Prologue

Seventeen years ago …

"Are you sure you want to do that, Luke?"

He nodded firmly. "I want to play baseball, Mama. In Germany, people only use a baseball bat when they want to frighten off burglars."

"Okay." His mother smiled and ran her hand through the dark curls on her son's head, so they didn't fall into his eyes anymore. Some day too soon, he would cut his hair short and start breaking girls' hearts. Right now however, his heart was hooked on a ball and bat.

"You really don't need to worry." He pulled her hand away from his hair and shouldered his backpack. "Daddy's going to take care of me. It will be fine."

He gave her a wide grin. "I'll send you my first autographed photo."

***

Emma glared at her older sister, adjusting the fit of the newspaper veil on her head. "You're the priest, Milla. All you have to do is ask, ‘Do you take Max to be your lawfully wedded husband?' That is all."

The Max in question was snuffling and starting to sweat. "We don't have to get married, we could also just …"

"No."Emma grabbed his hand possessively and pulled him closer to her side. "We're getting married now! I planned everything out in detail. Nobody's going to spoil that for me." Her face was beet red, which made her hair look an even lighter blond.

"I think you don't want to marry Max at all. You only want to have cake," the priest said cattily.

"There's cake?" Max was completely with her again, and his eyes brightened. "Okay. Let's get married, Emma, shall we?"

Emma's mouth opened, and her glassy eyes told him that she was thinking. Finally she heaved a sigh and shook her head. "We need to start over again. This is not how I planned it."

"Jesus." Milla rolled her eyes. "Everything always has to go the way you planned it. That's so annoying, Emma!"

"You're annoying." She dragged Max with her as she went back down the hallway, turning around and striking a pose, before she intoned the wedding march once again in a loud and bossy voice.

"You'll never get married, Emma!" Milla screamed at her.

"If my priest is as stupid as you are, then I won't!" Emma yelled back angrily, before turning to her husband-to-be. "And please don't breathe so loudly this time, okay? The back rows can't hear what I'm saying if you pant like that."