Page 27 of First Comes Marriage

Sabrina shifted in her seat, wincing as she did.What the hell is going on?

“I don’t display the penises anywhere,” she said through gritted teeth. “I smash them.”

Aunt Lucy froze. “Well, that seems a bit harsh.”

“Enough about the penises,” Baz’s mother said, taking up the seat on the other side of him and gripping his hand. “Tell me how this happened.”

“Seems like a waste of a perfectly good penis,” Aunt Lucy muttered to herself as she took another sip of her champagne.

“There’s not much to tell,” Baz hedged.

“Oh, don’t be coy with me,” his mother said with a knowing look. “You left here a few days ago a confirmed bachelor and now I have a daughter-in-law!”

What could he say? Sabrina liked margaritas and didn’t getalong with her family. She wore skirts that drove him out of his damn mind and was afraid of flying. She still smelled like wildflowers and he couldn’t stop thinking about the freckles on her clavicle and she’d only married him because they were both drunk off their asses and she wanted to get back at her sister.

Christ, what had he gotten himself into?

How could he look his mother in the eye and tell her that his marriage was a mistake, that it wasn’t real?

“There’s quite a bit of an age difference between you two, isn’t there?” his mother prompted.

“Twelve years,” Sabrina said with a slight grimace as he said, “She’s not as young as Tessa or Kyla.”

His mother laughed. “Well, no, I suppose she isn’t. Gavin and Jamie did fall for lovely young women, though. I’m sure your wife will get along perfectly fine with them all.”

My wife.His mouth went dry. He’d long ago given up on the idea of ever calling someone by that particular title, but hearing his mother say it, hearing her speculate about how well Sabrina would get along with his friends, he couldn’t deny how much he liked it.

You stupid asshole.

“How’d it happen?” Aunt Lucy leaned forward eagerly. “Did you see each other on the plane and old feelings came rushing back? You know, I always thought you protested a bit too much when Holly said you had a crush on him. And now, all these years later, to think you two were the ones who were meant to be together all along!”

A puff of air left Sabrina’s lips as she dug her hand into her side.

Enough.He didn’t know what was wrong, but there was no denyingsomethingwasn’t right, and if Sabrina wasn’t going to tell him in front of the welcome wagon, then he would have to take her somewhere she would.

Baz got to his feet, sliding his arm around Sabrina’s waistand helping her to her feet. “We’re tired from the flight. If you'll excuse us.”

“Oh, yes, you poor things,” his mother said, getting to her feet. “All that excitement and travel.”

“You must be exhausted,” Aunt Lucy said. “Let me drive you back to Sebastian’s.”

“We’ll call a car,” Baz said, leading Sabrina to the front door.

She’d gone pale, her eyes hazy. As he placed the order on the app on his phone, he wondered if he ought to call an ambulance instead.

“You good?” he asked, his lips against her ear so only she could hear.

“Fine.” She gave him that tight nod again, but her jaw was clenched, hand clasped to her side. The appendix was on the lower right side, wasn’t it? Or was he thinking of the gallbladder? Some expendable organ known to cause dramatic emergency room visits, surely.

“Now, I know, you’ll want your privacy as you settle in as newlyweds. I promise, I won’t stop by unannounced.” His mother followed behind them as they made their way to the door. “I think you’ll agree we don’t need a repeat of that time I came home early the summer before you started college and found you and—”

“Mom, please.” Having his mother walk in on him with his head between Cindy Parker’s legs had been bad enough, he didn’t need to relive the experience.

His mother laughed. “You get my point. But maybe you two could come up for air long enough to join me for dinner next weekend.”

“Maybe,” he hedged.

“I have to go to Brookline next weekend,” Sabrina said, but he wasn’t sure if she was serious or just trying to shake the invitation.

---