Page 134 of The Reason I Married Him
“I can,” I say. “And I know she’s been treated poorly in the past.” I’m very aware I don’t know the extent. “I know how fragile yet strong she is, and I have no intentions of breaking her or hurting her.”
“Good,” Ryland says as he places his hand on my shoulder and then turns to me. “Because if you fucking hurt her, not only will I hurt you but Hayes and the rest of this fucking town will too. Got it?”
Jesus . . .
“Yes,” I say.
“Okay then.” He nods toward the back of the inn. “Rodney is waiting for you.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“He has his train ready. Ethel said you’d be coming in on his train while she singsAt Last.”
“Uh, that’s not what was discussed,” I say, glancing toward Ethel, who seems to be giving us a dangerous look, one that saysget a move on.
“Well, that’s what she told me. You are to be unveiled by a train.”
“I don’t want to be unveiled by a train. I just want to propose, simple as that.”
Ryland claps me on the shoulder and says, “You involved a former Broadway star in your proposal. Did you really think it was going to be a simple proposal?”
“I did,” I answer.
“Fool.” Ryland shakes his head. “Dude, you’re being unveiled by a train.”
“This is not what I asked for.” I glance behind us. “Is there really a train back there? Because I didn’t ask for one. I don’t even have any likeness toward trains. We never discussed anything about a train,” I say with a slight panic because if a train is involved, what else is involved? Are there train sounds? Are there outfits? Is there a whole Broadway number planned? And I didn’t tell Aubree, and she’s out on the dance floor. What the hell am I supposed to do?
“Really? She made it seem like you were all in on the train,” Ryland says. “Very excited about the train.”
“Not all in on the train,” I say. “Think we can skip the train?”
Ryland shakes his head. “No, I don’t think there’s any skipping the train. Ethel has this thing mapped out, which, by the way, why the fuck did I have to hear it from her? Why didn’t you tell me what was going on, or Hayes, for that matter, since you two have been talking?”
Yeah, why didn’t you do that, Wyatt?Maybe because you’re an idiot and didn’t think this all the way through. I didn’t thinkabout Ethel’s dramatic side. I didn’t consider the family. I didn’t think about the possibility of an entire town plus all their friends and family being here. Given that this isn’t a real relationship between Aubree and me, I didn’t think about the steps I’d take if I planned on marrying someone for love. The only reason I’m doing a big proposal is for the show of it, so if Wallace ever asks around.
I didn’t consider the family’s feelings—a huge miss on my end.
“Shit, man, I’m sorry,” I say. “I guess I was just so wrapped up in this jubilee proposal that I completely forgot to talk to you and Hattie about it. I promise that moving forward, that won’t happen again.”
“Good,” he says. “And good that you can admit to your shortcomings and mistakes. That will bode well for you when you’re married to Aubree. She’s very strong-willed.”
Uh, yeah. Found that out on day one.
“She is, one of my favorite things about her.” A clearing of a throat is projected through the microphone, and when we both look up, we find Ethel staring at us with daggers ready to fly from her eyes right at us.
“Better get in the train,” Ryland says.
“But I don’t want to get into the train. I actually need to talk to Aubree for a moment.”
“Sorry, no can do, you have to get in the train. That was my job, to get Mac to distract Aubree and to get you to the back.”
“I understand, but I just have to say something to her real quick.”
“Nope.” Ryland pushes me toward the back. “To the train you go.”
“Ryland, seriously.”
“Seriously,” he says back with strong conviction. “You get back there, or else Ethel is going to have my head, and do youreally want to do that to Mac, have her lose another important person in her life? Now. Get. Back. There,” he says, shoving me along until I’m moving in the direction he wants me to go. “You don’t want Ethel on your bad side.”
