Page 54 of Marrying the Enemy

Was she trying to convince herself? Because he felt sick at how bland that sounded. It sounded as though he was forcing her to settle when one of the things that made Evie the amazing woman she was, was her belief in herself and her own worth.

“You said yourself that I want to believe love is magic and can cure anything. You’re right. I do. And I know that’s unrealistic. I don’t expect you to love me, Dom. I don’t expect anything more from you than what we already have.” She rose.

“I’ll come have breakfast with you.” He started to throw off the covers.

“I’ll get something later. And you have that meeting with the London team. I’ll text you once I have news.”

By the time he was dressed and down the stairs, she was already gone.

Damn it.

He was pacing restlessly, wondering if he should go to the hospital, when his doorman rang to say that Astrid was downstairs.

“Is everything all right?” he asked as she came off the elevator with Adio in her arms. They both wore speckles of rain and big smiles.

Astrid’s cheerfulness quickly faded. “Is this a bad time? I was going to text from the pediatrician’s, to make sure Eve still wanted to have coffee, but—”

“She probably forgot.” Dom took the baby because he was kicking off his boots. He set the boy on his socked feet and took his wet jacket, following him as he took off into the lounge. “Eve’s parents are back from their trip and her father had a procedure at the hospital today. She’s gone to sit with her mother, to wait for news.”

“Why aren’t you with her?” Astrid asked, pausing in hanging up her own coat.

“She’s angry with me. I didn’t think she’d want me there.”

“Dom.” She clunked the hanger onto the rung. “You go anyway. That’s how she knows it doesn’t matter if she’s angry, you’ll always be there for her. What happened?”

“I—”

Don’t want to talk about it.

He didn’t. But he kind of did.

Adio had found the piano and was walking his hands across the keys, releasing discordant notes.

“Evie said you said our childhood was dysfunctional.”

“Am I wrong?” she asked.

“Honestly, Astrid? How the hell would I know?” he asked with latent frustration. Maybe some unrecognized pain. “I wasn’t there.” He moved a vase of flowers off the coffee table and set it where Adio couldn’t reach it. “My childhood didn’t look that different from the rest of the boys at school. Plenty of them had parents who were divorced so...”

“My parents were married,” she said gently. “It was still a train wreck.”

“I know.” He scratched his eyebrow. “Have you ever talked to anyone about it? Like, a professional?”

“Weekly, for the last eight years.” Her tone was blunt as a hammer. “Do you want her number?”

“Maybe.” He wanted to be more for Evie. Not just that weak sauce version of a marriage where he gave her stability and a few babies. He wanted—“Eve wants us to be like you and Jevaun.”

He half expected her to laugh at him, but her brow crinkled in concern. “Do you love her?”

That sense of being on a diving board hit him again, only this time he was on the edge of a towering cliff, waves crashing into razor-sharp rocks below.

He drew a breath that felt like fire. “I don’t even know what love is.”

“Yes, you do,” she said with a throb of despondency in her voice. “It’s that thing we wanted from Dad and never got. That sense that it’s okay to be vulnerable. I know it’s scary to feel that way, Dom. But how do you think she feels if you don’t love her? She’s carrying around that same sense of not measuring up.”

The pain that hit his chest was so visceral and sharp, Dom tried to rub it away with the heel of his hand. He couldn’t stand for Eve to feel that cold and hollow. He would do anything to spare her. Anything.

“Pool?” Adio said, stretching to try to reach the latch.

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