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His throat moved as he swallowed thickly, and Rose braced herself for what she expected him to say. But he surprised her when he pushed away from the table and went to the couch. A moment later, he returned with his laptop.
“I’m going to be a little short for my share,” he admitted as he opened the computer and signed in.
She pressed her lips together and fought back frustration. She’d known that, expected it, but it didn’t make it any less aggravating. While her main focus had been on his recovery, she’d known their finances would take a hit after his accident.
“How short?” She kept her tone even.
He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he seemed to be doing some calculations of his own. His eyebrows knitted together, and he bit his lip.
“Steven?”
With a sigh, he turned the screen toward her. “About seventy-five hundred short.”
Her stomach dropped. It was worse than she’d thought. They’d been splitting the wedding costs equally and had opened a joint account to pay for them, with the plan to use that account for joint expenses once they were married. Steven hadn’t deposited anything into it since April.
“All of it?”
He gave a grim nod. “And it gets worse.”
“How could it possibly be worse?”
“Mr. Willoughby is threatening to find a new lawyer if I can’t work on his case.”
Though Mr. Willoughby was Steven’s biggest client, she couldn’t deny she would be thrilled to see the back of him. He was the absolute worst kind of person.
“I’m sure you can find someone to replace him.”
He shook his head. “I know he’s a pain, but between the drama of his divorce and his real estate business, he’s been a very lucrative client, and I’d be underwater without him.”
“So what are you going to do?”
When he didn’t answer, she decided to try her next strategy. “Can we discuss postponing the wedding now?”
His mouth set in a thin line. “Not this again. We’ll lose more money if we cancel now.”
“I spoke to Carissa this morning, and the vendors are still willing to work with us on finding a new date next summer.” Rose left out the part about needing to pay them by the original deadline. Her share of the cost would cover the payments due in July, and once they had a new date, she hoped to renegotiate a payment plan for the remaining balance.
He searched her face, and she tried to keep her expression neutral while her heart hammered in her chest. She prayed he would see reason.
“I’m doing what you asked, Rose. Lanie and I are setting up interviews to hire a law clerk. And who knows, maybe they’ll do well enough to work toward becoming a partner someday. In the meantime, I’m trying to keep my business afloat so we can afford to start our lives together.” His chest expanded as he took a deep breath, and she held hers as she waited for whatever he would say next. “I want to marry you. I want a life with you, and I’m doing everything I can to make that happen. So why don’t you tell me what’s really going on?”
What the—What was that supposed to mean? They were financially strapped and could no longer afford the wedding they’d planned. What other possible motive could I have? Does he think I want to keep having this conversation? Does he think I enjoy pushing him on this?
A cold wave of dread washed down her spine. He couldn’t possibly know about her parents’ deciding not to attend, could he? Rose hadn’t told anyone else about that, and she highly doubted Steven had spoken to her parents since he’d left the hospital. But his insistence that she had some ulterior motive in postponing the wedding was making her paranoid.
Pushing those thoughts away, she glared at him. “What’s really going on is that we can’t afford to get married the way we planned. And unless you’ve got seven thousand dollars stashed away somewhere, I don’t know how you suggest we pay for the commitments we’ve already made.” When he opened his mouth to protest, she rushed on. “Besides, wouldn’t you rather hold the wedding of our dreams when you’re fully recovered and able to enjoy it?”
He dropped his gaze to the table as if the fight had gone out of him. Tears pricked behind her eyes because she didn’t want to postpone the wedding, but she didn’t see any other option.
“I’m not saying forever, Steven. Just a year. One year where you can focus on healing and we can get our lives, and our finances, back on track. Then we can have the wedding of our dreams without bankrupting ourselves.” A year for me to save up for my parents’ flights.
A tear slipped down his cheek. “It’s not fair.” He raised his head and looked at her. “I don’t want to wait anymore. We already put it off for a year because of my mother and opening the law firm. I don’t want this to be like Scrooge in A Christmas Carol where we keep postponing the wedding until the ‘right time.’“ He put air quotes around those last words. Sliding his hand across the table, he grasped hers. “It may never be the right time for us to get married, but I don’t want to risk losing the right person for me.”
Her heart melted. But she looked at Steven, really looked at him, and she could see the toll the situation was taking on him. Dark circles bloomed like purple bruises under his eyes, and his skin was paler than usual. When he’d led her into the house, she could hear his labored breathing as he pushed his wheelchair. It wouldn’t take much for him to be right back in the hospital, and who knew whether he would survive another heart attack.
“I want to marry you too,” she said in earnest before pulling her hand away. She stared at the table as she spoke the words she’d avoided even thinking let alone saying out loud. “But I don’t want to be a widow so soon after becoming your wife.”
His jaw dropped open. “Is that what you think is going to happen?” He maneuvered his chair around to her side of the table. His arm slid around her shoulders. “I promise you, I am taking better care of myself. Lanie has been buying me healthy food, and I’ve been getting plenty of rest.”
