Page 9 of Forever King

Finally, that makes her give me a big smile that lights up her entire face. “No worries. The only one who might consider doing that is my sister, and even Kelly is crazy about you. Now if I was going to marry one of your brothers, she might have something to say.”

“Like Marius?” I ask as I pull her into me for a hug.

She flinches for a moment, confusing me, but then her body relaxes against mine. Staring up at me, she tilts her head right and then left. “He made an impression on her back in school, and I’m not sure my claims that he’s a decent guy have broken through yet.”

The thought crosses my mind that he may have done something with Kelly, so I ask, “There’s no chance those two got together at any point, is there? That would explain why she isn’t his biggest fan.”

Rolling her eyes, Kate seems to consider the possibility for a moment or two. “I don’t think so, but I’ve never even entertained that idea. Maybe I’ll ask her about it on Monday. I don’t see those two ever getting together, but to be honest, I neverimagined he’d be with someone like Eden. I always thought he’d end up with a woman who never said a peep and completely deferred to him. Eden is definitely not that at all.”

She’s not wrong about that. Eden is absolutely not the kind of person I ever saw that brother with, never mind marrying her.

I follow Kate out of the bathroom as that rambles around my brain. Marius is better off having an Eden in his life, though. He needs someone who’s strong enough to temper his bullshit tendencies, and she’s definitely that.

“So, do you want to hear about my day? Spoiler alert: it involves Marius.”

She glances over at me as she kicks off her heels and crawls into bed still fully clothed in her white blouse and navy blue skirt she wore to work. “You don’t have to warn me about him anymore, honey. I know he’s a decent guy. I don’t worry he’s going to encourage you to do something stupid when he’s around. He showed me he’s not the person I thought he was.”

“Okay, then do you want to hear what happened? It’s good news.”

“Can we talk in about an hour? Today wiped me out. I just want to take a little nap, but I promise I’ll be up in a little while.”

I don’t want to overreact, but Kate has never not wanted to hear about my work with the foundation. In fact, whenever I have anything to say about it, she’s always intensely interested. Something’s wrong. I don’t know what it is, but she’s not acting like herself.

Instead of pushing, though, I simply smile and walk over to her side of the bed before dipping my head to kiss her. “No problem. I’ll be out in the living room, so when you feel better, I can tell you my story then.”

She smiles, and I whisper, “I love you, Kate. You know that, right?”

Looking up at me, she grins and says, “I better. We’ve got hundreds of people coming to our wedding in a month.”

“Okay. Just wanted to make sure you know.”

For a long moment, she stares into my eyes, and I can’t help but wonder what’s going on that she’s not telling me. Kate’s always been my rock. She’s never made me wonder for even a second if she loves me, but she’s never acted like this.

“I’ll talk to you in an hour. I can’t wait to hear what happened, okay?”

I nod, but when I turn to leave her to her nap, I notice her blouse has slipped off her right shoulder to reveal a red mark. I study it for a few seconds until she notices and quickly covers up.

Now I can’t stop myself from thinking something is very wrong.

“Kate, what’s going on? Where did you get that mark on your shoulder from?”

She gives me a strange look that seems utterly forced, like she’s making herself appear like my questions are ridiculous but she knows they aren’t. “What mark? I’m sure it’s just from my purse. You try carrying one around all day.”

That sounds like a lie, and we both know that. She doesn’t carry a purse all day. She’s a third grade teacher. Her purse stays in her desk while she’s teaching students.

“You know as well as I do that’s a lie, and it’s not a very good one.”

I look around the room to find her purse and see it on the chair in the corner where she threw it when she walked in. I march over to pick it up, desperately wanting it to feel heavy so her claim could possibly be true.

Except it’s not. In fact, it’s lighter than it’s ever been. I’ve held her purse dozens, if not hundreds, of times when we go shopping and she’s trying clothes on, and it’s never felt like this. If I didn’t know better, I’d say it’s empty.

I look inside it as she begins talking about how women’s purses are private, but I’m not listening. I’m entirely focused on what’s missing from her purse at this moment.

Turning to face her, I ask, “Where’s your wallet?”

Kate doesn’t answer me. She merely closes her eyes, like she can’t face me.

What is going on?