Wyatt hadn't been wrong. The Stevens were all over the news, and Beth couldn't help but think that if Elizabeth had been alive, it never would have happened. The cousins had it easy for the most part. They weren't well known, so it was simple for them to evade publicity. Mave and Beth were a little different though. Mave was already an actress, and they were both Rainer and Alice's daughters. Mave was managing to keep up with the publicity, but Beth had to stop teaching for the rest of the semester. There was no way she could leave the house. The only safe place for her to meet Wyatt was at his office.

It lasted two long months, and reporters followed their every move. Beth had been in court most days to support her father, and she had gotten to see Wyatt in action. He was a force to be reckoned with, and she was able to see why he was so good at his job. Wyatt could charm the jury in a minute with his southern drawl and sexy smile that said he knew a few secrets that he was willing to share. He could also hang a witness with his own words in a matter of minutes, or turn their words against them in an amusing fashion. Wyatt's mind was quick and organized, and it showed by the way he ruled a courtroom, even the judges loved him. In fact, the judge who was presiding over the case was the one that had married them, and he would shoot an indulgent smile at Beth whenever he saw her in the courtroom.

Between Bryce and Wyatt wheeling and dealing behind the scenes, there had been no need for any family secrets to be revealed. However, with the new interest raised about the family, there was no telling if it would stay that way, even after the case was over.

The case came to an end with Rainer Stevens being vindicated and receiving copyrights back for all of the books he had written. The Stevens clan had been present for the verdict, and the courtroom erupted in joy when the case was won. Wyatt had also been right about the person claiming to have had his work stolen by Steven Douglas. He had disappeared as quickly as he had appeared, and it was one less worry for the family.

The last two months had seen Mave and Beth reconcile, but there was still some tension between them. It shocked Beth that neither mave nor her mother, or any family member for that matter, had noticed either her or Wyatt's wedding rings. Perhaps it was because they weren't expecting it, Wyatt and Beth tended to keep their distance when they were with the family discussing business, or maybe it was as it had always been with Beth living in her family's much larger shadows.

Either way, it didn't bother her much, or at least that was what she told herself, she was able to have Wyatt to herself on the weekends and at nights, which made her very happy. They had told Wyatt's mother, Mary Alice, and she had been pleased for them. Although she had made some comments about Elizabeth not being happy about the way the family was headed, and that they needed to spend more time on family and less time on the outside world.

After the verdict, the family returned to Wyatt's office to celebrate the news, and everyone was in good spirits. They were in the conference room, and there was a lot of back-slapping and reviewing the blow by blow moments of the case, but there was no champagne because they all agreed that would have been bad form.

Beth was sitting at the end of the table, watching her family with a smile. They were all so happy, and it had been a long time since she had seen them in such high spirits. Wyatt was not standing far from her, talking with Davis and Caleb about a point that Wyatt had made in his summation when the door had opened, and Wyatt's secretary entered. She looked around wide-eyed until she found Wyatt and the scurried over to him with a big wrapped box in her hand. Behind her was another woman who was grinning from ear to ear as she came in with a few more other people, Mark included. They had a cake and tableware between them, and they started to set it up on the conference room table.

Beth swallowed hard as she read the message on the cake. It said, Congratulations, Beth and Wyatt. She watched as Wyatt leaned down to hear what the woman was saying and took the box at the same time. Wyatt nodded and then looked at Beth, his face had his charming and polite smile on it as he motioned to Beth to join him.

Not having a choice, Beth stood and walked towards him. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. "Your time is up, love," he said, kissing her temple.

The rest of the room grew quiet as they looked from Wyatt to Beth with looks of confusion, stunned disbelief, and amused smiles.

"Mr. Ramsey, we know that it has been a few months, and with everything going on, there never seemed to be the right time, but we wanted to congratulate you and Mrs. Ramsey on your marriage."

"Thank you, Ms. Graham, we appreciate it very much." Wyatt was holding Beth up because her legs were trembling. "Beth," he said, placing the package on the table in front of her, "would you like to open it?"

Beth nodded, darting a quick look around the room. Now the stunned looks all mirrored each other, and Beth quickly dropped her eyes. This was so much worse than if she had just told them and dealt with it being only a minor and distracting event. She had made a huge mistake, and she couldn't undo it. She wished the ground would open up and swallow her.

Clearing her throat and with shaking hands, she unwrapped the present. It was the only one that she and Wyatt had received, which made it extra special, and when she saw it, she gasped in pleasure. It was perfect.

It was a beautiful large porcelain bowl that was handpainted with scenes from River Moss Plantation. The plantation house, alley of oaks, the docks, and slave row were all there. It was stunning, and Beth said as much with a watery smile.

"My wife's an artist, and we took a trip down to Charleston so she could pick some images. I have to say Wyatt; it must have been something to grow up in such a magical place." Gill smiled. "My wife and I spent the entire day there."

"It is a pretty special place," Wyatt said, and it sounded to Beth as if he had made some peace with it at last. It was something for her to talk to him about later.

"Now, let's cut the cake," Wyatt's secretary insisted. Then we will leave you all to your celebration."

Wyatt and Beth cut the cake together, and then pieces were passed around.

"Just out of curiosity, what would you have done if we had lost today?" Wyatt asked as he took a bite of his cake.

"Oh, we still would have brought in the cake and present because it would have been something to celebrate, wouldn't it?" Ms. Graham asked with a smile. There were about ten minutes or so of light banter by Wyatt's coworkers, with the Stevens clan being unusually subdued.

The staff all filed out of the conference room and closed the door, and Beth and Wyatt were met with a heavy silence. It wasn't displeasure or even shock. It was mostly confusion.

"Who knew about this?" Alice finally broke the silence as she looked around the room.

No one said a word.

"Bryce?" Alice asked, her voice breaking a little.

"I noticed the engagement ring and then the wedding rings a few months ago. It wasn't hard to put two and two together. I figured you knew because neither one of them was trying to hide it. I also figured they wanted to keep it low key because they never made an announcement, so I didn't feel that I should be the one to raise the subject." Bryce was leaning against the wall watching Alice.

"When? Why didn't you tell us?" Mave asked Beth.

Wyatt squeezed her in support.

"We got engaged right before we were all to take our trip to Texas. We were going to surprise everyone there with an impromptu wedding. Then the trip got canceled, and I didn't want to wait, but the time didn't seem right to tell you all, there were other things on everyone's minds, and I told Wyatt I didn't want our wedding to be a distraction full of distracted people." Beth shrugged, feeling tears start. "I didn't do it to hurt anyone.

"Why didn't you wait! You should have waited so we could have all been there!" Mave shouted.

"Wyatt wanted us to wait, or to tell you at least we had done gotten married, but I disagreed. I didn't want to wait. I've spent my whole life waiting, waiting to be noticed, waiting for Mave to get bored with her toys so I could play with them, waiting for Mom and Dad to take their attention from Mave and give it to me. When I finally do get attention, it is always every one trying to fix poor little Beth's boring life." She took a deep breath. She couldn't help the termor in her voice. She was working through new thoughts that she had never had before and they were coming out all jumbled. She knew she wasn't doing a good job explaining herself. 

"I thought you hated attention!" Mave cried.

"I do!" Beth said, I don't want to be in a room being stared at like I am now, and like I was a few minutes ago, but I would like something as simple as the addition of a wedding ring and engagement ring to be noticed, especially by my mother and sister!"

"So, it was a test?" Alice asked with a grim expression.

"No - yes- I don't know. All I do know is that I wanted to marry Wyatt because I am in love with him and have been for over five years." Beth was crying now.

"What the hell! Five years?" Mave sat down hard. "I don't know you at all, do I?" she asked.

"None of you do, and maybe that's my fault as much as it is yours. I've become complacent over the years. Everyone knew I would take a back seat, so I did."

"I knew you loved each other, but I didn't realize," Alice shook her head with tears in her eyes. Then she did what only a mother could do to make it easier for her daughter. "Congratulations, sweetheart. I wish we could have all been there with you." Alice walked towards Beth and pulled her close in a hug. Then she hugged Wyatt. "She chose well. Thank you for loving our daughter."

"It's easy to do, not that she took no for an answer." Wyatt smiled.

"I told you she wouldn't," Alice patted his arm as she looked lovingly at her daughter.

Rainer was next, following his wife's lead. "We're going to have another wedding, and we're all going to be there."

"I had the same thought myself." Wyatt agreed. Beth looked up at him, shocked. "I thought we could all meet at River Moss for the 4th of July, and we could get married again. The plans are already underway."

Beth opened her mouth to say something. She wasn't sure what, but before she could ger a word out, Wyatt cut her off with a fierce kiss.

"Oh, I'm so excited!" Alice said with a grin, already having forgiven her daughter. Mave was silent as she watched Beth and Wyatt get hugged by Alice again. However, the rest of the family followed Alice's lead and agreed to be in Charleston for the 4th  to attend Wyatt and Beth's second marriage ceremony.