Page 25 of His to Love
Chapter Twelve
Alexa
Not long after arriving back home in Austin, I’d just finished putting away the clothes Patton had bought me in Las Vegas when I heard the doorbell ring. I made my way across the large bedroom to see who was at the door.
I stopped in my tracks as I heard the voice of Patton’s oldest brother, Baldwyn. “What have you done?”
“How’d you hear?” Patton asked him.
I opened the door just a crack so I could hear them better. Baldwyn sounded upset for some reason, and I wasn’t about to bust in on them. But I did want to know what had upset him.
“I called Mrs. De La Cruz to ask her how she’s been doing. I guess you didn’t know that I check up on her sometimes, because she told me something that I couldn’t believe. I thought she had to be talking about a different man named Patton. But nope—she was talking about you.”
“You didn’t say anything, did you?” Patton sounded worried.
“About what?” Baldwyn snapped. “About you and Alexanotdating? About you and Alexanotbeing in love? About you and Alexanotgetting married?”
“We got married,” Patton told him. “Yesterday.”
“What the actual fuck, bro?” A puffing noise told me Baldwyn had sat down heavily on the sofa.
Patton hasn’t told his brothers about our fake marriage?
I don’t know why this surprised me, but it did. Knowing that Patton had done all this behind his brothers’ backs had me thinking that he’d made the decision to marry me too quickly. He hadn’t asked a word of advice from even his oldest brother.
“Look, keep your voice down—I don’t want Alexa to hear you.”
“She’s here?” Baldwyn asked. “In your home?”
“Sheismy wife,” Patton said with a chuckle. “So, yeah, she does live here now.”
“I am so lost right now that I can’t even begin to tell you. Just please tell me that you had the forethought to get her to sign a prenup.”
“No, I didn’t ask her to do that. I’m always going to take care of her, Baldwyn.”
“Why is that?” Baldwyn sounded perplexed. “She’s your best friend’s little sister! I’m sure Luciano doesn’t like this at all.”
“He’s the one who asked me to marry her,” Patton dropped the bombshell.
“Are you fucking with me, Patton? Because if you are, it’s not funny at all. You have no idea how confused I am. I mean—hell, I feel like I don’t even know who the fuck you are right now. Getting married is a big deal. And you just up and ran off to Las Vegas and got hitched, for real, without telling anyone butherfamily about it? Why? I’ve got to know why you would do something so completely stupid.”
Leaning against the wall, I felt sick to my stomach. I had never realized that Patton’s family would have an issue with our marriage. Guilt built up inside of me. To be honest, I hadn’t thought about his family at all.
I’d done this to myself and now Patton was paying the price for it.
“There is an incredibly good reason that I have married Alexa, Baldwyn. I’m not a stupid man. I have great respect for her family. You know that.”
Baldwyn huffed. “What does that even mean, Patton? If you respect them so damn much, then why did you marry their daughter—a woman you havenotbeen dating? A woman you donotlove?”
“She’s pregnant, Baldwyn,” he finally came clean.
There was a long moment of silence before Baldwyn asked, “Withyourbaby?”
“No.” I heard the sound of Patton pacing across the living room, his heels clicking against the tiled floor. “The guy who did the deed has fled to California and wants nothing to do with her or the baby.”
“So, what does that have to do with you? Tons of women have babies without the fathers in the picture, Patton. You didn’tneedto marry her. This isn’t the old days where a woman’s scorned for having a baby out of wedlock,” Baldwyn argued.
“Her mother has a pretty bad heart condition. But you are aware of that, aren’t you? I mean—you have talked to Mrs. De La Cruz, right? So you would have to know about her health issues.”
