Page 131 of Duchess Material

“No, no. Stay. There will be time,” Brittany said. “Oh, shit. I should check on the men and make sure they aren’t burning the house down.”

Jane rolled her eyes. “Get on it! You’d assume they were children.”

Lucy snickered.

Lucy winced as Francie lifted her left hand up. “Now, let’s see this ring in real life. God, it’s huge!”

“That’s what she said.” Lucy made a terrible joke.

She was nervous.

“It’s an heirloom. He can’t take credit for designing it like Tim did, I guess, but I love it.”

“I’ve never seen one like this. What is with the second one?”

“That’s a wedding band,” Jane said. “Lucy, you have some explaining to do.”

Lucy resisted the urge to deflect by making an I Love Lucy joke.

“We eloped. Last week. It was mostly to avoid Winston’s father. He’s very abusive and rude to me. We decided we just wanted something—no royal weddings for us.”

“We missed it?” Francie looked heartbroken.

“Pretty much everyone did. We did it at this place by our house. It was so simple and so sweet. We have pictures, don’t you worry. But it was so stress-free and meaningful. Please don’t hate me, Francie. I didn’t want the day to be ruined for everyone. And I didn’t want to put you in a bind.”

“I could never hate you. But Mom’s gonna be so mad!”

“I know. We’re aware. Well, Winston thinks this will go as well as it did with his family. And by that, I just mean his mum, Bruno, and his siblings. I don’t think he gets it.”

“Well, I think it’s important you and Winston do what is right for you,” Jane said. “Whatever makes you happy. It’s your wedding. You should have what you want. I am sad. I wanted to see it, but I guess now I will get great-grandchildren?”

“I promise you there will be great-grandchildren before you are too old to enjoy them,” Lucy assured.

The women proceeded into the dining room where everyone assembled. Brittany sat the table with Lucy’s aunts. It was lively. Lucy felt nervous, but at home. Her sister really had outdone herself on the house. It was surprisingly tasteful. Neither her grandmother nor sister said anything. Winston returned, standing next to Lucy, and squeezing her hand. The rest of the party arrived. Her father and Tim were bringing in a load of polish sausage and burgers from the grill. It was snowing, but that hadn’t kept them down.

Lucy squeezed Winston’s hand back tightly as he sat next to her. Her father was visibly drunk. This wasn’t going well. Lucy worked with her new husband to come up with an exit plan if things got tense. It wouldn’t be due to her mother’s guilt. That would be secondary to whatever slurs her father hurled. She could only hope Dwight did not lay hands on Winston. That was the worst outcome.

“So,” Jane said, “I don’t want to make a speech. I want to enjoy dinner. Anyone who says anything about my age is going to hear about it.”

Laughter erupted.

“I do want to ask Lucy, however, if she may have an announcement to make?”

“We know about the engagement,” Dwight rolled his eyes.

“Well, it’s not just that.”

“Oh, you’re pregnant!” Jen said, excitedly. “No drinks for you! Wait, you have a glass of wine.”

“No, not pregnant,” Lucy said, annoyed. “This is not meant to be a big deal or to steal your thunder, Jen. It just worked for our schedules. Um… we got married? We eloped.”

A pin could have dropped.

“Well, you didn’t think to invite all of us?” Brittany demanded. “Lucy, why would you do that?”

Dwight slammed his beer on the table. “Because he’s embarrassed by her—by all of us. His snooty family wouldn’t have it.”

The beer fizzed over, and Brittany dashed to get a stack of party napkins.

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