His voice drops. “You think they’re going to make us grandparents soon?”
I chuckle. “Yes, I guarantee it. Probably sooner rather than later.”
He huffs out a breath, and I don’t have to see him to know that he’s running his hand over his face. “So maybe I didn’t fuck up as bad as I thought I did.”
I sit up at that. Robert has never been one to second-guess himself. He always does what he thinks is best, and as far as I know, he never thinks about it again. It’s not like him to question his actions. “What do you mean?” I ask.
His voice is strangled. “I uh, told the boys they had to get married.”
He’s silent, as if he just dropped a bombshell, and when I don’t react, he comments, “You already knew.”
I stand up and start pacing the living room. “Yeah, they told me.”
When I don’t say anything more, he asks, “And? What are you thinking?”
I close my eyes and shake my head. “You know, in the past, you would have talked to me about something like this before you did it instead of after the fact.”
He bursts out a laugh. “Yeah, well, that’s sort of hard to do since you’ve left me.”
“I didn’t leave you,” I blurt out but just as quickly follow up with “Not really. Not like that.”
His voice is void of emotion. “Well, that’s sure the hell what it feels like.” He grunts. “You’re my wife. You sleep in another house, another bed. I don’t ever see you. It sure as hell feels like you left me.”
I lean my head back and look at the ceiling. “I needed a break.”
“From me?”
I throw a hand up. “From everything, but you know what, this is a perfect example, Robert. You can say you didn’t talk to me about this because I had moved out, but if I was there, you would have made the decision on your own without asking me what I thought.”
“Ellie, you know it’s not just us. We have the whole family to think about, and right now we look weak.”
“Because of me,” I blurt out. “You think we look weak because I moved out?”
Instead of answering, he urges, “It’s time to come home, Ellie.”
I blow out a breath. “I’m not coming home just because you’re worried about keeping up appearances.”
He raises his voice. “I don’t give a fuck what people think. I want my wife back.”
I count to five to try and keep myself calm. But as soon as I finish, I blurt out, “You don’t want a wife. You want someone to stand next to you and make your life easier. You want to take, take, take and give nothing in return. Well, that’s no longer the life I want.”
“Ellie, this is enough. You’ve proved your point.”
I laugh out loud. “No, obviously you’re not listening to me. I’m not trying to prove a point. I’m taking a break.”
There’s no hiding the annoyance in his voice. “You knew what you were getting yourself into when you married me, Eleanor. You knew what living the Mafia life entailed.”
Slowly, I answer, “Yeah, I did. But I didn’t know that I would be losing myself along the way.”
CHAPTER 2
ROBERT
I suck in a breath.
Eleanor hasn’t been herself for a while, but I thought she was happy.
I should have listened to her; I should have done something. Walking out should never have been an option.
