Page 30 of My Big Fat Italian Break-Up

‘Er, what?’ I said.

‘You have told your family, right?’

Oops. ‘Of course I will.’

He sighed. ‘Your family is coming on August 15thand you haven’t even told them our wedding is postponed?’

‘I will.’

‘When? After they get here?’

‘ASAP. Promise.’

‘Why not now?’ he insisted. ‘It’s only 6 p.m. in Boston.’

Boy, could he be a pain sometimes. ‘Because… because… I hadn’t exactly told them about the wedding yet…’

‘What?’ he groaned. ‘Erica, do you mean to tell me that you’ve said absolutely nothing to your parents about our wedding plans?’

‘But it turned out to be a good thing, see? Now I don’t have to answer any of Marcy’s questions…’

‘That’s not fair. They need to know we’re getting married, sooner or later. You need to give them a heads up.’

‘Why don’t we just elope?’

Julian stared at me for a moment, and then threw back his head and laughed. ‘WhenIwanted to do it spur of the moment, you insisted you wanted the whole family here, and now…? What’s changed?’

‘Nothing. Let’s do it. Let’s just disappear, get hitched and come back as Mr. and Mrs.’

‘No,’ he said.

‘Why not?’

‘Because you were right. We’re not two teenagers. Because Maddy and Warren need stability. They need to see us getting hitched and doing it the proper way, like two respectable adults. What if Maddy pulls something similar on us when she’s older?’

‘She wouldn’t. I raised her, not Marcy.’

‘Honey…’

‘I know Marcy. If I tell her we’re getting married in the new year, she’ll insist on helping Paul with the wedding planning and I don’t want her here longer than necessary, Julian. First, she’ll try to brainwash you out of marrying me…’

He grinned. ‘Impossible.’

‘… and then she’ll try to get me back on the operating table and show everyone pictures of me when I was…’ I bit my lip.

When I wasenormous. And when all she did was humiliate me. I should call her and make sure she postponed her flight to only maybe a couple of days before the wedding. If I only knew the date. And then I could handle her a couple of days before. One single day more than necessary? Not happening.

He took my hand. ‘No one’s ever going to make me change my mind about making an honest woman out of you.’

I turned to look at him. ‘Promise?’

‘Cross my heart.’

‘OK. In that case, I’ll call tomorrow. But I’m warning you, it’ll get pretty ugly.’

He slapped my thigh. ‘It’ll be fine. Now get some sleep, love, and dream of how awesome things will be when I can call you wife.’

I caressed his head and shoulders, enjoying the feel of his rock-solid body. ‘Aww, I’m touched, Julian.’