TONY: Slow Burn (Raging Fire Book 1) by Kallypso Masters (the false prince TXT) 📕

doesn’t give us much time, but it’s longer than we had to plan Marc’s wedding. First we need to book the venue for the ceremony…”

Two Augusts from now?

Carm held out her hand to her mother. “Mama, please. I mean it. We don’t plan to wait that long. A simple wedding with immediate family would be our preference.”

Mama’s eyes welled with tears. This wasn’t going well. But this also wasn’t Mama’s wedding. Tony squeezed Carm’s thigh under the table, and she smiled at him. He and Papa remained silent, and she couldn’t blame them. She needed to convince her mama of the way things would be.

Turning back to the intimidating woman across the table, Carm took a deep breath and let it out. “Mama, we understand that you have a dream wedding in mind, but it’s just not our dream wedding.”

Mama glanced from one to the other then resumed eating without a word. After a moment, she started telling them about their trip. Carm didn’t think for a minute that this was the end of it. Mama would regroup and come at her again and again, no doubt.

Carm wasn’t sure how she would be able to sway Mama to her vision, but she couldn’t even think about a small family wedding with the resort in full swing. So she decided it would be best to give Mama time to get used to their idea of something much smaller than Mama had dreamed of for her daughter. Perhaps by the spring, they could revisit this.

“So tell me about Lombardy. How was Mrs. Milanesi?”

After a short silence, Mama recounted their visit and let go of wedding talk—for the time being.

Chapter Forty-Two

As they lay in each other’s arms the weekend before Christmas, Tony stroked her bare back, but this time it failed to calm her down.

“Mama’s driving me insane, Tony. She’s already spoken to the priest at St. Mary’s and is running dates by me for July and August more than a year and half away!”

How had Carm thought for a minute Mama would wait until spring to start wedding planning? Retired, she had nothing better to do with her time these days.

“If I wait until ski season is over, she’ll have picked out my dress, hired the photographer, and decided on three menus for me to choose from for the reception.” Carm sighed. “What are we going to do?”

Tony chuckled. “I’m not sure there’s much we can do. My mama’s been asking me if there’s anything she can do to help and has been on the phone with your mama to let her know she’d be happy to collaborate on the planning. What is it with Italian mamas and weddings?”

“I don’t know. If I ever do that to my kids, spank me.”

Tony gave her a hard swat.

“Hey! What was that for?”

“Practicing.”

“I’m serious. I don’t want to intrude on the lives of my own son or daughter when the time comes. Don’t you let me.”

“I’ll do my best.”

She kissed him, and they lay in silence for a while as Carm idly traced her finger over Tony’s chest, thinking about what kind of mother she might be when the time came. Then thoughts turned to something that had happened at the resort this afternoon, bringing her focus back to the wedding. When the buzz among the staff had reached her, she hadn’t been able to think of much else for several hours as she mulled over the idea.

“I’m not crazy about the idea of waiting over a year, Tony. I’m ready to start our lives together right now.”

“We are practically living together already.”

“Yeah, but I’m ready to sell this place and start looking for our forever home.”

“Don’t you want to wait until things calm down at the resort?”

“When things get slower for me, they’ll ramp up with training for the rescue squad.” Time to steer this conversation in the direction she wanted.

“Tony, I’ve helped plan more weddings at the resort than I care to remember. Working with Marc and Angelina to fulfill their wedding dreams was wonderful, but while that day was perfect for them, it isn’t my idea of a dream ceremony. I guess I’m not very traditional.”

“What kind of ceremony would you like?” he asked.

“Something meaningful. And by that, I want one that means more to us than to our mamas or anyone else.”

He chuckled. “You like to live dangerously, don’t you?”

She couldn’t even muster a smile. “Mama’s been dreaming of my wedding day since I was a baby. And both of our mamas are going to feel cheated if they don’t get to orchestrate another gigantic wedding. But if I can’t see myself in that fantasy wedding of theirs now, how miserable will I be on the big day?”

Tony pulled back and tucked a finger under her chin to force her to meet his gaze. “I don’t care how much pressure anyone puts on you, including our mamas, this will be our day and we’re going to do it our way. Hear me? I’ll talk to mine, but I’ll talk to yours too if I need to.”

Just the segue I need.

How would he take her suggestion? Might as well find out. “Tony, have you heard of self-solemnized ceremonies?”

“Self what?”

“Wedding ceremonies where you don’t have to have a venue or even an officiant and witnesses, for that matter. Some guests at the resort had one this afternoon up on Ute Trail. I guess it’s a newish law in Colorado from what I could find on the internet. Only two states allow it at the moment, but in this kind of wedding, the couple just gets a license then performs their own ceremony wherever they’d like.”

She waited for Tony to say something, certain he’d want a ceremony somewhere between this idea and what their mamas were planning.

“You mean we could even get married out on the trail somewhere?”

At least that wasn’t a no. “I don’t see why not. It might tick off our families, but we could go to the courthouse when