A Wife for One Year. Brenda Harlen

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      David and Jane Garrett had bought a modest farmhouse set on ten acres of property when they were newlyweds. Over the years and as their family had grown, they’d renovated and added on so that the current dwelling bore little resemblance to the original structure. The first time Kenna had ever seen it, she’d loved it.

      The two-story house was big but not particularly grandiose. Certainly no one seeing it from the street would think that it belonged to one of the wealthiest families in Charisma. But any time David complained that the floors were creaky and suggested they should move to a modern home in a newer neighborhood, Jane shot him down. “Each one of our boys took their first steps in this creaky old house, and I’m not selling those memories.”

      Kenna had a lot of happy memories of times spent in that house, too. Studying for numerous exams with Daniel at the butcher-block table; nibbling on warm chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven; playing flag football with his brothers and his cousins in the backyard; sitting on the porch swing with her head on Daniel’s shoulder, trying not to cry the night before he left for college.

      Because she’d spent so much time there over the years, no one was surprised when she showed up with Daniel Sunday afternoon. He’d wanted to get there early, so they could tell his parents about their marriage before everyone else arrived. Everyone else being his oldest brother, Andrew, Andrew’s daughter, Maura, his girlfriend, Rachel, and middle brother Nathan.

      But when they got to the farm, they discovered that Andrew and Rachel had beaten them there, eager to share the news of their engagement. Daniel sent Kenna a look, to which she responded with a subtle shake of her head, discreetly slipping her rings off her finger and into her pocket.

      She knew they had to tell David and Jane about their marriage, but she didn’t want to steal the spotlight from Andrew and Rachel. Or maybe she was worried that having the light focused on Daniel and herself would reveal that they weren’t head over heels in love as his brother and fiancée obviously were.

      Nate showed up just as dinner was being put on the table, so the story of Andrew and Rachel’s engagement was told again—in great detail by seven-year-old Maura—as platters and bowls of food were passed around.

      No one made roast beef with all the trimmings like Daniel’s mom, and it was usually one of Kenna’s favorite meals. But today, as she listened to the discussion about potential dates and venues for Andrew and Rachel’s wedding, she found herself moving more food around her plate than she put in her mouth.

      Everyone was thrilled about the engagement. Of course, Andrew and Rachel had been dating since February—not a long time, really, but long enough to be sure that this was what they wanted. As Kenna watched their interactions, she couldn’t help but see that there was a connection between them, so real it was almost tangible.

      Beneath the table, Daniel gave her hand a questioning squeeze. She knew he was eager to share their news, because it was a prerequisite to accessing his trust fund, but the timing just seemed wrong to her. Or maybe, seeing the secretive looks and warm glances that passed between Andrew and Rachel, it was the marriage that seemed wrong.

      Thankfully, with so many people around the table, there was rarely a lull in the conversation. There was discussion about Thomas Garrett’s impending retirement and Nate’s expected move to the CFO’s office when he was gone; Andrew asked Kenna if she was looking forward to the end of the school year and her summer vacation, which prompted Maura to regale them with her plans to play soccer and take ballet classes and go to horseback riding camp; and then Jane happened to mention that she needed to go shopping for a new dress for Lukas and Julie’s wedding.

      Lukas Garrett was one of Daniel’s cousins who lived in Pinehurst, New York; Julie Marlowe was his fiancée, originally from Springfield, Massachusetts. Long before they’d decided to get married themselves, Daniel had asked Kenna to attend with him because he hated going to weddings on his own.

      “When is the wedding?” David asked.

      His wife rolled her eyes. “June twenty-first. Don’t worry, I put the date in the calendar on your phone.”

      “That seems fast,” Andrew noted. “They only met seven months ago.”

      Nate shook his head. “The Garrett men are dropping like flies. I think maybe I should lie low until this epidemic passes.”

      “Stop it,” his mother admonished. “You should be so lucky to fall in love and share your life with someone one day.”

      “I’d say that Daniel and I are the lucky ones,” Nate countered.

      “Don’t drag me into this,” Daniel protested.

      “Birds of a feather,” his brother said. “With no intention of having our wings clipped.”

      “Do you feel as if your wings have been clipped?” Rachel asked Andrew.

      “Only by choice,” her fiancé assured her.

      “And that’s great for you,” Nate said. “But it’s not my choice.”

      “Never say never,” Daniel cautioned.

      “Whose side are you on here?”

      “I’m not taking sides—I have nothing against marriage.”

      “Since when?” Nate demanded.

      Under the table, Daniel gave her hand another squeeze. “Since Kenna and I got married.”

       Chapter Four

      “Well, that was a disaster,” Kenna commented, as they drove away from his parents’ house toward her apartment.

      “Actually, I thought it went pretty well,” Daniel told her.

      “Your mother cried.”

      “Not because we got married, but because we went to Las Vegas and didn’t tell anyone.”

      She didn’t look entirely convinced, but she let it go. “And now she wants to plan a big reception, so that we can celebrate with all of our family and friends.”

      “My mother does love to throw a party.” And he kind of liked the idea of making a public statement about their marriage, letting the world know that Kenna was now his wife.

      “You have to talk her out of it.”

      “Why?”

      “Because I can’t play the blushing bride in front of two hundred people,” she told him. “Especially the single female contingent who will want to gouge my eyes out for taking you off the market.”

      “She won’t invite two hundred people,” he said, choosing to ignore the latter part of her statement.

      Kenna just looked at him.

      “Okay, she’ll probably invite two hundred people,” he acknowledged. “But so what? Did you really think we’d be able to keep the news of our wedding a secret?”

      “No, I just didn’t want anyone to make a big deal out of it.” Those words were СКАЧАТЬ