Page 26 of Feast

“Everything all set for the wedding?” he asked in a hopelessly transparent attempt to change the subject. “You got your dress and everything?”

“Smooth,” she said drily but answered the question. “Everything’s all done. We did a quick run-through last night with the coordinator, dinner reservations are set. And I’ve had my dress for a month, you numbskull.”

Did he know that already? He couldn’t remember. “What time am I supposed to be there again?”

“Eleven-thirty,” she said firmly, and he knew if he was one minute late she’d blister his ears. “And don’t be late, because the ceremony needs to start on time so we’ll be pronounced husband at wife at the stroke of twelve.”

He still wasn’t sure why it was so important to her to be married precisely at midnight, but if that’s what she wanted, that’s what she’d get. “And we’re having dinner after?”

“Yes, and I expect you to behave.”

He frowned. “What does that mean?”

She aimed a pointed look. “You will be nice to your new sisters, Spencer Jason, or I’ll slap that mustache off your face.”

“What do you think, I’m going to put worms in their hair?” he asked, amused. “Frogs in their soup? I’m thirty-three, Mom.”

“You know what I mean,” she said, and he was surprised at the tension in her voice. “I just want all of us to get along.”

“You’re worried about this?” he asked.

“Not worried, exactly,” she hedged, and he sat up straighter. Heather was a straight-forward, balls-to-the-wall, in-your-face kind of woman. For her to hedge on anything was so rare as to be almost unthinkable. “I guess I’m a little nervous about being a step-mom.”

“Why?” he asked, genuinely baffled. “They’re grown women. It’s not like you have to teach them about their periods or make sure they don’t sneak boys into the house after hours.”

“I don’t know.” She began toying with her fork. “They weren’t exactly thrilled when their father and I started dating.”

This was the first he was hearing of it. “They weren’t?”

“Well, Halley wasn’t,” Heather amended with a faint frown. “I don’t actually know how Maddie felt. She was still living in Chicago then, and we haven’t spent much time together.”

Spence frowned, trying to recall if the little brown-eyed blonde had said or done anything hostile when he’d traveled up to Clare to have lunch with them the day after Thanksgiving. “Halley seemed fine to me. Nice.” A little bland, he thought, but nice.

“Oh, she is,” Heather hastened to assure him. “And really, I think she was just shocked to see her father dating anyone. He hadn’t, you know, not since the divorce. And she’s been lovely since.”

“Then what’s the problem?” he wanted to know.

“I just want to start my marriage out on the right foot,” she said, picking up her fork and laying it back down again.

“Mom.” He reached over to cover her hand with his. “Stephen loves you, right?”

She nodded.

“And you love him?”

“I really do,” she said, her voice ringing with certainty, and something twisted low in his belly.

He ignored it. “Then that’s what matters, yeah?”

“It is.” She nodded. “You’re right.”

“Give the rest some time,” he advised. “It’ll all work out.”

“You think?”

“I know.” He was going to make sure of it.

“You’re a good son, Spencer,” she murmured and squeezed his hand. “Have I told you that lately?”

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