Page 43 of Everlasting Vows

I’m proud of you guys

Warmth flows through my body at her acknowledgment. I need to do the same. Acknowledge the work Nix is putting in, as well as the effort I’m making to ask for what I need instead of keeping everything trapped inside.

Abbi

Thanks

How is everyone in your house doing?

Callie

I think the girls are having a growth spurt because they’re constantly hungry and they’re not sleeping very well

Dean has been on annual leave, which means I’ve been able to nap

Yay!

Abbi

Oh gosh!

I remember those times

They were exhausting

I can’t imagine how you do it with two going through things at around the same time; at least I had time in between things like that

I’d better let you get some sleep while you can

Thanks for the chat

Sweet dreams xx

Callie

Anytime

Love you

Abbi

Love you too

SESSION THREE

I tap my fingers on the arm of the chair I consider mine at this point and adjust my position. “I just don’t know what she wants from me anymore.” Frustration curls around every word. “I thought I was doing the right thing by shielding her from my work stuff and my bullshit, but she thinks I don’t trust her as a partner.” I sigh, shaking my head as I watch the leaves on the trees move with the wind through the window. I wave my hand around my head. “Not sure why she’d want a front-row seat to the crap in my head.”

Harry folds his hands across his stomach. “It’s part of intimacy within a relationship, Nix. Sharing your inner thoughts and feelings … your hurts, worries, and torments with the one person who has promised to always have your back is part of the relationship you signed up for when you married Abbi.” I feel his gaze burning into the side of my face. “When you shield her from those things, you inadvertently build a wall between you. I can see how she must feel a lack of trust on your part.”

I climb to my feet, unable to sit still with the frustration and confusion pumping through my system. “But I do trust her. More than I’ve ever trusted anyone else.” I wave my hands around on either side of my head again. “I don’t even want to be inside my head, so why would I want to burden Abbi with the stuff in there?”

“Because she wants you to.”

I freeze in place, my feet like lead. His words are so simple, yet they hit me as if I’ve been pistol-whipped. My body deflates, and I drop my head, my eyes locking on the timber floor beneath my boots. “You make it sound so simple.”

“Because it is.”

I snap my head around to him, disbelief clouding my vision.