Page 123 of Beautiful Broken Love

“I’ll never get tired of making love to you. That’s all.” He hovered above me, kissing me once more and sighing behind the kiss before climbing off the bed. After he cleaned me up, he took my hand, helped me off the bed, and said, “Now let’s go make love in the shower too.”

When Deke pulled up to his mom’s house, he released a breath. The driveway was full of cars, which made me wonder if we were the last to show. If we were, I had no doubt it was intentional.

The house was gorgeous, a simple ranch home with a farmhouse flair. The exterior was white, the gabled roof black, and the porch large enough to fit four rocking chairs. A handful of trees were spread throughout the massive yard, the grass a neat, pedicured green.

Deke killed the engine of the rental car and sat a moment, staring ahead. I placed my hand on top of his, and he shifted his gaze to mine.

“You ready?” I asked.

He nodded and unclipped his seat belt. “Might as well get it over with.”

When he took my hand, we walked along the driveway and onto the porch so Deke could give the doorbell a ring. He shifted a bit, cleared his throat, then jostled the grocery bags with the sodas and juices in his other hand.

“It’ll be okay,” I assured him. “Whenever you’re ready to go, I’ll be ready too.”

He gave me a quick nod, then we heard rapid clip-clopping on the other side. When the door swung open, a woman with dark-brown hair and streaks of gray appeared. Her skin was a beautiful, deep brown with warm red undertones, her lips coated in ruby lipstick and her naturalhair in big bouncy curls. Her eyes were a familiar brown, with hints of cognac in the sunlight, and they lit up when she spotted Deke.

It was Olivia Blake, Deke’s mother. Even if I hadn’t seen that picture of her on Facebook with Damon, I could’ve guessed she was his mom, because Deke was the spitting image of her.

“Declan, honey! Oh!” She wrangled him into her arms and hugged him tight around the neck. I released his hand so he could hug his mom back and smiled at their interaction.

That’s when I noticed the scar on her temple. It was slightly raised and about the length of a newborn’s pinkie. I instantly thought of Deke’s story and him mentioning how his dad had pushed her out of the way and caused her to hit her head on a portrait.

“Hey, Ma,” Deke murmured over her shoulder. I blinked, snapping myself out of it.

She leaned back a bit to look up at him, holding one side of his face. “My sweet boy. Look at you.”

He smiled down at her, then gestured my way. “Ma, this is my girlfriend, Davina. Davina, this is my mom, Olivia Blake.”

“I know exactly who she is,” Mrs. Blake said, a wide smile claiming her lips. She moved closer to me and took my hands in hers. “You’re even more beautiful in person, sweetheart.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Blake. It’s so nice to finally meet you.”

“Girl, stop it! Call me Olivia.”

“Okay,Mrs. Blake.” I winked at her, and she chuckled. I’d call her Olivia one day, but not on my first day of meeting her. She deserved all my respect.

“Oh, I can tell I’m gonna have a lot of fun with her,” Mrs. Blake said. “Come inside, both of you! I’m finishing up with the turkey, then we can dig in.”

SIXTY-SIX

DEKE

As soon as I entered my mom’s house and walked around the corner, I spotted my sisters, Jack, and Elias in the living room. My sisters were sitting on one of the sofas with glasses of wine in hand, Jack had a beer, and Eli was on the floor doing a puzzle.

It was tradition not to have the TV on the day of Thanksgiving. My mom insisted that for one day of the year, we all focus on each other and not lose ourselves in the screens. Talking on the phone was limited too.

There was a time when she used to take our phones and store them in a basket, up until she realized we actually needed our phones for our jobs. Camille had missed a call from a client, and it’d cost her a massive delay. A hearing had to be rescheduled and everything. Since then, Mama gave a little leeway.

“Deke!” Whitney squealed as she hopped off the couch. She hugged me tight, and I hugged her back, laughing.

“What’s good, sis?” I asked, but she completely ignored me to hug Davina twice as hard.

“Davina, as pretty as ever.” Whitney grinned.

“I could say the same about you!” Davina returned. “I love your dress.”

Whitney did a little curtsy. “Why, thank you.”

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