Page 41 of Stone
I can feel my body tightening up again, my orgasm coming, and instead of thinking, I let myself believe this is us, that we’re married without lies. Come morning, I’ll let myself remember what happened, remember his ex-wife.
Tomorrow we’ll see if there is even an us at all.
Chapter 19
Stone – Two Days Later
I grin as Kimberly wipes flour on Rose’s cheek, shocking her before she giggles, making my heart flutter, the sound fucking adorable.
It’s the first time she’s giggled in my presence since before she left for New York, when everything was perfect between us.
Since we made love, she’s barely even fucking said a word to me. She is in her head a lot, and I get it, I fucked up big time, I should have explained everything with Elsie, and that is something I have to live with. But surely she can see that I love her, that I want her.
I’m not staying at the club or my home there. I’m staying on her couch. When we have church tomorrow, I won’t be staying for drinks after. I’ll be returning to her before she gets back from work, which starts again tonight with Doc.
I meant when I told her she was my priority, now if only she would open her eyes and see it.
“I see she’s wearing her wedding rings,” William says as he passes me a beer, and I give him a nod in thanks, not taking my eyes off Rose helping her sister bake a cake for her cooking class tomorrow. Its looking more like they are trying to get each other with flour.
We’ve been here for two hours, we’ve eaten, hung out, and still she hasn’t said one word to me. Her mama looks between us like she’s trying to see something, and whatever it was she sees, makes her smile. So that has to be good, right?
“I think she’s forgotten I put them on her to be honest,” I admit.
“Nah,” William instantly denies, making me look at him with a raised brow, and he grins as he states, “I’ve caught her looking at them several times, sometimes in admiration, other times confusion, then my favorite, pure murder.”
I eye my wife and murmur, “I think I prefer the first one,” making William chuckle.
“She loves you, Stone, you know she does, she’s just…” he pauses for a second, and I look at him again before he continues, “I don’t want to say confused, maybe befuddled, I guess. She knows she loves you and she knows you love her, but she’s struggling to get past the lies.”
“I didn’t know what else to do, William. Why do you think I didn’t meet you all this time? I knew you’d know who I was and would feel obligated to tell Rose. I just needed time to figure out how I would tell her myself, but I guess the truth always comes out,” I say as I look back at Rose to see her helping Kimmy scoop the right amount of cake mix into two tins.
“Just give her time. She’s not used to the whole alpha male ways of the brotherhood, and the fact you were married when you met is a big thing for her,” he says. I open my mouth todefend myself but he puts his hand up and says, “I know, you did it out of obligation and regretted it instantly, heck, I’ve already had words with your dad for lying about your relationship with Elsie, knowing I would repeat it to my daughter and hurt her,” I cut in and admit, “You and I both.” He smiles and says, “In Rose’s head, you were legally married, she feels like she was the other woman, that Elsie is going to be heartbroken finding out about her, and whether you want to admit it or not, meeting my daughter is what pushed you to divorce the nasty woman. Again, that is something she’s trying to figure out her feelings on.”
Fuck, she thinks she broke up a marriage.
I look towards Rose as she giggles again, and my heart melts seeing her trying to run from her sister, who is whipping her with a towel, flour all over her head, making William chuckle at his daughters’ antics.
“What do I do, William?” I ask, a little bit of fear filling me.
I know I can’t change her feelings about my marriage to Elsie and I know that is what her biggest problem is at the moment, our marriage not even at the front of her mind.
If Elsie hadn’t existed, if I hadn’t lied about the club, she would have probably scolded me about marrying her, then demanded a proper wedding. Now she’s struggling because I lied, and I’ve lost her trust.
“You keep doing what you’re doing,” a voice from behind says, and I turn and lock eyes with Karen, eyes just like my wife’s.
Rose definitely took after her mama in the looks department.
She nods to my wife and states, “My daughter is coming around, she may not see it, but she is. As soon as you explained yourself, she understood, even if she didn’t want to, she did, so keep what you are doing, Stone.”
I nod and whisper, “Thank you.”
Karen smiles as she rounds us to go to her daughters, but pauses as she looks at me with a raised brow and states, “AndI expect to be able to plan a proper wedding for my oldest daughter in the near future!”
I grin and agree, “Yes ma’am,” making her smile before she continues her way to her daughters who instantly stop what they’re doing and look at Karen sheepishly.
“A mother’s look always stops them in their tracks,” William admits, and I hum in agreement.
“Listen to my wife, son, she knows what she’s talking about,” he says before he follows his wife outside, but drags Kimmy with him while an unsuspecting Rose looks at her wedding rings again with a slight frown. I sigh and put my beer on the table before walking over to her.
