20
Willow let the next week pass, going to school as usual, waiting for the best opportunity to tell Julian. When Monday came again, she told him she was sick and couldn’t make it to school. On Tuesday, four days before the wedding, she stood in the kitchen doorway. There was no easy way. “I’m getting married on Saturday.”
Julian looked up with surprise. What sort of joke was this? She faced him, blinking back tears, her left hand clutching the right in a choking grasp. His heart felt the touch of a hot poker. “What’d you say?”
“F.S. and…I mean Father Steinhouse and Derrick’s mom…”
He wasn’t hearing the names, only the seriousness in her voice. “A grasshopper’s ass you are!” He studied her, still disbelieving. “You aren’t marrying anybody. What are you talking about?”
“Father Steinhou
