Three to Get Ready

Contents Title Page Contents Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 About Skye Warren Copyright Title Page Contents Beginning About Skye Warren Copyright 
 
 TWO FOR THE SHOW
 
 
 
 
 SKYE WARREN
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CONTENTS
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Chapter 1
 
 
 Chapter 2
 
 
 Chapter 3
 
 
 Chapter 4
 
 
 Chapter 5
 
 
 Chapter 6
 
 
 Chapter 7
 
 
 Chapter 8
 
 
 Chapter 9
 
 
 Chapter 10
 
 
 Chapter 11
 
 
 Chapter 12
 
 
 Chapter 13
 
 
 Chapter 14
 
 
 Chapter 15
 
 
 Chapter 16
 
 
 Chapter 17
 
 
 Chapter 18
 
 
 Chapter 19
 
 
 Chapter 20
 
 
 Chapter 21
 
 
 Chapter 22
 
 
 
 
 About Skye Warren
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1
 
 EVA
 
 
 
 
 A wedding reception at the Met:
 
 
 1. Stunning, eight-foot-high floral arrangements,
 2. Priceless, world-class art,
 3. And me, pregnant with Finn Hughes’s baby.
 
 
 Nobody knows. Not my family. Not Finn. Not a single person in this room has any idea that I’m carrying the baby of a man whose last words to me were I wish I could say I’ll miss you, but the truth is that I won’t. In a few short years, I won’t even remember you existed.
 What am I supposed to do with that?
 Aside from keeping Daphne and Emerson’s reception on track.
 My sister’s wedding is the perfect distraction. I’m working with a James Beard award-winning chef for the canapés and booking the world-renowned violinist Samantha Brooks for the ceremony. Which means I don’t have time to wonder about the small life growing inside me.
 The Met is the perfect compromise to keep the peace with my parents. We had close family and friends only for the ceremony at Leo’s church. And a large, lavish reception at the Met.
 Emerson even went so far as to get baptized ahead of the wedding. I’m not sure if he meant it as an olive branch to the family for kidnapping Daphne or a symbol of his obsession.
 Probably the latter.
 Regardless of the reason, my parents seem to accept Emerson. My brothers do, too.
 Which is a good thing. Peace is a transient thing in the Morelli family. I’ve learned to embrace it when it comes, even if it’s fleeting. So I don’t think about how my parents will freak out when they find out that I’m pregnant. And that the engagement with Finn Hughes is broken.
 I don’t think about the fact that I’ll be the one to ruin the peace. I don’t think about the fact that I’ll have to tell them I’m pregnant.
 And I don’t think about how upset everyone will be.
 We’re almost at the finish line. Being the maid of honor makes everything easier, ironically. Plus, I could watch over everybody from the front of the church and make sure no scuffles broke out.
 I could look at my family’s faces and wonder if they’ll all stroke out when they hear the news.
 I was the one to coordinate the timing between the ceremony and the reception with the wedding planner, leaving plenty of buffer time for photos outside the church. It allowed me to get here first to make sure everything is perfect.
 And, for the millionth time today, I wonder what I’m going to do.
 Finn would want to know that I’m pregnant with his baby. Somehow, we both forgot to use a condom. And for whatever reason, Plan B didn’t work. An ironic twist of fate. Somewhere a stork is laughing.
 This is happening.
 Finn would want to know, but he doesn’t actually want a baby,
 He was as clear as the crystal on the guest tables that he never wanted a child.
 He refused to have a child, actually. Finn has valid reasons for that. I wouldn’t dream of trying to convince him that his family’s inherited illness was nothing.
 But now the baby isn’t a hypothetical. He or she is going to be our very real child. And no child of mine is going to feel the pain of being unwanted. No child of mine is a mistake.
 The baby’s barely the size of a pea, but my protectiveness feels as sharp as any of the cutlery gleaming near artfully folded napkins. I won’t let Finn hurt the child by forcing us to stay separate or forcing us to stay close enough to see the depth of his disinterest.
 Right on schedule, my family starts at the reception.
 Leo and Haley are first. They compromised on her bed rest situation. Leo agreed that Haley could go about her day normally, albeit while sitting or lying on the couch.
 Haley agreed to let Leo carry her everywhere.
 It’s a classic Leo compromise, if you think about it.
 There’s no classic Finn compromise. Not on this issue. I’ll have to decide this all on my own, for me and the baby.
 I could lie to him. He might prefer it, actually.
 I could announce that our engagement is off. Start rumors in Bishop’s Landing that I’m seeing someone. Or several someones. Maybe I could pretend to sleep with a different man every night, the same way Finn was rumored to sleep with a different woman every night.
 Then a few months down the road, I can tell everyone I’m pregnant and refuse to name the father.
 The problem with that option is that Finn knows me. He got under my skin. He’d suspect that I didn’t find a rebound guy to sleep with,