Divorce or annulment, she couldn’t shake the feeling that either one might damage their relationship beyond repair and it might hurt Chloe in the process. They hadn’t talked about it yet, of course, but Kate sensed it. It very well might spell the end of them.
Just as marriage freaked her out, the thought of losing Aidan forever made her feel bereft to the core. What was she going to do? There wasn’t an easy answer.
For a fleeting moment, Kate considered what it would be like to stay married to him. For the three of them to be a family. Really, for almost a year, they had been spending a lot of time together. Of course, they had each kept their respective residences and he had been protective of Chloe. Even though he hadn’t kept Kate a secret, he had been careful to let Chloe believe they were friends and nothing more. Kate had no idea how the little girl would feel if her daddy brought someone else into their close little family of two.
Also, it would mean that one of them would have to give up their home so they could move in together. The rest of the scenario played out as if her life was flashing before her eyes.
Suddenly, it felt as if it was hard to breathe.
“Let’s not talk about it until we get home. Okay?” Aidan suggested. “And even then, it will be late when we get in. I say we sleep on it and get together tomorrow to begin sorting it out.”
Aidan was right. It would be late when they got back to Savannah that night. Their best bet would be to wait until tomorrow and then set it right. In the meantime, living in marriage limbo was going to make this the longest twenty-four hours of her entire life. The best thing they could do would be to meet Elle and Daniel and try to act like everything was normal.
“I’ve never seen a more beautiful bride,” Elle gushed. “Gigi was positively radiant. And Charles was so handsome.”
Dressed in a pink sundress with her blond hair pulled away from her face in a high ponytail, Elle looked pretty and dreamy as she sipped her mimosa while the others perused the menu.
Everything Kate considered ordering made her stomach churn. So she closed the menu and pushed it away.
“She was stunning,” Kate agreed. “They looked so happy. I’m glad that everything for the ceremony and reception came together the way it did. Especially given that we planned it in pretty short order.”
“I know,” Elle said. “After planning three weddings in less than three years, I’d say we’re getting good at this. What are you going to order for breakfast? I still can’t decide.”
“I’m just going to have toast,” Kate said. “I’m not very hungry.”
“Are you okay?” her sister asked. “You’re not acting like yourself this morning.”
Kate brushed it off by saying, “You know I never was much of a breakfast eater.”
“I’m starving. I can’t make up my mind between the French toast and the traditional breakfast. I wish I could get half orders of both.”
“Order both and eat what you want,” Daniel suggested. “Or maybe Kate would get one and you could get the other and share?”
“No, I’m good with toast.” Kate sipped her tea and then changed the subject back to a safe subject. “I’m so happy Gigi and Charles finally have their chance at a life together. They deserve their own happily-ever-after.”
Elle glanced at her watch. “They should be in Paris by now. Wasn’t their plane supposed to land at nine a.m. Savannah time? Daniel, I want to go to Paris someday. We should just pick a date for the trip now. Because you know what they say. If you don’t just do it, you’ll never do it. You’ll spend your whole life saying, ‘Someday I want to go to Paris.’”
Daniel put his arm around Elle. “You know I’d give you the moon and Paris, if it would make you happy. However, we have our daughter, Maggie, to consider now. I don’t know how much she’d enjoy the Eiffel Tower at this age.”
Elle shrugged and sighed. “I suppose you’re right. But don’t think I’m going to give up on it.”
She smiled up at her handsome husband and he leaned in and kissed her. Their affection made Kate all too aware of how stiff she and Aidan must seem. Aidan was still studiously perusing the menu as if the secret to eternal youth was buried somewhere in the text and Kate was sitting arms crossed, listing to the right in her chair, away from Aidan. Not that the two lovebirds sitting across from them would notice.
Kate sighed. It hadn’t been love at first sight for Elle and Daniel. On the contrary. Daniel had been Elle’s most disliked person at one time, when she believed, wrongly, that he had encouraged her former fiancé to jilt her at the altar. But it had taken a long time for her to find out the truth and accept it.
What if she had given up on him... Elle might have missed out on the love of her life.
Their story was romantic and, just that, a great love story. But it was their story. Kate and Aidan’s long, tortured journey wasn’t nearly as romantic. They had been on again and off again since high school. More off than on, if truth be told.
Aidan had taken a disastrous sojourn through marriage. It was a short-lived union that had ended when his wife walked out on him shortly after giving birth to their daughter, Chloe.
And now here they were.
Kate’s heart ached to think that she would be following suit. Poor Aidan. She slanted a glance at him and caught him looking at her. She smiled and looked away, pretending to be fascinated by the restaurant and its coffered ceilings, thick alabaster columns and rust-colored, floral-patterned carpet, which matched the upholstery on the chairs.
It felt a little heavy and
