Wedding of the Century by Patricia McLinn

Author:Patricia McLinn [McLinn, Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780373245239
Amazon: 0373245238
Goodreads: 1673160
Publisher: Silhouette
Published: 2003-02-01T00:00:00+00:00

Nell’s profession of the moment apparently was prosecuting attorney. She was in the middle of cross-examining the poor guilty slob in the witness chair.

That would be him.

“You said she was your girlfriend,” Nell proclaimed, hands on hips.

“You’re supposed to be setting the table.”

“But you said she was your girlfriend.”

“She was my girlfriend. Now set our places.”

“But you had a wedding—” Only the first part of a wedding. “She had a dress and music and everybody was at the church. I heard all about it,” she said as she planted silverware atop the peninsula of counter that served as their table.

He kept tossing a salad that was already mixed enough. Damn. If Nell had heard that much about what happened, how long would it be before she heard the rest—that Lily had been pregnant and had broken up the wedding? And how much of it would she understand now…or resent later?

Annette had understood what he’d told her yesterday afternoon. He’d seen her connect his finding out about his birth with the timing of his marriage to Lily so Nell would have a father on her birth certificate.

What he doubted Annette had understood was how his memory of the things she had said and not said about her upbringing had played into his decisions. How many times had he wished he could somehow take that sadness out of her eyes? Past counting. Even as he’d tried in the ways he could to make up for the losses she had suffered from her father leaving and her mother dying, he had known he couldn’t entirely.

Then he was faced with the future of the baby Lily was carrying. There was a child he could give a father. There was a child whose eyes didn’t have to be filled with sorrows.

“Yes, Annette and I were at the church, and the wedding was started, but you know getting married is such an important step, and—”

“She was in the dress, but you didn’t get married to her. That’s weird.”

The microwave dinged to announce the packaged noodles were done.

Eventually Lily’s choices in life, as well as her death and his relationship with her, were bound to raise questions for Nell. He hoped eventually didn’t come until he’d come up with good answers.

Maybe it’s more important that you tell the truth than that you hear it.

Could Annette also have been talking about the truths he hadn’t yet told Nell? Or had Annette thought there were more truths he hadn’t yet told her?

“I suppose it is a little weird.” He put salad on the plates and took the chicken breasts he’d browned off the burner.

“Are you ever going to get married again? Or did divorce scar you? Caitlin says divorce scars women. Men run away with the flu and that scars the women. But since my mom left, and you stayed—”

“I’m not scarred, Nell.” Part of his mind tried to unravel men running away with the flu. The rest was divided between being dropped into a pint-size version of the Oprah show and pouring milk.

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