AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“And that’s why you went out last night?”
“What did you think I was doing?”
“You didn’t tell me. It could have been anything.”
“Thought it would make a pleasant surprise this morning. Oh, by the way, the wedding’s this evening. Got it moved to the nearest church. Paperwork will be there. Everything will be nice and legal.”
He puts bacon in front of me before lifting the suitcase off the table. “Dig in. Coffee?”
I nod, picking up a fork and starting to eat. “I thought you’d gone to kill my father,” I say once I’ve swallowed.
“No need. The cartel will do that for me as soon as we’re married. They’ll whack him for the insult.”
“What if they decide to kill you, too?”
“I’m hard to kill. Thought you’d have worked that out by now.”
He joins me at the table. “There’ll be a dress at the church for you to slip into. Suit for me. I picked up some pregnancy tests, too.”
“Can we tell already?”
“Another six weeks or so, but better to have them. As soon as I can prove you're pregnant to the commission, all bets are off. We’re untouchable.”
“For a year.”
“More than long enough to get this resolved.” He sips at his coffee. “I feel like drinking this outside.”
He walks out the door, heading down to the shore of the lake. I follow him. I need some fresh air. The idea that I’ll be married by this time tomorrow is a lot to handle.
I find him sat on a log right by the water, a couple of hundred yards from the house. I sit beside him, leaning against him.
“You happy?” he asks.
“I don’t know. Am I still your prisoner?”
“What if you weren’t? Would you still marry me?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you want?”
“I want to be able to choose.”
“Choice matters to you, I’m guessing.”
“My mom never had it.”
“You remember much about her?”
“She had nothing, she told me. Her parents were addicts. They pimped her out to him. He made her do some horrible things. After she had me, he just got worse.”
“What did he do?”
“I don’t remember much, but I remember the yelling and the hitting. She had black eyes a lot, bruises on her neck. He kept telling her she was a slut, an unfit mother, that I would never amount to anything because of her. Threatened to kill her and me. I remember when she took me to the railroad station. Told me she loved me more than anything in the world. She grabbed my hand as a train came in. I think she was going to pull me under with her, but at the last moment she let go of my hand and said, ‘I’m sorry.’ Then she jumped.”
He kisses the top of my head. “I’m sorry,” he says.
“It was a long time ago.”
