Page 13 of The Syphon King

He lowered the letter, looking out at the swamp as he folded it back up, his insides burning. She thought she needed tobeghim to stay? Had she not heard a damn thing he’d been telling her? Course she didn’t, she couldn’t hear beyond her very recent horrific past.

With every step he took back to the house, it became clear what this was, what she was doing. All about Troy Abner, not her, not his wife. That was the first thing he needed to change. He might not know much about marriage, but he knew how to cover the multitude of sins put on her. And he wouldn’t stop covering them until she belonged tohimandthismarriage.Thislife.Thisjoy.

Hurricane made his way inside and met Claire at the sink. “Where’s Troy Abner, Momma?”

“Upstairs nappin’,” she said quietly, not looking at him.

“I read your letter. Can we talk?”

“Of course,” she said.

Hurricane watched as she continued her cleaning. “Canwe do it down by the bayou?”

“Of course,” she said again, casting him a pleasant smile and untying her apron.

Hurricane led the way, walking slow enough to keep pace with her. “You doing okay, Momma?” he asked, reminding her he cared about that more than anything.

“You wanna stand or sit?” she asked when they got to the sitting log.

“I’ll stand if you don’t mind.”

“Me too,” she said, crossing her arms at her waist and peering out at the bayou.

He did the same while searching for the best place to open this nasty can of her past nightmares. “First, I’d like to say I love you and Troy Abner more than...” His throat suddenly closed, and he cleared it. “More than I ever dreamed possible.” He kicked at the log edge, eyeing her lowered head. “But you and me, we don’t see things the same way.”

“Well, tell me how you want me to see them, and I will,” she said simply.

He nodded. “Momma Bear, ready to take a bullet for Baby Bear.” He eyed her. “I hope you know how much I love that.”

“But?” she prompted, clearly expecting that at every turn in her life.

“See, for you, everything’s about Troy Abner. He comes first, you come...hell, you don’t even put yourself on that page. And forme, everything’s aboutMomma Bear. She comes first. Then Baby Bear.”

“I don’t mind if you put me first, Jeramiah,” she sugar-coated.

He shook his head. She was gonna go the long way with it. “Claire, I’ma tell you something you won’t like to hear but I’ma say it anyway. Youmatter.Youmatter. You matter to Troy, and you matter tome.”

“Jeramiah, I know this,” she sputtered. “I know I matter to both of you.”

“Bullshit,” he said at that fake tone. “Youdon’tknow it. But you will.”

“You want me to sign something? What do you want from me to prove to you whatever you need me to?”

He looked at her, his heart hammering nails. “Yeah, I sure do want you to sign something, Claire. I want you to sign your heart on the dotted line. Can you do that?”

“Absolutely can,” she said with that samerehearsedease.

“Good,” he said. “If you don’t mind, I’d like you to sign it right here andrightnow.”

“Fine. Tell me what to do.”

“You can let Troy Abner go have a sleep-over at his other favorite leader’s house—8-Bit and Aunt Cats. And you and I, we’regonna have our honeymoon.”

She turned her face to the bayou as he cocked his jaw, ready and waiting for the only answer she could give.

“If that is what you want from your wife, I’m happy to obey,” she finally said, easy breezy. “But our honeymoon might have to wait till I’m done with my monthly.”

Really. “I don’t mind waiting. There’s plenty other things we can do.” If that was even true.

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