"… I told your father that I was going back to Blackwell with him or without him!"
Everyone at the table fell into a round of giggles at Maela's strident declaration, each of them imagining a forceful, younger version of Ashlynn's mother standing on a small island pier with her bags packed and a helpless Rhys left to contemplate whether it was more shameful to return from their honeymoon early or to have his newly wed wife return without him.
Clearly, he'd made the right decision, but it must have been frightfully embarrassing for the future Count Blackwell to be pulled about like a fish on a line.
"No wonder he never told that story," Jocelynn said, setting aside her empty soup cup before she gave in to the temptation to lick up the last savory drops that clung to the sides and bottom of the cup. "Father must have been mortified."
