19. Lucy
nineteen
Lucy
I’m engaged to Nate Walker.
I’m going to marry him in less than two weeks.
And, surprisingly, I feel good about this decision.
I’m wary about the work it’ll take to turn this friendship into a marriage, and I’m nervous about what other people will say when they see how fast things are happening.
But I spent hours in prayer and Bible study, and God has given me peace.
This arrangement will solve a lot of our problems. Quinn will have a whole family again, Nate won’t have to worry about consistent childcare, and I’ll have the medical supplies I need to survive.
I just hope that Skylar was right—that this could be God’s way of answering my prayers for a family of my own.
Quinn cries from her car seat, and I turn around, leaning over the center console to reach for her hand. “Don’t cry, sweet girl. We’re almost there.”
Quinn’s tiny hand wraps around my finger, and she quiets her cries to little whimpers. Nate glances at me from the driver’s seat with a frown. “Are you okay? You’ve been quiet.”
I nod, still leaning awkwardly backward to hold Quinn’s hand. “I’m fine. Just nervous.”
Nate rolls his eyes. “There’s nothing to be nervous about, Luce. Mom and Dad will be over the moon.”
My eyes roam his face, tracing his familiar profile as I practice thinking of him as my husband. “You’re sure they won’t be concerned about how quickly things are moving?”
He flashes me another frown. “I think that as long as we’re convincing together, they won’t think twice about it.”
My heart rate picks up, and I shift in my seat, still clinging to Quinn’s hand as she whines. “You don’t think they’ll make… assumptions about us, do you?”
His brows rise, and he nods slowly. “Oh, that’s what you’re stressed about. I don’t think my parents are the people we’ll have to worry about thinking things like that.”
I blow a long breath and cover my face with my free hand. “We’re going to be under a microscope for the next few months.”
He chuckles. “We have nothing to hide, Lucy, nothing to be ashamed of.”
I nod and drop my hand back to my lap. “I know, but all it takes is one ill-fitting shirt or bloated day around the wrong people and the whole town will think—”
“Let them. If they want to nose around in other people’s business and make wrong assumptions, that’s their problem. The truth will come out in nine months or less when their assumptions prove false.”
I sigh and let my head fall back against the seat of Nate’s SUV. “Maybe we should wait a little while.”
He shakes his head. “No, I don’t want you to wait any longer to get those supplies. If I knew your parents would forgive me for it, I’d take you to the courthouse right now so we could get what you need sooner.”
My eyes slip closed as I hold back the tears building in them. My thoughts spiral as I consider all the ways I’m inconveniencing Nate’s life. I should tell him to forget the whole thing. It’s too much.
“Lucy, look at me.”
My gaze swings to him as he flips the blinker on and turns down his parents’ street.
His hazel eyes land on mine, and I feel my shoulders relax.
“It’s going to be okay. This is not a rash decision.
We’ve both taken the time to think through everything and pray about it.
We know each other probably better than most other engaged couples.
We’ll make a great team. So, stop swimming in guilt over there and relax. ”
I nod and shift in my seat again, my left arm going numb from the awkward angle of reaching backward to hold Quinn’s hand.
Nate clears his throat, and my gaze darts to him. He flashes me a nervous glance as he turns into his parents’ driveway, and my eyes widen. “What? What’s wrong?”
He shakes his head as the car bounces down the gravel driveway. “Nothing’s wrong. But I need to ask your permission a little sooner than I expected.”
My brows drop in a frown. “What do you mean?”
He rolls his shoulders and grips the steering wheel with both hands. “I promised you that I wouldn’t touch you without your permission, but if we’re going to pull this off… Well, we probably need to act a little affectionate.”
My eyes widen, and I swallow. “Oh, right.”
He holds a hand out toward me and shakes his head. “If you don’t want to, I’m sure we can still convince them—”
I sigh and bite my lip. “No, you’re right. I mean, if we’re really so in love that we don’t even want to wait a whole month to get married, it only makes sense that we’d be affectionate.”
He pulls the SUV into a space in the driveway behind Scott’s big rig and shifts it into park. He turns toward me and raises his brows. “You make all the rules, though.”
I draw a deep breath and blow it out slowly, nodding as I think. “Okay. Green-light behaviors: hand-holding, touching my back or—”
Nate’s laugh halts my train of thought, and I raise my brows. “What’s so funny?”
He shakes his head, rolling his lips into his mouth to try to stifle his laughter. “You went full-on preschool teacher mode on me.”
I shoot him a glare, let go of Quinn’s hand, and push my door open.
I stomp around the SUV and open Quinn’s door as he slides out of the car, still chuckling.
I put on a smile for Quinn as I unbuckle her and pull her out of her car seat.
As I cuddle her to my chest, I reach over her seat and grab the diaper bag, which I turn and shove into Nate’s stomach with more force than necessary.
His breath whooshes out with the impact, and he grabs the bag with both hands.
As I march toward his parents’ house, he calls, “Wait. You didn’t finish your list of green-light behaviors, and we didn’t discuss red-light ones.”
I narrow my eyes and aim another glare at his face. “I’ll pinch you if you do something I don’t like. How’s that?”
He chuckles and nods. “Sounds fair to me.”
My leg bounces nervously under the table as I cut Quinn’s spaghetti into small bites for her.
Kathryn was surprised by our arrival but immediately flew into dinner preparations, insisting we stay and eat before we could even think about broaching the subject we had come to discuss.
Scott didn’t seem like our arrival caught him off guard, but knowing him, he probably assumed we had plans that he had forgotten about.
Nate discreetly counted the carbs while Kathryn cooked and texted me the numbers, so I could sneak off to the bathroom and take my insulin before the meal.
When Kathryn started setting the table, I helped her finish, then excused myself before everyone sat down.
But Kathryn got a phone call while I was taking care of my insulin, and now we’re waiting for her to get back so we can eat.
Nate’s warm hand lands on my exposed and bouncing knee, and I freeze, part of me regretting that I wore a short dress while a tiny part of me wants to admit that having Nate’s hand on my knee should be on the green-light list.
But that tiny part of me needs to shut her big mouth.
My gaze cuts to him. He raises his brows and whispers, “Relax.”
I draw a deep breath and release it as I set Quinn’s bowl on her high chair tray, but Nate doesn’t move his hand. I consider pinching the tender spot on the inside of his elbow, but before I can, Kathryn returns and sinks into her chair with a frown. “Sorry. That was your mom, Lucy.”
I frown. “It was?”
She nods. “Yes, and she was acting odd.”
Nate’s hand tightens on my knee, and my eyes widen. “Really? I wonder why.”
She shakes her head. “I have no idea. She said she couldn’t tell me, but she insisted that I call her back later.”
I swallow, and Nate hums, setting an elbow on the table and stroking his chin with his free hand. I allow myself a long blink to suppress the shivers trying to snake down my spine as Nate’s voice rumbles through me. “Strange.”
Kathryn shrugs. “Who knows with Joanne? It could be almost anything.”
I clear my throat and nod, reaching for my glass and hoping that a sip of water will wash away the fluttery feeling in my stomach. “True. She’s a bit unpredictable.”
Scott chuckles as Quinn digs into her spaghetti with both hands and smears tomato sauce all over her face. Nate smiles and leans over me toward Quinn, still keeping his hand planted on my knee. “Is it yummy, Quinnifred?”
Quinn smiles, flashing all four of her little teeth. “Num, num!”
She claps her sauce-covered hands, sending tiny red sauce specks flying across the table. We all chuckle as Scott runs a napkin over the side of his face and tickles Quinn’s bare foot sticking out from under her tray. “You got Papa that time, little lady.”
Quinn laughs, and I melt in my seat. It takes a moment or two for me to realize that while I was watching Quinn have the time of her life with spaghetti, I grabbed Nate’s forearm under the table, and I’m still holding it.
While Kathryn and Scott are distracted by Quinn, I glance at Nate, only to find him already watching me.
Our gazes lock, and his thumb gently strokes the side of my knee.
My breath hitches in my chest, and I look away, dropping my hand from his arm. This is part of the plan to convince his parents that we love each other. But it feels very believable. I clench my jaw and remind myself that this is just friends helping each other out.
Not romantic.
Not real.
“Oh, no,” Scott says as he sets his napkin down on the table, eyes darting between Nate and me.
Nate’s brows rise. “What?”
Scott shakes his head. “I think I lost the bet.”
Kathryn’s eyes widen as they bounce from Nate’s face to mine.
My cheeks heat as my brows drop in a frown. “What bet?”
He points a finger back and forth between us. “Y’all are together, aren’t you?”
Kathryn clasps her hands in front of her chest, like our answer will either make or break her night. Nate leans back and sets his hand on the back of my chair, leaving a cold spot on my knee in its absence. “What exactly do you mean by ‘together’?”
I frown at him and turn back to Kathryn and Scott. “Better question, what bet?”