Free Deliver the Moon by Rebecca J. Clark

content of their conversation, he was glad to see not all the fight had gone out of her. He dipped his head a bit, silently agreeing to drop the subject.
    Louisa’s shoulders relaxed, and she started in on her spaghetti again. He studied her unchecked for a few moments, seeing how her gaze focused on her plate, how her hand trembled almost imperceptibly as she ate. “When’s the big day?” he asked.
    Her shoulders straightened and she met his eyes. “What? Oh. Evan is thinking about next spring. His campaign will just be getting underway, but we’d still be able to sneak away for a honeymoon. My mother is trying to talk us into a Christmas wedding—you know, red and green, poinsettias and holly.”
    “I suppose you’ll have a formal ceremony this time around?”
    Her entire body stiffened under his gaze. She took a long time in answering. He knew she was thinking, just as he was, about their own small wedding with just her immediate family in attendance. It had been in a church, and she had worn white, but that had been the extent of the formalities. Her family had simply refused to pay for anything more elaborate, opposed as they were to the union.
    “I suppose,” she finally said. After another bout of silence, she giggled nervously. “There will probably be a major family fight about the wedding. Evan wants to keep it small because this is a second marriage for both of us, but Mother wants the whole kit and caboodle.”
    “What do you want, Lou?” Once again, her opinion seemed lost in the shuffle.
    She shrugged. “I haven’t really given it much thought yet.”
    He wanted to tell her to speak her mind, to tell them what she wanted, but he didn’t. It hadn’t done any good when they were married, and it looked like she hadn’t changed much since then. She was still letting her family control her life. And she was obviously granting Evan Payne the same privileges.
    They ate in silence. “You’re quiet all of a sudden,” Gabe said.
    “I just feel awkward talking to you about Evan.”
    “You should never be embarrassed talking about the man you’re going to marry. The man you love.”
    She’d always been a little embarrassed of him, because he didn’t meet her parents’ expectations. It had been a source of countless arguments. From the way her cheeks turned red, he knew she understood his double meaning.
    “You’re right of course. I’m lucky to have Evan. He’s a wonderful man, he’s smart, and he’s very good to me. And, of course, my parents love him.”
    Implying, of course, that they’d never loved him . She probably hadn’t meant her words to come out like that, but she couldn’t retract them now.
    “Well, I’m glad they’re finally going to get a son-in-law to their liking. Evan will fit right in, won’t he?” He couldn’t control the bitter edge to his words. He dug in to his spaghetti.
    “Gabriel,” she said slowly in a half-scolding, half-apologetic voice. “My family never…disliked you as much as you think they did.”
    He put down his fork and leaned onto his elbows. “Quit fooling yourself, Lou. Your family hated me from the day they found out you were pregnant.”
    “That’s not true,” she countered weakly, fruitlessly.
    “They didn’t like me when you and I were just friends. The only reason they tolerated me then was because they hoped hanging out with me was just a bad stage you were going through.”
    “That’s not true, Gabriel,” she repeated even more weakly.
    If she believed that, then she’d forgotten the accusations her parents had thrown at him when Louisa told them she was pregnant. She’d been 19 to his 25. Normally, six years difference would be no big deal. But for a girl barely out of high school, 25 was “worldly” and 30 was positively ancient. Her parents had accused him of robbing the cradle, seducing an innocent young virgin for his own vile desires, only being interested in her for her money…They’d never accepted the couple