Page 33 of Intrigued By Love

“Wow, Mama, you’re stunning,”I said as I entered her bungalow and passed the hairdresser and makeup artist who’d helped her prep for the wedding.

I’d just left Lina in the capable hands of Raquel and her team of people to make Lina’s vision of wedding-day beauty a reality.

Now it was my turn to have my hair and makeup done. Hopefully they could hide the puffiness under my eyes.

My insides had felt shredded ever since Jax had left my place, and I’d barely managed to get the last-minute details organized. No, I actually hadn’t. Raquel had noticed I wasn’t entirely with it and had taken over.

“If you think I look good, then you need to see Kiana,” my mother said. “She’s truly gorgeous.”

“She’s an exact replica of you, so I wouldn’t expect anything else.”

Personality-wise, Kiana was completely Papa, but looks-wise, she was a younger version of Mama. Lina and I were a hodgepodge combination of our parents and grandparents.

Mama huffed. “All of my girls are beautiful.”

“Yes, but I’m the prettiest.” Kiana came out of a back room, wearing her strapless baby-pink gown.

It was simple with an empire waist that made her look almost delicate. I could definitely agree with her assessment of herself. In fact, she could have been the woman in front of the camera as much as the one behind it.

I wore the same style of dress, with a secret pocket sewn in to hide my phone since I was still in charge of the wedding.

Kiana stopped in front of me and frowned. “What’s wrong? You look as if you’ve been crying.”

“I’m fine.”

“Umm, okay.” She grabbed my arm, dragged me to a nearby couch, and pushed me down. “I call bull. Now spill it.”

“Jax and I decided it would be better to end it.” I closed my eyes for a brief second. “After the wedding, he’s going to leave.”

“What happened?” Mama asked, coming to sit by me and taking my hands in hers. “I could have sworn the two of you were next to go down the aisle.”

“They’re the only ones left, so of course they would have been next,” Kiana interjected.

I ignored my sister and addressed my mom. “Mama, I can’t put my heart on the line again.”

“It’s already on the line, baby.”

My heart would heal—well, I hoped it would.

“Will you tell me now why you left in the first place? We’ve all wanted to know, but you never shared and we decided it was best to let you come to us with the information.”

It was time to tell them. The abbreviated version.

“When Jax was present he was perfect, but when he wasn’t, I was lonely and left feeling like a separate part of his life. He’d disappear at the drop of a hat to take care of things in LA, putting everything in our life on hold.

“He said it was to protect me from his parents. I just have a hard time accepting his explanation. I could have dealt with it if this was an occasional occurrence, but it had turned into a weekly thing. Vegas became a place he visited instead of where he lived.

“I know it was selfish but I wanted to be the most important person in his life. He was in mine.” I hung my head, unable to look at my mom. “I’m ashamed to say leaving was easier than seeing if his love for me had died.”

“Baby, that man never stopped loving you. It was always in his eyes.” Mama tilted my chin up. “And this may be hard to hear, but you need to. If you love him, you have to accept whatever relationship he has with his parents.”

“Why?” Kiana asked as she sat on the edge of the wooden coffee table in front of Mama and me. “They are such horrible people. I don’t blame her one bit. Do you remember how they treated us like garbage? If it wasn’t for Ani’s intervention, I would have punched Jennine Burton in the face, paparazzi be damned.”

Mama glared at Kiana, causing her to wince. She made a zipping motion to her lips.

If Kiana lasted more than three minutes without giving her opinion or making a remark, it would be a miracle.

“I’m going to tell you a story I haven’t shared with any of you girls. When I met your father, neither of our parents were happy with us being together. In fact, Isaiah’s mother thought I was a gold digger, since his family had generational money, much like Jax’s father. And your Tutu Nima thought I was turning my back on our Hawaiian culture by marrying a man who knew nothing about our traditions and lifestyle and would move me away from my family.”

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