I nodded because I did understand, and as much as I wanted to lash out at Van, none of this was his fault. He could’ve left anytime.
“Apparently,” Van said, “he hit it off with the cop who arrested him for trespassing.”
Trespassing while finding a life away from me. My heart wrung itself out.
Van tucked his phone away like he sensed I felt better the farther away it was. “I gathered from the conversation that you need to be married in order to live in the house you planned to move to?”
“Yes.” I was hoarse. He pushed over a bottle of water. I chugged it, thirstier than I imagined. “Grandma was some sort of romantic and tied our inheritance into properties that we have to be married to get. To even live in.” I snorted and fought off the tears collecting in my eyes yet again. “I guess it worked for all my other siblings. I thought I was going to be the oddball. I fell in love first and then got married instead of saying my vows just to get the place. Except for Violet, but she and Evander sort of— Never mind.”
If I rambled more, Van might understand why his brother ditched me. Maybe he already did. Who knew what Elijah had said about me?
“And you need a place to live to secure the job you got?” Van asked.
“Yes.” Hopelessness filled my chest. My new position paid well, and I could work from home. It would’ve been perfect if I had a home.
“And you need this place even more now that you’re pregnant?”
My siblings would all help, but they had homes and were growing their families. They didn’t need me underfoot, proving Elijah right one day at a time. It was getting hard to swallow. Hearing it echo in my head was somehow better than having him say it. “Yes.”
“What if I marry you?”
I blinked. “Hmm?”
“What if we get married?” His expression was a mix of nervousness and determination. “We get the house, you start your job, and I can build my business without my parents’ interference.”
“I’m… What? Are you serious?”
I came to Vegas to marry one brother. I couldn’t just marry the other one.
Chapter Two
Clover
* * *
Last night, after Van dropped his bombshell offer of marrying me in his brother’s absence—like we’d walked into a Jane Austen novel or a George R. R. Martin one—I called my parents. Dad said he’d talk to Aunt Linda. This was an extenuating circumstance. She was a stickler for the rules, but I needed help. I didn’t have an answer yet.
Van retreated to his room, claiming he had some things to take care of if he was going to move to Coal Haven, and I had a restless night. Was Van going to run off with a showgirl or a hot cop, too, after being faced with the prospect of marrying me?
I had also sent Elijah a message that I was pregnant. No response. That was that.
As soon as I was out of the shower, there was a knock at the door. I was in the complimentary robe with my teeth freshly brushed after a morning heave session. I peeked outside. My parents and Linda. All my siblings. I would be filled with dread, but I was too tired.
“Mind if we come in and talk about this?” Mom asked from the other side of the door.
I opened it and stood aside. “I need to get dressed.”
Elijah had planned to wear a nice suit like what he usually wore to work. I had found a long ivory dress decorated with green clovers swirling up the hem to the rest of the garment. It was soft, feminine, and just the right amount of casual for a—planned—Vegas wedding.
Did I still wear it?
Why the hell not? That asshole wasn’t going to rob all my joy.
“Can you call Sullivan down here?” Mom asked.
“Van,” I mumbled. “He likes being called Van.”
She smiled. “I thought so, but he never invited me to refer to him as that.”
