Page 50 of A Different Husband

“I know. There are just moments when I wonder what it would have been like to not waste all that time on a man who never deserved it.”

“Can we talk about the real elephant in the car now?” I asked and she gave me a lopsided, goofy grin.

“Are you talking about me,” She pointed down to her burgeoning belly, “or the fact that I overreacted after eavesdropping?”

“You are a gorgeous Goddess, Nemesis. No elephant could ever compare. I was talking about the fact that those words ever came out of my mouth. I know you thought I meant it like I was saying it for myself, but I just meant that you would have probably made a different choice if it wasn’t for my family’s circumstances. Honestly, you might have never even known I needed to marry to gain access to my inheritance.”

“That’s true, and I already know all that, Flynn. I’m sorry. I heard what you said and my heart broke. I shouldn’t have ran. I should have stayed and faced it, because then I would have heard the rest of what you said. The consequences were that I almost harmed our babies. If I had slid a little bit further…”

“No use dwelling on things that never happened, sweetheart. We can’t change what went down, and we won’t dwell on what never was. Okay?”

“Okay. I’m not sure it’s going to be so easy to turn those thoughts off, but I’ll try.”

“I love you, Courtney. So fucking much. Don’t ever doubt that.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I won’t”

“We talk things out. Running doesn’t work, obviously, because you can’t stay upright on your feet.” She laughed at my dumb joke and then her eyes went really wide and her cheeks and ears turned pink.

“Damn you, Flynn!”

“What did I do?”

“You made me pee my pants a little.”

I couldn’t help it. I laughed and then my wife hit me in the gut, but she laughed too and the sound made everything okay again.

Chapter 26

FLYNN

I satin the chair beside my wife’s bed and held our youngest son. Ryker William Robeson was born second and he came screaming into the world where his brother had been stoic and needed to be coaxed into showing off his lungs for us.

Courtney went into labor five weeks early, but the twins still weighed around five pounds each. I glanced up to see that she was done feeding our oldest boy, Rylan Jacob Robeson.

“Switch?” I asked. She grinned and nodded to me. I gently laid Ryker across her lap and then took Rylan from her.

“Don’t forget to burp him,” She reminded me.

“Whatever you say, Momma.”

I grabbed one of the burp cloths and threw it over my shoulder. It was a lesson I learned after the first feeding when my son threw up inside my shirt. “Is he still being a pain in the butt about latching on?” I asked.

“A little, but I think he’s finally getting the hang of it.”

“We get to go home tomorrow. Are you ready?” I continued to pat my son’s back as Courtney’s eyes swung up to meet mine.

“We’ll have privacy again, which will be nice. I’m a little scared of not having professional backup in case something goes wrong though.”

“We’ll be okay, and if not, Mom and Aunt Gayle are on tenterhooks waiting to swoop in and save the day so they can have grand baby time.”

“I’m grateful that Gayle wants to be in our lives considering everything my mom did.”

“Your mom didn’t have an affair by herself. Your dad was a willing participant.”

“I know, but she has to hate me, at least a little. If it wasn’t for my relationship with her son-”

I cut her off there. “Nope. Your parents and his were friends for a long time, before you two even knew what dating was. I love you, sweetheart, but you have to stop taking responsibility for everyone else’s bullshit.”

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