A Family Circle 1 - A Very Convenient Marriage Read Online Free Page A

himself at her, oblivious to his mother's command not to touch anything until his face and hands were washed. An instant later, Nikki had an armful of four-year-old boy and smudges of oatmeal and jelly on her silk suit.
    "You have to learn to dodge," Liz said as Nikki stood.
    "I don't want to dodge. The suit will clean." Nikki grinned down at the little boy, who was rifling through her cavernous purse, looking for the small treat she never failed to bring him. Today it was a palm-size dump truck, and Michael immediately began scooting it across the kitchen floor, making engine noises.
    "You spoil him."
    "He's too sweet natured to be really spoiled," Nikki said.
    "Sweet natured?" Liz repeated disbelievingly. "Ask Oscar how sweet natured he is."
    Nikki followed her gesture to the goldfish bowl perched on top of the refrigerator beyond the reach of four-year-old fingers. Oscar swam lazily around his small home, undisturbed by his close encounter with Michael's breakfast.
    "Oscar looks none the worse for wear. I can't say the same about you, though." She gave her friend a critical look as Liz collapsed into a chair. Liz's hair stood out from her head in springy carrot-red curls and her hazel eyes held the dazed look of a disaster survivor.
    "Michael woke us up at four-thirty. Then the toilet stopped up. Bill spent half an hour working on it and finally pulled out one of Michael's action figures. Apparently Michael wanted to send him on a diving mission. The remains were so mangled, there wasn't even enough left for a decent burial. I didn't get to the laundry yesterday, so the only clean underwear Bill could find is a pair of tiger-striped bikinis I bought him as a joke. He's convinced he'll be in some kind of accident and be rushed to the emergency room where the doctors will find him wearing kinky shorts. The bread was moldy, there was only one egg, which I cooked for Bill, and Michael has spent the morning trying to introduce Oscar to the joys of breakfast."
    Nikki let a few moments go by at the end of Liz's recital of the morning's disasters and then lifted her brows in surprise. "Is that all?"
    "Get out." Liz threw a paper napkin in her direction, watching as it drifted into Michael's half-eaten bowl of oatmeal. "If I had the energy, I'd throw something more lethal. Worse, I'd send the holy terror home with you."
    Grinning, Nikki lifted the kettle off the stove and carried it to the sink. "A cup of tea will restore your energy. And anytime you want a couple of days off, you know I'd love to have Michael." She set the kettle on the stove.
    "Friendship only goes so far," Liz said broodingly as she watched her son crawling across the floor with his new truck. "I may hit you up for enough money to run away from home instead."
    "Yeah, right." Nikki found the tea bags and two cups. "You wouldn't give up your life for anything, and you and I both know it."
    "This morning I'd sell it for a wooden nickel and consider myself lucky."
    "Liar." Nikki poured the water over the tea bags before carrying the cups to the table. She sat down across from Liz. "You adore Bill and Michael."
    "Maybe." Cradling her hands around the mug of tea, Liz looked as if she might be getting her second wind after her hectic morning. "Enough about my miserable existence. What's up with you?"
    Nikki took a sip of tea and considered possible responses to that question. In the end, she chose the simplest and most direct. "I'm getting married."
    The stark announcement brought Liz's head up so fast Nikki had visions of whiplash. "You're what?"
    "I said I'm getting married." Repeating the words didn't make them sound any more real. "In a few days," she added, feeling a flutter of panic at the thought.
    "Who?" Liz looked bewildered. "I didn't know you were even dating anyone."
    "I'm not."
    "But you're getting married?"
    "Yes."
    Liz stared at her, and then her eyes widened in understanding. "Your grandfather's will? You're getting married because of that?"
    Nikki