“No worries,” Nick says. “You were looking out for Mel, and anyone who looks out for Mel is good by me.” He shifts his smile Dad’s way. “I’ll do my best to take good care of your baby, Mr. March.”
Dad grunts again, but his scowl isn’t quite as fierce. “You can call me Bob, all the rest of these daughter robbers do.”
My jaw drops, but I don’t say a word, afraid I’ll undo whatever magic spell has caused my father to go from grouchy to decent in such a short amount of time.
Instead, I say, “Should I go get the pies Aria made? I saw them in the fridge, and you know lemon icebox is my favorite.”
“Yes!” Lark jumps up with a clap of her hands. “And we have a key lime, too. I’ve been dying for a giant slice since we got here. I’ve been craving key lime pie like you wouldn’t believe. I’m going to eat half a pie and three scoops of whipped cream, and nothing anyone says is going to stop me. I am immune to reason when it comes to those pies.”
Mason stands, resting a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll get it,” he says. “You sit. You already cleaned up supper.”
Lark glances over her shoulder at him, and a loaded look passes between them, a look that instantly sets off warning alarms in my brain, a look I would have sorted out the meaning of in a minute or two. But Aria beats me to it.
“Oh my god,” she gasps, “you’re pregnant!”
What follows is a flutter of such fretting and congratulating and worrying about whether Lark will fit into her wedding dress that Nick and I are instantly small beans by comparison.
Thank goodness.
Chapter 19
Melody
A half hour later—once Mom stops mourning the fact that Lark’s going to need a new dress, Dad finishes yelling at Mason for knocking up his daughter out of wedlock, and Aria has apologized profusely to Lark for blurting out her suspicion instead of pulling Lark aside for a private one-on-one—things have calmed down enough for me to feel okay about making my escape with Nick.
“We’re going to head out,” I say, kissing Mom on the cheek. “Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be fine. Lark will be beautiful, no matter what she wears, and no one will think anything of it if the baby comes seven months after the wedding instead of nine.”
Mom sniffs, and her forehead wrinkles, but she doesn’t start crying again. “I don’t know about that, but I guess it doesn’t matter. We’re going to have another sweet grandbaby. That’s the important thing.”
I smile. “That’s completely correct. I’m proud of you, Mom.”
“I’m proud of you too, honey. And I’m glad you’ve found someone who makes you happy,” she says, before adding in a whisper, “But please don’t get pregnant anytime soon. I’m not sure my heart can handle two daughters pregnant out of wedlock.”
I blush and pat her on the shoulder. “No worries, Mom.”
But as Nick and I walk to his car, I can’t help but worry. I’m on the pill, but I don’t always take it at exactly the same time every day. And the pill isn’t one hundred percent effective.
What if I do get pregnant? How would Nick and I handle something like that? It isn’t such a big deal for Mason and Lark—they’re already engaged—but Nick and I are so new…
“I thought that went pretty damned well.” Nick grins as he reaches to open the passenger’s door to the Midget but pauses before pulling it open. “What’s up? You look sad.”
“I’m not sad, just a little…worried.”
“It’ll be fine,” Nick says, gathering me into his arms for a hug that isn’t as comforting as it should be. It only reminds me how much I want to be naked with him, even if it isn’t the smartest idea. “Lark and Mason are obviously thrilled about the baby. None of the rest of it matters.”
“I agree, but my parents can still make them miserable if they want to. Hopefully, they’ll behave.”
“They gave us a fair shot, I thought,” Nick says. “Wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting.”
I arch a brow. “Even when Aria basically proposed for you? She wasn’t kidding about the matron of honor thing, just so you know.”
He gazes down at me for a long moment, a thoughtful look on his face.
“What are you thinking?” I finally ask, too nervous to endure the silence a second longer. “Busy plotting your escape?”
“Nope, kind of the opposite,” he says, before adding with a shy smile, “Exactly the opposite.”
I cock my head. “What do you mean?”
“What if…” He trails off, taking a deep breath before he continues, “What if we got engaged?”
My eyes fly so wide so fast it hurts a little.
“I mean, then we could move in together, and no one in your family would have a problem with it,” Nick continues in a reasonable tone. “And even if they did, we’d just remind them that Mason and Lark lived together while they were engaged, and they’d have to back off.”