Page 37 of Travis

Liam rubs his nose on mine. “Maybe we should just get married on Saturday, without all the hoopla, and piss everyone off.”

“Then I wouldn’t have to worry about Cher fucking me over at least.” I blurt, and I regret the words the second they come out of my mouth. My hand goes over my mouth, and I gasp, eyes widened.

He rolls his eyes. “What’s Cher up to now?”

“Oh…God…Liam. I’m not supposed to tell.”

“Well, it’s too late now, babe. Out with it.”

“Please…please promise that you won’t freak out.”

It’s sad. He’s so used to Cher being such a bitch, it doesn’t faze him. “I promise.”

“She’s pregnant.”

He smirks. “Great. Well, the good part of having our wedding in three weeks’ time is that she won’t spontaneously go into labor during the ceremony. She’d have a Pitocin drip on her if she knew she’d get attention at the altar shitting out a kid.”

I snort a laugh. It’s really not funny, but Liam knows what I go through with my sister. “Oh….God…you’re right.”

“I know I’m right.” He scoffs, chuckling. “So, what are you worried about. That she’ll wear a fucking sign over her dress?”

I laugh out loud. He so gets it. “I could so see her doing that.”

“Na, she’ll wear a sandwich board.” He adds, enjoying the joke.

I slap him playfully. “Or something equally attention-grabbing, to pull the spotlight off me, which she hates.”

“Babe, the only person you need to worry about grabbing the attention of is me, and I’ll have my eyes on you every second. You’re my princess, Hanna, and I don’t care if your sister shows up in a fucking ugly Christmas leotard, with a giant hat that says, ‘I’m knocked up’. As long as I get to marry you, I personally don’t give a shit. This whole circus is for our folks. The real ‘you and me’ stuff is going to come on our honeymoon. And I guarantee you Cher won’t even know where we’re going, so fuck her.”

I smile, looking at my beloved. He is so the man for me. Only Liam can put a light-hearted spin on Cher and our wedding. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” He kisses my lips. “What’s say we leave all this shit for tonight?” he kisses me a little less chastely, getting the point across. “You game for that? We can get up early and call our folks. Tell them to come pick all this up. They’ve got keys.”

“Okay.” I nod, feeling my toes tingle.

I can’t wait to marry him. My only hope is that he doesn’t find out my secret first…

Chapter 11

Becky

Gregisovertalkingto his buddy, Chris, the photographer, as he prepares Liam and Hanna for their first engagement photograph. It’s Saturday in the early afternoon, and Laura has been kind enough to block off her riding lessons for an hour, so that Chris can get the shots in. It looks like Hanna is rather settled, and not unhinged, like I thought she’d be. Either Sara took care of her sister, Cher, like she said she would, or Hanna dealt with it herself. But I expected her to be frazzled and fraught today, and she’s as cool as a cucumber.

There’s a definite avoidance between Hanna and Greg, but I think I’m the only one that notices it, thankfully. Travis is off to the side, at the ready, in case Chris needs to make any adjustments. Kurt and Grayson are here, too, and Laura keeps bringing us refreshments from inside the ranch house. It’s always such a lovely, welcoming place to be, and it looks incredible all decked out with Christmas decorations. Becky and Liam are wearing fluffy sweaters and red pants, and they look great in front of the ginormous Christmas tree.

Laura has shown me the altar, and we’re going to have Lisa decorate it with Christmassy things for the wedding. It’s going to be absolutely beautiful. I can see it now. Just as Travis walks over to me, I hear my phone ringing. It’s Sara. I pick it up, watching the smile on Travis’s face, as he approaches me. It doesn’t matter how far apart we are, relationship-wise, that smile will always touch my heart, even though I’ll never tell him so again. I’ve noticed that he never smiles like that at anyone else.

“What did you do?” I hiss, chuckling.

“What do you mean?” she asks, feigning shock.

“Why is Hanna so…calm? I thought her sister was about to ruin everything?”

“I told you I’d take care of it, and I did.”

“Well, what did you do?”

“Ah…a magician never reveals his tricks.”

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