Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 103050 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103050 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
“Stop trying to justify the complete chaos that you bring to her life. As usual, I’m going to have to pick up the pieces that are left behind because of your life choices.”
She frowns and throws up her hands. “What pieces, Deacon?” she whisper-shouts. “There are no pieces. Willow is a beautiful, confident little girl. She’s well-adjusted and happy.”
“And I want her to stay that way.”
She nods, but not in a way that she’s agreeing with me. “Exactly, you want to freeze time and have everything stay exactly how it is right now. But guess what? Willow is reading now. She can swim. Soon she’ll be learning physics and chemistry. It’s all new information. Change. It’s all good.”
“I’m not trying to have her stay six for the rest of her life. I’m just trying to protect her from change that’s going to hurt her. I would have thought you would want to do that too.”
“I’m trying to build a happy life, Deacon. I want Willow to be happy, but I don’t think my daughter’s happiness needs to come at the expense of my own. And I don’t think every change in Willow’s life is catastrophic.”
“I’m not saying every change is catastrophic. Just the catastrophic ones. The ones where suddenly she’s having to move house twice a week.”
“She’s going to be fine with it,” Gabby snaps. “She’ll adjust. And she’ll have a sibling. This is good, Deacon, if only you could see it.”
“How do you know?”
“Let’s go and tell her.” She starts to turn to the kitchen.
I grab her wrist and pull her back. “Seriously, Gabby?”
She shakes off my hand. “Seriously. You’ve been putting it off and putting it off. She has to know sooner or later. And frankly, she needs to get used to our new arrangement in plenty of time for the baby. You have two weeks to get used to the idea, and from August 13th, Willow is going to start staying out our place.”
The blood in my veins is bubbling with panic. She can’t fast-forward things like this. I expected the nesting arrangement to end when Gabby got married, and I didn’t expect that to happen for at least eighteen months. Big New York weddings take a long time to plan.
“Stop this,” I say. “You can’t get mad at me and make Willow suffer.”
“I’m not making Willow suffer, you asshole. All I’m trying to do is live my life, Deacon. Why don’t you try to do that too? What about that woman you had over here the other day. You weren’t too concerned about Willow being disrupted by that.”
“I’m not marrying her,” I spit out.
“Maybe you should. Maybe you’d let go of some of these crazy ideas that you can protect your daughter from everything. Then maybe Willow would have half a chance at a normal childhood. Willow is not in danger. She’s not in pain. She’s not Penny.”
The blood in my veins turns to ice.
“Penny?” Why on earth would she bring up my sister.
The scrape of a chair on the hardwood stops Gabby and me from sniping at each other, and Willow comes bounding toward us.
“I thought you had to go, Mommy?” Willow says, reaching up for a hug from her mother.
Normally Gabby would bend and pick her up, but instead, she kneels down. “I love you so much, Willow. I’m going to see you on Sunday.”
“Okay, say hi to Ray for me.”
I try and tamp down the pure anger that I feel radiating from every pore. How dare Gabby create such chaos, try to put it on me, and just walk away.
At least Willow has me. And she and I will be in this house together. I can provide my daughter with the safety and security that she needs. I can keep everything the same for her until her ship settles in its new waters.
THIRTY-THREE
Aurora
The walk from the hotel to Deacon’s townhouse gives me a chance to think. He was so insistent that I come over again, so sure that we could make things work between us, that I started to wonder if it really might be possible. Especially when he messaged me later on Monday asking me to come to the townhouse tonight.
I’d spent the entire day on Tuesday beaming at the idea that maybe there was a way that Deacon and I could actually work out. But when he messaged me this morning and told me not to come at six to see Willow before she went to bed, but to wait until eight, I knew things had shifted for him. Maybe I shouldn’t even bother going. But I need the closure.
I walk up the steps to the townhouse and take a deep breath before I press the bell.
The way he doesn’t smile when he answers the door says it all.
He’s had time to think.