Page 54 of A Baby to Make Her His Bride

Amelia moved to sit beside him and wordlessly hugged his arm, leaving her head tilted against her shoulder. Then she reached out her hand to Hunter, beckoning him to sit on her other side so she could hold his hand, too.

How could Vienna have ever worried her brother would disown her? Hunter was as wrecked by this as Jasper was. If Amelia wasn’t between them, they would be clinging to each other.

Hunter shifted once, taking out his phone and replying to a text, murmuring, “Remy,” but otherwise they sat like that the whole time, wordless, holding on to each other while they waited for news.

Finally, a nurse came in to say, “She’s in recovery. Everything went well. The baby’s vitals are strong, too. You can see her shortly,” she said to Jasper. “Only one visitor, I’m afraid.”

“I’ll call Dad,” Amelia said with a shaken sigh. She rose when Jasper did and hugged him. “It’s going to be okay now.”

He sure as hell hoped so.

Amelia placed the call and moved into a corner while Hunter pushed his hands into his pockets and studied him. Jasper realized he had never told him what his argument with Vienna was about.

“I’ll call off the wedding,” Hunter said.

“No,”Jasper asserted. “I said some stupid things to her, but I love her and told her so. She loves me, too. No one is ever going to work harder than I will at making her happy. We’re getting married.”

“I’m pleased to hear it,” Hunter said with a trace of amusement coming in at the edges of his somber expression. “Vienna made choices years ago that I had to respect, but I knew she was shortchanging herself. I’ve always hated myself for not trying harder to dissuade her. I need to know she’s marrying someone who sees how incredible she is. Iwantyou to marry her. God knows, that will make my wife happy and that’s allIwant. But I don’t think Vienna is going to make it to the ceremony tomorrow.”

Jasper swore and shut his eyes.

“I meant that I’ll deal with informing the hotel and the guests.” Hunter was definitely laughing at him. “Based on experience, I suggest letting the guests eat the food and drink you’ve paid for. It goes a long way toward smoothing everything over.”

“Thanks. Have a great time,” Jasper said wryly. “Take photos so we know what we missed.”

Jasper wouldn’t miss anything except the vows. He needed that formal connection to her more than ever now.

The nurse came to get him as Amelia finished her call to their father. “Dad will still come tomorrow. He wants to see all of us and make sure Vienna is okay.”

Jasper nodded.

“Do you want us to wait and take you back to the hotel?” Hunter offered.

“No, I’ll stay with her as long as they’ll let me.”

“Give her our love,” Hunter said.

“I will.” Jasper hurried to Vienna’s side.

Every time Vienna woke over the next two days, Jasper was there. Each time, he reassured her that the baby was doing well, that she was recovering nicely, and that he loved her.

“The wedding,” she said plaintively when she got enough of her faculties back to remember it.

“The cocktail show was a big hit, as was the improvised snowball fight,” he said dryly.

“Oh? Did Amelia go? I love Eden and Quinn, but I was so worried she would feel awkward with them.”

“She said she spent a lot of the night chatting with them. She thinks they’re great.”

“Oh, that makes me happy. Did you go?”

His frown scolded her for even suggesting it. “When I go toourwedding, you’ll be there.” He brought her palm to his lips, pressing a kiss there. “You will marry me, won’t you?”

A latent misgiving struck. “Maybe I was putting too much pressure on our relationship.” She could see now that the pageantry of the wedding had been one of her old coping strategies, where she had projected the grand romance she had longed for.

“That’s not true at all.” He hitched his hip on the bed and pressed her hand to his thigh. “I couldn’t take being this happy, Vi. It was hard to accept your love when Saqui will never have what we have, but he would be the first to say,Love her, you fool. He knew how rare and special it is to find the person you want to spend your life with. He would be angry with me for wasting a single minute of our time. So would my father, for that matter. Love is scary. Loss hurts.”

His mouth flattened and he continued to iron her hand to his thigh.

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