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But the thought of pledging herself to Carter for the rest of her life—it suddenly seemed so enormous. What if she gave him her whole heart, only to lose him like she’d lost her mother?
She quickly shoved away the horrible thought. Nothing was going to happen to Carter. He was young and healthy. He was going to live for many, many years. But what if…
Stop it, Angela. Everything is going to be fine.
Angela swallowed past a lump of emotion. “I’ll do my best not to let the memory of my mother overshadow our future.” As she spoke of her mother, she felt a familiar ache in her heart. “Sometimes, I just miss her so much.”
He hugged her. “I know you do. But I believe she is here with you, cheering you on.”
She tilted her head back and looked up at him. “Did my mother tell you that?”
“What?”
“About her cheering me on?”
“No. Why? Was she supposed to?”
“It’s just that she said almost that very thing to me. For you to say it now, well, it’s almost like she’s sending me a message.”
“Maybe she is.”
“Do you really believe that? Or are you just saying it to make me feel better?”
“Would it be wrong if I said it was a little of both?”
She paused before she shook her head. “No. It wouldn’t.”
“I want to marry you, Angela. I don’t care about all of the silly wedding details. I just want you to be my wife.”
The breath hitched in her lungs. Did he really think her work—the work her mother had done—was silly? Did he think she was silly too?
“You think the wedding is silly?” She hoped he’d take back his words.
“I don’t think all of the frou-frou stuff is important. You’re what’s important to me. I don’t care about the rest of it. You can throw out that heavy old paper wedding planner you carry around, for all I care.”
She pulled away from his touch. Maybe she really didn’t know him, after all. Because if she did—if he was the man she believed him to be—he wouldn’t belittle something so important to her. The wedding planner was her last tangible tie to her mother.
“Angela? What’s wrong?”
His words, combined with her wedding jitters, were just too much for her to overcome. She was making a mistake. The panic started to rise inside of her. She couldn’t open herself up and risk losing someone she cared about…again.
Her hands and feet were literally cold when she shook her head. “This can’t happen.”
“Sure, it can.” He reached out to her, wrapping his fingers around her shoulders. “We’ll get married this weekend. It doesn’t have to be fancy. We could even elope to Las Vegas.”
She jerked away from him. “No. No, we can’t.” Her voice grew higher pitched. “That wasn’t the plan.”
He planted his hand on his waist. “We don’t have to have a plan.”
“You’re right. Because we aren’t going to get married.”
“What?”
“I can’t do this. It’s over.”
“I don’t understand.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “You just you said you loved me.”
“That’s when I thought I knew you. Now I know I made a mistake.” The acknowledgment broke her heart.
