“Then let’s hope for the best and prepare for the worst. You’ll have to find a way to live with it if it doesn’t go your way. You’ve lived with it this long and have made a good life for yourself. Stay focused on that, and you’ll get through it. I’ll be right here with you the whole way.”

Of all the incredible things she’d said to him, that last one touched him the most. “I’m sorry we have to deal with this.”

“I’m not. If it means your father has his day of reckoning for what he did to you, then it’s well worth whatever else has to happen. At the very least, from everything you’ve told me about him, the public aspect of the trial will be extremely humiliating to him, which is the least of what he deserves.”

“Yeah,” Owen said with a grunt of laughter, “you’re right about that. It gives me a perverse amount of pleasure to imagine him squirming in court while my mother and I air out the family’s dirty laundry. He’ll hate every minute of that.”

“And you should enjoy every minute. If that’s the only justice you ever get, find a way to make it good enough.”

“I will.” He reached out to touch her face, amazed as always by how soft her skin was. “I’ve gone from not wanting you to come with me to wondering how I ever thought I could do it without you.”

Her satisfied little smile drew one from him, too.

“Which was your goal all along,” he said with a laugh.

“That sounds so calculating.”

“I love you. I can’t wait until this is over and we can focus exclusively on our wedding with nothing standing in the way.”

“I don’t want to add to your worries or anything, but there is one teeny tiny other thing still standing in our way.”

Alarmed to hear that, Owen said, “What?”

“I haven’t gotten my final divorce papers yet.”

The reminder that she was still legally married to someone else hit him like a fist to the chest, stealing the breath from his lungs. “Have you talked to Dan? What did he say?”

“He assures me it’s all on schedule and we should be getting the papers any day now.”

“What if they don’t come in time for the wedding?”

“They will.”

“Laura…”

She propped herself up and leaned over to kiss him. “I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m sorry.”

“Of course you should tell me that. We’re calling Dan at one minute after nine today to make sure he’s all over it.”

“If you insist.”

He pulled her closer to continue the kiss she’d started. “I insist.”

Mac was on his way to work when he took a call from his sister. “What’s up, brat?”