Page 129 of Secrets That Bind Us
I can feel my eyebrows shoot up to my hairline. Blinking rapidly once Dean is completely silent, I take a deep breath and blow it out.
“AndEliwas in on this?” I choke on a sob. “And Zoey and Evan waitedtenyears to get married?” I owe them a whole month-long honeymoon anywhere they want to go.
Dean makes a weird noise in the back of his throat.
“What?” I rasp.
“They’ve been married for about four years now. Had a very private ceremony, and Reverend Bishop married them. The wedding was just a formality to get you back.”
My jaw drops. “You’re shitting me.”
Dean shakes his head. “You gotta understand, baby, they all just wanted what was best for you, but there were so many moving parts– in your personal life, in your career, in each of ours. It felt like everything was being thwarted. Micah had such a hold on you. We did what we thought was best.”
“I’m not going to lie to you, I think I’m still more surprised that Micahpurchased a cadaverand had it hidden in his house for who knows how long and then found a way to squat in Mama’s without any of us noticing.”
“Yeah, that cadaver thing was really fucking weird, right?”
I put my hand to my forehead and rub it side to side. “He had a dead body in his house! Just hanging out?” I ask again in disbelief. I should bedisgusted by both men. I should be trying to get away from Dean. But I have no sanity where Dean is concerned.
Dean laughs. “Now that I think about it, I’m a bit more concerned with like… you know, state of decomp-”
I gag, put my hands out, and shake my head only to gag again. “No. Stop. I can’t think about it. What a fucking psycho. God, I watched his eyeballs melt to the floor, Dean.Melt. There’s no way he survived that, right?”
“No. He didn’t.” He assures me, taking my hand with his. “So you’re… not mad?”
I blink at him. “Since we’re being honest,” I gesture about the room– the machines, my tubes, my abdomen where I was shot. “I’m a little ticked off you didn’t make sure he was completely dead the first time. It could’ve saved us a lot of…this.” I gesture about the room again and sigh. “If you’d just taken a peek off the guardrail. I mean, did he parachute himself into a cave? This feels like a Lemony Snicket novel. I have so many questions.” My heart rate monitor goes up beside me.
“Hey, baby, you gotta breathe.” Dean takes my hand again and rubs his thumb over the back of it in small, soothing circles. My pulse immediately calms down, which makes him smile. God, I love that smile. “Look, Jason did me the favor as both a friend and a fire chief. He let the fire burn for a while once everyone was safely off the property. Everything burned. Not one sunflower survived. The pond even dried up.”
“The truck-”
“Evan took care of it.”
“Is that normal? The pond evaporating, I mean.” Every secret exposed.Expunged.Relief fills my body and I can feel the tension in my shoulders lessen.
He shakes his head. “Jason has never seen anything like it.”
“Purified.” I yawn.
He dips his chin in agreement, sapphire eyes searching mine but I’m too tired to thinkortalk. Be it the meds or the baby.
Oh my god, a baby…
Dean Carson, curse upon my heart, tormentor of my flesh, lover of my soul- father of my children. I clutch his hand gently. “Take a nap with me?”
And he does.
Because we’re fucking crazy.
But it’s us.
We wake up when the sonographer shows up, and we get to listen to a tiny little heartbeatwhoosh-whoosh-whooshing.
The faint scent of her daisy perfume fills the room, and I hear Mama’s voice one last time.
“Hello, sweet girl…”
Epilogue
