Page 27 of Claiming His Prize

“But—”

“Can we not talk about this now, please?” Allison pleaded a little. “Todd and I haven’t even discussed a date, much less anything more detailed.”

“Well... well, yes, of course,” her mother said, obviously regrouping. The little furrow that appeared in her brow indicated she wasn’t done arguing.

Allison wanted to talk with Todd, so they could get on the same page before her mother ended up taking over the entire planning process.Although she was sure her mother would plan a lovely wedding, it would end up going far beyond the original budget she’d indicated. The guest list would be enormous, with most people neither she nor Todd knew.Which, at one point in her life, Allison had assumed would be the wedding she would have.Now, it sounded overdone and unnecessary, not to mention, she’d rather have people she cared about than literally hundreds of people she would barely recognize.

“So, what about the honeymoon?” her mother asked, and Allison tried not to groan.

* * *

By the time Allison and Todd returned home, she felt a bit like a wrung-out rag, but happy. For the first time in a long time, there wasn’t any negativity hovering over her head, nothing that made her feel angry or sad.Although neither she nor her parents had actually apologized during the evening, it was pretty clear both sides were ready to silently compromise and move on. Part of her still wished they’d apologized, but she could live without it. And it had been really nice to see them again.

“Thank you,” she said, throwing her arms around Todd’s waist as they walked up to their house. “I’m really glad we went.”

“Good,” he replied as he unlocked the door and pulled her inside. “Your mother is terrifying.”

“You didn’t notice that before?”

“I mostly talked to your dad when I went over there to talk about proposing to you. Your mother just dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. I thought the crying was frightening but good God, when she went into planning mode....”

“Ah,” Allison said, smiling as she went up on her tiptoes to kiss him. “You’ll get used to her.”

“Apparently, I don’t have much choice,” he teased, shaking his head. Standing in the entryway to the house, he put his arms around her, looking down at her with an incredibly soft expression in his eyes. She tilted her head back for the kiss she was sure was coming. “So, when do you want to get married?”

She burst out laughing. “We don’thaveto decide on everything she talked about right now.”

“But what if she calls tomorrow?”

“Oh, my goodness.” Allison rolled her eyes. “You’re actually terrified of my mom. I always thought my dad was scarier.”

“He and I understand each other,” Todd muttered as he pulled away and moved into the house, pulling her behind him. “Come on, let’s go watch something mind-numbing, then you can explain to me what the hell she meant about weddingcolors.”

While Allison was picking out a movie, Todd listened to a voicemail his mother had left while they’d been at dinner with her parents. Although his mother had known he was going to propose, he hadn’t actually had a chance to talk to her during the day because of everything that had happened. And, of course, he’d had his phone turned off while they were having dinner with Allison’s parents; anything else would have been impolite.

Groaning, he collapsed onto the couch, looking absolutely harried. Holding a DVD case in her hand, Allison arched an inquisitive eyebrow at him.

“She askedevery single questionyour mom did,” he said testily. “When, where, how many guests... whatcolors? What is it with you women and wedding colors?”

The poor man looked absolutely daunted. Allison launched herself onto his lap, giggling even harder as she wound her body around him. Apparently, the poor thing hadn’t realized what a tizzy a wedding could send mothers into.

“Don’t worry sweetheart, I’ll protect you.”

“You’d better,” he growled. “Or I’ll tan your bottom.”

“Hey, you asked for it. Literally.”

He rolled his eyes, then grunted as she poked him.

“Like, literally, you asked me to marry you.”

Their eyes met, shining with the same teasing love, and Allison felt as though she could melt into a puddle of blissful joy.

“Yes, yes, I did.”

10

Mr. & Mrs. Robert D. Bradford

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