Page 90 of A Trial of the Heart
She continued giggling as she took her seat, and I followed suit.Placing my hand on top of the table, I waited for Shiloh to place her hand into mine. We simultaneously bowed our heads.
“Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for allowing us this meal, and we’re grateful for the life we have here on earth. May this food be blessed along with the ones who prepared it and consume it. In Your precious Son’s name I pray. Amen.”
“Amen,” Shiloh spoke before lifting her fork and knife, cutting a piece of salmon and shoving it into her mouth. I watched her closely. She closed her eyes and chewed slowly. I could tell she was loving it.
“What?” She laughed nervously after opening her eyes. “Why you watching me eat instead of you eating?”
I chortled, taking the piece of paper I’d taken from the counter.
“What’s this?” she questioned with a raised brow before wiping her mouth with the cloth napkin and taking the paper.
I didn’t speak. Instead, I watched her closely as she unfolded the paper and began reading.
Shiloh’s eyes slid across each word on the paper, her breathing seemed to increase. Before I knew it, her mouth fell agape and she quickly raised her head to look my way. Her eyes doubled in size and glossed over.
“Rea-Really?” she asked with a shaky voice.
“You deserve it.” I winked.
“My own firm, though? How did you do it? I mean I am so grateful, but why? I don’t deserve this.” Her voice cracked, but she was fighting the tears hard.
Pushing my chair back, I stood and took the few steps to Shiloh. I grabbed her hands, encouraging her to stand.
“You’re more deserving than you know, baby. I know when you were working at the firm, you were forced to do things you didn’t want to do. I know most people would have turned their back on you if they were me. They aren’t me. I was done with you after all the shit that happened, but truth be told, I feel as though you did what you felt was right… even if it wasn’t.”
Shiloh’s bottom lip trembled, her hands sweat in mine, and the tears she fought were now cascading down her beautiful face.
“Don’t worry about the how or even the why I did it. Just know that I love you for just existing, and you deserve your firm and so much more.”
“Thank you.” Her voice cracked. “Thank you,” she repeated before kissing me.
I didn’t need the opinion or approval from anyone on the outside. My love for Shiloh was much deeper than the things she’d done.
Epilogue
“Here.” LeeAnn stood before me, handing off a double shot of whatever the hell she’d asked the bartender to give her.
“Really, LeeAnn? We just got here. You couldn’t wait to shove this damn drink down my throat, huh?” I complained, reluctantly taking the shot from her.
LeeAnn smirked. “Damn sure couldn’t. It’s been a long ass year. I’m finally happy you taking a drink since finding out you were pregnant with your cum droppings.”
I couldn’t contain the laughter that came out. I laughed so hard I almost dropped my shot. I knew LeeAnn loved my babies just as much as me and would give her last breath so they could live, so her innocent insults never moved me.
“You’re crazy as shit.” I continued laughing.
Between birthing and breastfeeding the twins, I needed this drink more than LeeAnn knew. Things had finally wrapped up with Arthur and William. William was sentenced to thirty years in prison with the possibility of parole after half the time had been served. Arthur, on the other hand, hadn’t been as fortunate and had been sentenced to life with the possibility of paroleafter twenty-five years. Even if he was able to parole out, he’d be shriveled up and old if he lived long enough. Last I’d heard about Lauryn, she had been admitted to Eastern State Hospital after lying to her boyfriend that she was pregnant, and when it didn’t happen, she tried to steal a baby from the local hospital. It was crazy how on the surface a person could seem to have the beauty and brains but be bat shit crazy. I guess once her father was put away, she didn’t have the backbone to make her problems disappear so she had to face them and couldn’t.
“I just missed my friend. That’s all.” She spoke a little softer with a slight smile.
“I missed you too,” I admitted with no hesitation.
LeeAnn and I spoke daily and saw each other often, but things had changed since I got pregnant. It became more difficult once the babies were born.
For a few seconds, LeeAnn stood staring at me with a slight smile, almost as if she had more to say, but her expression quickly faded when her eyes shifted behind me.
“Happy birthday to you.” She extended her shot glass my way without giving me time to see what changed her mood.
“Happy birthday to me.” I raised my glass, clinking it against hers before we simultaneously downed the liquid.
