Page 79 of Mating of Convenience
Absent-mindedly, I rubbed the growing bulge of my belly. “Maybe he should just get back with the twins’ father,” I said, the words slipping out of my mouth before I could take them back.
“Angel!” Nathan said sharply, but it was already too late.
I gave him a sheepish smile and a half-shrug. “Oops.”
“The twins’ father?” Mrs. Rosewood asked. “What do you mean? It’s not his ex?” She looked intrigued. “Who is it then?”
“We actually don’t know.” And I hoped that no one would pay the old lady much attention if she started talking about it.
“You don’t? That’s a shame.” Mrs. Rosewood actually looked a little crestfallen that she couldn’t get any more gossip out of me. I seriously didn’t know, though. All Laurence had told me was that the twins’ biological father was one of his friends, but he never mentioned his friends. He hadn’t kept in touch.
I knew that he would do a kick-ass job of raising his twins all by himself if he had to, but I kind of hoped that he would find a partner anyway. Someone who would treat him better than his ex had. If I got to be happy with Nathan, didn’t Laurence deserve the same?
As if Nathan could read my thoughts, he squeezed my shoulder and took over the conversation. “I’m sure Laurence doesn’t want any rumors about him flying around,” he said, looking his great-grandmother square in the eyes.
“Oh, I would never spread rumors, darling. I’m merely concerned about your friend.”
“There’s no reason for you to be concerned. We’ll promise to keep an eye on him.”
“That’s sweet of you Nathan. I’m so glad you found yourself a partner in spite of your sweet nature. I was so worried.”
I snorted, while Nathan grasped the handlebars of Mrs. Rosewood’s wheelchair and started wheeling her back to her table. “Have you had enough to eat, Grandma?” I heard him ask as they moved away.
I looked after them for a moment, until my attention was required by someone else. “Raphael! Dance with me!” my sister demanded, shoving her way past some other guests to get to my table. “Kevin is refusing to. He says dancing is lame.He’slame.” She rolled her eyes.
I gave a last longing glance to the last remnants of cake on my plate, and then I got up. “One dance,” I told Kendra. “You do realize I have two left feet, right?” Truth be told, I envied Kevin a little as I took my sister’s hand. At least the band was playing a slow tune.
“I don’t care,” Kendra said. “I just want to celebrate with you. You just got married! I mean,reallymarried.”
I had to laugh at the way she worded that. As if Nathan and I hadn’t been officially married before this day. In a way, she was right, though. Even if she didn’t know it. When Nathan and I first got married, the whole thing had been a total sham. I’d only done it for her and Kevin.
Or that’s what I’d told myself anyway.
With my eyes, I sought the shape of my husband in the crowd, even as I swayed with my sister and tried not to step on her feet too much. My heart did a little flip when I spotted Nathan and he met my gaze.
It was totally ridiculous for me to react this way to him considering how much time we spent together. But he smiled at me and I felt warm and that was how I knew this was real.
All of it.
36
Nathan
“Can you believe how far we’ve come?” Raph whispered, sitting on the edge of our bed and stroking one finger over the side of his tattoo gun almost reverently. Even though it was the night of our wedding, I wasn’t sure if he was talking to me or his needles. His business was going well, and I was glad for him, but some days it was hard to tell who he loved more--me or that gun.
“We’ve come pretty far,” I said, trying not to let my nerves shine through in my voice. We’d come far, yes, but I wasn’t sure if I was ready to take that final step. Having Raph complete my tattoo—and add on to it. My turtle was going to have tiny wings and it would be framed by a star. Raph and I had finalized the design together—which pretty much meant that I nodded every time he showed me something. He was just that good.
“You really sure you want to do this?” Raph asked me for the tenth time that day.
“Absolutely.” Was I scared? Yup. But this was necessary. And the tattoo had *meaning* to me. I wasn’t just letting my friend practice on me to impress him the way I’d tried in our college days. No, this was going to be different. I only needed to be brave.
Easy, right?
“It’s going to be fine,” Raph said, obviously sensing my discomfort in spite of my efforts to hide it. “I’m much better at this now. You’ll hardly feel it.”
“Okay.”
Raph rested a hand on my arm. The warm touch felt oddly grounding. “Trust me.”
