Her Reluctant Wife: A Lesbian Age Gap Romance

brother in Europe regularly. Her dad was still distant, but even

he seemed to be warming up to the idea of trying to be a

family again. They’d never said a word about their secret

marriage, and they probably never would. It was something

just between them, and they felt that no one really needed to

know about those few weeks they’d been legally married.

They did tell whoever wanted to know that they’d met

through the necklace. They just left out the parts about Giana

hitting her head, the marriage, and the annulment. And sugar

coated a lot of the rest. What happened between them was

their own business, and so what they called the frosting—

focusing on the sweeter details of the whole thing—didn’t feel

like lying. It felt like they were focusing on the good parts and

the healing.

“Yeah. It’s almost been a year.”

“It feels like a long time. Not just a year. So much has

happened.” Giana stiffened and Coralyn could tell that

something big was coming, even though her face remained

mostly placid. She was still too good at that, wearing that

mask, that she probably didn’t even realize she was doing it.

She didn’t force it anymore. She didn’t try to block out her

emotions. “Maybe this isn’t the right time. Maybe it should be

more romantic. Maybe I should…”

“Should what?” Coralyn prompted when she trailed off.

“Should wait and do something that involves more grand

gestures and…”

It finally clicked. “Are you asking me to marry you?”

Giana nodded. “Geez, this should be romantic, not sad. I

should have asked you to dinner or something. Lit some

candles and put on mood music.”