Eight Years of Maybe One Day of I Do—Bride Swapped Deal With It novel Chapter 85

Chapter 7

Derek ended the call and felt himself drift for a second, like he’d stepped outside his own body.

Before he could figure out what that feeling was, Nina was pulling him back into the crowd, guiding him toward another round of relatives who wanted to shake his hand and tell him how happy they were for him.

Everyone was beaming-his parents, his grandfather, aunts and uncles he hadn’t seen in years.

He couldn’t exactly interrupt this moment to clarify that the marriage was temporary.

Just a legal workaround to get Simon registered for school.

That Annie was still his actual wife. The woman who’d been with him through everything for eight years.

Yeah, he’d only married her because his family needed hers to bail out the company.

But that was ancient history. He’d built a life with her. He was comfortable.

He didn’t want that to change.

Thinking about Annie made something stir in the back of his mind-something he couldn’t quite pin down.

She’d been so calm today. Too calm, maybe.

When she first found out about Simon, she’d fallen apart completely. Weeks of crying and accusations. But today she’d just… agreed to everything.

The easier she was making this, the more unsettled he felt.

Nina caught him staring into space.

She shot Simon a quick look, and the kid immediately ran over and grabbed Derek’s sleeve.

“Dad! Can we play that racing game you downloaded? Oh, and I wanna look at toys online-will you help me pick some out?”

Every elder at the table watched with soft, indulgent smiles while Simon worked his magic.

Even Derek’s grandfather-who was pushing ninety and barely ate anymore-reached for a second helping of dessert.

Victoria pulled Simon onto her lap, stroking his hair.

“Now you have a real family, sweetheart. A mommy and daddy who are actually together. Doesn’t that feel good?”

Simon tilted his head up at her with those big innocent eyes.

“It’s the best, Grandma. Can we all stay together forever? Nobody’s gonna leave, right?”

Victoria’s eyes actually got misty.

“Never, darling. Nobody’s breaking up this family. I’d never let that happen.”

She looked directly at Derek when she said it.

His temples were starting to throb.

His mother was making promises she had zero authority to make, and it was going to be a nightmare trying to undo this later when Simon needed to accept Annie as his biological mother.

But he couldn’t kill the mood right now-not when everyone was this happy. Couldn’t suggest leaving early.

Even though Annie was probably home alone, maybe still waiting for the family dinner he’d promised.

He’d fix it tomorrow.

Make it up to her with something special, just the three of them.

Derek forced himself to stay present, playing games on his phone with Simon and making small talk with relatives. But he kept checking the time.

9 PM.

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