Page 54 of Destiny Reclaimed
He lowered his gaze until it landed on her hand resting on her belly. Her stomach fluttered at the affection emitting from Jack’s eyes., then it swirled at the thought of her husband’s lack of regard for her pregnancy.
“You and Arthur must be very excited. Such a blessing,” the kind man said as his warm smile stretched.
She should be thrilled. Her husband should be happy, but he wasn’t. She burst into tears.
The poor man’s expression turned horrified. What must he think?
He pulled the water glass from her fingers, set it on the shelf next to her, and then held her hand in a comforting manner. She shouldn’t be holding his hand, but in desperate need to soak in more of the soothing impression of his touch, she couldn’t let go.
“Sorry. I just thought...is there anything I can do for you?”
Unless he possessed the ability to go back and change history, correct the horrible mistake she’d made when she married Arthur, there was nothing this sweet man could do to fix this mess. Despair made her sob harder.
He pulled her into his arms and held her tight.
“Shh, it’ll be alright. Everything will be okay.” His comforting words rang softly in her ear.
Why couldn’t she have married a man like Jack?
Chapter Fifteen
Is it an affair ifit is only in your mind?
This was the question Gwen had been asking herself for the past three years. From the moment she found herself in Jack Cornelis’ strong arms as he’d caught her from crashing to the floor when she’d nearly passed out in the store he now managed. Never in her life will she forget the heartfelt compassion in his dark-eyed gaze when she’d come out of her fog. That instant confirmed she’d married the wrong man. But, she’d saidI doto Arthur, and those words—that pledge—meant something to her, even if it didn’t mean anything to him.
She also had their son, Blake, to think about. He was a good boy and deserved two loving parents in the same home. A lump rose in her throat. Did Arthur really love their son? Little by little his actions led her to believe Blake was of little importance to him, and thankfully, he hadn’t laid a hand on their son as he did her. If ever he did, she’d bolt.
Gwen leaned closer to the mirror. Her pulse ratcheted up as she dotted the ivory powder over what remained of the yellowish-brown coloring on her cheek. Today would be the first time she would leave the house in a week because she had needed to wait for the eggplant color of her cheek to subside enough to be concealed with makeup.
A tinge of regret sifted through her as she recalled lying to her mother twice during the past seven days when she called to question why she and Blake hadn’t popped over to visit as they usually did. But she had no choice. The bruising this time had been too much to disguise, and she knew full well if her family knew what Arthur did to her, they wouldn’t stand for it, especially her dad and brother, and that would just cause Arthur to take it out on her. No, she couldn’t let them know.
She eyed her handiwork. Thank goodness no sign of the bruise shone through, so she wouldn’t have to miss her weekly outing to the dime store—to see Jack. Like clockwork, every Wednesday since the moment she’d found herself in his arms, she made her way to the store to see him. Though they never touched each other physically, other than the time she’d nearly fainted, she couldn’t say the same in regard to emotionally. She tamped down the bit of guilt that always arose when she thought of Jack, she needed this, needed the human kindness.
Blake charged into the room. She quickly reached out and straightened his cowboy hat that had flopped to the side and pulled the cord tighter under his chin. Since Jack had given him the hat a week ago, he wore it as much as he possibly could.
Blake had beamed when he showed the hat to his dad, but all Arthur could do was grunt in response. And when her husband uncovered the truth about where the hat had come from, he snatched the hat from his son’s hand and threw it in the trashcan. Then he tore into her, accusing her of having an affair with Jack, and forbid her to go to the store. They’d been down this road before, and she’d thought she’d done a good job convincing her husband she wasn’t and that Jack was just a kind relative. She’d opened her mouth one more time to speak but no words escaped before his fist connected with her cheek. The blow had sent her flying back into the wall, then she collapsed to a heap on the floor. Her son sobbed in the corner.
