Page 63 of Close to My Heart

My mind was running rampant with theories of why she wanted to do this now. I had no way of knowing if they were true. But I wanted them to be. “We can hike, go fishing, paddleboarding, kayaking, whatever you want to do.”

She smiled. “All of it.”

“Why not?” We had a few days to get used to being married before we had to face the world again. And we’d need every minute of it to convince her family this was real.

I had a feeling I was going to go overboard and have trouble convincing myself this was fake.

“The day was perfect. It almost felt real.”

“I had the same thought.” The only issue was that we were playing pretend in a sense. I hadn’t been honest with her about my feelings. I had no idea where her head was at when it came to me. I wasn’t any closer to figuring any of it out. I just wanted to enjoy this time with her and hoped it would be enough.

A life without her was unimaginable. And living with her, sleeping with her, was only going to highlight all the reasons why I’d always wanted her. I couldn’t even think about the possibility that she didn’t feel the same.

“You think we convinced my grandma it was real?”

“Mmm. She seemed pleased with the wedding and us.” I couldn’t figure her out, but then again, I didn’t know her well. Why force your grandchild to get married? Was it about control or something else? She knew how badly Sutton wanted to preserve the estate. Why make her jump through hoops to get it?

She had to know her daughter and her husband just wanted the cash and had no interest in keeping the house or the heirlooms inside of it.

“I should tell you something.”

“What?” I shifted so that I could see her face more easily. I’d turned off the light the second time I’d gone to the bathroom, and only the moon seeped through the curtains.

“Remember that blog I started about the history of the house and my family?”

I yawned. “Of course.”

“It’s kind of turned into a thing.”

“Okay.” I drew the word out, not sure where she was going with this.

“It’s grown so big; I’ve been able to monetize it.”

I shifted to see her face better. “That’s great, but why are you telling me this now?”

“I haven’t talked about it much because I didn’t think it would turn into anything. I wasn’t sure young people cared about history and artifacts, but they do. They love the tours I take of the house and the grounds, and the more in-depth videos I do about a particular item and the history.”

I rubbed her shoulder. “That’s great. Isn’t that what you wanted? To share the history of the house and your family?

“It’s more than I imagined when I started out. Lately, I’ve been sharing videos about the wedding: dress shopping, the decorating for the ceremony and the reception, picking out flowers.”

“Okay.” I wasn’t sure why she was telling me this.

“I even posted a snippet from the wedding.”

“Are you asking if I’m okay with a video of us posted online?”

“My followers loved it more than anything else I’ve ever done, and I have a feeling if I decide to host more weddings, that could become part of what I share, alongside the history elements.”

“That sounds good to me.”

“The thing is my followers are asking for more of you. They want me to introduce you and share a bit about you.”

I chuckled. “I doubt they want to hear from me. I couldn’t be more boring.”

“What if we did it over the next few days while you’re in your element? They can get to know you while we fish or go kayaking or whatever.” When I remained silent, she continued, “We don’t have to. It’s just an idea. I mean, them not meeting you is creating almost a frenzy. So that’s an angle I could use too.”

“As long as it’s not when I’m at work. I still think they’ll be bored.”

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