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“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“You don’t look happy anymore,” he began. “If you don’t want to meet them, it’s okay. I can come up with an excuse or…”
“Do you not want anyone to know about me?” she asked nervously. “I’m good enough to keep you occupied or fool around with, but not enough to…”
“Whoa…” Killian interrupted immediately, putting up both hands in shock. “Where did that come from?” he blurted out and felt devastated at seeing the tears in her eyes. “Honey, don’t even begin to think any of that…”
“We’ve been married for a few months, and I knew you wanted to keep it a secret, but…”
“Destiny, oh my gosh, hon,” he said, gathering her in his arms and trying to calm the panic seizing him right now. “My love, you’re just so shy and reserved that I didn’t want fifteen to twenty people suddenly harassing you or showing up, asking you a ton of questions. These people are wonderful, they mean well, but if you aren’t ready…? It can be quite intimidating to some. They are intense, but very caring.”
“Like how?”
“Well, like when my sister married Maestro? They all showed up to witness the wedding, and then threw a massive reception that they had to sneak out of…”
“What?” Destiny whispered, looking horrified and backing away from him.
“I know,” he smiled. “They had a wedding cake, punch, and everyone gathered to celebrate their marriage unexpectedly and…”
“And we didn’t have any of that,” she said tearfully, looking at him with so much hurt in her eyes that he was shocked. “We married in secret, kept everything a secret, isolating me away from your family and friends… because why?”
Killian knew something was wrong and he was treading on thin ice at this moment. He wasn’t stupid, but he was pretty sure they had been on the same page when they got married… so what changed?
“… And yes, we messed up cutting the cake,” she said tearfully. “A bride and groom are supposed to cut it together, feeding it to each other.”
Destiny let out a little sob, spinning around and running back into the house, leaving him standing there, shocked.
He screwed up.
Killian thought that by keeping her away from the others that it would help her become comfortable with the idea of being married to him… but what he had done was alienate her, isolate her, and keep her from getting to know the people that would help her get through the separation they would go through.
… The separation that was happening again in three days.
He had to fix this, mend whatever was wrong, because he’d hurt his wife’s precious feelings. Her lovely sweet, tender heart that was so gentle, earnest, and pure. She was feeling rejected, like he was ashamed of her, and that definitely was not the case.
He loved his little bunny more than anything else in the world – and there was no time to waste. Dialing the phone, he called Hot Cakes.
“I need everyone’s help…fast.”
CHAPTER16
DESTINY
This was exactlywhat she’d been afraid of. That something would go so terribly wrong, she would end up hurt or wounded… and had fallen into the trap regardless.
Her heart was breaking at the idea that Killian was possibly trying to keep them a secret because he was ashamed of her. She knew she was a waitress at a bar, barely considered good enough to employ elsewhere, and had no real marketable skills to pull herself out of that field… despite the fact that she made a decent wage on tips because people liked her.
Now, she was finding out that her rushed marriage could have been celebrated with people that would have drawn her in, accepted her, thrown a reception for them? That they could have had memories to last a lifetime, throwing the bouquet or cutting the cake with her husband… but no.
They had abirthdaycake… with a forty-eight on it because he couldn’t find any other candles. Oh, it had been terribly sweet, and she loved his nickname of Sprinkles… but there was just this lingering feeling that she’d been robbed out of something that you only did once in a lifetime.
He’d decided that for her, without consulting with her.
That stung.
“Destiny?” he called out quietly, before appearing in the doorway of their bedroom, where she was sitting on the edge of the bed, facing away. She didn’t want him to see her crying, to know how much this hurt her.
