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“No,” he drawls.
“My mother will be hurt. Chicago is one thing, but it soothes her that I still live in the same state. She’ll be horrified that Canada will separate us now, and she’ll probably be scared I’m so close to Russia.”
“They’ll hate me now, and the horse is kind of already out of the barn on this.”
“I haven’t told my mother anything. My sisters know I’m moving, but I haven’t mentionedthe thingyet.”
“What did they say?”
“They promised not to tell Mom I’m moving until it becomes a need-to-know situation.”
“When will it become need to know?”
I shrug. “Sometime around the time when we have kids and she figures out she can’t drive to the hospital.”
“What did your sisters say about the move?” he asks, stopping on the stairs and turning me to face him.
“Peyton wanted to do some kind of cleansing ceremony to make sure you were good for me. Maybe cleansing isn’t the right word. I don’t really know what it was, but let me know if you have any new rashes or start to smell phantom patchouli.”
Clara stands outside the party bus. She taps her foot and waves us forward, a stern look on her face. She’s always been uptight.
Maddox kisses the top of my head and ducks into my hair so Clara can’t hear him or see his lips move. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell them we got married when you came out a couple weeks ago.”
“Come on!” Clara yells. She looks at the sun and points to the car as if I don’t know I’m supposed to get in. “We have to get pictures while we still have good light. Why are you being so slow?”
I ignore her and rub my hands down my secret husband’s chest. “There’s a lot to work out with moving, and they’ll just want a big wedding like this for us. We went to the courthouse and did it so it wouldn’t be all over the Alaskan news, and I didn’t want to overshadow Cora’s big day and the festivities surrounding it. We talked about this.”
“So, we’re still keeping it a secret?”
“Sorry, Brewster,” I say, shrugging and hurrying over to the party bus, already pulling my dress up a little so I can take a spin on the stripper pole the bus line promised us. “It’ll have to be our little secret for a few more days. Then we can give my mother a heart attack. I don’t want to do that to Cora today. Get in the party bus, show us your best male stripper moves, and get to know your new family. Don’t worry, though. They already love you.”
THE END
