Page 2 of First Comes Marriage

Sabrina stepped out of her tasteful flats and slid them into position on the mat by the front door like her mother had taught her. “Aunt Lucy!” She plucked a thumbprint cookie off the plate on the counter, dipping her finger into the raspberry jam in the center and sucking the sugary gel from her fingertip.

At the edge of the kitchen, the curled cord of the wall-mounted telephone disappeared around the corner into the sunroom. Grabbing a second cookie and grinning to herself, Sabrina followed the cord into the airy room where her father’s aunt preferred to take her afternoon tea. There, on the smallloveseat facing the picture window overlooking her garden, sat Aunt Lucy, the banana yellow phone receiver pressed to her ear.

“Oh, Ruthie, she just got home,” Aunt Lucy said into the phone. Then, tilting the mouthpiece away from her lipsticked smile, she said to Sabrina, “Come in, dear. Ruth Greene is telling me about the Bazaar.”

Sabrina flopped into the floral-patterned armchair at the side of the room as her aunt “uh-huh”ed and “mm-hmm”ed her way through the next few minutes of her phone call. Aunt Lucy’s eyes flitted towards Sabrina, her brow wrinkling. “Yes, very interesting.”

Sabrina mouthed “What?” but her aunt ignored her, choosing to instead run her eyes appraisingly over Sabrina’s outfit.

She shifted uneasily in the seat, popping a cookie into her mouth to have something to do as she felt her aunt taking silent inventory of her appearance. The tailored khakis and sage green silk blouse were exactly the kind of outfit her mother would have approved of, but she wasn’t supposed to worry about that kind of thing. She and her therapist had agreed that, at age thirty-one, it was high time she stopped concerning herself with what her mother might think.

So why had Sabrina hesitated when faced with the option to wear jeans and the comfortable crochet crop top she’d originally pulled from her closet that morning? Why had she instead ironed her trousers and fussed over how many delicate gold chains to string around her neck before going to a church bazaar?

Because you can still hear her voice in your head, even if you know you shouldn’t care.

Sabrina slouched a little in the armchair, because she knew her mother would have hated it if she’d been there to see. Which, of course, she wasn’t. Sabrina had chosen to move in with her great aunt after her divorce precisely to avoid the kind of running commentary on her life choices that would have dogged her steps in her parents’ home.

“I certainly shall,” Aunt Lucy said into the phone. “And tell Norm it’s settled. I’m sure Sabrina will be more than happy to help. Thank you, Ruthie.”

Sabrina waited while her aunt returned to the kitchen to hang up the phone, reappearing in the sunroom with two glasses of iced tea. “What’s settled?”

Aunt Lucy pursed her lips in that way she did when she was keeping a secret. It was the same look she’d give Sabrina when, as a child, Sabrina asked where her parents had hidden the Christmas presents. But Aunt Lucy could never keep a secret for long. Sabrina just had to be patient.

Aunt Lucy eyed her over the top of her iced tea as she took a long sip before firmly changing the topic. “Apparently there was quite a stir at the Bazaar. You didn’t happen to notice a commotion at the dunk tank, did you, dear?”

Sabrina’s stomach clenched, reminding her of the knots that had formed there that afternoon and refused to budge since. “No, I don’t think so,” she lied.

“Hmm. You might be the only one.”

“Did something happen?”

The image of Sebastian Graham, dripping wet and staring daggers at her across the fairgrounds, came to her unbidden. He’d always been attractive in that tall, dark, and broody way, but she was surprised to learn the simmering anger in his gaze had a rather inconvenient affect on her ability to form complete thoughts. Her therapist would have plenty to say about that, she was sure. Sabrina forced herself to focus on her last cookie, dragging her finger through the jam as though baked goods could make her forget the look in his eyes.

“Well, you see, for several years we’ve had a mystery man in the dunk tank. In costume. And today, he was unmasked.” Sabrina hummed in acknowledgment but kept her eyes on her cookie. “You’ll never guess who it was.”

“I don’t know many people in town anymore, Aunt Lucy.”

“You know him.”

Sabrina shot her aunt a warning glance. “No, I really don’t anymore.”

Aunt Lucy sighed. “Once upon a time you used to think he was a very nice man. We could hardly get you to stop talking about him. Why, if he hadn’t been engaged to Holly, I almost would have believed that you—”

“Yes, Auntie, we all know how much you like Sebastian.” Best to put an end to that line of conversation. No good could come from revisiting what Sabrina may or may not have felt about her sister’s former fiancé.

Her aunt sniffed the air and resettled in her seat. “He’ll makesomeonea fine husband one day.”

Heat crept up Sabrina’s neck. She knew everyone blamed her for turning her sister into a runaway bride, and she’d never be able to convince them it hadn’t been her fault. Holly was the perfect daughter, the picture of Ivy-league propriety, the beautiful one, the successful one, the sensible one. Everything Sabrina wasn’t. No one wanted to know that Holly had been having an affair with a partner in her law firm. They would much rather believe that Sabrina was to blame for the embarrassment of Holly leaving her fiancé at the altar.

And for ten years she’d let them. It had seemed like a small price to pay for Sebastian’s happiness. Even if it meant he hated her.

But that was before he had looked right through her, as though he could erase her from existence with a glare.

That was before Sabrina had lost everything in a painful divorce and been forced to move into the spare bedroom at her great aunt’s house in a town far too small for her to have any hope of avoiding Sebastian Graham.

There had been a time when Sabrina had counted down the hours until she could see him again. When she would have done anything to make him happy, even confront her sister ontheir wedding day.

There was a time when she thought he would have done the same for her.

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