Looking For You All My Life Part 125

Man, what I'd give to have a place like that for Chloe and

me."

She didn't know what to say. "Well, let me talk to my

mom about the wedding idea, Scott. I would really need her

cooperation to do something like this."

"Really?" His dark eyes grew wide. "You mean you'd

consider doing this?"

Looking for You All My Life195

"Of course I would." She couldn't help smiling at him.

Maybe a wedding would brighten up some of the gloom that

seemed to be descending upon her. "My mom's going all out

to make things really special for the Christmas holidays-

and by New Year's Eve, well, our guests will all be gone

anyway, so we might as well make the most of all her

cleaning and sprucing up, right? That is, if she's not totally

exhausted by then."

"Mom and Sierra and Chloe will take care of all the food

and decorations. Audrey won't have to lift a finger, I

promise. And you know how Mom is such an organizer and

all. And we'll only invite a small group of friends and family;

Chloe and I want a very casual and intimate wedding. We're

not even sure if her folks are coming yet-they're so put off

about the whole thing. Chloe says they think if they don't

cooperate with us on the wedding that they can keep us from

getting married, but when they see how serious we are,

they'll probably come."

"For Chloe's sake, I hope she's right. Okay, I'll talk with

my mom tonight and get back to you as soon as I know

something for sure."

"Thanks, Maggie. It means a lot that you're even con-

sidering this. We've thought about going to Reno-you

know, one of those cheesy little chapels where you get mar-

ried by an Elvis look-alike or something."

"Don't do that yet! And honestly, I feel honored that you

asked, Scott. It sounds like it would be a whole lot of fun,

but I'd like to get my mom fully on board first."

The phone rang, and Abigail nodded to Maggie as she

spoke into the receiver. "Oh, h.e.l.lo again, Mr. Byers. I'm not

sure if she's in yet. Hold on and I'll check."

"I'll take it in my office," Maggie answered firmly. "Just

give me a few seconds to brace myself."

"Don't let him get to you," encouraged Scott. "All you

did was print the truth. If he can't handle it, that's his

problem."

196 ~ Melody Carlson

She sat down, took a deep breath, and then picked up the

receiver. "This is Maggie."

"So this is the way you repay me for all my cooperation?"

"I told you from the beginning, Cohn, I wanted to report

truthfully. And that's exactly what I did-"

"What I want to know is, where did you get all your so-