Free Aurora 04 - The Julius House by Charlaine Harris

shirt still crisp, his suit unwrinkled. My heart gave its familiar lurch at the sight of him, and I sighed involuntarily.
    “You’re really in love,” Aubrey said very quietly, as if to reassure himself.
    “Yes.”
    I smiled at Martin as he got out of the car and came toward us, and he didn’t look jealous or even uneasy at Aubrey and me sitting tête-à-tête. But he pulled me up by my hands and gave me a kiss that lasted too long and was almost ferocious.
    “I’ll go unlock the office,” Aubrey murmured, and rose from the steps.
    “Your friends got in today,” I told Martin.
    “Shelby called me. What did you think of Angel?”
    “I’ve never met anyone like her, or like Shelby, for that matter.”
    “What do you mean?” We began walking down the south sidewalk to the parish hall where Aubrey’s office was, the dusk gathering around us. I could see the desk lamp shining through Aubrey’s uncurtained window.
    “Well,” I said slowly and carefully, “they seem used to having very little, to needing very little.” I was uncertain how to phrase my next thought. “They’re very quick to understand your wishes and act on them, and they don’t reveal anything about themselves, about what they want.
    Oh, gosh, that makes them sound like a maid and a butler, and they’re anything but that. But do you see what I mean?”

    He didn’t answer for a moment, and I was afraid I’d offended him.
    “They’re very independent, and very capable of making quick judgment calls, Angel even faster than Shelby maybe,” Martin said finally. “But I understand you. Shelby has never been one to talk about himself, and I was sure he’d marry someone who talked nonstop, but he married Angel. She’ll tell you more about herself than Shelby will, but she isn’t any chatterer.”
    “They’re going to be great help with getting the house finished,” I said carefully, when it became apparent Martin wasn’t going to volunteer any more—like, who were these people?
    Where had they come from, and what had they been doing there? Why were they willing to be in Lawrenceton, doing what they were doing here? “It’s a relief knowing they’re there.”
    “Great, honey. I wanted you to get some quiet time before the wedding. That house was running you ragged.”
    Ragged? I felt the urge to pop in the nearest women’s room and stare into the mirror, suddenly terrified I’d see crow’s feet and gray hair. Normally I am not morbidly self-conscious about my appearance, but the fittings for the wedding dress and the fuss over clothes in general for the past couple of months had made me very aware of how I looked.
    “They took notes,” I told Martin absently. “I think they’ll do a great job.”
    “I want you to be happy,” he said.
    “I am,” I told him, surprised. “I’ve never been happier in my life.”
    Then we were at the door to Aubrey’s office, and we joined hands and went in. Our last session before the wedding, and Aubrey wasn’t going to make it easy. He asked hard questions and expected honest answers. We had gone over what we expected from each other financially, emotionally, and in the matter of religion. And we had talked again about having children, with both of us unable to decide. Maybe indecision wasn’t good, but it was better than holding opposing views. Right?
    The counseling sessions had opened vistas of complexities I’d never imagined, the little and big adjustments and decisions of sharing life with another adult human being. It was the
    “working” aspect of marriage I’d somehow missed when my friends talked about their married lives. Martin, who was more experienced by reason of his previous marriage, had mentioned Cindy in the course of the sessions more than I’d ever heard him mention her before. Especially since I’d met Cindy, I listened carefully. And this evening, Aubrey asked Martin The Big Question.
    “Martin, we’ve concentrated, naturally, on your relationship with