Page 65 of The Broken Beginning: Part One

Merc: Because I am going to be there.

I thought long and hard about that. On the one hand, I hadn’t invited him and wasn’t sure I wanted him there. On the other hand, when I was pregnant with Declan, I used to wish that he had come with me just once because I stupidly thought it would have changed his mind and made him take my pregnancy and me more seriously.

The problem then was that I never wanted to force him to do anything, and in hindsight, maybe I should have. Now, he was the one demanding to go, but I’d taken as much shit from Merc as I could stand. The real problem was that I didn’t want to think he was changing only to have him break me all over again.

In the end, I just never responded back because what was there to say? Either he would show up and demand to go anyway or he would forget, and I’d be left to feel the dejection that would follow. I remained quiet and instead, finished the final chapter on the latest book I’d been writing.

The Sea Captain and the Nymph was a bit of a departure from my usual books, but my publishing company loved the idea. I had been writing historical romances, the type everyone referred to as “bodice rippers” and I might have even had a certain special someone who everyone was drooling over grace one of my covers with his long, flowing blond locks and chiseled jaw. He wouldn’t work for my sea captain, but that was okay.

The publisher had suggested maybe having a mixture of realism and fantasy art for the cover considering it was a blend of historical and fantasy fiction wrapped up in a pretty, little romantic bow. I giggled at that thought because that was how Stacey phrased it in order to sell the book. We both got extraordinarily lucky when she received an internship at Eager Meadows Publishing, one of the largest publishers of romance books with a world-wide reach. Stacey pitched my books, and not only sold them on my stories but on me.

Well, she sold them on Brinley Amber Madeline, which was the pen name I’d chosen, and yes, it was a nod to the happily ever after I didn’t get in my real life, so I wrote them instead. The best thing about my BAM persona was that no one – not even my father – knew who she was. They had no clue that I earned my own money and stashed every last penny away for a rainy day. I glanced at my calendar and swiped my marker across it. There were two countdowns underway now. One for the due date of my second child and the other for the day I could file for divorce and finally find my happiness.

Until then, I was going to keep on writing my stories, hopefully selling the hell out of them too, and collecting my royalties. My children and I would be just fine, no matter what. There would never come another time, like when I was pregnant with Declan, and worried about whether I could get to the grocery store for food.

~*~

Two days later, I was putting Declan in the car seat in the back of the Jeep when Merc came sauntering over from my dad’s house across the street.

“How is it that I see you coming and going from over there all the time, but my father is never around anymore? Did you kill him off and hide his bones on a pig farm somewhere?”

Merc laughed. “Nah, he’s been staying with my dad at his new house.”

“Boone bought a house?”

“Yeah, says he’s getting old and shit, and wants to have a place for when he retires from the club.”

That caught my attention. “Boone’s thinking about retiring out of the club?”

He shrugged. “Going inactive at any rate. His hands have been bothering him a bit. Hard to ride with all the vibrations when it causes him pain.”

“He never said anything to me about it.”

“Lily, he’s a fucking tough ass biker. He ain’t about to let his daughter-in-law know shit don’t work like it used to. That makes a man look weak.”

I rolled my eyes at him and his father. “Men are stupid.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t think you’ll get an argument on that one from me. I proved it enough for you already.”

That admission also shocked me. I never thought I’d see the day where Merc openly admitted that he had been wrong and sounded as though he genuinely meant it. I guess, eventually, even he was bound to grow up some.

“Keys, sweetheart.” He demanded with his hand out.

“No.”

“I’m not riding passenger.”

“Then I guess you better drive yourself there.”

“Come on, Lily.”

“No.”

“This is no time to bring the tiger out, just let me drive you there.”

“Did you buy me this car?”

“Yeah, I fucking did, now hand over the keys.”

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