Her phone buzzes again, so I glance up at the screen. The name Daisy comes up with the number eighty-seven beside it in brackets. It’s followed by another text from Mom with the number eighty-two bracketed beside it.

“Why do you have over a hundred and sixty texts from our moms?”

Violet stops jumping and rests her forehead against my chest. Actually, she bangs her head three times and sighs. “They’re discussing wedding venues.”

“Why? I’m taking care of that.”

“Because they’re excited that we’re getting married, and they want to plan everything—just like they did with the engagement party.”

“And that warrants more than a hundred messages? Why aren’t they messaging me? How long has this been going on?”

“That’s since I got home. They’ve been going back and forth all day.”

I pass her the phone. “Can I see, please?”

She pulls up the messages as three more come in and hands me the device. I scroll through them, trying to get to the beginning. It’s not just about the venue; it’s about bridesmaid’s dresses, Violet’s dress, my tux, what we should eat, where we should go for our honeymoon. The list is endless.

“You weren’t going to tell me about this?”

“I was. I would have.”

“When? After they booked a place on our behalf?”

“I wanted to enjoy the afterglow of awesome, dirty sex for a while first because I knew you’d be upset about this.”

“Of course I’m upset, Violet. I don’t want our moms to railroad you into thinking we have to invite the entire world to our wedding. I know that’s not what you want.”

She fists my shirt and looks up at me. “What about what you want?”

I cradle her cheek in my palm and kiss her. “Don’t you get it? I don’t care where we get married. We can do it on a raft in the middle of the ocean and have the service presided over by a damn Wiccan for all I care.”

“I don’t think it would technically be a legal marriage then.”

“You’re missing the point. You are what I want.”

Her bottom lip trembles, along with her chin.

“What’s wrong, baby?”

“I love you.”

“So you’re crying?”

“I’m crying because I’m relieved and because you’re amazing.”

I wrap her up in a hug. “I have a really great idea for the wedding location.”

Violet sniffs. “Where’s that?”

“The Chicago cottage.”

“There’s a lot of room for chairs and people there.”

“That doesn’t mean we have to fill the space with bodies. We can keep it as small as you want, Violet. Like I said, it’s not about the wedding, it’s about you being my wife.”

“Your mom isn’t going to like this.”

“The question is, do you like this?”

“I love this.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do. I’ve already made a few calls; it shouldn’t be hard to get it all organized, especially if we’re keeping it close friends and immediate family.”

Violet runs her hands up my chest and links them behind my neck. “Why are you so good to me?”

“I just want you to be happy.”

Violet’s phone buzzes again with more messages from our mothers.

“Should I message them back?”

“I’ll deal with it. I’ll bring out the big guns if that’s what it takes to make my mother see reason.”

“Okay.”

Her smile makes the shit conversation I’m facing worth it. My mom will deal. She has her own daughter; she can plan something for Sunny. I’m sure Miller will propose sooner or later—hopefully sooner, but not before Violet and I get married.

Violet kisses the bottom of my chin. “Want to go upstairs and play hide and seek with the Super MC and my beaver?”

“That sounds like a lot of fun.”

Violet takes my hand, and I follow her upstairs. This time I don’t love her hard; I love her softly and slowly and sweetly.

-&-

“Alex? Are you awake?”

I pry open one eye. Violet’s long hair tickles my cheek. She’s kneeling beside me.

“Yeah?” My voice is sleep-graveled. I clear my throat and glance at the clock on the night table. It’s the middle of the night. “Is everything okay?”

“I can’t sleep.”

“Do you wanna have sex?” My brain might be slow to fire up, but my dick is already getting excited about the idea.

“Not right now. Maybe. It depends.” She wrings her hands like she’s nervous. I don’t know what could be wrong. We had all that awesome sex, and we decided where we’re going to hold the wedding. After that we had more awesome sex, followed by another shower, and then bed. All in all, it was a great night, so her sudden middle-of-the-night anxiety puts me on high alert.

I turn on the bedside lamp and blink against the brightness. Her eyes are bloodshot. “Baby, what’s wrong? Have you slept at all?”

She shakes her head and focuses on her hands. “I have a question.”

“It must be an important question if you needed to wake me up to ask at three in the morning.” I’m hoping to get a smile out of her, but she brings her fingers to her mouth, like she’s about to chew her nails. I take her hand in mine. “Talk to me, Violet. What’s going on in that head of yours?”