Page 43 of Wesley

Chapter Fifteen

Charlotter

Brad’s innocent words had put my mind into a tailspin, and amazingly, Wes realized that and removed me from the room. We stood outside, and the entire incident played over in my mind. I owed him the truth on this.

After telling him, and his declaration that he wanted to protect Marisol and me, I knew that I had begun to fall in love with him. He was an absolutely amazing man, and I knew that I wanted to hold onto him with both hands and never let go. From what he was saying, and the way he was looking at me, he was feeling the same way.

A couple minutes later, as we sat on the swing and rocked back and forth slowly, both of us lost in our own thoughts the back door opened and Brad put his head out, “Can I come out?”

“Yeah, you can,” Wes told him before he kissed my brow again. I sat upright a little more as he came to sit in the wicker chair beside Wes.

“I’m sorry I said that Charlotte. I wasn’t even thinking about how it might affect you. It was like suddenly the memory was there, and I blurted it out. I honestly did not mean to hurt you.”

I gave him as big a smile as I could muster, “It’s okay, Brad. The memories were already there. I haven’t been back here since my parents and I moved after the incident. Just being back here in Millerstown brought back the horror, and Wes had no idea.”

“No, if I had, I would have told you exactly what I planned.” He said. “And while I hate the way I found out, thank you very much, Brad, I am glad that I know now. A lot of things make sense, and I can avoid more triggers.”

David stepped out on the back porch and smiled kindly at me. As good as it was to hear this from Wes, and know that he understood my fears, I suddenly had the urge to be near my daughter. “Will you excuse me? I want to check on Marisol.”

Wes winked as I got up and I slipped past the men to go inside. The door was almost closed when I heard Wes snap at his brother.

“You’re an ass. I can’t believe you just blurted that shit out. How could you not think that would bother Charlotte?”

“I just told you, I didn’t think. I just spoke. I’m sorry, but isn’t it strange that you’re dating her, and that Dad is the one that found her?”

“No, it’s not, and we aren’t just dating. Charlotte means a lot to me.”

“She’s got some baggage, Wes. That traumatic event, and plus a kid. Do you really want to take that on?”

“Hey,” David growled at his son. “You watch it, Bradley Young. She is a wonderful woman, and there is not one person on this earth that doesn’t have pain in their past or doesn’t bring things to a relationship. If Wes cares about Charlotte, then you care about her as if she were your own sister. You got that?”

“Yeah, Dad, I got it,” Brad responded more reserved.

“She is a very nice woman, and her daughter is adorable, Wes. I can see why you have feelings for her.”

“For both of them.”

“That’s good, son, that’s very good.”

I closed the door, a smile on my face to know that David approved. Brad might not, but that’s okay. I only needed the approval of Wes, and it didn’t hurt that I had his father’s too.

I slipped down the back hall to the kitchen and found all the kids gathered around the kitchen island. Marisol was focused on pushing the dough out flat with her little hands, her tongue peeking out from the corner of her mouth.

Pat glanced up at me and smiled, I returned it and stepped further into the room. “Wow, this looks good.”

Tonya lifted her eyes to mine, “Marisol is doing really good for never having done this before.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” I told her.

“She’s got good teachers,” Pat commented.

“Anything I can do to help?” I asked.

“No, Mommy, I can do this all by myself.”

“I’m sure you can, Pumpkin.” I ran my hand over the top of her head. I glanced around the kitchen, it was large and cozy, and I felt instantly at home here. Obviously, Marisol did also. I stepped to the side and noticed a wall of pictures in the hallway that I hadn’t noticed when I came in. I went to investigate, wanting to know everything that I could about Wes and his family.

On the walls, were two dozen pictures of the family and kids in varying age ranges. I paused in front of a picture of Brad and the kids. In the picture was a beautiful woman, and I felt suddenly sad that she was no longer part of this great family. For a moment, I wondered if someday, my picture would be on this wall.

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