AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Nine
Adam
September 17th…
How can my heart be filled with love and sadness at the same time? Ember and I opted for a simple ceremony at the courthouse attended by my siblings, hers, and our respective paternal grandparents. The maternal sets aren’t part of our lives for different reasons. Her mom’s parents having passed years ago and mine might as well have considering the treatment of my mom and zero attempts to make it right since she gave them an ultimatum.
“You may now kiss your bride,” Judge Myerson declares and I dip Ember, my tears landing on her cheeks as my hand curls in her waist length dark blonde hair to hold her steady. “Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Adam Stone,” he adds once we come up for air. Kent whistles loud enough to shatter glass, yet it doesn’t even faze me. I’m too grateful for his presence. Ember had invited their parents, wanting them to be a part of our day. And while she wasn’t surprised they’d declined; she had hoped they’d at least be happy for her.
They weren’t. Thankfully, she’d already moved her stuff to my house and no longer had to deal with their negativity. I know it hurt – how could it not? – but she was determined not to let them win, and allowing them to ruin what we’d found would do that.
Once we’d finalized our wedding plans, we’d contacted Mr. Boone with the news. Needless to say, he was pleased and asked that we send him a copy of the marriage license as soon as possible. With that, he could forward it on to the judge and begin finalizing the guardianship. Now that Ember is my wife, that responsibility also includes her and amendments needed to be made to show that. She eagerly agreed to and signed whatever was required, not hesitating to align her life with my siblings to ensure they stayed where they belonged. At home with us.
“I love you, Mrs. Stone,” I tell her, not quite ready to let her go and share her.
As if she knows, she cups my cheek and says, “I love you, too, Mr. Stone.” A quick peck. “And I’ll show you how much tonight.” It’s difficult not to kick everyone out and consummate our union right the fuck now, but I’m an adult and can control my urges. I did it for all those years while I waited for Ember to be mine.
But you hadn’t had her then, so you didn’t know what you were missing. You do now.
My conscience is a dick.
You’re just mad you won’t be able to use yours for hours upon hours upon…
Shut up.
We remind those with us that we’ll be having a little celebration back at the house, thank the judge once more, grab our certificate, and head to the parking lot. I open Ember’s door for her, the sun shining off her wedding rings, and I can’t resist picking her up and spinning us around before she gets inside.
Nothing and no one can burst my bubble.
–––
I really need to learn not to tempt fate.
We’re enjoying the small party our respective siblings arranged for us when the bell rings. Most visitors prefer to knock, but since we now associate that with the worst night of our lives, it’s a relief to hear the chimes instead.
Until I see who is standing on the other side. When I realize who it is, it takes a second as I haven’t seen them in almost a decade, I start to close the door in their faces.
The only thing stopping it from shutting is a foot, one that belongs to Troy Cross. Beside him is his wife, Karen.
“What do you want?”
Karen, always the spokesperson for them, literally clutches her pearls and answers with a question of her own, evading mine, “Is that any way to treat your grandparents?”
“My grandparents are inside. All I see in front of me are two strangers.”
“Common courtesy dictates letting people know when their daughter has passed, giving us the opportunity to mourn her with our family,” Troy scolds me.
“Mom considered you both dead to her years ago, which means you have no family here.”
“Well I never,” Karen chimes in.
“Exactly. You never apologized, you never expressed any regret for how you treated her or my dad. You let all this time go by before showing your faces, so again I ask, what do you want?” They have an angle, I know it. I just need to figure out what it is.
“We were heartbroken” – liar – “to learn of Margaret’s death.” And our dad’s? Not claiming to be upset about, are you? “Have you spoken to a lawyer? If not, you should. You need to sue the driver’s employer. They owe us.” There it is. Money. It’s what they live for. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’d had some plan to get more the day mom went ballistic when they came here when we were younger.
“Hey, big man,” Riley calls out. “Your wife needs…” She freezes mid-sentence when she sees the couple on our porch. There’s no way she recognizes them because the last time she saw them she was only four. That’s when it hits me.
“It was you,” I snarl as I put the pieces together. They were responsible for her fear that she and Camden would be taken from me. “Are you proud of yourselves for scaring a little girl? Does it make you feel good that she cried herself to sleep for nights because of what you said?” Before they can answer for themselves, not that there’s any excuse for what they did, we’re interrupted.
