Page 53 of After the Vows

Paisley purses her lips. “It’s romantic for a woman to be a possession? Because that’s where the tradition comes from. A father had to give his daughter permission to leave the family home.”

“Why are you raining on my romantic parade?” Maya wails.

“Because there’s nothing romantic about a woman being chattel.”

“True,” Lily agrees. “We need to organize another women’s rights march.”

“Are they serious?” I ask Weston. I’m not sure how we went from my marriage being a sham to organizing a women’s rights march.

“Yep. Mom loves to organize rallies. But don’t worry. She never makes the men carry the sign sayingFuck the Patriarchy.”

I choke. “Excuse me? Carry a sign?”

He slaps me on the shoulder. “You married into the family, bro. This is what our family does.”

“I thought we were here to play poker.”

He grins. “I love when virgins join the family.”

I cross my arms over my chest. “I’m not a virgin.”

“In this family, you are.” He claps his hands. “Who’s ready to play some poker?”

We make our way to the dining room table which is set up for poker. Lily hands out shots of whiskey.

She raises her glass. “To the smugglers, bootleggers, rumrunners.”

“And the mermaids who loved them,” everyone except me responds.

Chloe elbows me. “Drink your shot.”

I down the shot. I expect the whiskey to burn but it’s smooth. “This is good.”

“It’s Buccaneer’s whiskey,” Lily says.

“Buccaneer’s whiskey? Is everything on this island named after a mermaid or related to Prohibition?

“Don’t worry. You’ll get used to it,” she says. “And we’ll help. It’s what families do. Help each other.”

Family? Despite my arguing about how my marriage to Chloe is real, it’s not a forever marriage. And her family is not mine.

But I wish they were. I have my parents but I don’t have any siblings or cousins or aunts and uncles.

I glance around the table at the size of the group. I always wanted a big family. And I wanted to give Natalia a big family, too.

My gaze catches on Chloe. I want her to be my family. I nearly fall off my chair from the realization.

Too bad my focus needs to be on Natalia and keeping her safe.

Chapter 19

Phone – handy little gadget which only works if you actually answer it

Chloe

Lucas: Can you pick Natalia up from camp? Running late.

I check the time. I should be able to walk over to the summer camp before the kids are finished.

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