Page 55 of A Reason to Stay

“Greenwoods,” I smiled, keeping my eyes on Andrew. His gaze intensified. He was definitely coming up with all kinds of ideas, and it made me shift on the counter.

“Maria, I got your message. Is everything okay?” She sounded so concerned.

“Yes, everything is fine… is dad there?”

“He’s at the dinner table.”

“Okay, listen… I’m not coming home.”

She didn’t answer.

“But…” I turned to look at Drew. “We’re coming to get you.” Drew nodded at me, and I smiled.

“We?”

“I… I married him.”

“You…you did what?”

“I love him, mom.”

“I know that, honey. But I thought you said—”

“He told me the truth. He loves me too.” I smiled around the words. They still felt so surreal.

“So you’re getting married?”

“Uh… no. We eloped.”

“Oh… Maria.”

I could hear my father shout from the other side of the room. “Did the little slut get pregnant again?”

I gasped and clenched my jaw to avoid shouting back.Keep your cool,I told myself.It’ll be worth it when I show up with Drew to come get my mom and bring her up here.

“Don’t tell dad… or do, whatever. I don’t care. Listen, we have somewhere for you to stay, your own private place. We’re going to come get you and take you back here.”

She seemed to consider, then she spoke softly. “Okay.”

“You’re going to love it up here, mom. It’s beautiful. I know it’s scary… you can do it. You won’t be alone. The boys are just starting to walk… and they’re trying so hard to talk. It’s so sweet.”

“Thank you, sweetie. I can’t wait to see them… and you. I’ll see you soon.”

“Hang in there.”

I handed the phone back to Drew, and he set it down on the receiver as he spoke. “We can go sometime next week. Does that work? Maybe we can have my folks watch the boys for a few days so we can leave them here and go get your mom?”

“That would be great. But won’t you have to take off work? Why don’t we go this weekend?”

“Because… we’re going to be very busy this weekend.” His eyes traced my figure as he spoke, reminding me of the night I fell for his easy flirting and smooth-talking.

He picked up the phone receiver again, laying it on the counter so it wouldn’t ring. “Now where were we?”

Just as he took a step towards me, Matthew started screaming, and Jacob followed suit.

I rolled my eyes. He shook his head again and whispered, “Little cockblocks.”

“Andrew Greenwood!”

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