Piece of My Heart (Fostering Love 4)

“Sounds fun,” I replied, but my mind was already wandering back to the fact that I was married and no one knew it yet.

We left the hotel and got into a cab that took us to the airport. It was late November, but the sky was clear and bright as we wove in and out of traffic. Ironically, Alex didn’t seem at all nervous that our cab driver was a maniac, but he nearly lost the contents of his stomach when we hit a little turbulence on an airplane. I was the exact opposite. I hated riding with bad drivers, and the only saving grace of the whole ride was that it wasn’t raining.

By the time we got on our flight and settled into our seats, I’d calmed down and Alex was all wound up again.

“Almost home,” I said with a sigh, giving his knee a squeeze.

“So I was thinking,” he said, lacing his fingers with mine as we taxied down the runway. “We should mail some of our wedding photos to my parents.”

“No,” I replied, elbowing him.

“It would be hilarious,” he argued, his lips tipping up in a small smile as he grew more and more tense. “That’s how we could announce it.”

“Not even you could think that was funny,” I replied, staring at him in disbelief.

“Can you imagine the looks on their faces?”

“You mean your mom crying?” I asked dubiously. “I’d rather not.”

“She won’t cry.”

“She’s definitely going to cry,” I muttered. Everything had happened so quickly, and I’d been so caught up in the excitement that I hadn’t worried about how Alex’s mom was going to react. I’d known that my family would be angry about our marriage and how we’d gone about it, but I hadn’t given much thought to how Alex’s family would feel, because he’d been so supportive of the whole idea. Now I was really regretting not warning them.

“They’ll get over it,” Alex said, opening his eyes even though his skin was pale and we weren’t at cruising altitude yet. “Don’t worry—my sister will think it’s romantic, and she’ll convince everyone else.”

“Somehow, I can’t imagine your brother thinking that anything is romantic,” I replied.

“Bram already knew,” Alex said with a shrug.

“What?” I asked, my eyes widening. I’d thought that we’d agreed not to tell anyone yet.

“Wife,” Alex said softly, leaning down to catch my eye, “I didn’t tell him—he just knew.”

“How would he just know?” I asked suspiciously.

“Twin shit,” Alex replied. “Sometimes we just know things. He didn’t believe our story, and he put the pieces together.”

“Twin shit,” I muttered, leaning back in my seat.

“It doesn’t happen all the time, mostly just with big stuff,” Alex explained.

“And what did he say?” I asked, turning my head to look at him. “You know, about the elopement.”

“He said to do whatever is right for us,” Alex said, giving a little shrug. “My brother’s kind of an ass, but he’s a good guy under all of the bluster.”

“I liked him,” I confessed, laughing a little at Alex’s surprised look. “What? He’s interesting. He might be grumpy, but you can tell he loves you guys.”

“Yeah,” Alex said, grinning. “Me best.”

I laughed.

“No, but you could tell, right? That he loves me best?”

I shook my head in exasperation as Alex’s smile grew.

“He does,” Alex continued. “Everyone knows it.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “He just doesn’t let it show so he doesn’t make anyone else jealous.”

“Yeah,” I murmured back drily. “Ani was obviously in a distant second place.”

“This is why I love you,” Alex replied, putting an arm around my shoulder so he could tuck me against his side. “Because you see through all the bullshit into the heart of things.”

“You’re so full of crap,” I muttered, unable to keep the smile off my face.

“And that’s why you love me,” Alex replied.

* * *

The next week was a blur of school, work, and packing. Alex mentioned not telling our families about our marriage until we were all settled in, and I gladly took the reprieve. I struggled with how I was going to break the news to my aunt. My uncle was the calmer of the two, and I knew that even though he was going to be disappointed in how I’d gone about things, it was my aunt who was going to be the angriest. I wasn’t looking forward to that conversation at all, and the longer I waited, the more anxious about it I became.

By the next weekend, Alex and I were tripping and stubbing our toes against boxes, but all my things had been moved into his apartment across town. We were officially living together, and though I’d been nervous about it at first, I was thoroughly enjoying it when I woke up pressed against his bare back.

“Hey, roomie,” Alex mumbled, lifting my hand to kiss my fingertips. “Sleep good?”