The Marriage Plan

November 2025

When old friends become newlyweds, love isn’t part of the plan.

Forget true love! Joe Bravo wants to marry and start a family with someone he can trust. Someone like Macy Storm, his longtime friend and business partner. Joe trusts Macy with everything. They’re already a great team in life—why not in family? No passion, no drama. It’s the perfect proposal.

Macy has never considered marrying without love, even though she’s only known heartbreak. Yet Joe’s proposal makes sense on many levels. Hearts safely locked away, Macy and Joe make their vows and start a new chapter as husband and wife. But their loveless wedded bliss may be short-lived when Macy breaks the one condition of their marriage: She’s fallen in love with her husband.

Bravo Family Ties:
The Next Generation

Prologue

Fourteen years ago…

Dear Macy,

Okay, I’m doing it. I’m writing you a letter. One letter on actual paper with an actual pen. And I know your game. You think if I write one, I’ll just go ahead and write more. Wrong.

Because, come on. Really? Why write a letter when we’re in the same class and I could just talk to you in person? Think about it. This is a pointless assignment and sometimes you have to just say no. And that’s why I think we should just say no and not do it. Mrs. Kubblemeyer can find some other way to torture us.

Yours truly,

Joe Bravo

Dear Joe,

See? You did it. You even spelled all the words right. That wasn’t so hard, was it?

Please write me another one because I want an A in freshman English and for that to happen, we need to write at least six or seven letters each. Joe, it’s just not okay for you to mess this up for me—or for you, either. I mean it. We got assigned to do this together and if you don’t get with the program, you’re bringing your grade down and mine, too.

I promise you it won’t be that hard. Because think about it. You’re already doing it. You just wrote me a letter and it did not kill you. You might even surprise yourself and find out you’re good at this.

Sincerely,

Macy Lynn Oberholtzer

Dear Macy,

I’m onto your plan. You got me to agree to write one letter, now you’re pushing me for more. And don’t act like it’s a big deal that I know how to spell. That’s flat-out insulting.

I just don’t get it. How does you and me writing letters to each other help us in any way whatsoever in real life? It doesn’t.

Joe

Dear Joe,

Oh, come on, you know why we’re doing this. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is an epistolary novel, a story told in letters. Writing letters of our own helps us to appreciate the book more.

Macy

Dear Macy,

Well, I am feeling zero, zip, nada appreciation-wise from writing these letters. I read the book. We spent a whole lot of time talking about it in class. And I even wrote a book report. It’s enough.

Joe

Dear Joe,

Just write me another letter, please, one that’s at least a page long. Write me a letter and I’ll write back and we’ll keep doing that until we have enough to finish this assignment.

Macy

Dear Macy,

I give up. You’ll be sorry, but here goes…

Eight years ago…

Macy,

All these years since those first letters you made me write to get yourself that A. And here I am, still writing letters to you. Never knew that would happen. Sometimes I think I should quit but I just can’t stop myself.

Because I’ll get to thinking of what you wrote me last time or what’s going on in my life right now and before you know it, I grab the nearest Uni-Ball and a fresh sheet of paper, and the words just come rolling on out. Wouldn’t Mrs. Kubblemeyer be proud?

And damn. Here I am in Mainhattan, Frankfurt, Germany, actually picking up more than a few words in the language, fifteen months into my two years of active duty, getting through it, you know? And then…

Macy, I don’t even know how to tell you this. It’s all gone to hell for me. It’s Lindsay. I don’t know if you heard yet, but she dumped me. She’s been seeing some guy from Cheyenne and he’s asked her to marry him. He’s moving back home and she’s going with him.

I guess I should have known this would happen. I mean, it’s happened before with her . You know that her childhood was crap and she’s got a boatload of issues. But, Macy, she swore to me never again. And I believed her when she promised she would wait for me.

But over the past six months, the care packages and letters slowed to a trickle and then she stopped answering my DMs…

I should have known. But I didn’t know and now I’m feeling really down. I’m just a chump and I hate it. I swear to you, Macy, never again. I’m going to be single the rest of my life. Because love? It’s not worth it. Not to me, anyway.

Write something funny to me. Cheer me up a little, will you please?

Joe

Joe,

I am so sorry. I mean, really sorry. Sorry enough that I can’t think of one funny thing to say.

And of course you feel down. How could she do this to you? I always liked her and now I just…

All right. I’m not going to hate on her—not in this letter, anyway. But you know what? Call me when you can, okay? We’ll talk. I would like to hear your voice. And to tell you out loud that whatever you’re feeling right now is exactly what you should be feeling and whatever’s going on in your head, let it happen. It’s okay. It’s part of the process of dealing with a messed up situation.

And all right, I did consult wikiHow just now so I wouldn’t say anything that could scar you for life at a bad time like this . Don’t laugh.

Or wait. Do laugh. It’s good for you, especially now when I’m guessing you’re feeling like you’ll never laugh again.

Just, you know, feel what you feel and be okay with it. I’m still here and I got you, ride or die and all that. Watch for my care package coming your way soon. In it you will find all the random crap you never knew you needed.

And call me when you can.

Macy

Six years ago…

Joe!

Thank you! For being my best friend and my man of honor. Having both you and Riley stand up with me on my wedding day, well, it was perfect. I was already the happiest woman alive to be marrying Caleb and looking forward to the baby coming (in less than a month now, can you believe it?). Having you there for our wedding has made me even happier…

Macy,

You have to know that I would never let you get married without me there to make sure it all went according to plan. And it did. Caleb Storm is a lucky, lucky man.

I really did hope you might move home eventually—after college and then again after last year when you decided to get out and see the world. Now that I’ve seen the world a little myself, I know for sure I wouldn’t ever live anywhere else but right here in Medicine Creek.

I get it, though. Caleb has to be where the snowboarding is and you love Caleb and want to stay by his side. I was rooting for Jackson Hole because at least it’s in-state. But Seattle makes sense. It’s got so much going on and there’s great snowboarding in all directions.

Just be happy, all right? And keep writing me letters. And above all, reach out when Ana comes. Send me word the day she’s born and I’ll be on my way to Washington State because I can’t wait to meet my goddaughter up close and in person…

Four years ago…

Macy,

How’s my goddaughter? Send more pics immediately. I miss her and I need to get out there to Seattle again soon. Because I know she’s growing fast and I missed some stuff with her—first step, first word. That’s just wrong. Please give her a big hug and a kiss for me and tell her I will see her soon.

And Macy Lynn, I have news. Big news. I’ve met someone. Her name is Becca Wright. She moved to town two months ago and works up in Sheridan as an insurance agent at Bighorn Life and Casualty. I met her at Arlington’s Steakhouse. She was sitting at the bar and I asked if the seat next to her was taken—and I know, I know. Not my best pickup line.

But guess what, Macy? It worked out fine. Becca patted that seat and gave me a smile that made me forget how to talk for a minute there. That girl. She does love to party. We did too many shots and we laughed and laughed. Since that night, I can’t stay away.

I know you are grinning because you love being right. Yes, after Lindsay, I said never again. And you said to be patient, to sit with my feelings, to give it time. I said to hell with that. I was done with love.

But, Macy, I was wrong. Becca Wright is the woman for me…

Three years ago…

Dear Joe,

This is one of those letters, the kind it hurts a lot to write.

Caleb’s found someone else. Her name is Jaquel—that’s right. Jaquel. Like Jaqueline but minus the last three letters. He and Jaquel have been together for months, or so he tells me. And buckle up, because you will not believe this…

Jaquel is having Caleb’s baby. Déjà vu all over again? You’d better believe it.

He wants a divorce. Which is fine. I wouldn’t stay with him now if he begged me on hands and knees.

And you know how you’ve said that you wished I’d move home? Well, surprise! Caleb’s agreed to give me full physical custody of Ana. So my little girl and I are coming home.

The other good news in this mess is that I’m in excellent shape financially. I got the house which I’ve now decided to sell. And Caleb may be a cheater, but he didn’t put up much of a fight when it came to the divorce settlement. At first, I thought I would stay here in Washington State. But no. I want to go home. And when I get home, I’m putting my business degree to use helping Mom out with the flower shop. I have big plans for Betty’s Blooms, believe me. I’ll be dragging the shop into the twenty-first-century retail world. For starters, I’ll be taking over the store’s nonexistent online presence and developing a plan to bring in more customers, a plan that will start with a redesign of the store itself. Mom says she’s on board with whatever I want to do—and I have to tell you, I actually believe her. She’s excited to get more free time and to have her granddaughter and me back home to stay.

And that’s not all. Joe, if you meant what you said about wishing I were there to help you out at the hardware store, I’m in. No pressure, I promise you. Just let me know either way.

And give Becca a hug for me, please. I am looking forward to getting to know her better.

Yours always,

Macy

Dear Macy,

I don’t know where to start. What I would love to do most right now is to track down Caleb and beat the ever-loving…

Okay. Never mind. Violence is not the answer—or so I’ve been told.

Do you need my shoulder to cry on? I’m here for you anytime. But somehow I get the feeling you’ve zipped right past the crying stage and moved on to the action phase. Did you call Riley? I hope you did. Sometimes a woman just needs another woman to talk to.

But I’m here for whatever you need. You only have to let me know.

And I hate that Caleb has turned out to be such a complete and total waste of space as a man and a human being. Not to mention a fool to give a woman like you no choice but to walk away.

Was that too harsh?

Sorry, not sorry…

On a happier note, I am so damn glad you and Ana are coming home to stay. And it’s great that you’ll be working with your mom at the flower shop.

As for the hardware store, yes! You’re hired—which you will already know when you get this letter. Because I’m going to text you right now to set up a time to talk it over in detail.

Joe

Two years ago…

Hey Joe,

Even though I live right here in town now, even though we work together and I see you just about every day, sometimes I miss your letters and I miss sitting down and writing to you. Sometimes, like now, I just want to put what I’m thinking on paper. I want to slap a stamp on it and send it off to you through the US mail like people used to do way back in the day. Sometimes, I just need to write down on paper what I feel in my heart.

What I feel is pain, Joe. And I know the pain I feel can’t come close to the hurt you’re going through right now.

I also know you’re not going to want to hear this right now. So you don’t have to hear it. You don’t have to read it. You can tear it up, throw it in the trash, set it on fire.

But I hope you won’t. I hope you’ll save it for some day in the future, someday long after you’ve lived through the awfulness you’re feeling now.

Because you will live through it. And you will be all right. Eventually.

Joe, Becca did love you. So much. I know it hurts to remember that she promised you to give up the drinking—and then didn’t. I get how you feel. You said it out loud to me. You said, “She blew off her promise. She drove drunk and now she’s gone.” You said, “She’s dead. She’s dead and I can’t forgive her.” You said, “I thought she was the one for me. I thought we would get married, have kids, be happy together. But all that is never going to happen now. She broke me, Macy. She broke me so bad.”

You also said that you were never falling in love with anyone ever again, and that you meant it this time. That getting over Lindsay was nothing compared to this.

I heard you, Joe. I heard every word. Each one is burned into my brain.

I know that you’re hurting and I know that it’s bad. I know you mean what you say when you say, “Never again.” But Joe, hearts heal. Just wait and see.

You will find the woman for you, the one to spend your life with. I know you will, Joe. And I will always be there for you, I promise you, just like you’ve always been there for me—and for Ana, too.

Will you be angry with me when you read this? Will you feel that I don’t understand?

Probably. Because I am kind of stepping over the line, promising you that eventually it will be all right. Telling you what you’re going to feel sometime in the future.

But I just…

I love you lots, Joe. And I want to make it better even though I know I can’t.

Just know that I’m here, okay? Just know that when you need someone to listen, you can always count on me.

Your Friend Forever,

Macy

Chapter One

Two years later, present day

The doorbell rang just as Macy stuck her head into the large upstairs bathroom to encourage her six-year-old daughter to get a move on.

Ana, floating on her back in the tub with her eyes closed and her long black hair drifting out around her, sat up with a splash. “Doorbell, Mom,” she said with a look of great patience as bathwater ran down her face and glued her hair to her narrow shoulders. “Better go see who it is.” Grabbing a red plastic cup as it bobbed by, she scooped up tub water and poured it over the top of her head.

On the bathroom counter next to the sink, Voodoo, Ana’s Bengal cat, sat calmly licking his left front paw. Voodoo was seventeen inches tall, weighed twenty-two pounds and had been known to open doors and turn on faucets with those big paws of his. Last year, Ana had taught him to walk on a leash. The two of them were a pair, Ana and Voodoo. If Ana had her way, she would take that cat everywhere. Voodoo felt the same. Wherever Ana went, he wanted to be.

The doorbell rang again.

“Better see who it is,” Ana lisped. She’d lost her two front baby teeth recently and all her s’s came out a bit mangled.

Macy checked to see that the bath towel was in reach and Ana had brought her pj’s into the bathroom with her. Yes, on both counts. “Need help?”

“`Course not.”

Macy stifled a grin. Her six-year-old daughter was amazingly self-reliant. “Get out before you turn into a prune. You need to get ready for bed.”

Another chime of the doorbell. “Out,” Macy said. “Now.”

“I am,” Ana replied with an eye roll.

Downstairs, Macy opened the front door to find Joe Bravo standing on the welcome mat in the chilly October darkness. She wasn’t the least surprised to see him. He dropped by unannounced all the time—to discuss work or just to hang out. Sometimes he came by to see Ana.

Bracing one hand against the doorframe, he swept off his hat with the other. “You’re home. Good. I saw the lights on, but after ringing the bell three times, I was starting to wonder.”

“Just trying to coax Ana out of the tub.” Macy stepped back. He came in and she shut the door. “If I let her, she’ll fool around in there for hours.” She watched as he hung his buckskin jacket on a peg, then hooked his hat on the next peg over. “What’s up?” she asked.

“Just want to talk.”

“About…?”

He cast a glance toward the stairs. “Once Ana’s in bed.”

“Is it about the store?”

“Nope.”

“Well, then, what?”

“What’d I just say?”

“Alrighty, then. I guess I’ll have to wait till Ana’s in bed.” She looked at him sideways. “But really, this is sounding very mysterious—maybe just a hint?”

He chuckled. “No way.”

“Fine. Coffee? A drink?”

“I’d take a whiskey if you have it.”

“Come on, then.” She led him across the great room to the kitchen beyond it. “Sit.”

He pulled out a chair at the table as she took a bottle of Jim Beam from a high cupboard. Grabbing a glass, she set it and the bottle in front of him. “You’re not drinking?” he asked.

“You need me to have a drink so you can say whatever it is you plan to say to me?”

“That’s right, I do.”

Macy had a thousand questions. “Joe, I…” The look on his face said, Just pour yourself a damn drink. A jolt of alarm went through her. “Joe, really. Is everything okay?”

He looked at her steadily now. “Everything is fine. I promise. I want to talk, that’s all. But after Ana’s in bed.”

“Okay then.” She grabbed another glass and set it down next to his.

He poured for both of them and then raised his glass. She tapped her drink to his.

“Joe!” Ana, dressed in her Green Lantern pajamas, her damp hair loose on her shoulders, stood in the arch to the living room. “You came to see me!”

“Oh, yes I did!” He held out his arms.

With Voodoo at her heels, she went to him. He scooped her up and set her on his lap as Voodoo detoured to his water bowl. “How’s my girl?”

“Good.” She sent Macy a sly look. “I want Joe to tuck me in.”

Macy shrugged. “Ask him nicely.” Ana did as instructed and Joe, of course, said yes. As if he’d ever say no to her. Macy nodded. “Okay, then. But first let’s go back upstairs and dry your hair…”

Macy followed them up to blow-dry Ana’s hair, then left them alone. A half hour of tucking-in later, Joe came downstairs where Macy waited by the fire in the great room.

“I topped off your drink just in case.” She nodded at the glass on the coffee table.

“Thanks.” He sat on the sofa beside her, picked up the glass and sipped. “Ana and I read a few chapters of Revenge of the Dragon Lady—and by that I mean, she read them to me.”

“She loves those books.” Dragon Slayers’ Academy was currently Ana’s favorite series. “She reads at a fourth-grade level now.”

“Wicked smart.”

“Some days I have trouble keeping up with her.” Macy sat back against the armrest and studied her friend’s handsome face. Joe Bravo had broad shoulders, blue eyes and a devilish smile. “Okay. I’ve got a sip or two of whiskey left and I’m listening, Joe. What’s going on?”

Several way-too-quiet seconds elapsed. Then, finally, he said, “You know, thanks to you, Bravo Hardware and Building Supply is now a real moneymaker.”

She scoffed. “So you are here to talk about the store.”

“No, I’m not. But I do want to say that you are amazing .”

“Why, thank you!” She pressed her hand to her heart. “I’ve done my best.”

“Smartest thing this cowboy ever did, partnering up with you.”

Four years ago, the local hardware store had gone belly-up due to bad management. The store, along with all the equipment, stock on hand and a fifteen-year lease remaining on the building, were offered for sale at forty-thousand dollars.

A few months before that, Joe had received an inheritance of eighty thousand after the death of a distant Bravo relative. He’d put half that money into buying the store and the other half into building his house on his family’s ranch, the Double-K. Then, for the next year, he’d struggled to keep the store going. During that time, he’d written Macy long letters full of frustration and growing panic as he tried to run the store, make progress on his new house and also hold up his end on the ranch.

But then Macy had moved home and started working for him. She was proud of how, together, they’d managed to turn things around.

“We’ve done well,” she said.

“You bet we have. And we both know that you’re the reason the store is a success.”

She gave him an encouraging smile. “Thank you again—and get to the point, please.”

He knocked back another gulp of whiskey. “You know how much I want a family.”

“I do, yes.” However, since Becca’s death, he remained absolutely certain that he did not want a wife. In the past eighteen months, he’d registered with more than one adoption agency.

“Joe. Just tell me what’s happened.”

He gave her a shrug. “Nothing. That’s the problem. The adoption thing is going nowhere.”

Mildly, she reminded him, “You do know that it usually takes longer than you’ve been at it, even for married couples.”

“Yeah, well, I keep thinking there has to be a better way to do this.”

“What about fostering to adopt? You could try that again.”

He’d fostered an eight-year-old boy, Aiden, for five months the year before. But then Aiden’s mother had worked out her problems well enough to get her son back. And then she’d promptly packed up her life and her son and moved to Wisconsin to be near her family.

“I don’t think so,” Joe said, his elbows braced on his spread knees and his eyes on the floor between his boots. “It hurts too much to get my hopes up.” He lifted his head. “I can’t take the uncertainty at this point. I still miss Aiden, I really do, and I don’t think I’ll ever see him again.”

What could she say? “I know it’s hard…”

“Yeah, well…” He looked straight into her eyes. “I’ve been thinking.”

She was thinking, too—thinking of the letter she’d written him right after Becca died. He’d never once mentioned that letter. And neither had she.

Had enough time passed to broach the painful subject at last?

He was watching her so steadily. “What?”

She blinked. “It’s just… Well, have you considered dating again? If you found a nice woman, you could—”

“Macy.”

All he’d said was her name and yet she felt marginally offended. “What?”

“How many times have we talked about this?”

“I know, but—”

“No buts. Please. I’m not looking for a stranger to make a life with.”

“But, Joe, everybody’s a stranger at first. Let me just state the painfully obvious and say that you would get to know her. In time, she wouldn’t be a stranger.”

“No kidding.”

“Don’t give me sarcasm, Joe. Please.”

“Oh, come on. I tried it the usual way, with Lindsay and then with Becca. It didn’t work out either time. What happened with Lindsay was bad. But Becca…” He looked away. “Please don’t push me on this.

“But if you—”

“I mean it. Stop finding new ways to tell me that I need to try again. You need to believe me when I say that trying again with some stranger, learning to trust and believe in her and then having it all go wrong? That is the last thing I’m ever going to do.”

“But if you did try and it worked out, you and that nice woman you eventually fell in love with could just let nature take its course. You could create a family together—and if somehow, making babies didn’t happen, well, adopting a child would be at least a little bit easier than trying to do it all on your own. Plus, you would have each other and that would count for a lot.”

“Do you know that you sound exactly like my mother right now?”

She groaned. “No…”

“Pretty much—and I meant what I said. I don’t want to go the trad way. Not again. Think about it. They call it falling in love for a reason. And the reason is that you fall. And if the nice woman you think I need to find turns out to be someone who can’t be trusted to catch me, I’m screwed. Uh-uh. This time I’m taking a whole different approach.”

She sat up straighter. “This time? So then, you are considering dating again?”

“No. I’m considering getting getting married.”

She sipped her drink and set it back down. “Wow. Okay. But not dating?”

“That’s right.”

“So you’re thinking a mail-order bride, maybe?”

“Didn’t I just say that I’m not getting anything going with some stranger?”

“Gotcha. So…what exactly are you planning?”

“It’s simple. Falling in love is dangerous. I need to choose a woman I can trust, not some stranger I met online. Not some woman a friend set me up with. And definitely no one I met during happy hour. What I want is what my folks have—devotion and commitment.”

She couldn’t stop herself from reminding him, “Your parents are in love, Joe.”

“Yeah, but that’s not the point.”

“Yes it is. Love is the point .”

“Macy Lynn, it’s the devotion that matters. The mutual trust. The dedication. It’s the ride or die. I want that, not the romantic love crap. Falling in love just messes you over. I don’t want to fall. When you fall, it’s too easy to break something. I am not getting broken again.”

She drew a careful breath and let it out nice and slow. “Be realistic. No one can guarantee a life of unbroken promises. Things happen. People change.” She thought of Caleb and wished she hadn’t. She’d believed him when he promised her forever. And she’d been so wrong. She was doing fine now. But Caleb’s betrayal had cut her to the core. “It’s just the way it is, Joe. You won’t get any guarantees. Neither life nor love work that way.”

“But it could work that way, with someone you trust. Someone like you, Macy…”

Macy shut her eyes. Should she have known from the first where he was going with this? Probably.

Straightening her shoulders, she faced him. “Look, Joe…”

“Come on. Just think about it.”

“Uh-uh.” She was already on her feet and backing away from him with both hands up. “You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, but I am.” He smiled then, slowly.

“Joe. No. The two of us are not getting married.”

For the longest time, he said nothing. They stared at each other. It was excruciating.

Finally, he said, “All I’m asking is that you think about it.”

“No, I—”

“Consider it realistically. We could have it all. Best friends are the best bet for marriage. We know everything about each other. We trust each other with no conditions. We work together. And Ana really is like a daughter to—”

“Stop.” She said it flatly. “I mean it, Joe.”

He went quiet, just sitting there, staring up at her through pleading eyes.

She struggled to find with words that would get through to him, words to make him see his plan couldn’t work. “Joe. We’re just not like that with each other. We’re…buddies, you know?”

“Yeah.” His eyes were somber now. “We’re buddies and I want you to marry me. I want you to let us be a real family—you, me and Ana.”

She folded her arms across her chest and scoffed. “Oh, right. Piece of cake. Is that all?”

“No. It’s not all. I want us to try for more kids, too. The natural way, for sure. Maybe by adopting, but I don’t know about that. I’m sick of all the red tape, the waiting and wondering. But maybe we could talk about the adoption thing later, see how we feel after we’ve been married for a while.”

“But, Joe, we’re not getting—”

“Hold on. I’m not finished.”

She sighed, but she gave in. “Fine. Finish.”

“The way I see it, if you and Ana are with me, if the three of us are a team, I can wait as long as it takes for more kids. If more kids didn’t happen, I would be okay with that. Because family is what matters and that’s what we’d be.”

She backed away until her calves hit the easy chair across the coffee table from him. “Joe. No.” With a hard sigh, she collapsed into the chair. “Absolutely not.”

He sat forward, braced his elbows on his spread knees and pinned her with a look of sheer determination. “Just think about it. Please. Don’t make a decision right now.”

“But there is no decision to make. Joe, I’m almost as disillusioned as you are when it comes to true love. But that doesn’t mean getting married without it is a good idea.”

He stood. “I’m going to go.”

“What?”

“Please just think it over.”

“No, wait. Hold on. Joe, you can’t do this—just come over here and lay this on me and then get up and go…”

He came around the coffee table to stand in front of her. “There’s nothing more to say right now. Think about it. Take your time.”

“But I don’t need time.” She stared up at him, willing him to accept her answer as final. “It’s not going to happen.”

He bent close. “Macy…”

“I mean it, Joe. No.”

And then he cradled her face between his two rough warm hands and brushed a soft barely-there kiss across her upturned mouth. When he pulled away, her lips tingled where his had touched them. “‘Night, Macy Lynn.”

She sat there staring blindly into the middle distance as she heard his boots retreating across the great room floor. The front door opened and then clicked shut.

With a groan of pure exasperation, she slumped back in the easy chair. Where in the world had he come up with a wild idea like this one?

She didn’t really want to know.

Eventually, it would pass, she told herself. He would give it more thought and realize that his disappointment at losing Aiden and the challenges of the adoption process in general had him grasping at straws. In the end, he would come to accept she was right. He would end up wondering what he could possibly have been thinking to have suggested that the two of them should get married.

Too bad she had no idea how long it would take him to change his mind and let it go.

Rising with a sigh, she picked up their glasses and carried them to the kitchen.