Page 207 of Duty and Desire
Mo was in the nursery with our baby girl.
I didn’t know this because he’d taken her up there twenty minutes ago to put her down.
I didn’t know it because I could see him.
I knew it because I could hear him.
“No one’s gonna hurt you. No one’s gonna dare,” his deep voice sounded.
Oh my God.
He was sing-talkingà laBono to our little Pooks.
But better.
I pressed my back to the wall and closed my eyes.
Mo’s voice came back.
“Whistle, I’ll be there.”
Oh God.
That was my baby’s daddy.
My man.
He kept going.
“Nothing can harm you. Not while I’m around.”
I had to swallow the sob that soared up my throat.
I opened my eyes and lifted my hand, staring at the big rock Mo had planted there during our first vacation together. The one we took in Hawaii.
It was nestled above a wide gold band that had a match, the one on Mo’s finger.
Our wedding had beenthe best.
Even better than Jet’s, and she’d had a hayride.
And my gown had kicked Roxie’s gown’s ass. Sheer bodice and long sleeves with a full sheer skirt, all covered in sparkling diamanté. Plunging neckline that nearly went down to my navel, slit in the skirt that went up to my left hip, all this stitched to a bodysuit that covered only the important bits.
Outside the pictures of me with Mo, the pic of Tex escorting me down the aisle with my skirt flying out behind me, my left leg exposed from the hip down in full stride, me smiling so bigat Mo, even in a picture, it was blinding, and Tex wearing his lunatic grin was my favorite.
Jet had been my matron of honor.
Mag had been Mo’s best man.
And Mom had sat between Tex and my dad in the front row after Tex gave me away, Dad smiling huge, fighting tears but not fighting that was the place he needed to be. Just happy he got the honor of being there at all.
By the way, Mo’s dad wasn’t invited.
But he did send us a wedding card with a hundred-dollar bill in it through the mail, writing that he hoped Mo was happy in a way that screamed it was tentatively…and hopefully.
Mo didn’t grab that olive branch.
His father had hurt his mother, his sisters.
