Page 17 of The Replacement Fiance

Harper sighs heavily after a few moments. "That was... that was just beautiful."

"Three years, though," Emily says almost to herself before she looks at Mariah, her eyes narrowing. "How come you never mentioned him last year, Mariah? Or the year before? In fact, you never even told us you were seeing anyone."

"Because I didn't ask her out until six months ago. Up until that moment, we were just friends. Business friends." My reply comes a little too fast but I don't care. I can almost feel Mariah's panic flow right through me as she grasps my hand in a death grip under the table.

"And... and Logan asked me to marry him two weeks ago," Mariah continues.

"And she said yes," I add as Mariah shows off her ring that I unfortunately didn't pick out. But as the tiny diamond catches the light, I'm glad she's got great taste.

"I asked your mom to marry me after knowing her for two weeks," Mr. Peters says, smiling as he gazes at his wife before turning to look at me from across the table. "But I totally get waiting for the right moment, Logan. All I want for my daughters is that they find true love the way I did with their mother. Two weeks, two months, two years. What matters is that you love my daughter and she loves you right back."

Emily still doesn't look convinced. "I just can't understand why Mariah never said anything. Six months is quite fast, don't you think?"

"Fast? We slept together two days after we met and you said yes to me six months after that," Brad says, taking a sip from his beer and ignoring his wife's horrified gasp as she instinctively covers Jonathan's ears.

"Brad!"

Harper giggles and I can feel a scuffle of feet under the table between her and Mariah.

Mrs. Peters kisses her husband on the lips while all her daughters cover their eyes in embarrassment. "Oh, honey bunny, if you hadn't asked me to marry you when you did, I would have done the asking. I wasn't about to let you go." They stop kissing to watch their daughters' expressions, laughing before kissing again as Brad and I laugh.

It's a dynamic I never saw with my parents, definitely not with Dad who slept around and even boasted about his conquests to his sons until the day we told him to get out of the house if he dared mention it again. It made Liam and I tight because we were all we had along with Mom.

"Did I tell you they met at the first Burning Man event held on Baker Beach in San Francisco?" Mariah asks me as I shake my head. "Mom was the total hippie while Dad was there with his buddies on break from the university. Total opposites."

"All you need is love," Mr. Peters says. "And trust, and a little laughter along the way."

"I think the secret to marriage is to make life interesting for each other," Mrs. Peters says. "In today's world where there are no secrets, where everyone films everything..." She pauses to glare at Harper who lowers her selfie stick on the table. "You need to keep something just for the two of you. Something special. Something private."

Harper's face brightens. "You mean something kinky? BDSM, that kind of thing?"

"Oh, no no no! We're not letting this conversation go there," Emily covers Jonathan's ears again. "This is supposed to be a child-friendly Christmas, Harper, for crying out loud. Have some decorum!"

"I'm game if you are, love. You were always curious about it ever since that movie, Fifty Shades something, came out and you thought the hero's butt looked hot," chimes Brad before turning toward me, an innocent look on his face as Emily looks even more horrified. "Could you pass the cranberry sauce, please?"

Mrs. Peters clears her throat. "So what's Jonathan been up to these days, besides hitting the terrible twos?"

The conversation shifts to Jonathan's latest milestones as I tell myself to focus on dinner before it gets cold. Awkward moments or not, Mariah's family seems fun and open with each other. Her parents are a hoot, the serious-looking Mr. Peters with his thick glasses still evidently in love with his hippie wife with her bangles and bright headband. It's amazing to see just how much they all seem to love each other that they don't even have to say the words.

7

Logan

After dinner,everyone helps out with the clean up. This is one area where Mr. and Mrs. Peters let their kids take over completely while they spend time with their grandson. I volunteer to help dry the dishes but Mariah kicks me out of the kitchen.

"Girls only," she says as she playfully pushes me out of the kitchen and into the living room where Brad is sitting on the couch by himself. Forrest had left right after dinner, walking Summer back to her cabin and probably making sure she won't burn the house down trying to get the wood stove to work.

"That's the Peters sisters for you, man," Brad says as he hands me a beer. "They're tight even if they don't see each other all year. You don't ever want to piss one off or you'll never hear the end of it from the others."

How long have you and Emily been married?"

"Three years. A year before Mariah ended her engagement with Elliot." Brad sighs, shaking his head. "Now that was a mess. I don't know what I'd have done if I discovered my fiancée cheating on me with my best friend. But Mariah handled it well. Gracefully, if I might say so. I know I wouldn't have."

"What happened?"

"You don't know?"

I shake my head. "Just that they broke up a month before the wedding."

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