The elders of the two families downstairs had already discussed the wedding date. Tom Aiken actually wanted to keep his daughter home for two more years; he felt he owed her too much and needed to make it up to her. But the Horne Family was in a hurry. Ivan Horne was almost thirty already and had never liked any girl before; Julia Bluen had even worried he'd stay a bachelor for life.
Now that he'd found someone he liked, Julia hoped her son would get married early and give her a chubby grandson or granddaughter soon so she could hold the baby in her arms, instead of fighting Jimmy Horne every day to hold the little one.
The Horne Family had picked a wedding date for early next month, and it was already mid-month now, which meant there were only about twenty days left until the wedding.
Tom Aiken hesitated as he looked at Glades Horne and said, "Won't this be a bit rushed? Marriage is a big deal, and it takes time to prepare for a wedding. I've treated Lia badly in the past, and now that she's getting married, I want her to go out in style, not get married in a hurry."
Glades Horne looked toward his wife. Julia Bluen smiled and said, "In-laws, don't worry. Our Horne Family has lots of people. With everyone pitching in, we'll have everything ready in no time. Rest assured, we will never shortchange Lia. I want the wedding to be even more grand than you do."
Her eldest son was the oldest of his generation in the Horne Family, and Lia would be the Horne Family's eldest young madam. The whole family would attach special importance to this wedding, so Tom Aiken really didn't need to worry that it would be done in a rush.
The other young masters echoed Julia's words, all chiming in at once that they would do everything they could to help their big brother prepare for the wedding.
Jimmy Horne, who was holding his sleeping daughter, even said, "Mr. Aiken, if you're worried we don't have enough manpower, I've got plenty of people under me. Just one word from me and they'll come right over to help. My big brother doesn't even need to lift a finger; he can just focus on keeping my future sister-in-law company."
Ivan Horne getting married was something Jimmy was more excited about than anyone, because only after his big brother married could he sleep peacefully at night.
Celine Taylor chimed in from the side, "Tom, I think twenty days is enough time to prepare for a wedding." She now also wanted Lia to marry into the Horne Family as soon as possible, so that her own daughter could enter and leave the Horne house as "Lia's younger sister" and get close to these young masters of the Horne Family.
As soon as she came in, she'd already noticed these young masters. Each one of them was outstanding, no worse than Ivan. Even putting everything else aside, just the fact that they were all Horne young masters made Celine extremely satisfied.
If her daughter could marry into the Horne Family as well, she would literally wake up laughing from her dreams.
Weren't Julia Bluen and Ruby Bluen sisters who both married Horne sons? Back then, Ruby even ran away from her own wedding for the sake of Marcel Horne.
Violet Aiken couldn't exactly be said to truly like Ivan all that much. After all, they'd met too few times; she was just greedy for Ivan's status. Now that she knew Ivan would never like her, she listened to her mother's persuasion and planned to pick herself a partner from among the other Horne young masters.
At this moment, her gaze kept sweeping back and forth over the Horne young masters. Every one of them was that handsome. She found she didn't even know which one to set as her target, completely failing to notice that those young masters all treated her like she was invisible.
Violet had bullied Lia for many years. Even though she hadn't really taken advantage of her—that was because Lia was too capable—that didn't erase what Violet had done. With a cousin like Jimmy around, the Horne young masters all knew what kind of life their future sister-in-law had lived before. Most of them were secretly thinking of finding a chance to teach Violet and her brother a lesson for their future sister-in-law. How could they possibly like Violet?
The story of the Bluen sisters Julia and Ruby both marrying into the Horne Family wasn't something just anyone could replicate. The Bluen Family and the Horne Family were old family friends; their children grew up together as childhood sweethearts, which was how such a legendary story came to be.
Tom Aiken was still a bit reluctant. He said, "Let's ask what Ivan and Lia think."
Only then did he realize his daughter wasn't there, and the future son-in-law was gone too.
Tom Aiken looked around, muttering to himself, wondering how his daughter had been whisked away in the blink of an eye without her own father even noticing.
"My big brother took Sister Lia upstairs. I'll go call them down," Lena Horne said. As one of the younger generation, she couldn't really be involved in her brother's wedding plans, so she'd noticed her brother's movements clearly and knew that Ivan had taken Lia upstairs.
Lena had just been about to go upstairs when she saw her big brother coming down, holding Lia's hand. The two of them were so close they almost seemed like one person. Lia was holding a bouquet in one hand, and her other hand was interlaced tightly with her big brother's fingers.
