Page 183 of The Paid Wife: A Lesbian Romance
good person, all the money you’ve invested in my schooling
and in college, how you’ve kept me safe and protected me all
this time. I know that you’ve done what you’ve thought is
right and what you thought was best for me and I’m so glad
you were there to do that.” She thought about Dani, growing
up with no parents at all. How she would have likely given the
world to have a mom and a dad like Peter and Sandra, even if
they were overbearing and insensitive some of the time.
“Emily…” Peter started, but then he trailed off. He did at
least look just the faintest bit guilty, and Emily took courage
from that.
“Dad,” she said, and swallowed hard. “I know what you did.
What you offered Dani. She didn’t want to tell me, but I
wouldn’t stop asking. I knew there had to be more to it. I can’t
believe you’d spend so much of your own money just to get
me back here. I know you want to keep me safe and give me a
good life, and that’s why you did it, but I also know you want
to keep your career safe since you’ve worked so hard for it. I
know you have certain expectations and ideas as to how my
life should go. I want to thank you for your kindness, but I also
want to say we can’t do things this way anymore. We can’t
buy other people. I know I tried to do that when I asked Dani
to marry me just to get your attention. It was wrong. I was
wrong. I feel so, so bad about that. I just saw my end
objective. I didn’t even think about how she would truly feel
about it. I didn’t consider that we’d end up having feelings for
each other.”
“Feelings?” Sandra said, and stiffened. “Good Lord. You
can’t have real feelings after just a few days. That’s ludicrous.
She’s a stranger.” She unfolded the cloth napkin beside her
