AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I shrug. “It’s madness trying to hurry like this.”
“You could elope,” Aubrey suggests before she takes another bite of the pancakes Marian made.
I shake my head. I tried that with Owen, and it didn’t stick. Although rushed, I want a real ceremony with Sawyer. This will be my first and only time to marry, and I don’t want to skip it for the sake of sticking it to my mother.
My riches don’t matter. I’m wealthier than any other billionaire if I have Sawyer’s true love.
“No eloping. That feels like a crummy way to do this. I’d feel rotten about it afterward.”
I want to walk down the aisle to him and see him as happy as I feel about it.
Marian gasps, dropping the skillet on the burner. We all freeze, looking up from the drawing Lauren has sketched of the Goldfinch’s large dining room that we’ll convert into a small wedding venue.
“Marian?” I ask carefully.
Lauren’s eyes are wide, and Aubrey furrows her brow.
“That’s it!” The B&B guru snaps her fingers and pivots to grin at us. “That’s it!”
“Uh, what’s what?” I ask, lost and wondering if she’s losing her marbles.
“Rotten!”
I lick my lips. “Marian, I know we haven’t had much time to hang out and get to know each other, but if you’re speaking in some kind of code, I’m lost.”
“Jason was telling me that the tomatoes will go rotten in the old garden we’ve abandoned behind the cottage out there.” She points her spatula toward the window. “But the new garden.”
Lauren catches on with a squeal. “Near the gazebo Jason just built for you! Yes!” She whips toward me. “An outdoor wedding, Claire! What do you think?”
“Oooh, I like it,” Aubrey says, crumpling up the paper sketch of the dining room. “Fresh air. Lots of room.”
“The lilies are in bloom,” Marian adds.
“The daisies, too.” Lauren nods. “That would be gorgeous.”
I nod, smiling. “Sure. That’s fine with me.” I giggle, though, squinting at Marian. “He built you a gazebo?”
Marian rolls her eyes and dismisses me with a wave.
We laugh together at her blushing.
“Sounds serious,” I tease.
“Ha!” Marian points the spatula at me. “You’re the one getting as serious as can be with one of those Cameron men!”
I shrug. “True.” Accepting that as my new reality is a marvel each time I hear it. This time tomorrow, I won’t be Claire Rennard, but Claire Cameron. “Mrs. Sawyer Cameron. Mrs. Cameron. Mrs. Claire Cameron.”
Aubrey laughs at me, testing it out. “You could hyphenate.”
Lauren scrunches her face. “Rennard-Cameron? That’s a mouthful.”
“Mrs. Claire Cameron,” I settle on with a dreamy sigh.
“Not unless we tell the boys about the change in plans first,” Marian says. She leans toward the doorway to the dining room, calling out to Jason and Caleb, who are busy rearranging the furniture in there. She turns to Lauren. “You could mow out there again, lower the blades so it’s nice and short.”
“I bet we could find a rug to stretch out,” Aubrey adds.
“I’m not sure when I can mow,” Lauren says. “We’re going to the spa later.”
