Page 41 of Fake To Forever

Most women wouldn’t even consider bringing him. I know Theresa damn sure wouldn’t have ever wanted to. But this simple gesture from Haven just further proves how different she really is to most women in the world.

“I’ll book it. We’ll go after the wedding.”

“About that,” she interjects, leaning forward slightly. “Whenisthe wedding, anyway?”

“As soon as humanly possible.” I want to get this locked down sooner rather than later so I can focus on securing custody of Oliver.

“Why so soon? It’s going to take at least a couple of months to get everything together. Not to mention we haven’t even been together that long. Won’t people think it's a bit odd?”

As much as I want to say it won’t come off as weird, I can’t. Because it completely is. But right now that’s the farthest thing from my mind. “Perhaps, but it will be better for my custody issue and with the situation with your mom. The longer we wait, the more we’re both at risk of things going wrong.”

“I suppose you’re right,” she says with a sigh, her body relaxing back into the sofa she’s been lounging on as she seems to drift off into her own thoughts.

I’m not oblivious to the issues the two of us face. All of this is pretty unnatural by most standards but we both agreed to it, and while I’m sure a lot of her hesitations lay around her family I can’t deny something that she said before.

Garrett, her brother, doesn’t know yet.

I’d thought about calling him and telling him that I want to marry her. Being a man in the situation and asking him for his permission, which is what some may think I should do. And hell, if this was a normal engagement and we’d been dating for a while I probably would have. But I haven’t contacted him about it.

Simply because part of me doesn’t know if he wouldn’t do something to stop it.

And even though I care about her… I can’t help but be selfish.

I don’t want there to be a reason for him to try and talk her out of it.

“We have a lot of work to do,” she says, letting out a low whistle. “Like, a lot of work.”

“We really do,” I add as I pull out my wallet, placing one of my credit cards on the table in front of her. “Put anything you need on this.”

She hesitates, before reluctantly leaning forward to take the card between her fingers. “Um… okay. What’s the credit limit? Just so I know. I don’t want to max it out or anything.”

The fact that she thinks she could max out my card is cute. Just as much as the concern she has over possibly making that happen. My smile widens as her frown deepens.

“It doesn’t have a limit… does it?”

I shake my head, smiling.

“Jesus,” she mutters, causing me to laugh. “So, while we’re discussing things… you brought up your custody issues… what’s the deal with his mom?”

“She’s not someone capable of taking care of our son,” I slowly let out, gritting my teeth. “That’s really all that matters.”

“She isn’t going to go psycho and try to kill me, is she?”

“No,” I scoff in return. “She won’t get anywhere close to you.”

“Can I ask what happened with her?”

I know she’s simply curious what happened between Theresa and I, but the fact that she wants to talk about her right now is getting under my skin. She has every right to be interested, especially when this is going to affect her. But it’s the last thing I want to do.

“There’s nothing to talk about. She’s gone. She left a note saying she wasn’t cut out to be a wife and mother and just left.”

“You didn’t go after her?”

“Of course I did,” I snap.

She flinches and drops her gaze. “I’m sorry… I shouldn’t push. It’s really none of my business.”

A swirling sense of guild fills me at being short with her. It isn’t her fault what happened with Theresa. Haven’s going to be Oliver’s stepmom, at least for a little while, so it’s probably only fair that she knows a little bit about my history with Theresa so she knows what we’re up against.

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