Page 71 of The Secret that Shocked Cinderella

And she wondered if they had the strength to get through them.

Don’t lose hope.

And she had no idea where that voice came from. Because there was nothing in her life to suggest that hope meant anything.

Liar.

You’re stuck thinking about your childhood. Not this life with him. There is every reason to believe that hope means something.

Hadn’t they endured so much already? And they weren’t apart from each other, in spite of all the things that had happened. They were still together. They were married. Krav was her husband and that had to count for something. He had told her about his childhood. About the trauma that he had endured. The abuse.

That mattered.

They had both had so many chances to walk away. And even if they had done for a while, it hadn’t stayed that way.

There was hope in that.

There was hope.

And it was here that she’d said she loved him for the first time. And she’d said it again in Paris.

And each and every time something in her had been broken after.

Each and every time.

She wondered if she had the bravery to say it again. Because she did love him. She did. She had from the beginning, and learning about him had only deepened it. And now she had scars, scars from him.

She liked to think he had a few from her.

It hadn’t been easy to get here.

But they had a marriage, and they had a child. And he was no longer holding himself back from Soriya. So that had to matter.

And maybe she was too attached to echoes. To rain. But she decided to plan a nice dinner for the two of them. Like that night everything had fallen apart. Because she was determined to write them a different ending. Because he was her fate. She had known it then, and she knew it just as deeply now, so perhaps what was required was trusting in that. Trusting in them.

She had the same dinner prepared, maybe she was a glutton for punishment of one kind or another. She wouldn’t be surprised. She wouldn’t be surprised if there were things and issues in herself she didn’t fully comprehend. But here she was.

The nannies had Soriya taken care of. Tonight was about her and Krav. It was important. And necessary. Tonight was about the two of them.

Their connection, but also everything they had learned since that night. That night they’d met.

She had believed their connection had been chemistry.

But it was more. Deeper. And it grew deeper every day.

When he came downstairs from his day working in his office, he was dressed in a white shirt, two buttons undone at his strong throat, the sleeves pushed up to his elbows, revealing strong forearms.

He was beautiful, and she would never tire of him. Of all that tanned, toned skin. His perfectly chiseled features. His large, strong hands and the way that they held her.

“I thought tonight was special.”

“Why exactly?” he asked, looking down the table.

“I thought it was special because we were together.”

“We are always together,” he said, kissing her on the lips.

“I know,” she said. “That makes life feel kinda special.”

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