starving after the flight.”
I rose out of my crouch and lifted my gaze to Callum’s. He opened his arms for me, but there was something strange in his eyes. A darkness. Maybe even suspicion. My stomach suddenly felt queasy, but I walked right into him, wrapping my arms around his neck and melting into him.
My eyes closed and I breathed him in, just savoring being with him again. He held me just as tight, his face buried in my hair and his lips eventually moving against it. “Hey. You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m good.” My voice was muffled by his chest, but I didn’t care. I just clung to him until Mason finally smacked my arm.
“It’s good to see you too, sis. Jeez, I know it’s been a couple days since you last saw him, but you haven’t seen me for months.”
As fast as that, we were separated by my brother hauling me into his arms for a bear hug instead. Within minutes, CC had us all seated around a massive table in what appeared to be a dining hall. Loud voices bubbled over each other as our families met and started talking.
Callum was right next to me, but we were trapped in multiple different conversations and there was absolutely no way we could speak in private right now. I could feel his eyes on me, though. And I reached for his hand under the table, finding comfort when his palm pressed against mine.
Please, let us get through this. Weneedto get through it. I know it’s probably wrong, but I love him. I love him even if I haven’t been entirely honest with him.
Dinner was ridiculous, course after course of food the names of which I couldn’t even pronounce, but I barely tasted a thing. Not with Callum sitting beside me, his thigh brushing mine, his voice polite and smooth while he held court at the table like he’d been born to do it.
Eventually, Harrison and Michael fell into a conversation about an up-and-coming hockey player they both thought the big leagues should be paying more attention to. Jameson and Mason found common ground discussing stocks, and Callum finally leaned over to me. I felt his breath ghosting across my ear, and once again, my eyes almost slid shut.
Until I realized what he was saying.
“We need to talk,” he murmured, his voice low enough that no one else would be able to hear it. “In private. As soon as possible.”
My fork froze halfway to my mouth and my heart lurched like it was trying to climb right out of my chest. I managed a small nod, panic curling through me.Does he know? No, he can’t, right? How would he have found out?
Still, I couldn’t eat another bite after that, simply waiting impatiently for dinner to be over. Unfortunately, after dinner, our families moved from the dining room to Sterling’s cigar room. The space was absurdly masculine, the scent of leather, oak, and sweet tobacco smoke clinging to the air.
We’d hardly walked in when CC waved my mom and me over. “Come on, ladies. There’s a sitting room we can go to that doesn’t smell like the inside of the male ego.”
