Risking the Crown (The Crown 2)

I tucked her to my chest and lowered her to the couch.

“Is your knee ok?” she asked.

I laughed. “After that, you’re worried about my knee?” My hand lingered on the small swell of her belly. My baby was in there.

“I am. I don’t want you to get hurt again. You only got that brace off yesterday.”

“I thought you’d be more worried about the couch.” I leaned forward to kiss her.

“I do love the couch, by the way.”

I grinned. “Good. I think I kind of love it too.”

“Oh shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.” She squirmed under me. “What’s wrong?”

“Rehearsal dinner! We are supposed to be there now.” She scooted out from underneath me.

“I told you we could be a little late.”

“But I need to take a shower. And look at my hair. I need to iron my dress. And—”

I eyed her. “Take a breath.”

She nodded. “Right. We’ve got this, don’t we?”

I smiled. “We do.”

24

Kaitlyn

I tucked a flyway strand of hair behind my ear and patted the bun I had hastily pinned in place as Cole and I dashed through the doors of the Oceanside Restaurant. I couldn’t believe we were thirty minutes late. This was bad bridesmaid behavior. The restaurant lobby was packed.

But the couch was christened. Properly.

Cole and I exchanged smiles. It looked like cocktail hour was in full swing. No one had even noticed we weren’t in the room. Every two seconds, I would glance at his leg to see if he was uncomfortable without the brace, but if he was in pain, he was hiding it from me. In a strange way, I had gotten used to him having crutches. It felt like we were missing something

He ordered two drinks for us at the bar, one non-alcoholic, and we planted ourselves against a wall. I was afraid to jump into the beehive of aunts again, and Cole wasn’t really mister social at these events.

“So, what do you think about all this?” Cole motioned to the crowd in front of us.

I wasn’t sure I followed the question. “What do you mean ‘all this’?”

“You know, big wedding, big party, a hundred people at the rehearsal dinner. Is that your thing? Is that something you want?”

My heart started beating faster than usual, and my palms got clammy. “I uh—I haven’t really thought about it I guess.” I gulped half of the gingerale. “What do you think about it?”

“I don’t think I want all the fuss.” He took a sip of his drink. I still couldn’t believe we were talking about this. “Something small and simple would be good. Not too many people.”

I nodded. “Yes. Small and simple.”

“But a white dress. I think that’s important.”

I stared at him. Was he picturing me in a white dress? Imagining what I would look like next to him exchanging vows? I started to get woozy. This was a lot to take in. Breathe, Kaitlyn, breathe.

An image of Cole standing on the beach in a button-down white shirt, standing near a minister popped in my head. I couldn’t shake it. The image started getting cloudy as if I was backing away from the scene.

A new wave of guilt hit me. Was he saying this because of the baby? I tried to study him.