Page 28 of Forever King

Usually, he simply nods and gives her a bigger, forced smile, but for some reason, tonight he answers, “I’m a little tired from taking care of Lily all day, but I can just go back to my house and count my billions, so I’ll be okay. How are you doing tonight, Janine? Sell any houses recently?”

I snap my head to the left to glare at him for that crack about selling houses since he knows the market isn’t great right now and my mother hasn’t had a sale in over a month, but he’s already glaring at me. For what, I have no idea. My mother likes to tease him about not working ever since I went back to my job. She doesn’t mean anything by it, though. My parents know Marius is wealthy and doesn’t have to work. In fact, I think they might be a little jealous at how much money he has, especially my mother.

“He’s just teasing, Mom. Just like you. I think you and Marius are cut from the same cloth. That’s probably what made me fall in love with him.”

The words come tumbling out of my mouth so fast you’d think they were on an out of control conveyor belt. All I want to do is have a nice night. Why did he have to say that to her?

She looks at him and asks, “Is that right, Marius? Do you like to tease like I do?”

“Oh yeah. I’m all about it. It’s all in good fun, right?” he says with an edge to his words that could cut glass.

Thankfully, my father cooing and making baby talk with our daughter makes my mother focus on them so I can whisper to Marius, “She doesn’t mean any harm. Please be nice. For me?”

He gives me a surprised look and whispers back, “Sure. Maybe you can talk to her and make the same request.”

“So come sit down and tell us what’s new with the wedding plans,” my father says sweeter than I’ve ever heard him speak before.

“Dad, I can only imagine what your friends would think if they heard you talk like that,” I say with a giggle.

He looks up and grins. “They aren’t cute and smell like baby powder.” Then he leans down to kiss Lily on the forehead before looking up at us again. “How are things, Marius?”

Unlike with my mother, Marius has no problem talking to my father. I expected it would be the opposite way around, but for some reason, my father instantly respected my husband from the first time they met. I was just happy he didn’t threaten to kill him because we married in secret.

“Getting better every day, Nico. How about you?”

My father points at our daughter in his lap and shrugs. “Never better than when this little one comes to visit.”

Marius nods and takes a seat across from him in the chair my parents always sat me on when they wanted to have a serious discussion. “She makes everything better, doesn’t she?”

The two men smile at one another and return to gazing at Lily. She doesn’t know it yet, but she’s got those two wrapped around her pinky finger.

“So we’ve got more people we need to add to the guest list, honey,” my mother says from the other side of the room. “Not many, but we simply can’t not invite them.”

I don’t even have to look over at Marius to sense his disgust with yet another change in my parents’ list of guests who absolutely must attend the wedding. The vibe of the room flips from sweetness about a baby to almost pure rage, and it’s all from him since I don’t think my father cares one iota about any of the names on my mother’s revised guest list.

“Mom, we really didn’t want this to be so big,” I gently say, hoping to keep some sense of balance between her and my husband.

The problem with that statement immediately becomes apparent when I glance over at her. Like whenever she doesn’t get her way, she’s teary-eyed and pouty. This has always worked on my father and me, but I know for damn sure that sobby look isn’t going to change how Marius feels about her making our wedding and reception a circus.

“These are people who love you, Eden. They’ve known you since you were a little girl. How can they not be invited?” she asks, her voice catching on that final word.

I turn to look at my father in the hopes that he’ll say something that will change the topic, but he’s so lost in Lily that I don’t think he heard a word my mother said. Marius glares at no one, or maybe it’s everyone at this point, leaving me to talk this out with her.

“Well, we’ll see, Mom. The invitations don’t go out for another week or so. Maybe by then we can pare things down so the guest list is manageable.”

Her eyes grow wide, like she can’t believe I dared to say the M word. “I don’t understand your reluctance to share your big day with people, Eden. Is it a matter of money? Is that it? I thought that wouldn’t be an issue, but if it is, then I guess we’ll have to make some changes.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Marius turn to look at her, and before I can stop him, he says, “Of course, it’s not an issue of money, Janine. You know that. It’s an issue of Eden and I don’t want hundreds of people we don’t know celebrating our big day, as you call it. You know what I think could work? We limit the number of people who attend, and you can have a celebration here afterward with all the people we chose not to invite while we’re on our honeymoon.”

That makes my father tear his gaze from Lily, who’s still staring up at him from his lap like he’s the best thing since sliced bread. “Hey, that’s not a bad idea! We can have a big party. It’s not like most of those people care one damn about attending a wedding for anyone. I don’t think I’ve spoken to a lot of them in years.”

My mother’s mouth shrinks to a thin, angry line, and she shakes her head. Anyone who didn’t know her would think her rage was directed at my father, but I know it’s Marius she’s furious with now.

“Fine. Whatever. I see no one wants to take my suggestions about this wedding, so I’ll just keep my mouth shut from now on.”

No one plays the martyr better than my mother. It’s the part of her personality I really don’t like, and it never helps any situation.

“Mom, it’s not that. It’s just that we’ve had a baby already, in addition to the fact that we’ve been married for years already. Plus, we’re really not huge party people like you are. We like to keep things lowkey.”