Page 5 of Knock Me Up

“Either.”

She follows it with a loud exhale. “I want it all too. I want a man, I want to get married. I want to be a wife. And I want to be a mother, have a baby. Have a lot of them. The fantasy you described is the same one I have, Luke. I want to get hitched and start building a family. Sooner rather than later.”

I chuckle. “You want to be wed and bred?”

“If that’s how you want to put it, then yes. I’m all for that.”

She breaks eye contact. She’s nervous as hell, not sure where this is going. I’m not either, flying wholly on adrenaline.

“It’d be a shame to waste all this,” Piper says. “It’s really a nice wedding setup. I guess even a mad bridezilla like that woman could put something nice together.”

I cackle. “She did nothing of the sort.”

“Huh? She kept demanding changes. Nothing seemed good enough for her.”

“She just liked to complain. But she chose nothing. She did none of the work in putting all of this together. I chose all this, Piper. I did all the work in making this wedding happen. Ophelia did nothing.”

She smiles. “So what you’re saying is that this is your dream wedding?”

“Ninety percent, yes. You helped a bit too. I trusted your judgment on flower arrangements. And your recommendation for a photographer too.”

“Arnold is a friend of mine. I just like getting him extra work.”

“Would you hire him for your own wedding?”

“Well, yeah, he does very good work. He always leaves me impressed.”

“Do you see anything about this wedding setup that you’d like to change?”

She looks around the church, taking it all in. “Uh, does the caterer have vegan options?”

“Yes. And Kosher and Halal choices as well.”

“Then, no. If I got married in a place like this, I don’t think I’d have any complaints, Luke.”

I stroke my chin, freshly shaved for what was meant to be my big day. And maybe it still will be. “Then what do you think, Piper?”

“What do I think about what?”

“We could get married. Today.”

She’s giving me that deer-in-headlights look again.

It’s adorable, but I have to admit, I’m anxious inside.

I’m a madman for even asking.

But maybe she’s just as mad as I am.

Maybe we’re more perfect for one another than we ever could have guessed.

3

PIPER

Well, well, this escalated quickly.

I give him a thousand-yard stare. He can’t be serious.

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