Page 40 of The CEO's Christmas Wife

“I’m sorry. What did I do?”

“All these damn questions and being attentive. Everywhere I go, there you are. I can’t fucking breathe without you asking if the oxygen is good enough for me.”

“I just want to make sure that you’re okay, Kayn. I can appreciate that you have a lot on your plate right now. I’m not tripping about how you just came at me, and I’ll let you have your headspace. So, I’m going to go in right now so that you can work things out in peace before I say something that I might regret.”

I was trying so hard to keep my cool. As happy and chill as I could be, I didn’t play that about anyone hollering at me.My parents hadn’t done it, and I wasn’t putting up with it from anyone else.

“You can stop with all the acting. You’ve earned your bonus, Kandi. This ain’t no damn Hallmark movie with happy endings. Some of us don’t have the luxury of being happy all the time and seeing the brighter side of shit. Some of us have a reality that we can’t escape no matter how hard we muthafuckin’ try!”

My jaws clenched, and I nodded.

I took a step closer to him, and I stared up at him. I pointed my finger in his face and spoke. “You’re hurting right now, Kayn, and that’s cool. They say you take it out on those closest to you. So I’m gonna take you snapping at me for the compliment that I know you intend it to be. Because if I take it as anything else, I might lose my job, and you might lose your head because I’m this close to knocking that big ole head of yours off those massive shoulders,” I replied, pinching my fingers together.

I turned quickly and walked away from him before he could see a teardrop fall. As I made my way back into the house through the kitchen, I was thankful that no one was around. Just like Kayn needed some time alone, so did I. I was heated.

20

PEACE ON EARTH

Kayn

“Yeah, we touched down a few hours ago. Did you go to the hospital?”

“Yeah, your aunt and I are just leaving now.”

“How is she doing?”

“Seems like she’s doing better than ever. The doctor says he doesn’t know what you said, but you seemed to give her a reason to live. She’s fighting, Emmanuel, and that’s more than we could have hoped for. So, thank you.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Listen, I know that you’re hurt, and she probably didn’t give you the answers you wanted or needed. But thank you for going. My sister wasn’t always like that.”

“I just want to know why she couldn’t give me what I needed.”

“She did that by signing the guardianship papers so that your aunt and I could take care of you, son. She could have fought us.”

“She wouldn’t have won. Her ass was too high to win a custody battle.”

“You’re right, she wouldn’t have, but it still would have been hard for us. You could’ve been stuck in the system, but she didn’t do that.”

“Thank heavens for small miracles,” I replied sarcastically.

“Make your peace, son.”

I sighed dramatically and closed my eyes. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I declared, “You’re right, Uncle JR.”

“Good. Now I’m about to get some rest. Go ahead and handle your business in New York and get your wife back to Cherokee Springs so she can be with her family.”

“That’s the plan of business,” I replied with a sigh.

I ended the call and took a few moments to get my emotions together. This last week had been a roller coaster of emotions.

I wasn’t sure if my mother would make it or not, but I wasn’t sticking around to find out. If we hadn’t fixed what was broken between us throughout all the years, there was no way that we would accomplish that in one afternoon.

People didn’t understand how badly it hurt when not one of your parents but both of them gave you away. Some dudes I’d known were always going on about how their dads weren’t there for them. Try being in a situation where even your own damn mama don’t want you. That’s some shit for ya ass right there. I dealt with that shit on a daily basis. I didn’t talk to anyone about it, but it was in my heart day and night.

During my visit to Mistletoe Falls, I had finally come to peace with the fact that Uncle JR was the father I never had, and Aunt Frances had been the mother I’d wished I had. I may have had them for just a few short years, but in that time, they loved the hell out of me. It was too bad that I hadn’t known how to accept their love or love them in return back then.

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