Her eyes were shining now.
That hurt more than her anger.
“We have spent months asking you to trust us.”
Betty stepped forward.
“We were only trying to protect you.”
Marcus stared at his mother.
“From what?”
Betty hesitated.
“That’s what I want to know,” he continued. “What exactly are you protecting me from?”
No one answered.
Kira looked directly at me.
“Do you know what Marcus has done for me?”
I opened my mouth.
She didn’t let me speak.
“He sat beside me in the emergency room when you and Dad were out of town.”
I remembered that night.
“He drove three hours because I called him crying after I lost my job.”
I remembered that too.
“When I was convinced I wasn’t good enough to start my new career, he was the person who kept telling me to try again.”
Her voice broke.
“He loves me.”
Marcus reached for her hand.
“And she loves me.”
I felt myself becoming defensive.
“We know you care about each other.”
“No,” Kira said. “I don’t think you do.”
I swallowed.
“I just think you could both find someone more suitable.”
The moment the word left my mouth, I hated the way it sounded.
Suitable.
As if love were a job interview.
As if people were pieces being matched on a board.
Kira’s expression changed.
She suddenly looked exhausted.
“You keep telling us how different we are.”
She glanced toward Betty.
“You both keep saying our families won’t understand each other.”
Then she laughed softly.
There was no humor in it.
“But have you two looked at yourselves?”
Betty frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“It means you’re practically the same person.”
I blinked.
Kira pointed between us.
“You’re both stubborn. You both interfere. You both think you’re always right. You both complain about wedding details nobody else cares about. And you’ve spent more time talking to each other over the last few months than either of you spends talking to your own friends.”
Marcus almost smiled.
Kira turned toward the living room.
“And look at Dad and Rod.”
We all looked.
The two men were standing near the television, clearly wishing they were anywhere else.
“Dad is sitting here having a beer with Marcus’s father,” she continued. “They found something they have in common because they actually bothered to talk to each other.”
Her eyes returned to mine.
“You decided our differences mattered before you even knew Marcus.”
The truth of that landed harder than anything she had said.
But pride was still stronger than honesty.
For the moment.
“Kira—”
“I’m marrying him.”
Her voice was quiet now.
Certain.
“I’m marrying Marcus whether you approve or not.”
Marcus looked at Betty.
“And I’m marrying Kira.”
Kira took a breath.
“I want you at my wedding, Mom.”
For one second, hope flickered inside me.
Then she finished.
“But I will not spend my wedding day defending my husband from my own family.”
My chest tightened.
“If you can’t accept us, don’t come.”
Marcus turned to Betty.
“That applies to you too.”
Then they walked out.
The door closed.
Silence filled the house.
Bradley switched off the television.
He placed his bottle on the table and picked up his jacket.
“Time to go.”
His disappointment was obvious.
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