Page 10 of Over and Above

“Gee. Thanks, Dad.” Diesel glared at me.

“I speak from experience.” I met his angry stare, holding his gaze. He knew all the ins and outs of my relationship with his mother, along with various others I’d had over the years. “It’s a huge decision.”

“Like having a baby. Our lives are linked from now on, regardless.” Maren’s expression turned decidedly queasy again.

“And…um…we might love each other.” Diesel didn’t sound particularly certain and kept glancing at Maren like she was about to object.

However, in a shocker, she squeezed his hand.

“Yes. I love Diesel, and we’ll get married for real next year after the baby is here so everyone can come.”

“Waiting for the baby is a good idea.” I tried to keep the calm tone this conversation desperately needed.

“Back up.” Eric sounded the opposite of calm, voice wavering. “For real.As opposed to?”

“A quiet elopement at the courthouse.” Maren’s voice had the same clipped, efficient tones I’d heard Eric use when stressed. “The real wedding will be next year likely.”

“Maren Jane, please tell me you haven’t already done this.”

Chapter Six

Eric

In retrospect, I shouldn’t have been so caught off guard by Maren and Diesel wanting to live together. With the immediacy of Maren’s ongoing morning sickness, it was only too easy to forget a baby was coming, a baby who would need a lot of care. Logistics were usually my strong suit as well.

But hearing Maren trying to use logistics to justify moving in with Diesel and potentially marrying him had my chest tight with the worst case of heartburn in my life. Magnus’s food offering had been much appreciated, but now it sat like a bonfire behind my sternum.

“Define already.” Maren’s lawyerly tone had me gritting my teeth.

“We have a license,” Diesel revealed in a far too chipper tone. “But Maren—we—wanted to tell you first.”

“Thank you.” Magnus’s chill reaction to everything from the pregnancy to this latest bit of news had me that much more on edge. It wasn’t a competition, but the guy made me look uptight and out of touch.

“We want to do the courthouse thing after the Fourth of July.” Maren earnestly returned to those pesky logistics again, as if arranging to get married was on par with scheduling a dental cleaning. “Wren will be at science camp next week, and John has another camping trip. And everyone else can come to the real wedding next year. But we’d like you two to come with us to the courthouse.”

“I…” The edges of the room seemed to draw together, reality spinning as an oppressive heat stole all the oxygen. “I need air.”

Unable to give more warning, I darted onto the front porch, gulping the evening air like a bottle of water after a marathon. At least it was relatively cool, the late June weather featuring sunny days but milder nights as we inched toward the warmest weather of the year.

I wasn’t normally prone to anxiety or panic. If anything, I was the opposite, able to tamp down unwanted emotions, even if it might be healthier to let them out. However, this was an unprecedented situation, and the number of rapid-fire changes I had no control over was as overwhelming and unwelcome as a dunk in the nearby cold and unforgiving Columbia River.

I wasn’t surprised to hear heavy footsteps behind me and didn’t bother turning around from the porch railing I was leaning on.

“Had a feeling they’d send you to talk some sense into me.”

“I volunteered to check on you.” Magnus sounded suitably concerned and, maddeningly, not nearly as worked up over this turn of events as I was.

“Do you see any universe where we talk them out of getting hitched?” Rather than spinning to face Magnus, I spoke to the bushes.

“Nope.” He stayed insufferably calm. “They seem rather set on this plan.”

“I know.” I drew out a long groan. “And Maren seems to be going through an unusually stubborn phase. If I forbid it, she’ll double down that much harder on doing the thing. I miss when she’d actually take my advice.”

“Hey, at least you had a time when she listened. Diesel always took ‘no, you shouldn’t’ as a personal challenge.” Magnus sounded proud of his kid’s rebellious streak, which made my jaw clench against the urge to say something less than kind. “But you can still give your advice. There’s no requirement here to give your blessing or rent to them or anything else you’d rather not do.”

Damn Magnus and his reverse psychology to hell because I immediately saw his point. “Nothing I say or do will stop this from happening.”

“Nope.” To his credit, he didn’t gloat. Instead, he dropped his hand to briefly pat my shoulder, a warm, electric touch that was gone far too soon.

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