Blake breaks into a laugh as he collects our plates. “Sure, Henwood. You keep telling yourself that.”
Once he’s walked away, I glance at Logan, knowing my cheeks are burning with heat. “He’s too nosy.”
Logan raises an eyebrow. “What’s there to be nosy about?”
I reach under the table and put my hand on his leg. “I don’t know. You tell me.”
He leans closer so he can whisper in my ear. “I’d prefer to have you alone to do that. When can we get out of here?”
I inhale sharply. “Not yet. They haven’t even brought out dessert.”
I lick my lips, suddenly feeling a strange case of nerves hit me. Ridiculous. Logan and I have slept together tons of times. We were each other’s first, for goodness sake. But tonight feels different somehow. And I hate that I’m even saying that to myself.
The ceremony was fake, Macey. Fake.
“Mace?”
My eyes flick to Logan’s.
“We don’t have to do anything tonight. We can just hang out.”
His hand is steady as he lays it over mine, and the frenzied look in his eyes disappears.
And just like that, I relax. Logan will never push me to do anything I’m not ready for. He never has. I trust him implicitly. With my body and with my heart.
I smile at him. “Nothing’s changed on my end, Mr. Darcy.”
But before he can answer me?—
“Excuse me, everyone!” From the front of the room, Daddy taps a spoon to the glass of water he’s holding and then grabs the microphone George hands him from behind the bar. “Macey—I mean, Mrs. Darcy—come sit up at the bar and face the crowd.” My father gestures to two stools next to him. “Mr. Darcy, you too.”
“This can’t be good.” I stand up reluctantly and follow Logan to the barstools.
“Frederick Woodholm Haskins, Darcy’s founder, couldn’t make his sweet Vivian happy,” Daddy says into the mic. “Why don’t you two newlyweds tell the fine people of Darcy your opinions on the pillars and perils of marriage?”
“Sweet Vivian, my ass,” I mumble.
Daddy thrusts the microphone into my face. “What’s that, darlin’?”
“I’m just saying that Vivian was less sweet and a whole lot salty if you ask me.”
“As well she should have been,” Mama says from her position next to Daddy. “A woman scorned may not look pretty, but at least she’s fighting.”
Daddy winces as the loud sound of women clapping in the crowd drowns out Mama’s next sentence.
I move to stand. “Can we go now?”
But Daddy shakes his head at me and puts up a hand to try to silence the room. “One pillar and one peril for marriage, Mrs. Darcy. Give the room your answers.”
I squirm as the spotlight returns to me. “I plead the fifth.”
Mama sighs before she grabs the microphone out of Daddy’s hand and walks over to Logan so she can hold it in front of his mouth. “Mr. Darcy, maybe you should go first. What do you think is a pillar in a good marriage?”
“Um, love?” Logan says, looking as uncomfortable as I feel. “I guess the kind of love where you’d do anything for her.”
“And a peril?” Mama asks Logan.
There’s an awkward beat of silence before?—
