Free A Good Woman by Danielle Steel Page B

October. “Does that give you enough time to organize a wedding?”
    “I think so. I don’t want a wedding like Hortie’s. And she’s the only bridesmaid I want, and she’ll be nine months pregnant.”
    “I’d say that sounds more like a matron of honor,” he teased her. They both knew that most people would be shocked to see her out socially in that condition.
    “She says she might have the baby in Newport,” Annabelle added.
    “Maybe she could have it at the wedding.” He chuckled. He had a feeling that with Annabelle, life was going to be interesting forever.
    “Can I still do my volunteer work at the hospital?” Annabelle asked, looking worried.
    “You can do anything you want,” he said simply, smiling at her.
    “My mother said I’d have to stop when I got married.”
    “You don’t have to stop for me, except maybe when you’re expecting. It might be a good idea to give it up for a while then.” She could tell just listening to him that he was going to be reasonable, and always there to protect her. It seemed like the ideal marriage to her, and she couldn’t imagine why she’d never thought of it herself before. She liked everything he said, and always had.
    They chatted for a while longer about their plans. His mother had been dead for years, and his father was remarried to a woman Josiah didn’t particularly like, but he thought they should invite them, and his half-sister with her husband. He had two uncles, and a brother. His brother lived in Chicago, and Josiah wasn’t sure if he would come. He said his brother was a little eccentric. So he didn’t think they’d be overrun by his family, and all she had now was her mother, and a wide assortment of distant cousins. She said she’d like to keep it below a hundred, maybe even fifty. And her mother could give them a big party in the city in the fall, which sounded great to him. He liked the idea of keeping their wedding personal and private, as a special moment just for them, and not a cast of thousands. He had never wanted a big wedding, and until now none at all.
    “Where do you want to go on our honeymoon?” he asked happily. August was just around the corner.
    “Anywhere we don’t have to take a boat to get to. I don’t think I could do that to my mother, and I’m not sure I’d want to either.”
    “We’ll figure it out. Maybe California or somewhere in the Rockies. Or Canada, or maybe even Maine. New England is beautiful that time of year.”
    “I don’t care where we go, Josiah,” she said honestly, “just so I’m with you.” It was exactly how he felt about her. He signaled for the waiter then and paid the check. Everything had gone perfectly and he had apologized to her for not having a ring yet. He had been nervous about choosing the right one.
    He drove her home, and her mother was still up when they got there. Knowing what was happening, she had been too excited to go to sleep. She looked at them expectantly as they came through the door, and they were both beaming.
    “Do I have a son-in-law?” she asked in barely more than a whisper.
    “You will in August,” Josiah said proudly, with an arm around his brand-new fiancée’s shoulders.
    “In Newport,” Annabelle added, smiling ecstatically up at him.
    “Oh my Lord, a wedding in Newport in August, with only three months to arrange it. You two don’t fool around, do you?”
    “We only want a small wedding, Mama,” Annabelle said softly, and her mother understood why. Hearing that was a great relief to her too.
    “You can have anything you want,” she said generously.
    “We really only want about fifty or sixty people, a hundred if we have to, in the garden.”
    “Your wish is my command,” Consuelo said gamely, wishing she could call the florist and the caterer at that very moment. Instead she walked up to Josiah and hugged him, and kissed her daughter. “I’m so happy for you both. I think you’re going to be very happy.”
    “So do we,” they