SUSAN MEIER - Married Right Away

At that his mother’s expression changed marginally. “Honey, did you hire a photographer?”

“No,” Ethan said, glad that at least this much of his explanation wasn’t a lie. “We threw this wedding together on short notice, Mom. Savannah and I figured we could pose for pictures at a studio later or you could have someone at the reception you’re undoubtedly going to host.”

Penny had the good grace to laugh and not try to pretend she wasn’t already planning some kind of party for the newlyweds. “Studio photos are fine,” she said. “But I wanted pictures of the ceremony. I knew you were pressed for time. I also knew you weren’t thinking about details, so I called someone. He’s probably out front now.”

“Mom!” Ethan gasped. Not only was he about to force Savannah to meet his family long before she was prepared, but he was also about to ask her to endure an impromptu photo session. “I can’t just…we can’t just—”

“Savannah will be fine with it,” Penny assured Ethan with feminine confidence. “All women want photos of their wedding. Trust me, she will thank me.”

“Yeah, it’s okay, Ethan,” Olivia said, sending Ethan the message with her expression that it would be better for Ethan to trust that Savannah could handle this than to argue and raise his parents’ suspicions.

“Okay,” Ethan said.

“Now that that’s settled…” Josh said, taking over the way Ethan knew a best man was supposed to when the groom was nearly on the verge of panic from unexpected complications. “Olivia, why don’t you take Ethan’s parents out to their seats and we’ll catch up with all of you after the ceremony?”

“Great,” Parker said. He held his wife’s elbow to escort her to the courtroom and Olivia led them out the door.

When they were gone, Ethan sagged. “What the hell am I doing?”

“You’re fixing a problem,” Josh said simply. “Keeping a secret that needs to be kept.”

“You see, that’s just the trouble,” Ethan said, pacing now. “For something that’s supposed to be a secret, a hell of a lot of people are involved.”

“Who?” Josh asked sweeping out his hand in a gesture of dismissal. “The only people who know are me, Hilton and a couple of Savannah’s friends.”

Ethan caught Josh’s gaze. “And Olivia.”

“Olivia is Savannah’s friend. So she goes into that general category. But more than that if you hadn’t found out the real details and told us, Olivia wouldn’t know. When Savannah was in Atlanta three months ago and she started leaking bits and pieces of this story she didn’t tell Olivia she was already pregnant. Olivia thought she was only considering the procedure not in Atlanta for an exam.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Ethan said, the speed of his pacing increasing.

“You’re just nervous.”

“Because I suddenly realize how much I’m asking of Savannah.”

“From what I remember of her, Savannah is very resilient.”

“She better be because I have a sneaking suspicion that my mother might have also called the press.”

Josh burst out laughing.

“Oh, funny. Very, very funny!”

Before Ethan could have a full-scale tirade, the side door of the courtroom opened again. The judge’s secretary poked her head in. “Judge Flenner says to tell you we’re ready.”

“Okay,” Ethan said. He took a long breath and straightened his shoulders.

Josh slapped him on the back. “You’ll be fine.”

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