Chapter 49

Yes and no. He was still thrilled about the baby, but standing beside the justice of the peace as Alyssa walked to him through the hush, it hit him that, as husband and wife, they weren’t going to have to merely treat each other with civility, as she’d demanded. They must also get along day in and day out. Balance lives. Find common ground. Get accustomed to sharing space and priorities and feelings. Become good spouses and parents. To make this work, they would have to build trust.

Could they do that with a marriage based on a big lie? He swallowed.

On the groom’s side of the room, in the front row, his parents sat, still holding hands after nearly forty years together, looking uncertain. They’d both talked to him about commitment, compromise, honesty, and communication. He and Alyssa might be committing, but so far, they sucked at the other three virtues.

When he’d called to tell his parents that he was getting married in six days, he’d leveled with them about his reaso