Embrace Me by Jo Matthews, Rebecca Turley, Sally Goodwin, Elizabeth Simonton Page B

marry him yet. I wanted to be able to enjoy that part of our lives when it happened. How could we plan a wedding in the middle of a media circus?
    I had a shower and then put on some old grey jogging bottoms and a baggy black jumper. I wanted to relax in front of the TV with a bottle of wine until Charlie came back.
    The doorbell rang a few hours after Charlie had left. It was unlike him to forget his key, but he had stormed out.
    I wasn’t really surprised to see Lorna on my front doorstep instead as I opened the door.
    “ What happened?” Lorna asked with a bottle of red wine in her hands. “Charlie is a mess back at ours.”
    “ We had a fight,” I sighed, following her to the front room.
    “ No shit!” She rolled her eyes at me dramatically. “What happened?”
    “ He told my mother he wanted to marry me before we go public about my identity.”  
    “ Oh my God!” Lorna gasped in shock.
    “ Yeah. She flipped, and I mean flipped .”
    “ But I don’t get why you and Charlie are fighting. So what if you guys want to get married before you go public with the announcement? Jennet must have known you would get married in the end.”
    “ Lorna, I don’t want to get married yet.”
    Lorna looked at me, her eyes searching. “Ah, okay, now I understand.” She took a large gulp of wine. “Charlie didn’t take that too well, I guess, by the state of him.”
    “ No. I wish he’d realised he doesn’t need to put a ring on my finger to prove we love each other. After what we have been through, I thought he would want to wait.”
    “ Charlie thought he’d lost you once, Shan. I think he just wants to make sure you’re not going anywhere ever again.”
    “ He should already know that I am his for keeps.” I threw my head into my hands. “I wish he had spoken to me before my mother.”
    “ Was she really mad?”
    “ Lorna, I seriously understand why people call her the iron dragon now.”
    “ You just need to talk to Charlie. Brad has taken him out for a drink.”
    “ Sorry to bring you guys into this.”
    “ We are your friends. You have done the same for us in the past.”
    “ I hate fighting with him, but I need him to understand that now isn’t the best time for marriage.”
    “ Forgive me for asking, Shan, but why not?”
    I had to think about it before I explained. I loved Charlie, and I wanted him to be mine as much as he wanted me, but truthfully, I just didn’t want to rush everything. “When I marry Charlie, I want it to be about him and me. I want to be selfish and concentrate on just us. How can I do that when I am taking over half of a billion-dollar company? With all this change, I want to be settled before I marry him. I think Charlie forgets that all of this is still so new to me. I have lived almost my whole life alone, and now I have a family, friends and him. It is still difficult for me to get my head around.”
    Lorna nodded, smiling at me. “You two really are like Romeo and Juliet. It’s so romantic what you guys say about each other.”
    “ When you get back, if Charlie is still at yours, can you ask him to come home?” I whispered as I hugged her goodbye later that evening.
    I opened the door for her to find Charlie already standing there, trying to find his key.
    “ Seems I won’t need to,” Lorna smiled. “You two need to sit and talk. God, you have been through enough drama to last you a lifetime. Sort this out, or you will have me to deal with, too.”
    “ Night, Lorna, and thanks!” I shouted as I watched her leave. I could feel Charlie’s eyes on me so I turned to look at him. “Hi,” I breathed.
    “ Hi,” he replied, looking down at the floor as he walked in. I shut the door, wondering where to start.
    “ You know I love you more than life itself, don’t you?” I blurted out.
    “ But not enough to want to marry me,” Charlie added, walking towards our kitchen to pour himself some red wine.
    I stood watching him for a moment, trying to judge the