She sat up taller. “My nursing classes. I need time to study. Midterms are coming up.”
He nodded in resignation. “And…”
“I can’t marry you until I talk to my mother and Vi.” She’d have to broach that subject carefully. She imagined there were a lot of emotional landmines to be dodged, especially with Vi.
It was the first time she wished she was marrying someone else.
Hayden’s black eyes flashed with unidentified emotion.
He’s wishing he was marrying someone else too.
“Do you want me there when you tell Violet?” he asked flatly.
Eve shook her head.
“All right.” Hayden heaved a sigh. “There’s something else you want from me.” Not a question. “I can tell by the look on your face. Spill.”
Eve squirmed in her seat. “A wedding ring. I’ll need a ring to convince Steven we’re married for real.”
Sadly, a diamond would be the only thing real about this marriage.
Chapter Five
“What are you doing in here?” Gran stepped into the spare upstairs bedroom after dinner that night.
Hayden finished putting fresh sheets on the bed. “We’re expecting guests.”
Gran came over to help him spread a yellow quilt. “I made this quilt for your parents as a wedding gift.” She ran a hand over the yellow tulip petals in one corner. “Are your brothers coming home?”
“No. My wife and daughter are.” Hayden wasn’t certain how Gran would take the news. Or if she’d remember his words five minutes from now. “I’m getting married on Monday.” He’d made the reservation at the courthouse after he’d secured assurances from the family lawyer that a standard prenup could be signed by the end of the week.
“I…” Gran plopped onto the bed. “It’s Violet, isn’t it? I don’t remember her having a child.”
“That’s all right, Gran.” Hayden took Gran’s hand and helped her to her feet. “Why don’t we go downstairs and watch the sunset?”
“Sunsets are for wish-making.” Gran gently patted Hayden’s cheek. “I remember a time when you allowed yourself to dream.”
Hayden couldn’t. Grandpa’s slap had scrubbed them from his mind. He laid his hand over Gran’s. “I’m a worker bee. We don’t have time to dream.” He wouldn’t even know what to dream for. Certainly not romance. After everything that had happened to him, all the betrayals and abandonments, he didn’t feel worthy of love.
Smiling, Gran stepped around him, heading for the door. “Even hard workers dream, Hay-Hay.”
Her use of his childhood name was both heartening and grating. Hay-Hay was too trusting, a boy who wished on stars and believed in happy-ever-afters. That wasn’t him.
“All it takes is courage and a wish on a beautiful sunset.” Gran’s feet struck the staircase with steady strides, a pace that belied her unsteady state of mind. “Meet you outside.”
On the west-facing front porch where Grandpa had his heart attack.
Hayden couldn’t move.
The old farmhouse creaked and groaned as if sympathizing with his pain.
Hayden rubbed the too-tight feeling in his chest, glancing around the room and wondering what Evie’s reaction would be to the dinged-up antique dresser, the small bookcase, and red-lacquered bedside table. Nothing matched. Her ex-husband would turn up his nose. But would Evie care? He didn’t know.
I’m marrying a stranger.
“What am I doing?” He combed his fingers through his hair, fighting the building feelings of remorse and vulnerability.
“Hayden!” Gran called, right before the screen door slammed downstairs. “The sun’s going down. Hustle.”