Page 58 of You Are Cordially Invited

I shrugged him off. “It’s nothing to do with that lot. If there’s even a hint Reuben won’t make it to the ceremony, I need to postpone. If we don’t do it before the contract details, then we forfeit the whole cost. And then there’s the guests to consider. A couple of the Aussie team are flying here Wednesday, and we’ve got family coming in from down south and Samoa. The caterers have a no-change clause after Wednesday, and—”

“Hey, hey, hey.” Josh’s hands landed on my shoulders. “Slow down. You two have worked too hard for this. Could you maybe get another date?”

I rolled my eyes. “They’re booked six months out.”

Stella’s baby and we won’t be married.

I continued, “And even if things come right with Reuben, what are the chances he could cope with a wedding on Waiheke Island by next Saturday?”

And it wasn’t Josh or Reuben who’d have to make all those damn calls. We couldn’t afford to just sit back and cross our fingers. Someone had to make some decisions.

“Shit.” Josh scrubbed his hands down his face. “What does Reuben think?”

My stomach clenched. “I... I haven’t talked to him yet. He’s got enough on his plate worrying about the fact he can’t fucking move without adding the wedding into the mix.”Pinky swear.I cleared my throat. “But I’ll talk to him in the morning. Just keep those damn reporters out of my hair.”

“Done. Now go back to your man and let me worry about them. Reuben needs you.”

I shot him a killer look. “He’s out like a light.”

Josh smirked. “With you, I always find that helps.”

* * *

Reuben

The one benefit of not being able to move from the chest down? It made pretending to be asleep piss easy.

I did doze on and off pretty much constantly due to the concussion, even with the cumbersome neck and thoracic braces that kept my spine stable, but not as much as Cam probably thought.

I wasn’t avoiding him. Well, maybe just a bit. But finding myself inexplicably paralysed with no definitive promise of recovery had pretty much incinerated my thought processes and brought a whole lot of life into sharp focus. It was a strange sensation being able to feel things on my skin in places and yet not be able to move, and I briefly freaked out imagining being operated on while still feeling but not able to move.

Oh. My. God. Nope, not going there.

Meanwhile, Cam was busy doing Cam—protectingmewhile freaking the hell out on the inside. It was pretty bloody obvious by the haunted expression in his eye every time he looked at me and the way he’d clammed up about the injury, not wanting to talk about it.

To be honest, I was pretty much over that kid-glove stuff in a big way, and pretending to sleep stopped me from chewing his arse for keeping me in the dark, which I just fucking knew he was. Yes, Leyton and Will had talked to me, but I knew they’d have said a whole lot more to Cam, and he wasn’t being forthcoming.

He was simply being Cam—taking it all on himself, as usual. And it was driving me batshit.

In our lives, he always grabbed the lion’s share of the work, citing my travel and rugby commitments as reason—mostly without discussion, and half the time without me even knowing. He ran our complicated lives like clockwork, and yes, I loved that about him.

But it seemed more and more that I was scrambling for a foothold in that same life, feeling guilty for the load Camcarried compared to the small areas of responsibility he ‘allocated’ me. And we were about to add a baby to that. He couldn’t treat our lives like his personal ER. I needed to show I could be that strong supportive person forhimas well, if only he’d fucking let me.

I’d heard his phone go off and listened to his mutterings and soft curses at whatever it had been about. He was so pissed off, he was practically vibrating. But when he stroked his hand across my brow to tell me he was going downstairs, he never mentioned a thing about it, not even when I asked.

He’d brushed it off.

And nowIwas pissed.

Goddammit.I loved the man more than life itself, but he was the most stubborn motherfucker I knew. Cameron Wano was thrilling and frustrating in equal measure. Life with him was never dull, even though we could do with a little dull in our lives, to be honest.

I didn’t need him to tell me what the options were with my injuries, but it would’ve been really nice to talk about it. I knew about stingers—I’d even had one in the past that lasted just seconds. And although transient quadriplegia was less common, it wasn’t unknown in my world. I refused to believe it was anything more serious though. The odds were in my favour.

But as the hours went by and I still couldn’t move, I’d started thinking. Even if I came through this, there was no way I’d be back on the field again before the next season. Funnily enough, the thought wasn’t as terrible as it could’ve been.

Cam and I could get married and have an actual honeymoon, even if we had to delay the honeymoon part just a little bit. But we’d also get a well-earned period of downtime together. Time to prepare for the baby. Time for me to really step up and be involved in the planning and organising for that. We’d absolutely made the right decision. If the paralysis stuck, then maybe we’d need to revisit this particular baby, but I refused to consider that just yet.

But there was no way in hell I wasn’t marrying Cam next Saturday, no matter what state I was in, even if I had to marry him in my bloody bed. That certainty was the only thing keeping my brain from exploding. As long as Cam still wanted my sorry arse if things didn’t go to plan with my recovery or if I didn’t murder him first for not being open with me.

---