Текст книги "Loving the White Liar"

Автор книги: Kate Stewart

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Текущая страница: 11 (всего у книги 18 страниц)

 

 

A week later, I was standing in the doorway of Jayden’s bathroom after getting home from work and apparently catching the late day performance.

“If ju like pina colodazzz ...” Jayden sang along with Rupert Holmes in some pre-pubescent, Mexican boy voice. He kept perfect rhythm, but seemed to have a mic and no amp. “If you liking making love at midnight...in ze dunnnnnnes of ze cape.”

I burst out laughing as the shower curtain opened and my man stood in all his naked glory with suds flowing down his legs, never stopping his song. “Then zur de love that I’ve looked forrrr come with meeee and escape.” He then decided that his penis was the perfect guitar to pick and proceeded to use it along with his mouth as the outlet. Hysterical at this point, I began to sway my hips to his crazy shit as he motioned to me with his finger to join him. Shaking my head no, I stood in place, swaying to his manmade music until he was clean and stepping out for a bow. Wrapping a towel around him, he pulled me his way, planting a messy kiss on my lips.

“Someone is in a good mood,” I teased as I pulled away to look up at him. The smile in his eyes let me know I was in for a good night.

He lowered his stare, checking me out, letting out an appreciative whistle. “Life is good, bebe. Life is good.” I chuckled at his nonsense, taking leave of the bathroom to change out of my skirt. He joined me in the bedroom to pull on some clothes. “You know I’ve heard that song my whole life and I swear I’m just clicking together the lyrics.” He looked at me with a satisfied grin as he brushed the water off his body with his towel.

“It’s the cheating song,” I replied, wrinkling my nose.

“Yeah, but it’s the point of it. Pretty cool. You have to admit that everyone gets tired of the same person after a while and the fact that they went looking for someone else and ended up finding each other...it’s honest.”

“So you are just now getting it, huh?” I said, poking at him as he opened his drawers.

“Baby, I have the attention span of a fruit fly on a watermelon farm. I probably haven’t pieced together half the songs I know the words to. Well, beside every song The Beatles ever made.”

I sat on the bed, admiring my love. “You have thick thighs and a perfect ass.”

“Did you just say you wanted to lick my thighs?” He turned and gave me a raised brow.

“Kind of,” I cooed as he pulled up his boxers.

“That can be arranged...Hilary, nope, nope, nope, get dressed. I’m taking you out tonight.”

I paused mid-skirt disposal and gave him a questioning look.

“Oh, baby, did you think I’d forget you are officially my cougar today?”

I lay back in bed, whining, “I’m too tired, Jayden.”

“That’s a given considering your age.” Baring my teeth, he moved to pin me on the bed. “It’s not every day I get to cheat on my beautiful girlfriend with an older woman. We have to make the best of it.”

“Har, har, I’ve got your age by less than a month.”

Still hovering, he looked down at me. “Happy birthday, baby.”

“Thank you,” I rasped as he softly kissed my cheek and moved down to my throat.

“See this is much better,” I protested as he peppered kisses next to my ear and then grabbed my lobe between his teeth. “Entertainment and we don’t even have to leave the house.”

“We haven’t been out since our first date,” he whispered to me. “Get dressed in something comfortable, jeans and a t-shirt.”

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

Once Jayden dressed, he ordered me to meet him in the living room in ten minutes. I had to admit I was excited about the idea of going out, not even having realized we hadn’t since our first date. These last months had passed by in a flash. When I should have been suffering from cabin fever, I was asking to stay in and do our usual. I didn’t realize how very domesticated we’d become. I freshened up my makeup and headed out to the living room where Jayden waited for me with Trip.

“Trip’s coming?” I asked curiously.

“Yep, it’s a family affair. He baked the cake.”

I shook my head and leaned down then grazed my fingernails behind his ears. “You bake, too, buddy?” Trip’s reply was, as always, a sloppy kiss across my lips.

“Ew,” I said, wiping off the fresh saliva with a grimace.

Once in Jayden’s truck, he pulled me so I was sitting right next to him, putting Trip in the passenger seat. When we pulled up to Kentucky Fried Chicken, I gave him a sideways glance.

“Wow,” I said, not hiding my disappointment. “Just what I wanted, a bucket of heart attack.”

Jayden ordered enough food for ten people as Trip barked at the voice coming through the speaker.

“Chill out, beast,” Jayden scorned as Trip completely ignored him. Food in tow, we set off for a drive that took the better part of an hour. When we pulled up to a gate in the middle of the mountains, I took a long look at Jayden who was singing along to Love Me Do and ignoring every question I asked. Jayden pulled out of his cell as he got out of the truck.

“What’s the code? Thanks, Unc. Yeah, so far. See you.” Jayden put in the combination to the lock and minutes later, we were rolling down a narrow lane toward an expansive pasture filled with fields of flowers with the mountains sitting majestically in the background.

“This is beautiful,” I remarked.

“Picnic, baby. I thought you’d like it.”

“I love it. Your uncle owns it?”

“Yeah, these are his hunting grounds, actually.” Jayden pulled to a stop when he seemed satisfied then looked at me. “Give me a few minutes to set up.”

“Okay,” I noted, taking in the scenery. In the rearview, I saw him pull down his truck gate and spread out a blanket in the bed. He opened a cooler he had packed and popped a bottle of champagne. He glanced up at me and I faced forward quickly.

“Come on, Curious George,” he scorned playfully.

“I wasn’t looking, I swear,” I lied as I rounded the truck. Trip took off like a bat out of hell as I opened my door and I ran after him like a lunatic.

“Let him go, baby. He knows the way back. He can’t go too far.”

“Okay,” I said, breathless. “Jayden, this is beautiful.”

It was seven thirty, but the sun was just getting into the vicinity of setting. It was warm out, but not enough to bitch about. Jayden had thought of everything. He reached back behind his seat and pulled out a couple of his couch throw pillows and within minutes we were having the perfect picnic in his truck bed. Along with the Colonel’s secret recipe and mountains of stick to your ribs side dishes, he had indeed furnished a chocolate cake. We sat dining in his truck bed, sipping champagne, and making pigs of ourselves on fried chicken.

“This is really something,” I said, leaning over to give him a grease filled kiss.

“You’re welcome,” he said, tearing off a piece of chicken drum.

When we were full and had cleared the mess, we lay in the truck staring up at the moon, barely visible in the rapidly purpling sky.

“I’m really impressed, Jayden. You said you aren’t good at this girl/boy stuff, but you are a natural romantic.” I rolled over to look at him. “Seriously, I want for nothing.”

He looked over to me and gripped my chin. “I’ve never tried this hard, and it’s been pretty easy.”

“I thought you would be one of those no strings attached, fun only type of guys,” I admitted.

“I absolutely was,” he said seriously.

“Oh lord, is this where the ‘you came along and changed everything’ line comes into play?”

Jayden clenched his jaw shut and I kissed it with a sigh.

“Well, let me finish it for you,” I said, moving to straddle him and placing one of the pillows behind his head. “Before I met you, I thought I’d been in love, and I had,” I said, moving his t-shirt up to cover his chest with my hands, “but not like this, Jayden. Never like this.” He looked up at me with loving eyes as I continued. “I’ve never felt for a man the way I feel for you.” I leaned in and kissed his chest where his heart lay beneath. “I still have no idea what I want to do with my life but, it’s ridiculous how clear the choice is to me as to whom I want to hang with while I figure it out.”

“Baby,” he said, pulling my shirt up and over my head, his hands trailing from my shoulders to cup my chest.

“I love you so much,” I finished my confession, my voice shaking the way it always did where my emotion and need for him was concerned. “It scares me how much I love you, Jayden, but I don’t care.”

He unfastened my bra and it fell away as he stroked my skin, his erection growing firm beneath me. He looked up to me with honest eyes. “That’s some line. I may put out.”

I chuckled as he tugged at my shorts, sliding them off and pulling me back onto him so I was straddling him in my panties. “Yes, do shut up and give me some birthday booty.”

Jayden smiled as he trailed a single finger up and down my stomach, moving it to play with the hem of my panties. “How do you want it, Hilary?” I closed my eyes as I bit my lip, and then opened them halfway, the heat coursing through me with his lust filled stare.

“Love me, Monroe,” I pleaded as I unzipped his jeans, pulling them down along with his boxers, revealing the steel beneath them. I gripped him with my hand and tugged on him as his eyes lit fire. “I don’t care how you do it.”

“Horny old bird, aren’t you?” he teased as his breath caught in his throat with the workings of my hand. He licked his fingers and pushed them beneath my panties then slid them inside me. When our eyes locked, I let out a long, loud moan.

“I’ll never tire of you,” he said appreciatively as he roamed my chest with his stare. “I’m so addicted to you. Your eyes, your mouth, the way you look when you come.”

“Jayden,” I moaned, moving with his finger. I heard the rip of my panties and looked down to see them shredded and thrown to the side. Instantly on fire, I lifted to position myself over him as he pumped himself a few times. I reached behind me to cup his sack as I caught his deep blue eyes while slowly lowering myself down onto him. Jayden hissed through his teeth, tilting his head back, his eyes hooded with lust as he looked up at me. I began to move slowly, feeling all of his hardness as he stretched himself inside. The connection becoming too intense, like it always was, heavier declarations came from us as we began to move.

“I love you, Hilary,” Jayden confessed, bucking his hips as I continued my slow ride.

“God, Jayden, I need you so much,” I proclaimed as I started moving faster. He took the cue from me, swiveling his hips and pushing up hard, keeping me connected to him with his hands on my hips. I screamed out, feeling my release coming fast. Jayden bucked again and again, thrusting his hips, filling me so full my whole body was pulsing. A strange sensation on my backside had me pausing mid-thrust. And when Jayden pushed the rest of the way in, it disappeared. Right on the verge of coming, I felt it again and turned my head.

“Oh my God!” I said, pulling off of Jayden who sat up with a quick, “What?”

“Trip was licking my ass!” I exclaimed as the dumb dog ignored my shrieking to grab a leftover piece of chicken from the bucket sitting close by. I pulled my shorts up, just as Jayden exclaimed, “He can’t have that, he’ll choke!”

I fumbled after Trip to get the chicken from him and Jayden shot out of the truck before me, bare assed and other assets flying in the wind. I was laughing hysterically until he snagged the blanket and started to take it with him. When I went to catch it to keep our picnic from trailing behind him, I lay down gripping the blanket, holding it down with my weight and saw my birthday cake come flying at my face. My attempt to shield myself failed as the plate caught me in the chin, the rest of the cake smashing into the side of my face. I screamed out and pushed it off with the swipe of my hand, nose burning, eyes tearing up with the sting, I cupped my rapidly bruising chin. I looked out to see Trip give Jayden a run for his money. Pulling my t shirt on, I raced after Jayden, his pants in hand as I tried to help him.

Naked, Jayden tackled his dog and pulled the bone away. Trip barked at him as if to give him a piece of his mind. When he looked up to me, his eyes bulged and he came running my way.

“What in the hell?” I threw his jeans at his chest as he put them on quickly and started walking back toward the truck.

Once we’d cleaned up the mess, we piled into the truck and Jay and I looked at each other. He was the first to break the silence, looking at me just as seriously as ever before he spoke. “I’ll have a long talk with Trip when we get home about licking ass that doesn’t belong to him.”

“That’s not funny,” I said, pulling my fingers through icing soaked hair. “Seriously, that’s just so wrong.”

“He was just trying to make your birthday memorable.”

“You both have done a fantastic job,” I said, giving him the same serious tone.

“And he’ll need to know the ins and outs of cock blocking 101. I take that very seriously.” On a mock disappointed sigh, he muttered, “I guess bringing live animals into the bedroom is out.” He chuckled as I sucker punched him in the arm. He started the truck then gave me one last look. “I’m sorry about your chin, and your cake.”

He leaned in and kissed my bruised skin. I turned my head and met his lips. “It was perfect.”

 

 

 

Five months later

 

“Gerri?”

“In here!” she called from her bedroom. I was headed over to Jayden’s when she had called insisting I come see her at our apartment. She had news.

“What you doing, woman?” I asked as I entered her bedroom. She turned to me, all sexy dress and new heels. “What do you think?”

“Beautiful! God, your hair has grown so long! Hot date?”

“Yep,” she boasted proudly. “And he’s my new boss.” She winced.

“Wow,” I said, giving her a wary look. “You sure do have a taste for taboo these days.”

“I can’t help it and neither can he,” she said, carefully studying my reaction.

“No judging here,” I said, pulling a bracelet from her jewelry box and wrapping it around her wrist.

“He’s taking me out to some fancy place. He’s so hot and so sweet. No matter how stupid of a move this is, I don’t feel like it’s wrong. You know what I mean?”

“Just go with it. Worst case scenario, you find a new job.”

“Right.” She looked over her appearance one more time and then turned to me. “Heading over to Jayden’s?”

“Yeah, just a night at home, I guess. He’s been working a lot lately so he comes home pretty tired.”

“I never see you anymore,” she said, putting in her earrings. “I keep expecting you to announce you’re moving in with him. Our lease is up at the end of the month, you know.”

I sat on her bed, stunned. “Shit, woman, I hadn’t even thought about it. What are we going to do?”

“I’m going to rent a one bedroom,” she replied with finality. I looked to her in shock. “I appreciate you taking care of me these past few years. I love you, but really it’s time for me to leave the nest. I’m getting too old to have a roommate and you and Jayden are practically living together, anyway. Why don’t you talk to him about it?”

“I want him to ask, to make the first move.” Even as I said it, I felt the sad tug that he may be content with the way things were. I knew we were happy, I just wasn’t sure that he felt as certain about our future as I did.

“Ask him,” she said with a twinkle of mischief in her eyes I couldn’t place.

“No way, if we do something like that, it’s got to be him,” I stated firmly as there was a knock on our door.

“He truly loves you, Hilary. I can see it. Hell, anyone with a pulse can see it.”

“Thanks,” I said, making my way toward her door. I paused and looked back at her. “I just don’t want to be the one to ask.”

She gave me another smile and nodded toward our door. “Go check him out. I want your opinion.”

Following orders, I went to open it, introducing myself to her date who stated his name with a kind smile. “Drew.”

“Nice to meet you, Drew.” He nodded as his eyes lit up when Gerri joined him. I took the two of them in, same hair and eye color. Drew was a lot taller than Gerri and together they already seemed at ease. We made a few minutes of small talk and I noted Drew was wrapped up in every word she spoke. I gave her a subtle nod as they made their way out of the door. I was proud of her as she turned back to me with a wink and a ‘goodnight.’

Walking back to Jayden’s house, I couldn’t help feeling melancholy. Had I forced her to move on because I spent all my time with Jayden? I wondered if she resented me for taking myself away from her bit by bit to spend my free time in my relationship. I couldn’t imagine not being with Jayden on a daily basis. She was right, though. We both had lives to live, and apparently she had made a firm decision to navigate her way on her own. The thought of getting my own place didn’t appeal to me at all. I wanted to be with Jayden, and of that I was absolutely sure. My love for him had only grown stronger and he seemed to feel the same, but I guessed I was old fashioned in a sense. I wanted him to be the aggressor in our future making decisions. I wouldn’t push him no matter how bad I wanted to be H.A.M. I would wait my whole life for him and I knew that, too.

I turned Jayden’s knob to find the door locked and went into my pocket for the key. I thought it odd because he never locked the door when he was home. Turning the lock, I opened the door and gasped. Standing in the middle of hundreds of candles stood my love. John Lennon’s Woman was playing as I took in the brown box on the coffee table.

“Come in, baby. Shut the door.” I looked around the room and took a step inside, closing the door behind me. Jayden was dressed to the nines in a white button down shirt and freshly pressed slacks. The constant lump in my throat that accompanied me when it came to Jayden made its presence known. I took another step in and paused, taking in my setting and trying to burn it into my memory.

Lennon serenaded me as I listened to the words of the song prominently whispering across the room.

Jayden walked over to me, wiping the tears from my eyes. “I have a present for you.”

“Jayden,” I croaked, gripping my chest as he turned to retrieve the brown box from the coffee table.

It was the size of the one I’d admired next to it so many months ago. I studied it, knowing this one was made specifically for me. The artwork stenciled on it was stunning. It was covered in symbols of summer: sun, water, wild flowers, lavender, and roses. I looked up to Jayden who had clear emotion written all over his features.

“I thought it was time you took a look at my list.”

“It’s so beautiful.”

“It’s our summer. It’s what I want for us...always. Open it, baby.”

Opening the box, my heart burst when I picked up a tiny scroll. He grabbed the box back, holding it so I could open it. There was only one thing written on it.

Hilary Amanda Monroe. I gasped out his name and looked up at him to see his eyes shining with tears as he sank down on one knee.

“I have a very selfish question to ask you,” he said, taking a ring out of the small box and holding it up to me. “This is the most selfish thing I’ve ever done.” My shoulders began to shake as my world rocked and his words rang out, keeping us connected, his eyes shining with hope.

“It’s not going to be easy. It never will be. But I have to ask you. I have to. You’re my best friend,” he said tearfully, “my lover, my strength, my reason for being, which I never thought was possible. I never thought there was anyone for me.” He was openly crying as I looked down at him.

Sobbing, I covered my face with my hands as he pulled me down to his knee. He waited for me to look over my fingers, my face soaked. “Will you marry me? Be my wife, make summer with me for the rest of our lives?”

I nodded wholeheartedly with my “yes” as I crumbled into his chest. After a few minutes, I looked up at him as he smiled down at me. “You get a ring out of this deal,” he said, taking my left hand and sliding it on.

“It’s beautiful,” I said, staring up at him.

“You’re not even looking at it,” he chuckled.

“It’s so beautiful,” I said, throwing my arms around him as I pushed him to the floor.

“Baby, there’s more”—kiss–“about”—kiss—“box”—kiss–he whispered as I ignored him, planting my lips feverishly all over his face.

“I’m going to be HAM!!” I laughed into his chest.

“What?!” He chuckled, holding me tightly to him.

“I need you naked,” I insisted, tugging on his lip and rubbing him through his pants.

“No objection there,” he whispered back, pushing up my skirt and molding his gentle hands around my ass, dragging me up and down his length. Pushing my tongue along his mouth, he darted his out, meeting mine and then sat up, gently lifting me with him as he brought me to the bedroom filled with the same candlelight. I looked around us, my legs hooked around his waist, soaking it all in. Unable to hold in my curiosity, I finally brought my ring into view behind his neck, admiring it.

“It’s perfect,” I said, noting the oval diamond in an antique setting.

He buried his head in my neck, murmuring to me as he lowered me to the mattress. I watched him undress slowly as he kept his eyes glued to me. I slid my dress over my head and discarded my bra and panties.

Spreading my legs, he didn’t hesitate as he found my mouth and buried his length inside me in one sweeping motion. I choked on the feel of him as he started moving, desperately hungry and completely unashamed as he whispered, “all mine.”

One month later

 

The consistent slamming woke me as I looked at the clock. It was 5 a.m. With a loud crash, I reached the kitchen in seconds to find Jayden pacing and cursing. He looked up at me with a glare.

“What...what’s wrong?” I stood with a t-shirt on and nothing else as he surveyed the boxes in the kitchen.

“I can’t find anything! Look at this fucking mess!” I noted that the only thing in the way were the two small boxes I had moved in from my apartment.

“Jayden, it’s just a couple of boxes. I’ll unpack them and put them up after work.”

“THEY ARE EVERYWHERE! I CAN’T FIND MY FUCKING COFFEE!”

Recognizing this as the same voice as the night he confronted Randy, I made myself aware this was one of those times and I backed away from him.

“I’ll find your coffee. I’ll go get some.”

“No!” His voice was sharp and it stung. “No, what you need to do is get this shit organized. I can’t deal with this!”

I’d moved in with him the day before and he’d seemed anxious then but more tolerant. I’d taken it with a grain of salt, knowing he wasn’t used to the clutter. I hadn’t weighed that it would throw him to such hysterics.

“Jayden, listen, I’ll take the day. I’ll call in and ask Marcy for the day. It will all be gone when you get home.”

“Like I believe you. I’ve seen the way you live.”

I flinched at the hurtful remark, and unable to hold back, I defended myself. “You wanted me to move in! These are my things. They come with me! Do not talk to me like that!”

“Well, your things are everywhere!”

“Jayden, calm down!” I knew we were probably disturbing the neighbors with the hour being what it was.

“Don’t fucking tell me to calm down. You are destroying my apartment.”

“And you’re being completely irrational!” I had to work to soothe myself. The way he was looking at me was foreign. It was as if he was disgusted.

“Please don’t look at me like that,” I begged, racking my brain for any way to calm him. And then, thinking fast on my feet, I told him, “Oh, I put your coffee in the freezer. I heard it keeps it fresher longer.”

He stopped pacing to look at me like I was the single dumbest human on earth. “What?!”

“It’s in the freezer and I’m done fighting. It’s five o’clock in the morning. I’ll have my shit out of your hair before the day is done.” I turned to walk away and heard the crash of one of my boxes. I jumped with a small scream and made my way to the bedroom. Twenty minutes later, Jayden slammed the front door.

I scrambled to the kitchen to see he had knocked my box over and loose silverware was on the floor. I sat in the middle of the kitchen talking to Marcy on the phone while I scooped up the silverware, putting it back in the canister. Marcy, clearly concerned by my tone, asked if I was okay.

“I just need a day. I’m sorry about this.”

“No worries. Moving is stressful. We’ll see you tomorrow.” I thanked her then hung up. I felt the oncoming of tears and pushed them down. I’d been warned. His outburst was a side-effect of his disorder. I had signed up for this and I knew what it entailed. It didn’t make his aggression any less painful. But I knew what it was. Brushing the pain of Jayden’s wrath away, I pushed my shoulders back and got to work.

It was too cold for me to swim laps that day, so I opted to take a long walk when Jayden was due to be home. I wasn’t ready to see him. I was still nervous and was unsure if he would agree with where I had placed my things. I had to remind myself that I didn’t have to walk on egg shells around the man I’d come to love so deeply. That man would without a shadow of a doubt let me know quickly what his tastes were.

“Hi.” I jumped at the sound of Jayden’s voice behind me and turned to look back at him. His eyes told me it hurt him to see me flinch at his voice.

“Hi,” I said back, pulling on Trip’s leash so he would stop his trotting.

Jayden took a step forward. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to tell you in a text. It wasn’t enough.”

“I deserve that apology. That was bullshit,” I said, taking a step back. “And I’m mad at you for the way you treated me, but I know what that was. Just give me time to get over it.”

Jayden looked down at his shoes. “Hilary—”

“Leave me alone, okay. We’re good. I just don’t want to be around you right now.”

Jayden looked up at me, pain clear in his eyes. “Okay.” As he walked away, it took everything in me not to stop him. I didn’t expect his outbursts to be directed toward me. I didn’t expect to feel so damn twisted inside when it happened, either. I don’t know what I expected, but it sure as hell wasn’t that.

And that was the moment every single warning I’d gotten clicked into place.

That night in bed next to a sleeping Jayden, I finally did my research. Jayden’s outburst had made me more than curious about what I was dealing with. With each click of the mouse, I felt more and more guilty that I hadn’t so much as bothered to assess what he had to deal with on a daily basis. It was becoming more evident I had been way too blasé about it.

Becoming more and more unsettled with each click of my mouse, I looked over to Jayden who was sleeping peacefully with what I’d just read going through my head. Every single article on ADHD said the same thing: odds were not in our favor. Relationships involving a person with ADHD were difficult to maintain. People who married ADHD sufferers were more likely to divorce and on and on.

Looking at Jayden’s profile, his lips slightly parted, I couldn’t imagine anything other than being with the man beside me. This was the man I loved. All of him, the parts that worked and the ones that didn’t work for him, I loved all of him completely. I’d agreed to be his wife wholeheartedly and before that to never give up on him. I closed my laptop and lay beside him, staring at his face. I had been lucky in my past. I hadn’t had to deal with what other women typically went through to get to the good ones. I had mostly mature adult relationships that just didn’t work out for one reason or another.

As much as I was in love with the idea of love, it was only until Jayden had come into my life that I understood what poetry it truly could be. Gambling on our relationship could cause me a lot of heartache and headache, but that decision had already been made.

Jayden reached out for me in his sleep and pulled me to him. With his soft breath in my ear, I felt the shiver cover me the way it always did when he was close. My passion for him was sweet poison in a way. I understood it better now more than ever and reveled in my love for him, knowing in the end it could hurt me to be with him.

Wrapping my arms around him, I uncorked the cap and took a swallow. His poison could come at me in any form. I would be its greatest contender.

“Oh, baby,” my mother cried.

“This is so amazing!” She looked at my ring and then to me. “You called it months ago. You knew that man was going to ask.”

“I’d hoped,” I piped happily. “I’ve never been so happy, Mom.”

She rounded the kitchen island and pulled me into a hug. “So when is the big day?”

“That’s what I came to tell you. We are eloping.”

My mother’s smile faded as she gave me a stern look. “Like hell you are.”

“Mom, it’s what we want. We can’t afford a big wedding and...ah, ah, before you say anything, we want to take the money you and Dad would have spent and put it down on a house.”

My mother paced. “We have wedding funds for all you girls and I finally get the green light and you take away my thunder!” She was pissed and I could tell by the way her nostrils flared, but mostly by her reddening ears—a sure sign when we were kids we were about to receive an ass whooping with the wooden spoon.

Damn that painful spoon.

Thinking quickly, I picked it up out of the container and hid it in a drawer before I approached her.

“We want to do it our way,” I pleaded. “We just want to be married, Mom. I’ve never, ever wanted a big wedding. We want a home. That’s what makes up happy. And I’ll let you help us pick it out, okay?”

She stopped her pacing with a sigh. “I’ll get over it. Damn it, child, at least tell me you will have kids.” I looked up at her and paused.

“What, is that too traditional for you, too, Hilary?”

“No. We will...eventually, someday...maybe.”

She stopped her assault and sat next to me. “What is it?”

“I’m just going to put it out there. But, Mom, you have to promise me you won’t change your mind about him, okay? Because nothing’s really wrong, it’s just something he and I have to deal with.”

“You’re scaring me,” she said, searching my eyes.

“He’s got ADHD.”

“Okay,” she said, looking for more than that.

“See, that...that right there is what I thought, too.”

“Are we speaking Japanese here? What am I missing?” She tucked a piece of dark red hair behind my ear and looked at me. “Those beautiful blue eyes your father gave you deserve to be passed down, kid. What’s the issue?”