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“Wouldithaveanythingtodowiththatsmallbump in your pocket?”
He nodded, vigorously this time. Good thing he hadn’t worn a hat. He’d probably have sent it flying to the far side of the park.
Her lovely laugh tinkled around him. “Perhaps you could show me what is making the bump in your pocket.”
He smiled, hope blooming in his heart. What a wonderful woman she was.
He drew the ring box out of his pocket. He opened it and held the ring up to her in both hands.
She smiled tremulously. She held her hand out toward him. He slipped the ring onto her finger. It looked wonderful. She looked wonderful.
“Yes, you silly man. Yes, I will marry you.”
Cyn started crying.
So did Brock.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Are We Sureabout This?
“S
IT DOWN,DEAR,”AUNTCynthia said, patting the chair beside her in the church’s anteroom. “We have a few minutes before you walk me down the aisle and give me away.”
Van’s throat was dry, and he swallowed. He couldn’tfigureoutwhattodowithhishands.Nothing was going at all the way he thought it would.
Aunt Cynthia had put this wedding together in a week. She and Brock wanted it small and informal, and the minister was a friend who would do anything for her. A lot of her friends were like that. This one fit her into a non-existent slot in his marriage schedule.
Van had expected to feel lighter than one of Brock’s soufflés as he passed responsibility for his aunt on to the man she adored. As of this evening, he could get back to concentrating on ditching his other huge responsibility, the family company and all the people working for it. He could figure out why the buyer was ducking calls.
Meanwhile, Aunt Cynthia and Brock were so deliriously happy Van felt jealous, of all things. That was ridiculous, of course. But what if he and Mary —
Like he’d said. Ridiculous.
In fact, this whole thing was making him feel all sorts of ridiculous things. For one, it was bothering him, this whole idea of walking his aunt down the aisle and passing her into the custody of Mary’s uncle forever.
Van had been taking care of her since he’d been old enough to drive a car. Changing that, stopping that — what would it be like? Right now, it felt like a yawningchasmonestepahead.“Areyousureyou’re doing the right thing?”
“Oh, my, yes. I’m sure. Very sure.”
“I’m honored you’re letting me give you away, but I’m not so sure I want to.”
Her laugh tinkled in the expectant air between them. “You’re a die-hard nurturer, for all you keep insisting you don’t want to be.”
“I’m not … I mean, I don’t … I don’t know what I mean.”
She patted him on the hand. “Perhaps I should let you in on a little secret now that things are changing so much between you and me.”
“Secret?”
“I didn’t need you to take care of me nearly as much as you thought I did.”
“You didn’t?”
“Remember the door-to-door salesmen you thought you had to protect me from?”
“I sure do.”
