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“Luca, that isn’t possible.”
“Baby, your faith in me is awe-inspiring. But I don’t share that same faith in my ability to love and care for more than you and Love Bug. I seriously hope I’m wrong, but it just seems impossible to me.”
Bending forward, she brushed her lips over mine. “Then I’ll help you, and you’ll eventually trust your ability to love wholeheartedly.”
“I know I can do that, but only with you and Bug. I’m a selfish bastard, Vi. Always have been, and until that little girl was placed in my arms, I figured I always would be. Remington saved my life when he entrusted yours to me.”
“These babies will know your love too,” she assured me before giving me a slower, more lingering kiss. “Now, I need you to do something for me.”
“Anything, baby.”
She tossed her hair out of her face and bit her lip as she looked down at me through her lashes. “Make me forget about this crappy day. Give me new memories to replace the ones that hurt.”
Cupping the back of her head, I pulled her closer until our lips were nearly touching. “I’ll give you whatever you need, Vi. From here until the day I take my last breath. I live for you.”
Chapter 9
Jesse
I couldn’t look at Layla the entire flight back to the West Coast.
My heart felt heavy. With disappointment. Anger. Disillusionment.
The changes had started in her years before. When everyone was trying to “help” Lucy plan her wedding, Layla had gotten carried away, but I couldn’t help noticing the beginnings of a change even then. Her entire personality began to shift, and I kept making excuses for it.
She was sad that our daughter was growing up.
She couldn’t wrap her head around Lucy’s mental illness that silently urged her to harm herself.
Things calmed down after Lu got married and had Hayat. For a little while, at least. But from time to time, my wife would do random things that were so completely unlike her, it was like she’d been abducted and replaced by an entirely different person. One day she would be my Layla, the next, she would be a stranger, then back to my Layla again.
As the years passed, I saw more of the stranger than the woman I’d fallen so madly in love with. The woman who had completed my world, given me the family of my own I’d never thought I’d have. She’d brought Lucy and Lana into my life. She’d given me our two pain-in-the-ass, but amazing sons. Because of her, we had seven incredible grandchildren.
Our lives had only gotten brighter as time passed.
Yet I saw less and less of the woman I loved during that time.
And I didn’t know what to do.
The love I had for her hadn’t faded. Even when she felt like a stranger, my heart still did a weird little flip every time I saw her. She might not be the same woman, but she was mine, and I couldn’t imagine my life without her.
Layla was quiet on the flight back to California. Sullenly, she refused to speak to anyone, including Emmie and Nik. I didn’t even try to make conversation with her or my bandbrother and sister. My heart felt broken. For Violet. For Luca. For Love Bug.
For me.
I couldn’t keep making excuses for why Layla was being the way she was more often than not these days. Something was off. Wrong. I could sense it, had for years now, and I’d refused to acknowledge it.
Maybe we needed to see a counselor. Perhaps she was depressed and needed therapy or even medication? I wasn’t sure what would help, or if anything could, but I had to try. I wanted my Layla back.
Not this cold, empty shell of the woman who had won my heart so easily.
Once we were on the ground and the pilot had opened the door, I slowly pushed to my feet. Layla muttered something under her breath and stood, but as she did, I saw her begin to sway. On reflex, I reached for her, my arms going around her as her eyes went blank, and she became dead weight against me.
“Emmie!” I cried, lifting my wife into my arms and laying her on the couch.
Emmie, Nik, the flight attendant, and the pilot all came running. The pilot and flight attendant had first aid training. Helplessly, I watched as they checked for Layla’s pulse, and my heart stopped when the pilot pulled down an oxygen mask. He didn’t start chest compressions, which told me her heart hadn’t stopped, but that didn’t prevent me from inwardly freaking out as the flight attendant called 9-1-1.
The next few hours were a blur.
