Page 21 of Inked Temptation
“Couldn’t have done it without you kids. I love you.”
She kissed my cheek and leaned against my shoulder as everyone continued to talk about the upcoming reunion and the fact that we were going to have more Montgomerys than ever.
My mother and father had been in a semi-feud with the other Montgomerys for as long as I could remember. And it was all because my father had somehow felt inadequate or that he wasn’t part of the other Montgomerys. His name had been Montgomery, and we had a whole other set of Montgomery relatives that had nothing to do with the Colorado Montgomerys. When he had moved here, he had found my mother, Pamela Montgomery, and they had fallen in love and gotten married. That meant she hadn’t even had to change her name when they wed and were in no way related at all. Not even eighth cousins, from what we could tell. And then my dad had gotten in a fight with my mother’s three brothers, and though they had tried to be cordial for the kids, it had been a glaring issue when it came to the fact that we had similar businesses, and we were a big family.
Things were mended now, and they spent a lot of time together. The eight of them had even gone on a cruise together.
The fact that we were having the reunion here was astounding. Not because Uncle Harry and Aunt Marie tried to force hosting the reunion at their house all the time. It had always just made sense to be there because they had the space. They had the means.
But now all of us did, and this was going to be a lot of work, but with the way that my mom smiled, I would do anything for her.
“Archer, darling, while I have your attention, can I ask you for something?” Mom asked, after a moment, and I turned to her, smiling.
“Of course. What is it?”
“I know you’re busy with your other project and work, but I could use some help. Will you be my right arm for this reunion? Your father will help, of course, but he’s not the best at planning events like this. He’ll be there to do whatever I need him to do, but I need a planner.”
I froze. “Wouldn’t Paige be a better planner? She’s amazing at it. Not that I won’t, Mom. I will. But why didn’t you ask Paige? Or Annabelle, or anybody else other than me who is good at planning? I am good at parties, but this is a huge-scale thing and a lot of responsibility.”
“I would, Archer, but with the new baby, I don’t want to take her time away from Lee and Emery. You understand, don’t you?”
I smiled, ignoring the weird twinge in my heart.
Nothing about what my mom had just said was wrong. It wasn’t cruel, rude, and it shouldn’t be painful.
Because it was true, everybody else had new babies at home and were exhausted a lot of the time because they were trying to do everything.
I was the only one without that, so it made sense that she would come to me for help, and yet why did it feel like I was once again being left behind?
“I’d love to help,” I lied as I smiled hard.
No one else seemed to have heard what we were talking about as we continued to speak, and I just shook my head and continued eating, knowing I needed to get over it.
By the time we cleaned up, and I promised my mom we would speak soon about the reunion, I was exhausted. I said goodbye to the others and headed home.
I walked into my empty apartment, slid my shoes off, put my keys and phone on the front table, and picked up the mail that I had discarded earlier.
I thumbed through it, wondering if I should have a beer or maybe just an aspirin and go to bed early.
I had a lot of work to do, and I wanted to spend the afternoon out on the mountain.
That would help. Maybe.
The thick envelope surprised me, and I frowned at the embossed signature and beauty of it.
A wedding invitation.
To me? Who did I know who was getting married?
There was no return address, so I opened the actual wax seal and pulled out the invitation.
The envelope, RSVP card, and everything else poured out of it as I stood there, transfixed. The words blended on the page for a minute, and I swallowed hard.
Marc Hastings and Rebecca Harrington cordially invite you to their wedding.
There were more words, things I should probably care about, but I just stared, not quite comprehending what I was seeing.
My ex-husband was marrying Rebecca Harrington.
