Chapter 10

Ethan broke away from Vivienne like a teenager caught sneaking out — and whipped around to find his new wife.

Caroline.

Her brows were knit. She was looking at the two of them with unmistakable suspicion.

Ethan stumbled toward her. "Caroline — sweetheart, why are you over here? I was just — I was thinking about everything Vivienne did for me growing up, it got emotional."

Caroline looked from him to Vivienne. "I get being emotional. I don't get hugging like that."

Vivienne couldn't hold back anymore.

In her head, Ethan was her newly reclaimed son. So what if she was a little clingy? That was her right. And Caroline was her daughter-in-law. Since when do daughters-in-law police their mothers-in-law?

Her voice went silky with hidden barbs. "Caroline, honey. Ethan and I are mother and son. Are you really going to be jealous of that?"

"He told you himself. He was just grateful for how I raised him."

"There's nothing to it. You need to relax, sweetheart. I know my son's a catch, but you don't need to feel threatened by me."

Caroline's face flushed red.

"I'm not even officially in this family yet and your mother is already talking to me like this." Her voice rose. "Ethan. You told me your mom was an elegant, cultured, sophisticated woman."

"Then why doesn't she understand basic boundaries? Thirty-year-old men don't hug their mothers like that. Did your elegant, cultured mom never teach you that?"

Vivienne had hit her with smiling insults; Caroline hit back without pretending.

Ethan was caught in the middle.

His wife on one side, his newly claimed mother on the other. Every option was a losing one.

He ran the math Richard had run earlier. Vivienne wasn't going to move in, not really. Day to day, Caroline was going to share a house with Josephine — and Josephine was a pushover. Caroline could dump the resentment on Josephine later. Cheap emotional outlet.

So Ethan chose Vivienne.

He pulled Caroline aside with deliberate coolness. "Caroline, you're out of line."

"She raised me. Whatever you think, you need to respect that. And she's older than you. You don't talk back to elders."

Caroline's eyes went wide.

She hadn't even officially registered the marriage and her own fiancé was siding against her? Over nothing?

Her whole body flashed hot. She slapped him.

"Ethan Sterling — we haven't even filed the marriage license and you're already showing me what you are. You're a full-on mama's boy."

"And it's her who was out of line, not me. I said one thing and she came for me with that fake smile of hers."

"You two were clinging to each other in public. Are you going to sleep in the same bed behind closed doors too?"

"We haven't filed yet. Watch me. I'm not filing at all."

She turned and walked.

Ethan had known Caroline had a temper. He hadn't known she'd walk off over this.

Over nothing, in his mind.

For a second he panicked — if she really didn't file the marriage certificate, the whole wedding was theater. He bolted after her.

Vivienne caught his arm. "Ethan. Where are you going?"

Ethan was already gone in his head, but this was the woman he'd just called Mom. He made himself explain.

"She's never snapped like this. I need to go fix it before she actually refuses to file."

He glared at Vivienne. He couldn't quite say it, but if Vivienne hadn't pushed Caroline, they wouldn't be here.

Vivienne read it in his face. Her smile slipped.

She didn't know how Josephine had raised such a son. But he was her biological child. Down the line, she was going to live in his house. She needed to fix the daughter-in-law now.

"Ethan. Hold on."

He stopped.

"Trust me. We're in the middle of a wedding weekend. Caroline is not calling this off. But if you go chase her down right now, she's going to run this relationship for the rest of your life."

Ethan hesitated.

"Marriages are hierarchies. Someone's always on top. You bend first, you stay down."

"Just let her cool off. Half an hour. An hour, tops. She'll come back. Even if she doesn't — she absolutely will not cancel this engagement."

"I'm a woman. I know her kind."

Ethan drank it in.

He and Caroline had dated a long time. The one permanent fight they'd had was about this exact thing — whether she'd scale back her career for the family. She'd refused, over and over.

If Vivienne was right, this was his chance to lock in the upper hand.

Even if he didn't get that, he could at least kick this specific fight down the road.

And deep down, he trusted they were solid. Caroline wouldn't leave him over a mother-in-law spat.

He stopped chasing and walked back to Vivienne.

What Ethan didn't know, what neither of them knew, was that Caroline hadn't originally been planning to leave him.

But a cousin of hers had been standing just around the corner during Ethan's earlier argument with Richard — and heard the entire thing.