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‘We had proble kids’

‘Sweetheart’ Nick reached out and drew her into his ar’

‘They didn’t try to stop us’ Holly shut her eyes and laid her head against Nick’s chest ‘You know that They even ca’

‘Yeah’Nick gave a sharp laugh ‘So in the office of a Justice of the Peace, you clutching a bouquet of supermarket flowers—’

‘They were beautiful flowers,’ she said softly

‘They were the only thing I could afford Me in ht-in-the-shoulders blue gabardine suit’

Holly seous’

‘Oh, yeah I’ll just bet I kno ‘gorgeous’ I looked, baby I could see it reflected in your old man’s eyes’

Holly pulled back and looked into Nick’s face ‘My father’s approval—’

‘His disapproval, you mean’

‘Whatever you want to call it, Nick, that was never a problem for me’

Nick sighed and drew her close again ‘Look, the bottoainst us We were young, we came from different worlds, I was broke…’ He lifted Holly’s face and s but not wet behind the ears And I a broke As for those different worlds…’ He grinned ‘Would you believe I’ve learned to eat raw clareen?’

Holly smiled ‘I remember that You were so sick afterwards’

‘Well, sure Your parents invited us to dinner, your father ordered for us… How could I have told him I’d never in my life seen a clam outside of a can of chowder?’

Holly’s smile faded ‘You could have It wouldn’t have mattered’

‘Not to you, maybe’

‘Not to him, either I ad you—’

‘An understatement, if ever I heard one’ Nick’s sest bank in town, uy like that want to see his daughter hook up with a loser?’

Holly pulled out of Nick’s embrace ‘He never called you that,’ she said fiercely ‘And I wouldn’t have let him! You were never a loser’