What was it they said about the best-laid plans? Beth sighed as thought about what was to be her wedding in Texas. Now it would have to happen another way, and she had to admit that waiting was making her anxious. Beth wanted Wyatt's ring on her finger. The more she thought about it, the more she knew she needed it to believe that her dreams were finally coming true.

Beth pushed the button on the elevator to take her up to Wyatt's office. She had never been there before, but the family had canceled the trip to Texas and rallied the forces in New York, and they had all been summoned to Wyatt's office.

Wyatt couldn't tell her what had happened, but he said it was vital that she and her family should be there because tomorrow could be a very different world for the Stevens family. It was all so vague that Beth hadn't a clue what he was talking about.

She looked down at the ring on her finger and smiled. It was perfect. Wyatt had taken her out the next day to pick a ring. He had told her to pick whatever she wanted. She had chosen a 1920 white gold and diamond ring in a European cut. It was a delicate and subtle and fit her finger perfectly.

The elevator stopped, and Beth exited into a long carpeted hallway, reading the signs on the door until she found the one she was looking for, and as she pushed open the door, she was meet with almost her entire family. Taking stock of everyone, she noticed that the only ones missing were, Uncle Bryce and her mother and father. Otherwise, all seventeen of them were there. Beth's gaze darted around the room, landing on a woman behind the desk who looked a little bit overwhelmed as Uncle Mason tried to charm a few secrets out of her.

Aunt Grace saw her and patted the open chair next to her, so Beth made her way there, her eyes meeting Mave's along the way. Mave gave her a tentative smile, and Beth gave her one back, but she wasn't one hundred percent ready to forgive her yet.

When they had found out the trip to Texas had been canceled, Wyatt had suggested that she tell her family they were engaged, but Beth had told him no. She knew whatever was going on was terrible and she didn't want to pull attention towards herself when everybody should be focused on the matter as hand. Whatever that might be. It didn't seem right.

Wyatt had tried to tell her that there was never a wrong moment for good news, but Beth disagreed, and he promised to keep it silent as long as she continued to wear his ring and not deny it if anyone asked her.

Beth knew no one would notice, so she agreed.

The door to Wyatt's office opened, and Byrce asked them all to join him. It was a tight squeeze as one by one, they all filed into the room. There weren't enough chairs for everyone to sit, so the younger generations stood with a few of her uncles. Beth found herself wedged between Mave and Alistair on the far side of the room. Wyatt's eyes scanned everyone, landing on her and dropping to her finger to make sure she was wearing the ring, and Beth couldn't hide her slight smile.

"He's still as handsome as ever, isn't he?" Mave said softly under her breath.

He was handsome and powerful looking as he leaned against his desk at the head if the room.

"We have a problem," Bryce said as he looked as Rainer and Alice, who were sitting next to each other on the settee. "We as a family are going to be thrust into the spotlight. I know for some of us," Bryce turned and looked at Mason, "that's not a big deal, but for most of us it is going to be a weary business. I need to preface this by saying that we need to close ranks. We keep each other safe and our personal business as private as possible."

That had been an unspoken rule in their family forever, and the fact that Uncle Bryce was reminding them of it worried her. She looked towards Wyatt, who was looking at her father.

Rainer stood and joined Bryce.  "I have been writing under the pen name of Steven Douglas."

He was met with silence as everyone in the room absorbed this. They had all heard of the famous and reclusive author, but they had never thought he had been Rainer.

"Why is that such a problem. I mean, congratulations, I guess, but why does it suddenly matter? I'm guessing it does since we are all here." Quinn asked from the opposite side of the room.

In any other family, it would have been a significant piece of news, but in theirs, it was just one more success story that didn't make a difference in who they all were as people. No one would look at Rainer differently, except perhaps to give him a hard time about being an overachiever.

"My publisher retired last year, and a new publisher replaced him. The new publisher is not as tightlipped as my old one was, and it seems he told a friend who now wants to extort money from me to keep my secret." Rainer took a deep breath.

"And we're not going to play that game." Davis nodded. There was no denying that when the real identity of Steven Douglas came out, it would make headline news. Rainer wasn't exactly small potatoes.

"Is this why you hired Wyatt?" Beth asked in her timid voice from the back. Everyone turned to stare at her because she barely ever contributed to these types of conversations.

Rainer shook his head. "No, I hired Wyatt because someone else was trying to say that Steven Douglas plagiarized someone else's work. Bryce felt I might need a trial attorney if it went sideways."

"Which it did, but in a different manner," Bryce summarized.

"So what happens to the plagiarism suit now that Steven Douglas's real identity is about to be revealed?" Davis asked.

"Hopefully, the plagiarism suit dies a quick death once the accuser realizes who he is accusing," Wyatt said.

Caleb snorted. "Rainer ain't all that!"

"Didn't he interview himself once?" Mason asked with a confused frown, knowing full well he did.

"I forgot about that!" Quinn said with a grin. "Nothing like being a reporter and generating your own press."

"Did you record yourself asking the questions and then answering them?" Mason hooted, and everyone tried to hide a smile.

"No, he took notes." Alice grinned. She was always one to humble her husband when the opportunity presented itself, and this got a roar of laughter from everyone.

"All I have to say, Rainer Stevens, aka Steven Douglas, is the best selling author, you lot, zilch!" Rainer said while trying to hide a grin of his own.

"That's enough, can we bring it back to the problem at hand?" Bryce requested with his most serious look.

"Yes, runiner of fun. Go ahead," Mason granted with a nod.

"Wyatt," Bryce offered him the floor again while shooting Mason a look.

It was hard to believe that these people were all in their late fifties and early sixties. The younger generation had shown more maturity than they had.

"Despite all of you giving Rainer a hard time, he is well known and highly thought of as a reporter. People from all over the world trust him to tell the truth. It will be a hard sell to convince the world that he stole someone else's story. Whoever is accusing him of plagiarism is not aware of who he is yet, but if it comes out that Rainer Stevens is Steven Douglas, then I do believe that suit will be dropped." Wyatt paused, but they knew he wasn't done. "But keep in mind that if the person blackmailing Rainer does go to press with the story, and if Rainer wanted to charge him with blackmail, then it could be a messy court case. Everyone's bad laundry will be aired, and every secret you have could possibly be revealed."

"So what are the options?" Caleb asked.

"Paying him off isn't on the table. So you can ignore him and pray it never makes it to the press, which is unlikely-"

"He'll want his payday," Laura said in disgust.

"I think he will," Wyatt agreed. "Which leaves two options, letting him go to press and ride the storm, take his money and get away with it, or suing him and the publishing company. It won't get you any money, but it will make a point, and we might be able to get Rainer the rights back for his books."

"What do you mean, all of our dirty laundry could be aired out?" Norah asked in a soft voice.

"It means that the defense attorneys will look for anything they can use against Rainer, possibly through the family. They will attempt to say that you all are the dirty ones making backroom deals." Wyatt watched everyone, noting who was concerned and who wasn't by the news.

Beth knew that many of her aunts had a few secrets to hide, and it could affect them more than anyone.

"I think you have to attack guns blazing," Laura said.

"I agree," Norah backed her up.

"It's not going to be easy for some of us to revisit our pasts, and hopefully, we won't have to in the end, but we are a family, and we will do what we need to do," Grace summed it up for everyone who nodded their agreement.

"So, what's next?" Cassie asked as she gripped her husband's hand.

"We wait and see what happens. Nothing will need to be done by any of you unless this goes to court. If that time comes, I will let you know the next steps."

"But, we all get to keep our secrets for now?" Mason asked with mock anxiousness as if he had hundreds of them.

"For now," Wyatt conceded without breaking a smile as the others did. It effectively ended the meeting, and everyone hugged and said their goodbyes while Beth found a chair in the corner behind the door to sit and wait.

Once everyone had left, and Wyatt shut the door, he held his hand out to her, and she rose and took it, letting him lead her over to his desk. There he leaned against the solid block of wood and drew her up against him.

Beth sighed as she rested her head against his chest. They stood there, holding each other for a few minutes as they each absorbed what had just happened.

"So that's your family," Wyatt teased.

Beth smiled and nodded. "Do you still want me?" she asked, only partly serious.

"Yes, what do I have to do to prove it to you?" he asked.

"Marry me now." Beth stood up and turned to wait for him. "I don't want to wait."

"Alright, we'll get your family together since everyone is in town-"

"No, just us and a judge. This court case might take a long time, and I don't want to wait."

"Beth," Wyatt said in an overly calm voice. "I get that you don't want to wait. I don't want to wait either. The sooner you're mine for good, the happier I will be, but I don't want you to regret not having your family there, your parents and sister, your aunts and uncles, I know they will all want to be there." He was trying to reason with her.

"No, our getting married would only be a distraction full of distracted people, who's minds are somewhere else. I've never wanted a big wedding. I hate attention. You know that."

Wyatt took a deep breath. "I promised myself that I would do better at not trying to convince you that I know better than you do."

"Is that a yes?" Beth asked eagerly.

"Yes, but I want the record to show that I disagree with this idea," Wyatt said.

"Noted," Beth said with a grin. "How soon can we get married?"

"Day after tomorrow?"

"Yes, please!" Beth said, going up on tiptoe to kiss him. Wyatt would finally be hers.

"Why don't you want to tell your family about us, Beth?" Wyatt asked.

"You just met my family, so maybe you will understand when I say that for now, you're mine, not theirs. I'm not a particularly greedy person Wyatt, but in my family, there is no privacy. Eventually, the time to tell them will come, and when it does, I will shout it from the rooftops, but until then, I want it to be just the two of us for a little while."

Wyatt nodded. "Can we at least tell my mother?"

"Yes!" Beth nodded. "Do you want to tell your father?"

"No, not now, eventually, though." He grinned realizing that he wanted to keep it a secret in part too.

"Day after tomorrow?" she asked, feeling giddy.

"Yes, the day after tomorrow." Wyatt kissed her to seal the deal.