Free The Bad Luck Wedding Cake by Geralyn Dawson Page B

made you . Claire winced.
    Lars had listened to her feelings about Reid. He knew how she felt. For him to say what he said now…well…
    Claire’s heart dropped to her stomach. For a minute, or maybe an hour, she sat staring at the letter. Finally, she muttered a curse and broke the seal.
    Paper crackled as she unfolded it. Quickly her eyes scanned the page. “No. I can’t believe this!”
    Lars moved to stand behind her. He laid his hands on her shoulders and gave her a supportive squeeze.
    “You know what’s in here?” she whispered.
    “About the rumors.”
    Scanning the sentences that repeated the newspaper headlines, she read aloud, “The Not-So-Magical Wedding Cake. Donovan’s Cursed Cakes. The Death of a Legend.” Claire’s hands started to tremble and she glanced up at Lars. “All because I didn’t marry Reid?”
    “You know how your father likes to make every effort serve double duty,” Lars replied, shrugging his shoulders. “Before we learned you had left town, he invited the Gazette to the reception hall and made a big production over your cake. So, when the wedding didn’t happen, the paper naturally wrote the story.”
    “About a wedding cake whose magic has turned into a curse because of a single canceled wedding?” Claire exploded. “That’s as ridiculous as the whole legend itself.”
    “The legend is what made your family’s livelihood for the past few years, girl. The legend is what put clothes on your back.”
    “Well, I’m putting my own clothes on my own back now, thank you very much.” Claire took a deep breath and told herself to calm down and be strong. “I’m sorry for the bad publicity, but this is Da’s mistake. Patrick’s, too, for creating the legend in the first place. It’s not my fault.”
    She nudged the letter. “Papa doesn’t say what he wants.”
    “You know what your father expects,” Lars replied. “You know what you have to do.”
    She shook her head. “No. I won’t marry Reid to solve a legend gone awry. Besides, it’s too late for that. I stood him up at the altar. He wouldn’t marry me now.”
    “Yes he would. He told your father he would.”
    “No.”
    “Yes.”
    She couldn’t believe it. “Why? It makes no sense. He doesn’t love me.”
    “He says he does.”
    “Well I don’t love him.”
    “Then you shouldn’t have pawed him in the kitchen!” Lars snapped.
    Claire gasped and tears pressed at the backs of her eyes. In a low, hard voice, she said, “It wasn’t like that. Nothing happened. I have tried to tell my family the truth about that night many times. That all of them, and you, Lars, choose to believe him over me offends me more than I can say.”
    “All right, Clary.” He returned to his chair, took his seat, and folded his arms. “Tell me again about that night in the kitchen. Convince me why it’s not in your best interests to marry Reid.”
    “You have more nerve than a toothache, Lars Sundine. I owe you no explanation.”
    “Sure you do. I may not be a brother by blood, but I am by love. My advantage is I don’t have the Donovan hard head. Talk to me, Clary. I’ll listen.”
    She sighed heavily, then acquiesced. She told him how Reid made the innocent doctoring of a cat’s scratch appear like an interrupted seduction to her father. She explained how, time and again during their engagement, he had disregarded her wishes and requests. She gave examples of instances when Reid categorically refused to give any consideration to how his actions would affect her.
    She finished by saying, “Marrying Reid Jamieson would be like losing myself. I can’t live that way. Did you ever hear the story of how my mother wanted to be a teacher? Da didn’t want her to do it, so she didn’t. Not me. I won’t give up my dreams for any man. I won’t give up my life here in Fort Worth where I’ve invested in a business. Invested in myself. I can’t lose it all.”
    Lars nodded. “You make a good case. I’m convinced. But you