Page 52 of Marrying My Ex's Boss

“That’s between me and the lady.”

JUSTINE

Is it possible to be too happy? Is there some kind of cosmic occurrence that brings these things about?

‘Bitch you rambling.’

I know, but I can’t help it.

‘By the way, this dress you wearing, put it away somewhere you can grab it and go if the need arises.’

Why?

‘Because these are real diamonds, and your new rich ass is bound to fuck this up somehow, and we’d be for the streets. Just keep this in mind, this shit isn’t going to happen again in this lifetime, and it’s much easier to find a man with three kids than six.’

“SIX?” Oh shit, now everyone was looking at me. I had to play it off like I had a Bluetooth in my ear and walk away.

‘Keep it down. Didn’t I tell you three of those tadpoles made it to the egg and burrowed in like hibernating bears? You got three zygotes in there.’

All three made it past the second layer?

‘Yup. You took biology in school, didn’t you? So, you know what a zygote is. Those little bastards ain’t going nowhere. So you fuck around and end up on the streets with six kids. Or you could cop a squat with Paul and is crackhead bitch.’

I tried to walk away, but of course, there’s no escaping Justice.

Our honeymoon was on his yacht, one he said he’d just bought because his other was no longer suitable for family, whatever that meant. I’ve seen yachts, and I’ve seen cruise ships. This was somewhere in the middle. It’s huge.

There are bedrooms for all of us plus the staff and his security. It was the perfect honeymoon for a mother of three who would’ve worried about her kids each day if she’d left them behind. He knew that; he always knows the right thing to do.

“Why haven’t you been drinking on this trip? I noticed you didn’t touch your wine again at dinner.”

“Oh!” Dammit, one of the only drawbacks to having a man who’s so attentive to your needs. He tends to notice everything.

‘That’s a big change because the other one didn’t even notice he was missing a whole wife and three kids.’

He’s right. I still hadn’t heard from Paul since the divorce, and since everything about our wedding was so hush-hush, I doubt he even knows where we are.

I was happy to not have to fight him just yet over custody, but I thought he would at least want to see the girls. Nothing, not a peep since the night Monique broke his arm. I’m pretty sure he’s moping and holding out for an apology from me. That’s what he always did. He never took responsibility for anything in his life.

Why did it take me this long to realize these things? I guess it took having the love of a good man to show me that what I had was nothing compared to what I have now. If someone had told me that a man could love kids that weren’t his own, I wouldn’t have believed it. I would’ve said they were crazy.

I didn’t have stepparents, so I know next to nothing about that dynamic, but I know love and respect when I see it. One of the only reasons that I would’ve forgiven Paul was so that my girls didn’t have a broken home. I have a wonderful relationship with my father and wanted the same for them.

But I’m ashamed to say that Marcus has spent more time with my daughters on our honeymoon than my husband had in the whole last year of our marriage.

How had I not seen it? How had I missed the signs? Again, it was only now, seeing Marcus do it, that I realized it could be done. I guess some people might say we can afford to with all the helping hands around, but something else I’ve noticed is when Marcus and I are with the kids, no one else is around except his security, who stays around the perimeter.

But the throwing balls, the bathroom runs, and the swimming lessons are all him. I’m not going to say anything about the fact that my girls seem to call him more than me. Last night, Susie woke up from a nightmare, and when I walked into her room, which is right next to ours on the yacht, she asked for him.

And now we’re going back tomorrow because work and life await us. Marcus has some big announcement to make that he’s being all hush-hush about, and I think Monique knows, but she’s holding out on me.

* * *

I didn’t know how to feel about going back to work the day after we got back from our honeymoon. There was no hiding the ring on my finger, and I wouldn’t even dream of taking it off because Marcus had already threatened what would happen if I ever did.

That’s because I’d taken it off to wash my face that first night on the yacht, and he’d had a fit. But there’s something to say for his fits. That one turned into one hell of a night of passion. At least we got three glorious rounds out of it, but I had to take another three days to heal.

Justice, that jackass, was howling with laughter that he was going to put out one of his kids’ eyes. That’s when I became mortified that he was hanging around while we were having sexy time. He claimed that he wasn’t, but I’m not sure I believe him.

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