Page 18 of A Bride for the Bodyguard

She raises an eyebrow. “Too fast to pick up the phone?”

I can’t help but admire her. She’s got this way about her—a strength that’s both intimidating and comforting. Like she could take you down a peg and then knit you a cozy sweater right after.

“Sorry, Mom,” Jack concedes, and I sense the conversation shifting into safer waters. “Let me introduce you to my wife, Marlie.”

“Marlie,” she repeats, sweeping me into an unexpected hug. “Welcome to the family.”

“Uh, thank you, Mrs. Barton,” I stutter out nervously. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

She laughs heartily. “Nonsense, call me Nancy. We’re family now, dear.”

Suddenly, the woman standing next to Nancy clears her throat.

“Oh, and this is my friend, Patricia Shaw,” Nancy says with a warm smile. “Patricia is a real estate agent. She’s showing me a few properties around town that might be good for investment.”

Patricia smiles and extends her hand toward me. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Marlie.”

“You as well,” I reply with what I hope is a genuine smile plastered on my face as I shake the woman’s hand.

“So how did you two meet?” Patricia asks, tilting her head slightly as if trying to piece together some puzzle.

I hesitate before finally settling on, “We met through mutual friends.”

“Oh, I assumed you two met at work,” Patricia muses, her polite smile barely veiling her curiosity. “Jack has always been so secretive about his job.”

“We... uh, we didn’t exactly do the traditional dating thing,” I tell her.

“So straight to marriage then?”

A flicker of discomfort sparks within me. Patricia’s tone is light but there’s something sharp underneath it that puts me on edge. I try to shrug it off.

“Pretty much,” Jack cuts in as he snakes an arm protectively around my waist. “Sometimes you just know.”

Suddenly, Nancy claps her hands together. “I just had a thought. Jack, your father and I should throw you two lovebirds a wedding reception to celebrate!”

Patricia’s face lights up in agreement. “Oh, that’s a great idea!” Then her smile gets even bigger and she gets a dreamy look in her eyes. “You could even host it at the lighthouse. It would be so magical.”

“Patricia and her husband recently renovated a lighthouse down by the cove,” Nancy explains with glee. “Apparently, it’s become quite the hot spot for couples tying the knot. They’ve been booking it left and right for wedding receptions.”

A wedding reception?

The thought sends a wave of unease rippling through me. Jack and I have been playing the part of newlyweds well enough up to this point. But an entire celebration centered around our make-believe matrimony?

Jack’s mom seems so sweet. I can’t help but picture the look of disappointment that will inevitably cloud her eyes when he and I call it quits in a few months.

The guilt gnaws at me, making this whole thing feel even more complicated than it already is. And now here we are, on the brink of diving headfirst into an ocean of lies with an audience eagerly waiting to cheer us on.

“That’s really not necessary, Mom—“ Jack begins but Nancy cuts him off.

“Nonsense! It’s the least I can do! And Patricia has already been so generous by offering to serve as hostess.”

With all eyes on us and Nancy’s determined gaze, Jack and I find ourselves agreeing to a wedding reception.

As we leave the bakery with our coffees and breakfast, I can’t help but feel overwhelmed by everything happening so fast.

“Sorry about my mom,” Jack begins as we walk back towards the apartment. “I love her, but she can be a lot sometimes.”

I offer a small smile in return, “It’s okay. I can only imagine how my family will react when they find out I got married without telling them.”

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