Edward turned me toward him. “The wedding is important, but you want people to believe you were so in love you just couldn’t wait. Also, this is not a lot of time to plan a wedding. Keep it simple, classy, perfect, and effortless.”
The owner’s son, a good-looking third-generation Italian, set the pies down in front of us and mouthedCall meto Edward. My friend winked, then we ate pizza and discussed the wedding some more. I was starting to become really excited about it, family be damned.
“I’m most excited about putting Cassie to shame,” I said. “Her wedding’s in four months. Mine’s going to be better, and I’ll inherit that house first.”
The door jingled and two women walked in. One pulled back her coat hood.
“Speak of the devil,” Edward murmured as my stepmother and Cassie looked around. Her gaze settled on us.
“I just cannot see how this place was voted one of the must-eat places in New York,” Cassie said loudly. “Look at the type of people that eat here.”
“You could just leave,” I said, gesturing with a piece of pizza. “Literally no one asked you to come here.”
“We’re just famished from wedding planning,” she said.
“Funny, I was just wedding planning too.”
“I hope you are able to rent a big enough venue,” my stepmother said in mock concern. “Dottie’s invited half the town to the wedding. You’re going to need to have it in the train station if she keeps going.”
I gritted my teeth. “We have not sent out invitations.” But I knew it was too late. That was the problem with small towns—a verbal promise of a wedding invitation, a puppy, or the first batch of jam was taken as a blood oath. I could kiss that house goodbye right now if I dared even mention disallowing any of the people my grandmother had invited.
“Do you know who she invited?” I asked through gritted teeth.
“I told her to invite all the Harrogate Girls’ Club members, the bingo club members, and everyone who volunteers at the Harrogate Trust,” Ensley said, ticking them off on her fingers.
That was hundreds of people!
“Great,” I said brightly. “That’s just great. The more the merrier. Nothing like being in love, right?” I fake laughed.
Cassie curled up her lip. “You aren’t in love. You’re just doing this for the house. You barely even know Blade,” she said. “I’m onto your little game, and I’m going to prove this is fake. You’re just playing Blade, and when I expose you for the fraud you are, he’s going to publicly humiliate you.”
“Jealousy isn’t a good look on you,” I said snidely then finger waved as Cassie and my stepmom were led to an out-of-the-way booth.
“Fuck,” I said, sinking down in my seat.
Edward plucked the slice of pizza out of my hand. “So much for a small wedding.”
“It can still be small. That’s just an extra few hundred people. It’s not that bad. Right?” I said desperately.
“We need a different venue,” Shirley stated grimly. “This park could comfortably hold about a hundred and fifty. We’ll probably need to have it indoors with all those elderly. Dottie’s not giving you that house if someone has a heart attack at your wedding. Maybe we should think about a hotel ballroom.”
“I cannot get married in a hotel,” I gasped.
“Reception in the hotel, maybe the Svensson estate for the ceremony,” Edward said.
I groaned. “That is a lot of decorating.”
“It will be fine. The Svenssons host events all the time. Besides, surely they won’t bring that many people.”
16
Blade
Ihad around a hundred brothers, mainly half brothers from my father’s various wives, and the majority lived in the Northeast. They tended to travel to Harrogate on the weekends to see the kids, though usually not all of them descended at once unless it was Christmas or Thanksgiving or a big party. However, when I walked into the house, it looked like fifty or so of my adult brothers were crammed into the dining room.
“Is this some sort of an intervention?”
“You could say that,” Hunter said from his spot at the head of the table. I glared at him then at the rest of my brothers for good measure.
