Page 34 of Melt For Us, Daddy
A baby. You were just a baby.
“Yes. I was twelve, and particularly rebellious. It was decided that I needed a husband to keep me in line. And what better man for the task than the prophet himself?”
Bitterness laced Cordelia’s tone. “Our wedding night, he called in four of his other wives. I think he knew I’d fight. I think he wanted me to fight. So he called in reinforcements. I didn't know what was happening, but I knew it was wrong. Even as they stripped me, even as they held me down so he could consummate our marriage, even as they told me what a good and holy thing it was for me to be married to the prophet, I always knew it was wrong.”
Did she even realize she was crying? With her heart cracking in her chest, Ivy dropped the picture back into the box. “That’s enough, Dee. We don’t have to talk about it anymore today.”
“No. I need to get it out. I need to tell you…” Shattered eyes, shimmering with tears, met hers. “That’s a big part of why I struggle with letting anyone touch me. I want to give you that, Ivy. I’ve thought about it, so many times, and I think I’m almost there. But I need you to know it was never about not wanting you or not trusting you. As much as I try to convince myself I didn’t let them break me, they did. They broke something in me that day, and I don’t know if I’ll ever get it back.”
There were no words to ease that kind of pain. So she didn't bother to try. Wrapping her arms around Cordelia’s neck, she simply held on tight as the woman she loved wept for the child she’d been.
And she vowed, then and there, that she would be right by her side, doing whatever it took to make sure no other girl in that so-called church was forced to become a woman before she was one.
Chapter 12
Jacob
He should have listened to Cordelia.
One donut had been fine. The second had kept him up all night, sick to his stomach. And now here he was, standing in the middle of this den of iniquity, trying to pretend he didn’t feel like death warmed over.
Zach was by his side, peering over the edge of the railing at the open area below, littered with stages and odd-looking furniture. Tools of sin, Jacob had been told, though he couldn’t for the life of him even begin to imagine how any of it worked.
On his other side stood Holden, his arms crossed over his broad chest while they waited for Braden to meet them. Despite only being a few inches taller than Jacob, he always seemed to take up all the space in a room.
Jacob envied that, and hated himself for the sin.
“Gentlemen.” Stepping out of his office, Braden greeted them with a welcoming smile. “I appreciate your patience. Lottie needed some help picking out flowers for the wedding, which is apparently a life-or-death decision.”
“What did you choose?” Holden asked, his voice tinged with amusement.
“I didn’t. She called me hopeless and kicked me out of my own office. I believe she’s on video with Frankie now going over her options.”
Jacob’s heart thumped against his ribs, before he reminded himself that this wasn’t the church. Men didn’t go around hurting women just because they talked back.
Beside him, Holden chuckled. “The deeper you two get into planning this thing, the happier I am that Frankie and I eloped.”
“Don’t think I haven’t thought about it. But my babygirl wants a wedding, so a wedding we shall have.”
Some of the panic winding around Jacob’s chest eased. Any man willing to indulge his wife-to-be in such a manner surely wouldn’t beat her for any little perceived slight.
Would he?
A peal of laughter drew his attention away from Braden to the two women who had just entered the club. Cordelia had her arm around Ivy’s waist, looking more at ease and happier than she had yesterday. Today she almost… shined.
The sight of her was like a physical punch in the gut. But it wasn’t just her. For the first time, he noticed, like really noticed the woman beside her. Shorter than Cordelia, with delicate features that reminded him of something he’d seen in a storybook once, she also seemed to glow from within as she smiled up at Cordelia.
“Sorry we’re late,” Cordelia said, her eyes twinkling with mischief. “Someone kept distracting me.”
Beside her, Ivy giggled. “It’s not my fault you’re so easily distracted.”
“It is your fault you tried to leave the house in that schoolgirl costume. You know what that skirt does to me, baby.”
A familiar stirring low in his gut had Jacob’s cheeks heating with shame. This was… wrong, wasn’t it? An abomination, his father had called it, for a man to lie with a man or a woman with a woman. So what did it make him to be having that reaction to the thought of them together?
Then Cordelia’s eyes locked on him and her smile warmed and he forgot all about what he should or shouldn’t be feeling. How could any of this be wrong if it meant being graced with that smile?
“Jacob. You look…” The smile disappeared, the corners of her mouth dipping downward, and his stomach twisted itself into knots. “Actually, you look like you haven’t slept in two days. Are you feeling okay?”
