“I wonder if you caught a bug on the plane or something,” Alex said, leaving the stove to come over and rest his palm against my forehead. “You don’t have a fever.”

“I’m okay,” I said, leaning against his chest.

For all my anxiety and worry, I didn’t regret getting married the way we had. I’d never imagined how comforting it would be to have a husband. It was as if the moment we’d signed our names on the paperwork, I’d suddenly had a person who would always be in my corner. It was a heady feeling, knowing that he wasn’t going anywhere, that this relationship was permanent no matter what. I was glad that we’d gotten to that point without all the unnecessary stress of a big wedding.

“Let’s call my parents first,” Alex said, still holding me in the middle of the kitchen. “Then we can call your aunt and uncle.”

I nodded and went to sit on the couch while he grabbed his phone. As soon as he’d dropped down beside me and pulled my legs over his lap, his fingers were moving across the screen.

“Hey, Ma,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows at me. “Yeah, I’m good. Is Dad with you?” He paused. “Yeah, I wanted to talk to you both at the same time.” He waited again, and then his face broke out in a smile as he put her on speaker.

“You got married, didn’t you!” Liz was saying, her voice loud and excited. “Dan! Get in here. Alex got married!”

“What?” we heard in the background.

“Mom,” Alex called, laughing. “What if that wasn’t what I was going to tell you?”

“Yes it is,” she said, like she had him all figured out. “Isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” he replied, locking eyes with me.

“I knew it! He got married,” she said to Dan, whom we could hear asking “What the hell is going on?” in the background.

“Congratulations,” Dan said, his voice suddenly clear. “And you’re in deep shit.”

Alex laughed again. “We decided to elope,” he explained, relaxing into the couch. “We didn’t want to make it a big thing, especially since our family is all over the place.”

Well, that was as good of an excuse as any. At least he hadn’t told them that I was the one who’d wanted to do it right away.

“Still,” Dan said, his voice happy but serious. “You know your mom lives for that stuff.”

“We can have a big party next time we’re home,” Alex promised.

“I’ll rent the grange,” Liz said. “And we’ll invite everyone to a reception. If that’s something Sarai would like?”

“That sounds good,” I replied, relief making me almost giddy.

“I can’t believe you two,” Liz said, exasperation in her voice. “You know your dad and I would have come.”