“Well, yes.”
“And you know it is something I want, too. It just feels right, Zee. Besides, no way are we cancelling our plans now. Half my family is already there and your mom is dying to see you for the first time in decades.”
“But—”
“I’m going to be fine. I promise.” Man, if he was this bad now, what was he going to be like in the delivery room?
He’d probably demand the good drugs early. Which, come to think of it, was not such a bad thing.
“You cannot promise such a thing.”
“I can. You’ll be with me, so I know I’ll be fine.”
“I do not share your confidence.”
“That’s too bad, but we are not postponing the wedding blessing until I have to waddle down the aisle with a watermelon for a belly.”
“Fine, but we will take a supply of soda crackers and flat ginger ale.”
“Good idea. A Valium might be a good idea as well.”
He stared at her in shocked disapproval. “You cannot take a Valium. It might hurt the baby.”
“I wasn’t thinking of the antianxiety meds for me.”
The next morning was a repeat of the one before it, with the exception that after settling her tummy, Piper and Zephyr got ready to attend Neo and Cass’s wedding.
It was a beautiful ceremony in one of Seattle’s most traditional cathedral-style churches. Cassandra was a gorgeous bride in a gown with a long train and Neo looked exceedingly handsome in his tailored tuxedo. Zephyr stood up for Neo and one of Cass’s first musical protégées acted as her attendant. Neo had invited his housekeeper and doctor. Cass had invited her new agent and a couple of her other former students. Other than Piper, there were no other guests at the formal wedding.
Unless you counted Cass’s online friends, who were watching via the live feed from the camera placed on a tripod with a view of the aisle and altar.
Afterward, they all attended an intimate champagne brunch in a private room at one of Seattle’s finest restaurants. Piper drank sparkling grape juice and enjoyed herself immensely.
Cass was so incredibly happy, so obviously in love and so very clearly certain of Neo’s love that it brought tears to Piper’s eyes. Neo didn’t leave his bride’s side for even a moment between the ceremony and when they left for his penthouse several hours later.
The next day, they were just as sweet. Neo held his brandnew wife’s hand in their seats side-by-side on the company jet, while they waited to take off for Greece.
Since Zephyr had Piper’s hand firmly clasped in his, she couldn’t even work up a little emotional jealousy at the other woman’s good fortune in being so obviously loved.
Zephyr might not love her, but if there was a difference in the way he treated her from the way Neo treated Cass, Piper could not see it. Maybe one day, that lack of love would show itself in ways that would hurt, but it wasn’t now and Piper wasn’t some drama queen who borrowed trouble from what might happen.
“You’re pregnant, aren’t you?”
Piper didn’t even try to respond to her mother’s question immediately. It was her first time alone with her parents since meeting up at the swank hotel Zephyr’s secretary had arranged as their home base for the week of the wedding.
They were supposed to be relaxing together in the living area of Piper and Zephyr’s palatial suite while Zephyr took a conference call in their bedroom. Afterward, they were going to have dinner together since the following night, Zephyr and Piper would not be available because they would be dining in his mother’s home.
“It’s not exactly a secret, Piper,” her dad said when she didn’t answer right away. “Why else would a billionaire marry you on such short notice?”
“Because he wants to?” she asked, feeling a little piqued her dad would put it that way.
“Does he love you, honey?” her mom asked.
“I love him, very much.”
“That’s what I thought. Did you get pregnant on purpose? Nothing good ever comes of machinations like that.” Her mother sounded like a Victorian matron, not a modern woman with a daughter who was not only well past the age of making her own choices, but also already married and divorced.
“I did not,” she replied hotly, seeing no reason to pretend she wasn’t offended. “I would never do something like that and you should know me well enough to realize that.”
Her mom frowned. “It was a legitimate question.”
“No, it wasn’t. And what is this, the Spanish Inquisition? I thought you were happy for me. That’s how you sounded on the phone. Why all the questions now?”