Page 72 of His Secret Virgin
Staring at the wedding rings on Emma’s finger, Lauren gasped. “No!”
“Yes,” I said. “And I don’t want my wife to feel like a stranger, or worse, unwelcome in her own home.”
Ashley looked as if she knew what was coming next. “You want us to leave, don’t you?”
Emma looked down, and I knew she felt horrible. But she would feel much worse if those two were around. “I want us all to get along,” Emma mumbled.
Lauren shook her head. “There’s no way, Dad. I will never accept her. Not ever.”
“You don’t even know Emma. And stop talking about her like she isn’t here.” I huffed as frustration built up inside of me. “She makes me happy. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
“She’s younger than us, Dad,” Ashley said. “It’s not right.”
Before I could say anything, Emma lifted her head and straightened her shoulders, her newfound confidence coming back. “To your father and I, age doesn’t matter,” she said.
“Did you get her to sign a pre-nup?” Lauren shot back. “Because I can guarantee you that she’s just after your money. She’ll get it all when you die, and she knows that.”
“I didn’t ask her to sign anything. She’s my wife, and everything I have is hers too.” I decided to up my game a bit. “And if you and your sister continue to try to interfere with our relationship, then I really will cut both of you out of my will, and Emma will get it all.” One more thing came to mind. I’d never threatened this before and hoped they didn’t make me follow through, but I thought it might help. “Along with that, I will cut off your allowances. I’ll cancel the credit cards, and you’ll either have to find jobs or get your mother to pay your way through life.”
Ashley looked stunned. “So what you’re saying is that you’re putting us out of our home, and you will take away our money unless we give you our approval on this sham of a marriage?”
“This marriage is not a sham,” I let them know. “I love this woman more than I’ve ever loved any woman I’ve ever been in a relationship with. And I’m lucky enough to have her love me back. I’ve spent most of my life feeling nothing more than just content. With Emma, I feel alive.”
“Can we have time?” Lauren asked. “Can you let us keep our allowances? We’ll move in with Mom and leave you two alone. But please don’t take away our money.”
“Or our cars,” Ashley added. “We really need our cars, too.”
Emma nodded. “Please let them keep those things, Christopher.” She looked at both Lauren and Ashley. “I don’t want to take anything away from you two. I don’t want your father to cut you out of anything. We just want to be happy, and we just want you to let us have that happiness. That’s it. I don’t expect you to like me. I don’t expect you to like or even interact with our baby. But I do expect you to stay out of our marriage.”
I had to admit that Emma surprised me. I was so proud of her—I couldn’t wait to see how marriage and motherhood would help her grow even more than our relationship had. “That’s all I expect too, girls. Let us live our lives, the same way I’ve let you two live yours.”
“I don’t know if I’ll ever be okay with any of this,” Lauren said. “But we can move out and give you your space.”
“Maybe you two could meet your father for dinner once a week or something. I would hate for you to lose your relationship over this,” Emma added.
Ashely looked at me. “I don’t want to lose our relationship with you either, Dad. I love you. I just wish you would’ve found someone closer to your own age.”
“And hadn’t started a family with her already,” Lauren added.
“Well, life doesn’t always go the way everyone wants it to,” I told her. “But I’ve got to tell you that I’m thankful that this woman came into my life, and I’m thankful for the child we’re going to have. If God grants us more children, then you will have more siblings. I hope one day you will grow to love them too.”
Lauren got up, looking kind of sick. “I’m going to pack. I can’t deal with this. I don’t know if I ever will be able to deal with this. But I’ll do what you’ve asked. I’ll give you all the space you want. But I can tell you this, Daddy, you will lose us in the process.”
Ashely got up, following her older sister. She looked at me over her shoulder, and I thought she was about to say something, but she just turned around and left the room.
“That didn’t go as badly as I thought it might,” I said as I got up, extending my hand to Emma. “Let’s get you acquainted with your home, Mrs. Taylor.” I thought a guided tour would help distract her; she looked sad about my daughters leaving.
She had no idea how lucky she was that they were leaving. “I wish there was something I could say to make them stay, Christopher.”
“They’ll come around. I’m sure they will. They’re just not used to not getting their way.” Wrapping my arm around her, I kissed her cheek. “I guess before we get started on this tour that you should give your parents a call and inform them as well. I don’t want them to be worried about where you are.”
She’d turned her cell off, just like I had. Neither of us had wanted our wedding night spoiled by interrupting calls that would only serve to bother us. Emma pulled her cell out of the pocket of her jeans. “I guess you’re right. Might as well get all the unpleasantness over with at once.”
Settling in one of the living areas, I sat next to her as she made the call. “It’s going to be okay, Emma. No matter what, you’ve got me.”
With a nod, she made the call to her mother. “Hello,” I heard her mother say. “Emma?”
“Yes. It’s me,” Emma said in a whisper. “Mom, I don’t want anyone to be mad or hurt by this.”
