I knew it.
He’s going to turn my marriage into a photo op.
“Dad, we haven’t even talked about planning something like that,” I interject. “And Viktor has to think about hockey right now.”
“Of course.” Dad gives me a patient smile that doesn’t reach his eyes.
“Viktor can think about hockey,” his mother says, her eyes twinkling. “We can plan wedding.”
I glance at Viktor, hoping he’ll nip this in the bud, and he shakes his head. “Mama, no plans until after the season is over. I cannot think about a wedding. Also, we have our honeymoon planned.”
“Honeymoon?” My mother looks up. “Where are you going?”
“To Egypt,” I say.
My mother wrinkles her nose. “Won’t it be terribly hot in July?”
I chuckle. “Mom, seriously—we live in Georgia. It’s going to be a thousand degrees in the next couple of weeks.”
“Well, I suppose there is history there.”
“You cannot have honeymoon before wedding,” Mrs. Maslak says, her expression somewhat horrified.
“We have already had wedding,” Viktor says firmly. “Please—we do not want big wedding.”
Everyone’s faces fall, like we’ve disappointed them. Well, everyone except Nathan, who has that smirk on his face again. I would do anything to walk over and slap him but that would create unnecessary drama.
“Seems to me, it’s not a big ask for your mothers,” my father says quietly. “Look how upset they are. Would it hurt you to have a little celebration for the rest of us? Give both families time to get to know each other?”
“You’re getting to know each other now,” I point out.
“Not everything is about you, Holly,” he says, giving me that look that in the past would instantly make me capitulate.
“Unless they’re not really married and this was all a ruse to make me jealous.” Nathan arches his brows and gives me a smarmy smile.
The room is momentarily quiet, and I see the questioning looks on my in-laws’ faces.
“To make you…jealous?” I sputter indignantly. “Are you kidding me right now?”
“We are married,” Viktor says quietly. To my surprise, he pulls a folded piece of paper out of the inside pocket of his sport coat. “You can see.” He hands it to my father.
Nathan’s grin fades and he blinks, as if he truly believed that we only pretended to get married.
My father puts on his reading glasses and inspects the marriage certificate. Then he slowly folds it and hands it back to Viktor.
“I will admit I didn’t think it was real.” He looks genuinely confused. “My apologies.”
Viktor graciously inclines his head, but his fingers are firmly laced with mine, holding on tight. I can tell he’s annoyed. Luckily, we anticipated this so we’ve nipped it in the bud. At least, some of it. We haven’t even begun to address what happened at my grandmother’s house earlier today and I’m not sure I should.
The more I think about Viktor’s offer to buy it, the more I like the idea.
And the best way to handle it would be to do it without telling anyone. Then, if he tries anything sneaky again, he’s the one who’ll be caught by surprise.
“I think small ceremony in Russia, at our church, is important,” Mrs. Maslak says cautiously, startling me back to the conversation at hand.
“Mama.” Viktor gives her a frustrated look but she ignores him.
“You must have ceremony in the church. For your babies. And when you move back to Russia, it will be easier with paperwork.”
