Lucky This Isn't Real: MacBride Brothers Series St. Patrick's Day Fake Fiance Romance by Jamie Knight (digital e reader .TXT) 📕

it couldn’t possibly be worse than wanting something you weren’t sure you could ever actually have. The life I’d yet to have flashed before my eyes—our wedding, our house, our children, our happy life together.

“Honey, what’s wrong.”

“Nothing,” I lied, knowing I couldn’t tell her the truth, even as my tears betrayed me. I tried to wipe the treacherous little bastards away but couldn’t before mom noticed them.

“Tell me.”

“I-I just can’t believe it’s really happening,” I fibbed, “it’s just all so much at once. I’m overwhelmed, I guess.”

“I know what you mean, darling. I felt the same planning my wedding. Garrison wanted to hire some kind of professional, even though I don’t think wedding planners really existed in those days. The world hadn’t gone completely mad yet. Mind you, the Internet was still dial-up back then.”

I burst out laughing. The sound sudden but natural and an unconscious expression of my true feelings. If only it could be that way with other things too

He was so quiet I didn’t even hear him at first. I was so caught up in chatting with mom and Nicole that it wasn’t until the pan hit the stove that I turned and saw Sean. He wore his suit pants and untucked dress shirt, and I was very glad I’d thought to make them accessible. That could have been embarrassing for all involved.

“Sean, dear,” mom piped up, having moved on from the ‘Mr. MacBride’ stuff mighty quick, “we’d like your opinion too.”

“On what, Mrs. Matthews?” he asked, turning.

“Everything, of course. You’re going to be getting married too.”

“Yes, of course,” he said, catching on quick.

He sat beside me, putting an arm around my shoulders. If mom objected to the squeeze or the fact we’d obviously spent the night together, she gave no indication of it. Mom was pretty cool that way. Dad wouldn’t have liked it, but since, as far as he knew, we were already getting married, there wasn’t much he could say. At least without looking like an ass.

It must have been some kind of test. Without any indication of what had already been chosen, mom gave Sean the magazines to flip through to see what he might like. One by one and without fail, he chose exactly the things I had. Not an emerald green tux or mint green cake among them. We might have been both trying to get as far away from Maggie’s wedding as possible, even though it was memorable, if nothing else, but we were almost identical in terms of our choices. Considering we both went in basically blind, it also seemed to indicate a basic overlap in our taste. Our choices were beyond what could be dismissed as pure coincidence.

Coincidence could be a strange thing, which was why people referred to it as such, but it went a bit beyond that. Everything we had each chosen was exactly the same, going beyond the realm of random chance into the realm of, well, something else.

Mom knew it too, at least if the grin she gave as Sean made his selections was anything to go by. Was it possible fate really had put us together? I’d suspected from the beginning, but the notion seemed too silly for serious consideration. After what happened with the wedding planning, I was beginning to wonder. I’d been giving my honest, first impression preferences, and Sean seemed to be too. He had been with me all night, so even if I was mad enough to suspect some sort of crazy conspiracy, it just wouldn’t be possible given the facts at hand. There were just too many variables.

As the daughter of a lawyer, I’d been raised to question everything. Maggie might have been lucky enough to form a strong, stable, loving relationship with her fake fiancé, but that didn’t mean everyone could be so fortunate. In fact, the odds were very much against it.

After several more hours poring over magazines, my mother and friend went about their day buzzing happily with plans for my big day.

The weight of my lies took on their full weight, and my conscience kicked me hard.

I could feel his touch through my sweatshirt. Sean’s gentle hand on my shoulder. Slowly turning around, I was accepted into his warm embrace as he held me tight.

“Thank you,” I said, the words coming out of nowhere.

“For what?” he asked, sounding genuinely confused.

“For covering for me. Not just here, which was amazing, but at the garden party. I really am sorry for what I said. I just don’t like dishonesty, even when used in a good cause. I’ve just known too many liars in my life.”

“That’s not surprising, your dad being a lawyer and all. Not to say all lawyers are liars, of course, but the statistics aren’t good.”

“No, you’re right, he is a liar, as were most of the people I met growing up. It wasn’t the little lies that bugged me, the ones that didn’t really matter. They would lie about the big things, like who they were, what they wanted, and what they could really do. Much of the time grossly overstating their abilities. I still don’t like lying to my mom, but if it keeps me from marrying Harry, it’s all for the best. I do have to admit, though, looking through all that wedding stuff was kind of fun.”

“It was, wasn’t it,” he said, kissing me sweetly on the forehead. “I’d do anything for you, darlin’.”

I believed him, even with all my fears and suspicions, mostly pushed back into the dark. I took him at face value, allowing myself to fully love him, no longer much caring about the consequences. Also, being a bit too well raised to actually say such a thing. The Victorian values of my father filtered down to me by years of exposure.

“Though,” I said with a sigh, “in a way,