Page 43 of Hidden Vows
It’s ironic that she didn’t want to say anything to influence my relationship with him. I think her lack of sharing anything meaningful about him still ended up impacting my relationship with him.
I still hated disappointing him, no matter how strained everything was between us.
“So you went against your dad’s wishes and married Jude, but when he found out, you did what he wanted and kept it secret?” Emily questions.
“Not exactly. My dad demanded we get the marriage annulled, and we refused.”
I still remember the look on his face when he came into the living room as Jude and I told my mom. There were tears of joy in her eyes, but when Dad saw them the anger in his terrified me. He immediately started demanding Jude leave and never return, shouting nonstop about how he always said Jude would cause us pain. I tried to jump in, but it was Mom who got him to stop. A simple touch of her hand to his arm and his focus immediatelywent to her.
She told him in her soft, calm manner about the wedding and how happy she was about it, how it was one of her greatest wishes come true. While Dad had calmed down considerably, it hadn’t stopped his demands for an annulment—demands we refused.
“We agreed not to make a big deal, but we told him we wouldn’t lie or stop living our lives the way we planned.”
“What did you have planned?” Emily asks.
“Honestly? Not much.” I laugh softly. “Jude was already working with his dad at the bar and knew that was what he wanted to continue doing. And I was enrolled to take a few classes at the community college starting that fall.” My eyes drift down to Fiona for a moment, watching her sleep peacefully. “We moved into the apartment above the bar and went about our lives like nothing was different. And other than living in a new place and with the person I loved most in the world, nothing was different.”
“Until it was,” Quinn murmurs.
“Yeah, until everything changed,” I say, my eyes never leaving Fiona’s face.
I hear the shuffling of feet, but it’s not until I feel the hand resting on my knee that I lift my eyes to find Ava sitting on the floor before me. “Abbey, what happened?”
“I don’t know anymore,” I whisper, tears slipping out the corner of my eyes.
“What do you mean?” Quinn moves to the floor beside Ava, her hand resting on my arm.
“He told me he cheated on me.” It’s silent, the three of them staring at me in shock, and it takes me a minute before I can continue. “He came home drunk one night not long after we were married. He was late and hadn’t told me where he was. I’d been worried about him, and then he’d stumbled through the door,ranting about how my father was right and that we shouldn’t be together.”
“Abbey,” Ava whispers, her thumb rubbing back and forth across my knee.
“I remember that night so vividly. Jude was usually such a happy drunk. He was a little handsy, but only ever with me. It was always so affectionate and loving, never overbearing or creepy. But that night, he rambled about my dad and how he wasn’t good enough for me. He went on about how much he loved me but that he’d only cause me pain and heartache.”
“When did you find out the truth about that night?” Emily asks quietly.
I shake my head, unable to form any words. According to Jude, it wasn’t only that night. That night was the start of many nights. “It was a few weeks later he told me about the affair.”
“It was more than once?” Quinn asks in bewilderment. “I never would’ve thought Jude capable of that,” she mumbles.
“He told me it started the night he came home drunk. He made it clear that sleeping with her wasn’t a result of the alcohol but that the alcohol was a result of the guilt he feltaftersleeping with her. He said that while he felt ashamed, he couldn’t stop going back.”
“Abbey,” Ava chokes on a gasp.
It’s silent except for the tiny snores coming from the baby in my arms. When a tear lands on her soft cheek, I turn to Emily. “Can you take her? I don’t want to disturb her.”
Ava and Quinn shift, allowing Emily to step in and take Fiona from my arms. I try to stand from my seat, but Quinn stops me with a hand on my leg. “I don’t know what to say. I-I can’t believe he would do something like that.”
“I can’t believe he would show his face around you after doing something like that.” Ava scoffs.
“Walt means everything to Jude?—”
“That’s a little hard to believe since he’s never shown his face around town before now,” Emily mumbles.
“But he talks to Walt almost daily.” My eyes fall to Ava, remembering how I refused to tell her these details when she first asked five weeks ago.
“How can you be in the same room as him?” Her voice is laced with disbelief.
“I don’t know. He’s nothing like I remember him, not from those last few weeks.” My eyes fall closed as I picture him.
