“Uhmm...”
“She wants to make sure we don’t say anything about Josh asking her to marry him around Charlie. She’s afraid it will hurt her feelings,” said Claire.
“I don’t know about that, but I don’t think you should be marrying Josh.” Spencer crossed his arms and looked down his nose with a pronounced frown.
Olivia gave her brother a hug. “I’m glad you’re on my side, big brother. I feel the same way.”
“But I thought you’d already agreed to get married.” Spencer scratched his head.
“Not really. He’s still trying to talk me into it.”
“Well, don’t do it,” he said. “Not if he only wants to marry you for a year. He’s only using you.”
Josh burst into the breakfast room. “That would be true if I only wanted to marry her for a year. But I’m hoping she’ll marry me forever. Or at least until death do us part.” He pulled her into his arms, kissing her cheek. He stood in front of her with his arms locking her in place.
Olivia froze in shock. Things were going horribly wrong. Yesterday she was certain his attraction for Charlie was growing stronger.
Spencer regarded Josh with suspicion. “I thought this was all about getting custody of the kids, and you’d even bribed her to stay married for a year. You said you’d pay for medical school.”
“Well, she’d be my wife. Of course I’d pay for medical school,” Josh reasoned, planting another kiss in her hair. “And yes I did kind of bribe her, but that’s because I was in a rush. I mean, if it weren’t for the kids, I would’ve probably courted her for another six months before I asked her to marry me. But one way or another, I want her to be Mrs. Josh Branson.” He gave her another squeeze.
Olivia was dumbfounded. Unprepared for this line of assault, her only thought was escape. She peeled herself out of Josh’s arms in the direction of the breakfast room door, noting the stunned expressions on her sisters’ faces. Slipping through the door, she almost flattened Charlie, who was frozen in place with a Pop Tart in her hands.
“Charlie!” she exclaimed. “I’m sorry, I almost knocked you down. Are you okay?”
Charlie’s face blanched, and she turned to walk the other direction out of the kitchen.
“Aren’t you going to eat breakfast?” Olivia asked.
But Charlie set her Pop Tart on the dining room table as she moved up the stairs without speaking.
?
?Darn it!” Olivia exclaimed to no one in particular as she buried her face in her hands. Obviously, Charlie had overheard Josh’s declaration. What was she supposed to do now? She ran up the stairs. “Graaaaace!”
EMILY HEARD A KNOCK on the door. “Come in,” she answered in a garbled voice. “I’m brushing my teeth.”
Charlie appeared in the bathroom mirror with red eyes and wet cheeks.
“Charlie! You’re crying! What’s wrong?” Emily quickly rinsed her mouth and pulled her sister over to sit on the bed beside her. “What happened?”
“I love him,” she said, with tears pouring down her face.
“Derek?” asked Emily, as her own eyes watered in sympathy.
“No. Josh.”
“Oh... Oh no. I was afraid of that. Did you just now figure it out? I asked you before, and you denied it.”
“No, I knew before. But I only wanted him to be happy. So I thought, if Olivia was going to make him happy, I wanted them to get married. But...”
“But what?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I kind of secretly hoped I was wrong and he loved me instead. But just now...” Her voice broke and the tears started a fresh fountain. “He said it—exactly what I thought. He loves her, and he wants to be married forever, not for a year. It’s not just about the custody battle. He really loves her.”
“Oh sweetie,” said Emily, hugging her sister as salty drops wet her sweater. “I’m so sorry. What can I do?”
Charlie sobbed and shrugged her shoulders.