A March Bride by Rachel Hauck

same goes for him. You should see him when you walk into a room. The rest of us are no more than buzzing flies on the wall. He adores you. ”
    “ Love. Adoration. Fine. But they don ’ t make an enduring marriage. ”
    “ Know what your problem is, Susanna? ” Mama rapped her knuckles on the island counter. “ You ’ re scared. ”
    “ Two minutes ago I was a realist. ” She snapped a couple of grapes from the fruit bowl in the center of the island.
    “ A scared realist. ” Mama snatched hold of Susanna ’ s left hand. “ What ’ s this? Susanna Jean, where is your engagement ring? ”
    Shoot, she ’ d forgotten about her bare left finger. And wasn ’ t Mama quick on the draw? Susanna had been hiding her left hand since she arrived home, but all this talk of being scared caused her to lower her guard. “ I left it in Brighton. ” She curled her hands into her lap.
    “ Oh, have mercy— ”
    “ Mama, Nathaniel and I both needed to think about what we ’ re doing. Yes, it ’ s down to the wire, but there ’ s also a lot on the line. I left the ring in my suite at Parrsons House in case, for whatever reason, you know, I didn ’ t go back. Hey, Nathaniel has just as much to think about as me. He could call any second to break off the whole thing. So don ’ t put thisall on me. Besides, I didn ’ t want to be responsible for a two-hundred-year-old royal family heirloom. ”
    In truth, her ring finger felt cold and empty, and she missed the beautiful antique designed for Queen Anne-Marie. She regretted her impulsive, childish decision.
    She hoped the ring remained safe in her bedroom where she had left it. And that Nathaniel didn ’ t find out.
    “ I ’ d like to wring that boy Adam Peters ’ s neck for doing this to you. Making you scared to hang on to anything worth-while because it might be ripped from your hands. ” Mama ’ s hand smacked the counter. “ Listen to me. You let fear keep you with Adam about ten years too long. Now fear is driving you from Nathaniel. ” Mama reached for her coffee cup, her eyes glued on Susanna.
    That ’ s the way she did it—she eyed a person until they confessed their deepest, darkest sin.
    “ Actually, Mama, fear is also making me wise up. This citizenship issue put everything in a fresh light. ” Susanna leaned against the counter, watching the sunlight wash the kitchen window. “ Let ’ s say I do this one last thing, in a series of one last things I ’ ve had to do to marry Nathaniel. There will be no going back. I ’ ll forever be a citizen of Brighton Kingdom and never, ever again a native-born American citizen. Should we break up, for whatever reason, I ’ d have to immigrate back to my own country. ”
    For a brief moment, she felt justified in her dramatic exit from Brighton. After all, Nathaniel and the Parliament had asked a dramatic thing of her.
    But what hit her afresh in the cozy old kitchen where she taught her baby sister to bake chocolate chip cookieswas how bold and rash her move was when she slipped off Nathaniel ’ s ring. Just how true was her commitment? How deep was her love?
    “ This ain ’ t the kind of fear that makes one wise up. This is the kind that makes a girl run. You always ran to your garden as a kid to hide when you were afraid—which is exactly what you ’ re doing now. ”
    “ Thank you for that, Professor Glo. I don ’ t need your pop psychology. Besides, I ran to hide from you and Daddy when you got to fighting like wild animals, throwing dishes and four-letter words at each other. ”
    Many of Susanna ’ s girlhood evenings were spent hiding in her secret garden, her closet, hiding from the storms raging inside her house.
    “ I make no excuse. ” Mama sipped her coffee. “ We were young and foolish when we got married. Divorce was the best thing that ever happened to us. ” Mama smiled. “ ‘ Cause then we met Jesus, got healed, and remembered why we loved each other in the first place. But, Suz, you