Page 29 of If You Love Me

Evenie hadn’t spoken a word to me since.

When I went to take her clothes to sleep in last night, she’d snatched them from me and closed the bathroom door in my face. I deserved it. All I could do was tuck my tail between my legs and walk back to my room. With the door cracked, I could hear her and Summer Rose laughing and talking until the wee hours of the morning.

When they finally grew quiet, I tipped down to her room to check on them. Summer was cuddled in her arms, and they were both sleeping soundly. It made me smile. They both deserved to have their own moment, so I bowed out gracefully to leave them be.

All night long, I’d tossed and turned. Evenie didn’t sleep much either. In between my tossing and turning, I could hear her pacing the hallway every so often. One time, I got up to make sure she was okay, but she was just checking the locks. When I did sleep, all I could dream of was Evenie and the life we should have had together. I hadn’t had a dream like that in a long time. They were almost a nightly occurrence after the first year of her being missing. Now it seemed like the moment I heard her voice, she consumed me.

I mean, I forgot I had a fiancée for a few hours. Maybe it was a red flag… a sign… something. I wasn’t sure, but I had to figure this shit out.

It was Saturday.

I stood at the stove cooking morning breakfast. Sleep had failed me around five this morning, so I got up and went for a run. I cleaned the house, did a load of laundry that included the underclothes Evenie came home in, so she’d have something to wear today, and brought a few of her boxes down before going to take a shower. I’d just poured the grits in the pot of boiling water when Evenie appeared from around the corner dressed in one of my shirts and a pair of my shorts.

She looked as beautiful as she always had first thing in the morning. Her curls were piled in a bun on top of her head, and her face looked freshly washed. She looked around at the boxes for a second before coming into the kitchen. I was met with silence as she looked through the cabinets until she found the coffee mugs. Grabbing one, she walked over to the coffee maker.

I cleared my throat. “Good morning,” I said, hopefully.

She ignored me as she poured her coffee.

“Did you sleep okay?”

Again, silence. She bypassed me and went to the fridge to grab the creamer.

“Are you hungry?”

She sighed as she poured the cream and sugar in. Grabbing a spoon, she turned to me as she stirred the contents of her cup.

“What I am is hurt,” she finally answered.

“Ev—”

“No, Tyrion. I get it. I was gone for ten years. You didn’t know if I was alive or dead. You had every right to move on with your life. My problem is you told me you loved me—”

“I do love you—”

“You let me kiss you, knowing your heart and hand was promised to another woman. A woman I had to watch love on my child. A woman I had to watch kiss you in the fucking mouth on some petty shit.”

“She wasn’t being petty.”

“Yes, she was,” she said sharply. “That kiss, Tyrion? That wasn’t necessary. I get it. You’re her man now. She didn’t have to rub it in my face.”

“I’m sorry, Evenie. Everything just happened so fast yesterday. Honestly, when I heard your voice, nothing else mattered in that moment but getting to you… seeing your face. You had to wait ten years to come home, but I had to live tenyears without you, too, love. I had to make sure our daughter knew who you were if she ever got the chance to meet you.

“That shit killed me, Ev. Itkilledme. I look in her face, and all I see isyou. Her laugh isyou. So much about her is you, baby. For years, I went to sleep wishing you were next to me. I sat by the phone waiting for the call that you’d been found, whether it be dead or alive. It was torture not knowing your fate. So I’m sorry I left out such an important detail. I wasn’t trying to keep it a secret. I was waiting for the right time to tell you. I just… I had to get to you. Please understand that.”

She glared at me as she gripped her coffee mug. I had a feeling that if she could throw it at me, she would. But Evenie had never been a violent person.

“Answer me one question, Tyrion,” she said, taking a sip. “How are you going to get married to her when you’re still married to me?”

“I—” I pursed my lips. The answer was obvious, but I didn’t want to be the one to say it.

“You want a divorce?” she asked, setting her cup down.

I couldn’t look at her. I had so many damn feelings that I didn’t know what the hell I wanted. Too much shit was going on right now. It had barely been twenty-four hours since she’d been found, and life was already beginning to spiral. I felt Evenie’s hand on my chin. She forced my eyes to meet hers.

“If that’s what you want, you ask me for it the same way you asked for my hand in marriage. I love you, Tyrion. While it would kill me to walk away, I’d do it because life moved on in my absence. I won’t beg you, and I will never keep you where you don’t want to be. Just let me be a mother to my child. I stayed alive for both of you, but I will forever live for her.”

She released my chin, picked up her coffee mug, and walked into the living room to her boxes. I stood there looking after her.What the fuck was I going to do? I loved my wife, but I loved Iona too.

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