Fool for You by Kelly Elliott

Emmerson

IT TURNED OUT eloping in Texas was easy enough. We did have to wait for seventy-two hours like my brother had said, but after that we had up to thirty days to use our marriage license. Landon and I didn’t need thirty days, so we walked into the courthouse three days after we applied for the license. Then we both went back to work as Mr. and Mrs. Landon Lewis and decided not to share the fact that we had eloped. What was it with us and secrets? We decided that even though we couldn’t wait to get married, I still wanted to journey the whole process on social media—and we would still have a wedding ceremony in December as promised.

Our folks had thought we were kidding when we said we wanted to get married right away. They had even tried to talk us into waiting and having the ceremony at the house, but Landon and I were determined to get married at the courthouse. Only Noah and Hailey were there to stand up for us as witnesses. Of course, we had to bribe them each with something in order for them to meet us at the courthouse on a Thursday afternoon. Hailey demanded a weekend at a beach house somewhere, so she could hide away and mend her broken heart. Noah asked me to give Amy all the free wedding planning advice she wanted after he proposed to her.

I one-upped his ass and told him I would actually be her free wedding planner.

“Emmerson, are you even listening to me?”

I shook my head and tried to clear my thoughts. Our wedding ceremony had taken place only two hours ago, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how I was now married to Landon.

“I’m sorry, what were you saying, Bea?”

Bea was one of those brides who you really wanted to love, but instead prayed she would elope and not have a grand wedding at all. Her father was filthy rich and basically gave her an unlimited wedding budget, which made my life hell. Every other day, she was changing her mind about something based on what some blogger or actress was doing with her own wedding.

“I said, I think we should have that balloon artist make something for each table. Something grand, maybe clear balloons filled with glitter and sparkly things.”

I lifted one brow. “Instead of the flowers you ordered the other day?”

She looked up at the ceiling as if trying to remember the flowers that had cost her father a few grand. “That’s right, I forgot we ordered those. How can we mix these in?”

“The balloons?” I asked.

She sighed in frustration. “Yes, the balloons. Oh my gawd, are you paying attention? This blogger I follow who just got married had them at her tables. Everyone loved them and went on and on about them. I need them to be a part of the reception.”

I took in a deep breath and slowly let it out as I forced myself to smile. “Well, Bea, with a wedding as classy and sophisticated as yours, I’m worried balloon centerpieces might be…unexpected.”

She drew her brows in, staring at me with a blank expression. “In a bad way?”

From behind me, Bea’s future mother-in-law, Mary, whispered, “For the love of all that is good.”

I had to keep from laughing as I nodded. “People who are coming to your wedding—at one of the most elite country clubs around—are going to expect things like the stunning flower bouquets you picked out last week. Maybe, if you want to incorporate the balloons, we can do them at the kids’ tables?” I suggested, praying she would bite on that.

“The kids’ tables in the other room, right?” This came from Mary.

I had to agree with the woman. When Bea had told me she wanted all kids under the age of sixteen in another room, I had laughed, thinking she was joking. She wasn’t. She was dead serious, and even planned on hiring people to stay in the room to make sure “the littles didn’t get out.”

Bea started to clap her hands. “Yes! Yes, that is perfect. Oh, you are worth every penny I’m spending on you, Emmerson. I can’t even imagine how beautiful your wedding will be!”

I kept my forced smile on my face as I turned to Mary. “Do you have any last-minute suggestions or things you’d like to see at the rehearsal dinner?”

Bea spoke before Mary could. “No, Mary doesn’t have any input, do you, Mary?”

This time, I spoke. “With all due respect, Bea, Mary is paying for the rehearsal dinner, so you’ll forgive me if I think her input is valuable.”

Mary’s eyes widened as Bea’s brows pulled in tight. No one I had met so far in Bea’s circle had the balls to speak up to this woman—not even Mary’s son, the groom.

“Thank you, Emmerson. Everything for the dinner has been planned to my son’s desires and has already been taken care of.”

Bea rolled her eyes and then looked at her manicured fingers as if completely ignoring her future mother-in-law.

“Great. Then everything is ready to go, and in two weeks you’ll be getting married, Bea.”

This time, she looked up at me with a brilliant smile on her face. I had no doubt that Bea was madly in love with Jim, Mary’s son. She was just one of those brides who turned into a monster the closer she got to the big day.

“I’ll meet with you again two days before the wedding,” I said. “And I’ll also be at the rehearsal in case we run into any snags.”

Bea’s phone rang and she quickly reached for it in her purse. “Yep, mm-kay. Talk soon, love!” And just like that, she rushed out of the building and to a waiting car.

Mary and I watched as Bea slid into the backseat of a Maserati.

“I really don’t know what my son sees in that shallow woman,” Mary mused.

Not wanting to admit that I agreed with her, I chuckled. “Love is blind.”

Okay, so I might as well have agreed with her since my comment wasn’t any better than Mary’s.

Mary and I started to walk out of the country club, where we had met with the chef and on-site wedding planner to make sure everything was in order with the venue.

“Tell me, Emmerson, how did you meet your future husband?”

I wanted to shout it out that Landon was already my husband. That I had my wedding band tucked away safely in my purse. I wanted to tell her that all I really wanted to do was go back to Landon’s house and fall into bed with him for days.

“Well, we’ve known each other our entire lives. Our parents are best friends and business partners. We grew up literally living in the same house.”

She nodded. “How wonderful. The difference in you is amazing.”

“Difference?” I asked with a tilt of my head.

“Please, we’ve been planning this godforsaken wedding for ten months, and over the last month or so you’ve had a glow about you. I’m assuming he’s terribly handsome since Bea said he was a race car driver and all the women swooned over him.”

I laughed. “He is handsome, but he doesn’t race cars anymore. He owns a restoration shop in Waco.”

Mary stopped walking for a moment. “What?”

I stopped as well and looked at her. “A restoration shop. You know, they restore old cars and trucks and things like that. He’s always wanted to open one. It was his dream even before he started to race for our fathers’ NASCAR team.”

Mary’s brows rose up. “And you said he owns the restoration shop here in Waco?”

I nodded. “Yes. Landon owns it.”

“Oh, well, my goodness. We’re more connected to each other than I thought!” she said with a chuckle.

With a frown, I asked, “How do you mean?”

She tilted her head as if I should know. “Well, William, of course! Hannah didn’t say anything to me about the father of her baby getting married!”

I shook my head in confusion. “What are you talking about, Mary? Who are William and Hannah, and how are they connected to me?”

Mary brought her hand up to her mouth as she gasped. “Oh my goodness. You don’t know about Hannah and William?”

I shook my head and laughed. “No, I don’t know anything about them. Are they getting married or something? Did you think I was planning their wedding?”

Mary dropped her hand to her pearl necklace and quickly looked away for a moment before turning back to me. “Emmerson, please don’t tell me your future husband hasn’t told you about the child he has?”

I nearly stumbled backward. “A…a child? What are you talking about?”

“Oh dear. You really don’t know.”

The ground felt like it was about to be ripped out from under my feet.

Mary reached out and took my hands in hers. “Before you marry that man, you better have him tell you about the son he had with my niece.”

I struggled to swallow the lump in my throat. “Who…who is your niece?”

“Hannah Marie Patterson.”

It felt as if someone had opened my chest and sucked the air from my lungs as I fought to take a breath. “Hannah Patterson is your niece?”

Mary nodded. “Yes, so you do know her?”

Turning away from Mary and dropping her hands, I stared out over the golf course in a daze. “She worked at my mother’s bed and breakfast a little over a year ago.”

I wasn’t sure how in the hell I’d made it to Landon’s house. My entire body felt numb. I was confused and downright pissed off.

There was no way Landon had a child with another woman. None. Of that I was positive.

So why did I feel so numb as I sat parked a block away from Landon’s house? He had texted me an hour ago, saying he was home and asking what time he should have dinner ready. I’d told him I was still meeting with a bride and that I would be home in about an hour. What I had really been doing was sitting at a park, watching the grass blow in the breeze as I tried to wrap my head around everything Mary had said.

At first I was so angry. All I wanted to do was confront Landon. Then after my head had cleared some, I thought more logically about it all.

Could Landon have slept with Hannah? Yes.

Could she have gotten pregnant with his child? Yes.

Would he ever not tell me about something so big that had happened in his life? No. If it was true, he would have told me, especially before we got romantically involved, and definitely before he married me. If somehow that child was Landon’s, then he simply didn’t know about him. Everything inside of me told me that this wasn’t his baby, though. And I was going to go with my gut feeling.

With a deep breath in, I started my car and drove the block to Landon’s house, which I guess was now my house as well. I pulled into the garage, grabbed my bags from the backseat, and made my way into the house. The moment I stepped in, I took in the heavenly smell of something cooking.

“Welcome home, darling!” Landon called out as I made my way through the mudroom and into the kitchen.

The sight before me left me breathless. Landon stood in the kitchen in nothing but an apron. I laughed when I saw him leaning against the island, Lady at his feet.

“Are you always going to greet me this way when I come home from a long day’s work? Nearly naked with something delicious-smelling in the oven?” I asked, walking over to him and reaching up onto my tippy toes to kiss him. For a few blissful moments, I forgot all about Hannah, William, and brides from hell.

With his lips pressed softly to mine, he whispered, “I will greet you however you want, wife.”

I wrapped my arms around him, and we were soon lost in a kiss that seemed to last forever. Or maybe I simply wished it would last forever so I wouldn’t have to have this conversation with him. Especially on the day we had just gotten married.

When he drew back, he leaned his forehead against mine. “Talk to me, Emme.”

I jerked back and looked up at him. “What? What do you mean?”

“I’m standing here naked with nothing but an apron on, and you look like someone just stole your favorite toy right out of your hands. And you forgot that we have tracking apps on each other’s phones, so I saw that you were parked down the street for damn near thirty minutes. Before that, you were at a park. So, I need you to tell me what’s wrong. Do you regret that we got married this morning?”

I gasped. “No! God, no, Landon. I would never regret that for a single moment.”

He nodded, a look of relief passing over his face. “Okay. Tell me what’s wrong then.”

Looking at the oven, I asked, “How much time before dinner is ready?”

Landon glanced over his shoulder. “It’s chicken spaghetti casserole, and it’s got about twenty more minutes to go.”

Chewing on my lip, I said, “You might want to put some pants on.”

A serious expression moved across his face as he said, “You’re starting to freak me out, Emme.”

If he thought he was freaked out now, he was in for a surprise.