Page 52 of Mark
“I was trying to figure out where to go to avoid my sister and parents,” she admits. “I was willing to pay the barman to let me sit in the storage room. Thankfully, I haven’t run into them.”
“Then now wouldn’t be a good time to tell you all four of them are heading this way.”
She drops her head. “Please tell me you are lying. I’m not nearly drunk enough to deal with them.”
My lips twitch. “Wish I could.”
“Dropping a life boat and sailing my way home seems like more of a good idea,” she grumbles.
“Freya, darling, we’ve been looking for you everywhere,” her mum greets.
Freya spins her seat to face them. “Here I am.”
“You didn’t put on any sunscreen?” her mum scolds. “Honey, you will get heat stroke before the big day.”
“Oh, she was covered in sunscreen,” I assure her with a wink.
I should leave. I should have taken their appearance as a chance to escape. But there’s just something about Freya that makes me want to protect her from these wolves. It’s parents like this that make me more thankful for my own. As hard as they can be sometimes, they are never like this. They’ve always supported us. They would die for us. Kill for us. These people threw Freya under the bus to protect her sister without caring what it would do to her.
Freya elbows me in the stomach at my innuendo. She shifts in her seat, her voice tight when she replies. “It will be gone by morning,” she assures them.
“So you are coming?” Esther asks hopefully.
But there’s that look in her eyes again, the one that states she knew she would get her way.
“Yes,” she replies, the word reluctant and forced. She addresses her parents. “But my rules still apply.”
“Thank you, thank you,” Esther gushes, hugging her.
The guy smiles at their interaction, and he wastes no time in wrapping his arm around his fiancé when she pulls back. “We are happy you’ll be there.”
I just bet he is. He’s clearly still attracted to her in some way. It’s the way he runs his gaze over her. There’s a longing there, one he masks when his fiancé gazes up at him.
“It’s going to be perfect.”
I take Freya’s hand, holding it tight when she goes to pull away. “I can’t wait to be there. I’ve never been to a beach wedding before. I always thought they would be tacky.”
Esther’s eyes narrow on me. “Not my wedding, and I don’t remember you being invited.”
Freya places her hand over mine, and it’s not gentle or loving. “You don’t mind me bringing a plus one, do you?”
Her lips part to answer, but I get there first. “Of course she doesn’t, pumpkin. I mean, it’s only fair since she’ll one day come to ours.”
Her smile is forced when she turns to me. Her eyes are narrowed slightly, her eyebrows pinched together. “Oh, dumpling, I already told you I’m not ready to take that step.”
“But we’ve already named the children,” I scold softly. “And you know I don’t want to have sex before marriage. It’s goes against my beliefs. It’s a sin and marriages are doomed if you do.”
“You two are together?” Esther asks doubtfully. “Since when?”
I beam like I’m remembering a fond moment. “She tripped into my life and now I plan to spend the rest of it catching her.”
“Is this true?” her mum asks, glancing between us.
“As true as Dad’s cholesterol issue,” she answers sweetly.
Her dad straightens. “The doctor has that wrong. My cholesterol numbers are fine.”
“We should find Alley and go over our plans tomorrow,” her mum butts in before the dad can argue more. “Freya, darling, I’ve had one of the porters deliver the dress to your cabin. I thought maybe seeing the dress would convince you to come, but I’ll get him to collect it so you can dress with the rest of us.”