Page 58 of The Wedding Planner's Manny
I had no idea how long I stood there, outside the boutique on the sidewalk, replaying the call over and over in my head, but eventually, the door behind me opened and Kade came out—wearing street clothes. “Are you okay?” he asked, resting a hand on my shoulder. “Nick said you might be talking to your ex.”
“I was,” I admitted. “It wasn't a long talk, though.”
“I see.” Kade glanced up the sidewalk. “Should we walk a little?” He didn't wait for me to respond before he started moving and I simply fell into step beside him. He was right; walking was better than standing still, even if my mind was still stuck in the same place. “You don't subscribe to the Vinist beliefs anymore, do you?” Kade asked.
“No.”
“But it's still hard to forget everything you've been taught, isn't it?” There was no judgment in Kade's voice and when I looked at him, I realized he'd probably gone through something like this too. He'd escaped the Vinist community that raised him and his husband, and made a life for himself far away from his family. I always figured he'd left it all behind without ever looking back, but maybe he hadn't.
“Honestly,” I said, “I'm wondering how I ever believed any of it at all. But at the same time...”
“You're wondering what if he's right?” Kade stopped and turned to me, placing both of his hands firmly on my shoulders. “He's not right, okay? He's wrong. They're all wrong. You need to remember that. No matter what happens.” He let his hands sink to his sides again, but the expression on his face remained serious. “Sometimes I lay awake at night because I wish I could go back to Goldstone and get every single omega I grew up with out of there. But I can't. Hardly anyone gets out of there. But you did, Rhys, and you need to stay out. Promise me that.”
“I promise,” I said softly, swallowing past the lump that had suddenly built up in my throat. I'd had friends in Crystal Bay too. Kade seemed to be able to read this on my face.
“It's okay if you can only save yourself,” he tried to assure me. “You have to think of your child now.”
My child. Oh Lord. I hadn't even thought of that when I was talking to Jeremiah. What was it about the guy that killed my cognitive abilities? “Jeremiah wants to come to Oceanport again,” I said to Kade.
“He wants me to watch him sign the divorce papers. He thinks I don't really mean it.”
“Vinist alphas can be so conceited, huh?” Kade's eyes strayed to my belly as he spoke. It seemedhiscognitive centers weren't damaged. “You can't let him know the child is his.”
I ran a hand back through my hair. “I don't want to tell him about the child, but do you think he's going to believe someone else knocked me up the minute I came back to Oceanport?”
Wrinkles appeared on Kade's forehead. “I don't know. Vinists are super full of themselves, but their narrow worldview also makes it easy to trick them. If he thinks another alpha knocked you up, he won't want anything to do with the child, or you. I didn't get my divorce until I was pregnant with someone else's baby either.”
I knew that story. Nick had told me about it. But it didn't exactly inspire confidence in me. It had been years before anyone could convince Kade's ex to sign those papers and set him free. What if that was going to be me?
I couldn't let that happen. Whatever story I told Jeremiah, I really needed to sell it.
I needed Ethan's help.
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“R eally, Grandma, you don't need to make underwear for Rhys and me. We're fine. We're not going to freeze off our man bits.”
“But aren't these nice?” Sitting in her wheelchair, my grandma held up a pair of pink woolen undies she'd finished knitting.
I didn't know how to respond. Was there even a right answer? If I told her they were ugly, I would hurt her feelings—and I'd very likely end up with a needle through my head. If I told her they were nice, I was going to leave here with ten pairs of woolen underwear in my hands.
My grandma huffed. “If you don't want them, I'll give them to the nice men of the fire department.
Those are some hard-working alphas who could use some extra protection for their private parts.”
I cringed. She wasn't really going to visit the fire department and offer the men working there her knitted underwear, was she?
Knowing my grandma, she absolutely was.
I wondered how far things had progressed with her and the fire chief, but at the same time, my brain really didn't want to think about it, either.
“Don't firemen always do these charity calendars?” My grandma asked, turning her underwear over in her hands and studying it. “You know, where they're nearly naked? Imagine if they did that in these!”
“I really don't want to imagine that, Grandma.”
My grandma huffed again. “I really don't know how you turned into such a prude. But then, your mother is the same way. At least, if the rumors are true, you've finally gotten yourself an omega.” She set the underwear aside for now, and I was glad for that at least. Until my grandma continued talking anyway. “Is it true what they say, though?” she asked, a sharp undertone in her voice. “That omega you introduced me to is carrying another alpha's spawn?”
