And Sylvie had plans he intended to put into motion. He’d already called Seraphina Jefferys in order to rent out her entire bed and breakfast for the weekend of his aunt’s birthday. He’d made sure Sera knew about his cousins’ many dietary restrictions. Lena was a vegan, but mostly she survived on caffeine and cigarettes. Cheryl’s children were all sugar-free, and given how they behaved without it, she was probably smart to restrict it. Cheryl also drank an unholy amount of Pinot Noir, likely because of the aforementioned children. He’d already promised to replace anything the rambunctious brood managed to destroy. He’d felt bad bringing his problems to Sera’s doorstep, but he would make up for it with a nice fat check.

“I’m going to spank that boy’s hiney,” his mother said with a resolute look on her face. “I do not believe in physical discipline, but I could take a switch to that boy.”

“Of course you don’t believe in spanking a child, Aunt Cricket. No one would ever have to discipline Rene,” a silky voice said. “After all, he was perfect.”

Rene felt his jaw clench as he turned and saw his cousin standing beside the door that led to the permits office. He held a folded paper in his hand that could have had COINCIDENCE written all over it, but there was nothing coincidental about this. “Who told you?”

“Told me what, cousin?” Charles held up his paper, a perfectly innocent look on his face. “The boy and I are going to do some fishing this weekend. Had to make sure my license is up to date. You didn’t get my note about reserving the fishing cabin? Family time is important.”

Louis had moved in beside his mother, letting Rene know he had his back.

He went through all the possibilities. His assistant dealt with scheduling the family’s many shared assets. She dealt with all of his appointments, but she hadn’t known about this morning’s wedding until he’d called her an hour before to tell her he wouldn’t be in the office today. It might have given Charles enough time to come up with an excuse to get to city hall. “I hadn’t looked at the schedule. I don’t have time for vacations.”

The longest he’d been able to be out of the office had been the month it had taken him to recover from being nearly killed by Janice Herbert’s SUV.

“Of course not. You’re far too important.” Charles tipped his well-coiffed head Cricket’s way. “Aunt Cricket. It’s good to see you up and about.”

His mother wagged a finger Charles’s way. “Don’t you pretend to be nice. You came up here to ruin Rene’s wedding. He’s already done that by having it here in a dreary courthouse, but you’re not going to make it worse.”