Page 76 of Full House

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Nate sat up, dislodging Victoria from his hold as he slid back to rest against the headboard. The change of expression on his face clued her in he’d misinterpreted her words. She shook her head, quickly clarifying, “Not, no to getting married, just to getting married in Vegas.” She sat up, getting in a cross-legged position.

She watched his expression clear, and he nodded as if agreeing, though he said, “You do realize it’s the easiest solution. The media will hound us if we try to have a big event. A quickie wedding in some obscure chapel is our best bet.”

Victoria sighed. She knew he was right but couldn’t help defending her stance. “But it’s not how I dreamed it would be.”

“Tell me.” He patted the bed between his raised knees, and she crawled to the spot, resting her back to his front and draping her arms on his thighs.

“Promise you won’t laugh?”

“I promise not to even smile.”

That had her smiling. “When I was about ten, I went with my parents to Tom Hadley and Lilly Robbin’s wedding,” Victoria recalled, referring to the Hollywood power couple from back in the day. She tipped her head back to look at Nate. “Do you remember that?” At his nod, she continued, “I’d never been to a wedding before, but even still, I knew theirs was magical. Lilly looked like a princess in her white, lace gown with a long, flowing train. She even wore a jeweled tiara. There were red carpets and crystal and china settings with gold silverware. White roses everywhere. And the cake! It was taller than I was. I was in awe and knew I wanted a wedding just like theirs, and I promised myself, someday I would find my prince and make it happen.

“Now, being older and more realistic, I don’t need so much pomp and circumstance, but seeing as I’ve found my prince, I do want the fairy-tale wedding.”

He was silent a moment, then said, “Planning something that big will take months. Not that I need to remind you, but we’re having a baby soon.”

“This isn’t the eighteen hundreds, lots of couples have children out of wedlock. In fact, many never bother getting married.”

He tipped her chin back, giving her a stern look. “We will be getting married.”

She softened her expression and took hold of his hand. “Yes, we will be, but does it need to be before the baby’s born?”

“I’d like it to be. I’d like to know both of you are mine, sooner rather than later.”

She wasn’t sure what to say other than what he already knew—she didn’t want a quickie wedding in Las Vegas.

“How about a compromise?”

She supposed she could hear him out. After all, wasn’t that what marriage was all about, compromise? “Like what?”

“Well.” He wrapped his arms around her as if worried she might try to get away. She didn’t think that boded well for what he was about to say. “How about we secretly marry in Vegas—just the two of us, no one else would know—and then after the baby arrives, we can get married in style, whatever you want, and invite all our friends and family.”

Victoria opened her mouth to say, no, that it wouldn’t be the same, but closed it just as quickly, really thinking about the idea before blurting her gut response. As far as compromises go, it was a legitimate one. If only the two of them knew they’d been married in secret, the later ceremony would be almost as if they were marrying for the first time.

She looked down at her ring. The diamond sparkled as the last of the sun’s rays coming from the open blinds hit it and knew, though she did want a big wedding eventually, she also really liked the idea of becoming Nate’s wife now.

“Okay.”

He tipped her chin, assessing her. “Yeah?”

She nodded as best she could with him holding her chin. “Yeah.”

“Thank you.” He leaned his head down giving her a gentle kiss on the lips. “I’ll arrange everything and barring no complications, we should be able to leave by next weekend.”

She smiled. In one week’s time, she’d be Mrs. Nathan Reed. “I’ll call my parents and let them know we’re coming.”

Her stomach growled, and Nate was all over that, saying, “Sorry, sweetheart, looks like you missed your naptime window of opportunity. Nate Junior’s hungry.”

“Pfft,” she snorted. “How do you know it’s not Victoria Junior?”

“Because God is not cruel enough to saddle me with two women who look like you.”

“And how do you know she won’t look like you?” She quickly held up a hand. “Wait, that would be worse. You’re prettier than I am.”

Nate chuckled, burying his face in her neck, shaking his head. “Can we stop talking about this now?”

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