Page 69 of If You Love Me

She folded her newspaper and grabbed the coffee mug before heading into the house. My father was seated in the living room, watching the morning weather report. When he looked back and saw me, he gave me a head nod.

“Good morning, Son.”

“Hey, Dad.”

I went over to hug him before taking a seat. My mother sat next to him and turned off the television. A look passed between them before they both gave me their full attention.

I sighed. “Iona and I broke up,” I said flatly.

My mother’s eyes widened. “What? Why?”

I took a deep breath and ran them the details of everything that had transpired since Evenie came home. For the most part,my parents liked Iona. They thought she was a good fit for me and Summer Rose. Granted, they loved Evenie and were devastated at her disappearance. It took them some time to warm up to Iona, but once they did, they liked her. They only saw the sweet attentive side of her, so me telling them the shit that had been happening took them by surprise.

“I can’t believe she would do something like that,” my mother said, shaking her head.

“Me either,” I said, mimicking the motion. “Do y’all think I led her on?”

My father sighed. “I don’t think you led her on intentionally, son. I do, however, think you didn’t anticipate Evenie’s return. I know you didn’t mean to hurt Iona, but she is hurt. I’m not saying she wasn’t wrong for what she did, but I can see how she would be desperate to keep her spot. She thought she’d found her forever, and it blew up in her face.”

“I get that, Dad. But this was an unpredictable situation. Evenie’s disappearance and her return blindsided us. I told myself I was trying to do the right thing, but honestly, there was no right thing in this case. There was no way that somebody wasn’t going to end up hurt. I just… I love her, but Evenie… Dad, that’s my soulmate. I’ll break every heart to get back to her if I have to. I don’t care how long it takes me; I’m gonna win her heart back.”

He chuckled. “You’ve clearly always had her heart, Tyrion. I mean, she’s punching women in the face over you. Where was Nina’s ass when this happened, ’cause you know she would have made it worse?”

“You got that right.” My mother agreed.

I rubbed my temples. “Thank God she and Jaime had already gotten in their car. This would have been a very different story.”

“Have you told Summer?” my mother asked.

I shook my head. “No. I’m gonna talk to her today when I pick her up. I miss my baby. Pickups, drop-offs, and weekends ain’t enough. I’m ready for her to come home. That house feels so damn lonely without her energy. I find myself sitting in her room at night, just to feel close to her.”

My mother reached over and patted my hand. “Awww, baby. I know it’s hard, but she needed this time with her mother.”

“I know, Ma. She loves Evenie so much. If I did nothing else right in this world, I did the right thing by making sure she knew who her mother was, even when she wasn’t physically present.”

My parents nodded in agreement.

Silence fell between us as I relaxed into the chair cushions and took a long, deep breath. Closing my eyes, I allowed my thoughts to drift back to the past… back to happier times. I remembered when Ev and I first learned we were going to be parents. We hadn’t been trying to get pregnant, but we hadn’t exactly tried to prevent it either. I first took notice when I began experiencing her pregnancy symptoms.

At first, I thought I was tripping. I’d heard the old wives’ tale of men having symptoms my entire life. I’d always roll my eyes at that shit, thinking they were just being dramatic. That was until it happened to me. One too many bouts of nausea, diarrhea, weird cravings, and abdominal pain had me stopping by the pharmacy after work.

When I got home, Evenie was in the kitchen, cooking dinner. I walked through the door with the small white bag in my hand and kicked off my shoes. She looked up at me and smiled.

“Hey, baby.”

“Hey, love.”

I stood there for a moment, watching her moving around the kitchen. I smiled to myself, imagining her waddling around with a big belly full of baby. We’d talked about kids, and both of us knew we wanted at least three. I could see them followingher around like a second shadow or calling her name every five minutes. I envisioned me rubbing and kissing on her belly or massaging her swollen feet. She was bound to have me up at ungodly hours because she and the babies were craving ice cream or some shit.

I chuckled to myself at the thought.

“Tyrion?” Evenie called, breaking me from my thoughts.

“Hmm?”

“Why are you just standing there staring at me?”

I grinned as I walked into the kitchen and pulled her into my arms. “I can’t look at my wife?”

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