Page 47 of Ardently Yours

Me: Why? You don’t want me. You don’t love me. It was a business deal for our families and their businesses. You know that.

Caroline: What I know is that you didn’t even give us a chance, Will.

Me: I’m sorry, Caroline. I didn’t mean to hurt you.

Caroline: Yeah, well, you moving to that little town and shacking up with some barista isn’t exactly an upgrade, you know.

Me: What?

Caroline: Don’t act clueless now. My brother saw you. He lives there too. Don’t you remember Charlie? Us Bingleys aren’t just in Chicago. And you got caught red-handed.

Me: I’m not getting caught because I’m not doing anything wrong here.

Caroline: Yeah, well, if you think dating that girl will make your family happy, you’ve got another thing coming. Charlie married that girl’s sister, and you know what happened? He was left out of our father’s will. He gets nothing, and I get everything when father dies. Sucks for Charlie. If you follow in his footsteps, you’ll end up just like him.

I stop replying to her texts. She wants me to be angry. Well, she succeeded. I am angry now.

I can’t believe this. Her brother lives here, and he’s married to one of Lizzie’s sisters? Which sister?

I don’t even know. I don’t know her family that well. I met her sisters and her parents before, but I haven’t spent as much time with them. I spend more time with her and our friends. That has to change.

I head back to Lizzie’s office from the kitchen, taking my apron off as I go. Her office door is propped open, and she’s typing on a laptop with a stack of invoices next to it on her desk.

“Hey. What’s up, Darcy?” she asks when she glances over at me through her blue-light glasses.

“You know how we’re making an announcement to our friends later?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“We need to do a family announcement too.”

She stops typing and looks over at me.

“Well, yes. We should. Though, I thought we should talk to our friends first. But my family may find out soon if I don’t hurry up and tell them myself.”

“Let’s start with your family. I think it will help our story, especially since my ex-fiancée is related to your brother-in-law.”

“What?” she asks, dumbfounded as she leans back in her chair. “I didn’t know that. Are you sure she’s related to Charlie Bingley?”

“That’s his name. I know you have mentioned him, but I haven’t seen him around town yet. But she says she’s his sister, and that he told her you and I were shacking up here in this small town.”

“No,” she says, gawking at me. “Charlie and my sister travel a lot for work. You wouldn’t see them around much. But this is so messy. And so unlike Charlie.”

“Something tells me there’s a lot we don't know about the Bingleys.”

I think about it for a moment. How could I have let that slip by me? Bingley. I knew that name. That family.

I avoided them in the past because my parents were so determined to push Caroline and me together. Charlie and I went to middle school together, but we never really hung out. I knew of them, but I never really knew them.

“Well,” Lizzie says, picking up her phone from the desk and firing off a text, “I guess we’re about to find out. I’m hosting dinner at my place after the wedding fitting tonight. I can invite Janet and Charlie too. And Mama wants me to bring my new boyfriend over for family dinner this week, which she insists on having Monday instead of Sunday, despite the fact that the wedding is happening this weekend. But I guess I should be grateful. She stopped sending me dating apps. She also sent me a very long text message saying she thanked God that I have a man, but she was disappointed that she didn’t get to pick him out for me.”

Chapter Seventeen

Lizzie

“I’m overwhelmed.” I say it to myself, thinking aloud as I look at my reflection in the mirror at the bridal shop.

The maid of honor dress is fabulous. Sage green. Infinity style. Floor-length. A masterpiece.