Then she looked at her family with an accusatory glare. “You’re all embarrassing me.”
“You did that yourself,” one of the twins said. I wasn't sure which.
“You could at least pretend to be surprised,” she insisted.
Her mother waved that idea away immediately. “No.”
Vani looked offended. “What do you mean by no?”
“I decline on behalf of everyone.”
That only seemed to annoy her more, as she began mumbling to herself about how she was being bullied.
Her mother turned back to me calmly, ignoring her daughter's complaints.
“There is only one thing we need to know,” she said.
I straightened slightly, expecting something serious. Whatever it was, I would do it. As long as I get to keep Vani by my side. “What is it?”
She smiled politely. “Are you two going to have a wedding?”
I just stared at her, stunned for the hundredth time today. That was the big question? I looked to my wife, needing her opinion on the matter. While I would love nothing more than to show her off to the world with a grand wedding, it was ultimately her choice, and I would respect her decision.
She looked back at me, gracing me with her beautiful smile.
“Yes,” she said. "It'll be fun."
I nodded, looking back at my mother-in-law. “Yes, we'll have a wedding.”
Her father laughed loudly. “You already understand the key to a good marriage. Happy wife, happy life.”
29- Evania
By the time dinner ended, my father leaned back in his chair with the satisfied look of a man who had just eaten a meal he didn’t have to cook.
After dinner, my father and brother asked Callahan to step away with them for a while. It wasn’t phrased like an interrogation, but I knew my family well enough to understand exactly what it was. My father had that calm, measured look he always wore when he wanted answers, and my brother had the same quiet intensity that made most people feel like they were being evaluated even when he wasn’t speaking. Callahan glanced at me briefly before following them out of the dining room, his expression curious but not nervous. I had a feeling he could handle whatever questions they were about to throw at him.
My brother pushed his chair back at the same time, already rising. Callahan glanced at me for half a second, one brow lifting as if silently asking if he should be worried.
I shrugged lightly.
“Good luck,” I murmured.
His lips twitched before he followed them out of the dining room. The moment the door closed behind the three of them, the room fell into a silence that felt… suspicious. I turned slowly to find that my mother and sisters were all staring at me.
They looked like a pack of detectives who had finally cornered their suspect.
“Oh no,” I said immediately. “Absolutely not. I know that look.”
My mother didn’t respond. Instead, she calmly stood up and walked toward the kitchen. When she returned, my suspicion turned into reluctant amusement.
My favorite ice cream. Chocolate fudge swirl.
She walked back into the room and set it down in front of me with exaggerated care.
“Tell us everything,” she said sweetly.
I crossed my arms. “Bribery isn’t going to work, especially when I own a supermarket.”
