Needing Happily Ever After - Elena Aitken Page 0,23
good time.
Mostly.
When she’d accepted Debbie’s invite a few days before, she hadn’t realized that it would also be the first time that Katie brought Damon over to the house since announcing their engagement, nor did she know that the rest of the family hadn’t been told that the actual wedding was in three days’ time. No, she only realized that once it was too late. At least, she was pretty sure it was too late to make an excuse to leave once she was sitting at the dining room table.
The betrothed were late to get there, something about having to check Damon out of the Big Rock Inn. Not that it mattered what the excuse was; Logan was agitated from the moment the other man walked into the room, and Faith was pretty sure that his attitude was only going to get worse. Damon wouldn’t be able to say anything right.
“Calm down,” she whispered to Logan, who’d somehow ended up sitting next to her. He was practically vibrating. His knee bounced up and down so intensely that Faith thought he might actually knock the table and send Debbie’s dishes flying if he didn’t settle down. “You’re going to make a scene.”
“It’s not me who should be worried about making a scene.” He spoke out of the side of his mouth, not taking his eyes off Damon, who was doing his best to avoid looking in Logan’s direction. No doubt he could feel the completely unwarranted rage radiating off his fiancée’s brother. “He needs to be worried.”
“Logan,” Faith hissed. “Seriously.” Before she could stop herself, she put her hand on Logan’s thigh and pressed it down, squeezing gently.
He froze and turned to look first at Faith, and then down at her hand on his leg. He looked up at her again, a look of question in his eyes. But before either of them could make more out of the simple touch than what it was, she snatched her hand back and tucked it into her lap.
“I’m so glad you all could finally make it.” Debbie chose that moment to walk into the dining room, a platter of roast chicken in her hands. The smell of it made Faith’s mouth water and for at least a moment, everyone was distracted from the giant elephant in the room. That is, until Debbie set the chicken down, looked directly at Damon, and addressed it head on. “So, I finally get to congratulate you in person.”
Once again, Logan started to vibrate and Faith shook her head slightly. She looked to Katie to offer her a small smile of support.
“Thank you, Mrs. Langdon. I—”
“Call me Debbie.” She interrupted him. “After all, we’re finally going to be family.” Debbie sat, a genuine smile on her face. “I mean, I feel like you’ve been family for years. But this…” She gestured between her daughter and her new fiancé. “This is special. I’m very excited.”
Faith could see Katie visibly relax. Now if only her brother could do the same.
“I know it all happened so quickly,” Damon began.
That was an understatement. Faith looked pointedly at the basket of rolls she’d been handed.
“But it’s just one of those things and once we made it official, we just didn’t want to wait,” Damon continued.
“Speaking of not wanting to wait.”
Faith froze, acutely aware of Logan sitting next to her. He was not going to be happy.
“We’ve decided to push the wedding date up.”
“Up?” Debbie asked the question while, next to Faith, Logan choked a little on a roll. “What do you mean, up?”
“We’ve decided to have an intimate ceremony at ElkView.” She paused. “On Thursday.”
Just as Faith had predicted, Logan reacted instantly. “What the actual—”
“It’s what we want.” Katie cut him off smoothly.
“It’s insane.”
“It’s not. And Faith has agreed to help out with all the details.”
Faith felt more than saw how Logan felt about his little sister’s upcoming nuptials.
“You did?”
Faith turned to him finally. “Of course I did. And I would think that you’d be pleased about it.”
“Pleased?”
“Yes.” She smiled as innocently as she could. “Since the wedding isn’t at Ever After, you’re not required to help.”
“Logan, I really hope you can be okay with this.” Katie’s voice was soft, and Faith watched as Logan’s face softened at his little sister’s plea. “I need you there. Please.”
He nodded after a moment. “Of course.”
“I think it’s exciting,” Debbie jumped in with a small clap of her hands. “I mean, it’s crazy fast. But with Faith to help out, I know it’ll be great.”
“I really