Page 18 of The Broken Beginning: Part One

“I don’t want to leave you alone,” my father admitted.

“Rob,” Boone called softly. “I think she needs the quiet to adjust.”

“What she needed was for her husband to not run off the first chance he got after saying ‘I do’.” My father hissed at him.

Boone dragged a hand down his face, as if he could wipe the image of how the day had gone away from his memories. Me too, Boone! Me too.

“We all knew this wasn’t going to be some fantasy fix that they’d live happily ever after right away just because they tied the knot,” Boone tried to explain gently. “How about we all give it some time, allow them to adjust, and reevaluate later.”

“Easy enough for you to say when it’s my kid sitting alone in a new house, heartbroken, while yours is probably out fucking the woman who wanted to hurt their baby.”

My hand immediately moved to cover the non-existent bump at my abdomen. I wasn’t sure if it was more protective gesture, or the sick feeling at the reminder that my husband probably did leave me here to go hunt down Brinley. I knew, because Stacey had seen them together since our altercation. That meant he hadn’t broken things off with her even after she threatened me and our baby. I turned and ran to the bathroom, losing the little bit of water and bile that sat heavier than it should have on my stomach.

I knew he didn’t love me, or even like me. I knew he would be with other people, but at some point, it seemed like a betrayal for him to stay with the woman who had threatened his family. Whether he saw me as family or not, it was still his baby that I carried.

Once I got myself cleaned up, I went back out to the living room and found Boone and my father in a heated, whispered discussion before Dad turned to me.

“How about you just come home with me for the night?”

“Why?” I asked. “What’s the use in prolonging this? You guys wanted us married. You got it. Did you think it was going to look any other way?”

“Lily,” Dad cooed my name while reaching for me.

“Nope. You got what you wanted. We’re married. He’s out fucking the same girlfriend who threatened my baby. I’m here alone and pregnant, or at least I would be if you two would ever leave.”

“Come on, Rob. Let’s give her the time she’s asking for.”

“I’m a phone call away,” my dad informed me.

“I already know that.”

“If that son of mine bothers to come back and causes any trouble, you have my number too. Don’t hesitate to use it. You don’t need any extra stress.”

I laughed at that. As if they hadn’t caused me more stress by forcing this issue. I would have been just fine being a single mom with no help. I could have gotten a job. Actually, I had a job that no one knew about. For the past four months, I’d been writing term papers for college kids who didn’t want to do their own work. Was it a morally gray area? Sure. Did that matter to me? Nope. All that mattered was that I had about $2,500 saved up so far, and more papers to write. I needed to get it all done this weekend too because come Monday morning, it was back to school for me.

I climbed the stairs back up to the loft area and went to work, which ended up being a balm for my soul since it took my mind off the other events of the day. I wrote three papers and must have fallen asleep where I sat before the fourth one was finished because I woke to all sorts of panicked yelling.

“Well, she didn’t fucking sleep here last night. Are you sure that’s even my baby? Maybe she’s been fucking some other dude that you guys didn’t know about.”

“You’re going to call my daughter a whore one more time and I’m going to knock you into an early grave, boy!” My dad bellowed.

“Then where is she? The bed wasn’t slept in. She obviously wasn’t with you across the street. She’s not on the couch…” Merc yelled back.

“I’m right here,” I called from the banister overlooking the living room below. “What is everyone’s problem?” Their stares made me glance down at myself. It was then that I noticed I had gone straight to work and hadn’t bothered to change out of the stupid wedding dress. Then again, I realized far too late that I couldn’t change out of the dumb thing because I couldn’t reach the zipper and the bodice was too tight to simply lift it over my head.

“Baby girl?” My father called out with some concern. “Where were you last night?”

“I fell asleep up here while writing a paper,” I told him honestly.

“Okay, why are you still wearing that dress?”

The sigh I heaved out should have told him everything he needed to know, but when all three men stared at me impatiently waiting for an answer as to why the crazy girl was still wearing her wedding dress the day after the ceremony from hell, I just shrugged my bare shoulders.

“I couldn’t reach the zipper to get it off.” My mumbled words carried down in an echo that seemed to make them louder than they originally were.

“Shit!” Boone hissed as his son turned his back on everyone. I didn’t know why he did that, nor did I care. My father was the only one to speak some sense.

“Why the hell didn’t you call one of us back here to help you last night?”

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