Needing Happily Ever After

by Elena Aitken

  It wasn’t his words—although those stung too—but the way he said them that hit her right in the gut. She’d underestimated how he’d reacted to the news of his baby sister getting married. As she watched his handsome face undergo myriad emotions right in front of her, she actually felt a bit bad for a minute. Maybe it had been too far.

  “Logan, I—”

  “I’m not helping,” he interrupted. “I don’t care what Levi and Hope wanted.” He shook his head, his face lined with a determination that Faith couldn’t help find sexy. Dammit. He really did have the craziest effect on her. “All the other weddings,” Logan continued, “I’m there for. But not this one. No way.”

  “Logan, you’re being childish.”

  “Am I?”

  She chuckled a little. “You really are. This is Katie you’re talking about. You can’t just not be involved.”

  He was about to protest again, but with impeccable timing, the subject of their discussion chose that moment to appear. “Hey, guys.” Katie waved from the open door of the barn. “Do you have a minute?”

  Logan looked from his sister back to Faith and shook his head. “I meant it.” He turned away before she could say anything else, not that it would have made a difference.

  “Hey, Logan,” Katie said as he walked toward her. “Where are you—”

  Her words trailed off as Logan pushed past his little sister and out the door, leaving her to look back at Faith, bewildered.

  Katie looked to Faith for some kind of explanation as to what was going on with her brother, but her friend could only shrug.

  “Ignore him,” Faith said. “He’s in a mood.” She waved her hand to dismiss Logan and held her arms out for a hug.

  Katie crossed the space and was about to hug Faith, when the other woman reached up and snatched her hand. “Whoa. That’s quite a rock.”

  She instantly blushed and shook her head. It was quite a rock. She hadn’t really expected Damon to buy her a ring, and she’d definitely not expected him to buy such an extravagant one. Or, if she was being honest, one she loved quite so much. She’d wanted to ask him whether it was a loaner, or whether they could return it when all of this was over, but it hadn’t really been a good time in the park with all sorts of people—some she knew, most she didn’t—congratulating them on their very public official proposal.

  “It’s nice, isn’t it?”

  “It’s gorgeous,” Faith gushed as she turned Katie’s hand back and forth, examining the ring. “And you know how I feel about these things. Even so, this ring is absolutely stunning. I love how it’s completely untraditional and yet, so…” Faith dropped her hand and laughed. “He did good, that man of yours.”

  “Yeah…” She snatched her hand back and tucked it in her pocket, out of sight. A wave of self-consciousness washed over her and she suddenly felt untethered and completely out of her depth. “Yeah,” she said again. “He gave it to me Saturday. I mean, he would have…and yes…he is…I mean…he did do really well.” Her face heated with an unexpected blush as she stumbled over her words. “I mean…he is really good. I mean…ahh…whatever.”

  Faith tilted her head and gave her a strange look. “You okay?”

  Shit.

  She was already screwing this up, and Faith was probably the easiest person to lie to about all of this because it was no secret that she didn’t even like love. If she couldn’t even fake it with Faith, she was in serious trouble.

  Katie took a deep breath and regained her composure. Slowly, she released it and nodded. “I am. Thank you. It’s just…this is still all so new and I’m trying to wrap my head around it all. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind, you know?”

  Faith laughed. “I certainly don’t. But I could imagine. It did seem to come on pretty fast. I know your mom was—”

  “I don’t want to talk about it.” Katie held up a hand and shook her head. “Not right now, please.” She couldn’t deal with her mother. Not yet. At least, not without backup. And especially not now that the wedding was going to happen right away. Which was the whole reason she’d gone looking for Faith. After leaving ElkView just over an hour ago, Damon had a few things he needed to take care of, but with time running out on wedding preparations, Katie didn’t want to wait to talk to Faith.

  “I actually need to talk to you about the wedding plans. Things have changed.”

  “Changed?”

  Katie nodded. Changed was an understatement.

  Faith laughed again. “I’m sure I can handle it. But not inside. Come on.” She grabbed Katie’s hand. “It’s way too nice of a day to be inside. I need to feel some sunshine on my face.”

  Relieved to have a little reprieve, at least for the moment, Katie happily followed Faith out into the sunshine.

  “Let’s sit by the river,” Faith said. “I just need a break from this barn and tablecloths and…all of it.”

  It was Katie’s turn to laugh as they walked across the grass to the riverbank. “How are you doing with all of this? Is it getting easier?”

  “If by easier, you mean that I now know the difference between mulberry, plum, chartreuse, and mauve, yes.”

  Katie sucked in a breath. “I hate to tell you this, but chartreuse is actually a shade of light green.”

  “Dammit!” Faith slapped her hand on the grass as she sat down, but dissolved into giggles. “I will figure this out. Also, I better make a note to check the napkins for next weekend’s wedding.” She shrugged and laughed again. “Honestly, it’s not too bad. I think I needed a break from the city and the nine-to-five of an office.”

  Faith had been working as a paralegal in the city before Hope had asked her to come home to help. Katie couldn’t help but admire the way she’d dropped everything, including—according to rumors—a guy, and moved back to Glacier Falls without hesitation.

  “Although,” Faith continued, “it would be nice to get outside and actually enjoy the mountains a little bit. What’s the point in having this amazing backyard if I don’t have time to enjoy it? And I think I’m actually getting paler.” She shook her head. “It’s practically summer—I should have a tan, or at least the start of one, not the other way around. I spend so much time inside or out at night that people are going to think I’m a vampire.”

  There was no way anyone would mistake Faith for anything else besides beautiful. She and Hope had always had tall, perfectly curvy figures that along with their long blonde hair and blue eyes made them some of the prettiest girls in town. When they were growing up, Katie had spent far too many hours longing for hair just as blonde as theirs. The day her mother had caught her trying to bleach out her own dark locks with peroxide was definitely not one of her proudest moments. But she’d only been ten and didn’t know that the only thing peroxide would do to her hair was turn it orange. Thankfully her mother had taken pity on her and hadn’t let her go around with orange streaks, but instead had gone to the store to buy a box of dye. She’d spent hours covering her color mistake and drying Katie’s tears.

  Thinking about her mom again gave Katie another twinge of guilt. She shook her head and changed the subject. “We should go mountain biking.”

  Faith turned and stared at her. “Mountain biking? It’s been years since I was on a bike.”

  “Well then, you’re in luck.” Katie grinned. “Because it’s just like riding a bike. And I’m sure we could round up a few to go hit a trail one afternoon. It would be fun. I mean, if you can spare a half a day somewhere?”

  “I should be able to make that happen.” She nodded and then smiled. “Yes. Let’s make that happen. Now, tell me what this change to your wedding plans is.”

  “Right.” Katie forced a smile on her face. “About that…well, we need to change the date a little bit.”

  Faith’s face twisted up into mild panic. “Okay. I mean, I could see what I could do. When are you thinking?”

  “Thursday.”

  Her friend’s mouth opened and shut before she finally swallowed firmly. �
�Thursday? Like, this Thursday?”

  Katie nodded. “Something super small, up at ElkView. Just a ceremony and a champagne toast. That’s it. Okay? Easy?”

  “Does your mom know yet?”

  Katie shook her head. “I’m telling them tonight. At dinner. You’re coming, right?”

  Katie wouldn’t have been surprised if Faith bailed out of dinner. Hell, she would have if she could help it. Telling her family about the wedding was bad enough. But to tell them it was later this week…

  Finally, Faith nodded and smiled. “Okay, I’ll come to dinner.”

  “And the wedding?”

  “Thursday, you say?” Katie nodded and Faith blew out a breath. “Okay. No problem. After all, I am a professional.” Faith attempted a straight face, but when a moment later she asked, “How do you feel about the color chartreuse?” she cracked and they both dissolved into giggles.

  Chapter Six

  Most of the time, Faith was grateful for the dinner invitations at the Langdon ranch. With Hope and Levi gone on their trip, she had no real family around and the Langdons—with the exception of Logan, who only drove her crazy—were as close to family as she could get. So when the invitation came to join them for a dinner, she jumped at it. And it was always a good time.

  Mostly.

  When she’d accepted Debbie’s invite a few days before, she hadn’t realized that it would also be the first time that Katie brought Damon over to the house since announcing their engagement, nor did she know that the rest of the family hadn’t been told that the actual wedding was in three days’ time. No, she only realized that once it was too late. At least, she was pretty sure it was too late to make an excuse to leave once she was sitting at the dining room table.

  The betrothed were late to get there, something about having to check Damon out of the Big Rock Inn. Not that it mattered what the excuse was; Logan was agitated from the moment the other man walked into the room, and Faith was pretty sure that his attitude was only going to get worse. Damon wouldn’t be able to say anything right.

  “Calm down,” she whispered to Logan, who’d somehow ended up sitting next to her. He was practically vibrating. His knee bounced up and down so intensely that Faith thought he might actually knock the table and send Debbie’s dishes flying if he didn’t settle down. “You’re going to make a scene.”

  “It’s not me who should be worried about making a scene.” He spoke out of the side of his mouth, not taking his eyes off Damon, who was doing his best to avoid looking in Logan’s direction. No doubt he could feel the completely unwarranted rage radiating off his fiancée’s brother. “He needs to be worried.”

  “Logan,” Faith hissed. “Seriously.” Before she could stop herself, she put her hand on Logan’s thigh and pressed it down, squeezing gently.

  He froze and turned to look first at Faith, and then down at her hand on his leg. He looked up at her again, a look of question in his eyes. But before either of them could make more out of the simple touch than what it was, she snatched her hand back and tucked it into her lap.

  “I’m so glad you all could finally make it.” Debbie chose that moment to walk into the dining room, a platter of roast chicken in her hands. The smell of it made Faith’s mouth water and for at least a moment, everyone was distracted from the giant elephant in the room. That is, until Debbie set the chicken down, looked directly at Damon, and addressed it head on. “So, I finally get to congratulate you in person.”

  Once again, Logan started to vibrate and Faith shook her head slightly. She looked to Katie to offer her a small smile of support.

  “Thank you, Mrs. Langdon. I—”

  “Call me Debbie.” She interrupted him. “After all, we’re finally going to be family.” Debbie sat, a genuine smile on her face. “I mean, I feel like you’ve been family for years. But this…” She gestured between her daughter and her new fiancé. “This is special. I’m very excited.”

  Faith could see Katie visibly relax. Now if only her brother could do the same.

  “I know it all happened so quickly,” Damon began.

  That was an understatement. Faith looked pointedly at the basket of rolls she’d been handed.

  “But it’s just one of those things and once we made it official, we just didn’t want to wait,” Damon continued.

  “Speaking of not wanting to wait.”

  Faith froze, acutely aware of Logan sitting next to her. He was not going to be happy.

  “We’ve decided to push the wedding date up.”

  “Up?” Debbie asked the question while, next to Faith, Logan choked a little on a roll. “What do you mean, up?”

  “We’ve decided to have an intimate ceremony at ElkView.” She paused. “On Thursday.”

  Just as Faith had predicted, Logan reacted instantly. “What the actual—”

  “It’s what we want.” Katie cut him off smoothly.

  “It’s insane.”

  “It’s not. And Faith has agreed to help out with all the details.”

  Faith felt more than saw how Logan felt about his little sister’s upcoming nuptials.

  “You did?”

  Faith turned to him finally. “Of course I did. And I would think that you’d be pleased about it.”

  “Pleased?”

  “Yes.” She smiled as innocently as she could. “Since the wedding isn’t at Ever After, you’re not required to help.”

  “Logan, I really hope you can be okay with this.” Katie’s voice was soft, and Faith watched as Logan’s face softened at his little sister’s plea. “I need you there. Please.”

  He nodded after a moment. “Of course.”

  “I think it’s exciting,” Debbie jumped in with a small clap of her hands. “I mean, it’s crazy fast. But with Faith to help out, I know it’ll be great.”

  “I really want to thank you, Faith.” Damon spoke up. “You’re working so hard to make this happen quickly and I know you’re still new to the whole thing.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” She waved her hand. “It’s my pleasure. Besides, it gives me a chance to practice all my new mad wedding skills.”

  Everyone laughed, including Logan, who actually snorted next to her. She turned to glare at him. “What? I am figuring it all out.”

  “Right,” Logan said, trying not to choke. “You have mad wedding skills.”

  “I do.”

  She didn’t, but the last thing she needed was Logan pointing it out to her.

  She turned her attention back to Damon and Katie. “I promise I will plan the perfect wedding for you two. Right down to the dress. And speaking of the dress…”

  “Oh no.” Katie waved her hand.

  “Oh yes,” Faith insisted. “You need a dress. Hope would kill me if she knew I let you get married in some random sundress. We’re going to the city tomorrow,” she continued. “And we’re going to buy you the perfect dress.” Faith knew she was talking out of her ass, especially considering that she had no idea where to even begin looking for the right wedding dress. But she’d figure it out by the morning. “Debbie, you should come, too.”

  Just as Faith was hoping she would, Debbie jumped at the chance. “Yes!”

  “But I have an exam in the morning.”

  “Perfect. You’ll already be in the city.” Faith winked, and Katie laughed with a resigned shake of her head.

  “It’ll be great,” Damon said. “You deserve the most beautiful dress. Go, have fun.”

  Katie’s face showed myriad emotions, and there was some kind of look exchanged between the two of them that Faith couldn’t quite figure out. But then again, she was definitely no expert on relationships, and finally Katie smiled. “Okay,” she said. “It sounds like fun.”

  “Great! As for the rest of the details…”

  “Honestly, Faith. You go ahead and do whatever you think. We completely trust you.”

  Damon nodded. “We do.”

  Damon reached over and took Katie’s hand in hers. It was such a sweet
gesture, and Faith couldn’t help but feel the slightest flicker of…what? Was it jealousy? Want?

  No. That was ridiculous. She didn’t want what they had. She didn’t want a relationship. She definitely didn’t want to get married and sure, they thought they were in love. But despite the occupation she found herself in, Faith still didn’t believe that love was a real thing. At least not a real thing that would last.

  She forced a smile on her face. “Well then, I’ll do everything I can to make sure it’s a beautiful day and you won’t need to worry about a thing.” Secretly, Faith hoped that she could pull it off. Most of the weddings that season had been lined up by Hope before she’d gotten sick and taken off on her whirlwind honeymoon. They’d been designed and planned and basically completely thought-out already. All Faith had to do was execute them. She was great at following instructions when it came to all this. But actually planning a wedding? That might be a stretch. And as much as she didn’t want to admit it, and no matter what she’d just told him, she was really going to need Logan to help out for this one.

  Faith glanced over at him and, just as she’d expected, his mouth was pressed into a hard line. His jaw clenched and she could see the little muscles flexing as he was clearly working hard not to say what he really wanted to. Despite herself, Faith couldn’t help but notice just how damn good-looking the man was when he was being fiercely protective of his little sister. Sure, it was annoying, and Logan definitely was annoying. But…

  She looked away and focused on her dinner before she could let her brain entertain any thoughts about Logan that didn’t involve how much of a pain in the ass he was.

  Katie dumped an arm full of dirty dishes onto the kitchen counter and let out the breath she felt like she’d been holding since dinner had started. She had definitely not been looking forward to telling her family about the pushed-up wedding date. She put both hands on the edge of the sink and dropped her head down.