Page 64 of My Fiancé's Brother 2

“And all that led to marriage in three short months,” she stated, looking around at the group. “That's remarkable.”

Everyone laughed.

She looked me up and down. “How old are you?”

“24.”

“You look a lot younger than that.”

I switched gears, looking over at Lauren who was counting paper plates. “Lauren, can I help you with anything?”

“No thanks.” Lauren didn’t even look at me.

Brenda spoke to me. “So have you ever dated anyone in the military before?”

“No.”

“It’s not easy being married to a soldier.”

My lips parted, but I had no idea how to respond to that.

“Jackson is a SEAL. How do you think you will deal with him being gone for months at a time, knowing that his life is at risk every single minute that he is gone?”

I felt the blood drain out of my face. They were voicing my greatest fears. “I don’t know.”

“My guy, at least, is on a boat. I have no idea how you sleep at night.”

I was entirely unprepared for this conversation. “Jackson said they train for every situation.”

Brenda half smiled at me. “Well, I’m just glad that it isn’t my man doing a HALO jump out of the back of a plane in the middle of the night and landing in the middle of enemy territory before engaging in a gunfight with maniac terrorists.”

“What’s a HALO jump?” my heart pounded at the vision of Jackson parachuting into enemy territory.

“It might be better if you don’t know.”

Lauren looked over her shoulder. “Misty, can you toss the salad? Poppy, do you want to help me mix up this dressing?”

“I can help with something,” I said, desperate to extract myself out of this conversation.

Lauren shook her head. “No thank you. Brenda, can you wash that bowl over there?”

I knew when I was being excluded. “May I please use your washroom?”

“Head straight upstairs. First door on the right.”

I stood lookingin the bathroom mirror, dreading going back downstairs. How was I going to get through the rest of the night?

I crept down the stairs, and I could hear the conversation in full force.

“Did you see what she wore to the baseball game?”

“Oh, we saw. Pretty high and mighty.”

“I’m pretty sure her bag was Prada.”

“As if a 24-year-old is walking around with a Prada bag. If it was, it was a fake.”

“Maybe she’s rich, and that is why Jackson married her.”

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