Page 94 of Riding the Waves

“Tell me,” Damian coaxed.

“No, I don’t even know what I meant.”

“Yes, you did. You’re just worried about upsetting me.”

“No.” She shook her head again.

“Were you jealous?” he asked, his features scrunching slightly. “You can tell me if you were.”

“It’s not really that I was jealous.” She abandoned the tidying up and went and parked herself between Damian’s thighs. “I love you,” she said, needing to iterate that before she went on. “I’ve always loved you. But…”

“But you loved him too?”

“Yes.” She felt her brows pull together. “Never in the same way that I loved you, but he was my husband. He was a huge part of my life and seeing him with someone else is…” She paused, searching for the right way to explain. “It’ll take some getting used to, that’s all.”

Damian nodded sagely. “You can tell me this stuff. It’s okay. I want us to be open with each other.”

“I want that too.” She took a deep breath, deciding it was as good a time as any to mention that she wanted them to also be honest and open with Billy and Marty about what was going on.

“Daddy!” Billy bellowed from upstairs. “We brushed our teeth and are ready for a story.”

“Coming!” he shouted back, then dropped a kiss on Amy’s forehead and slipped off the counter.

“Don’t fall asleep while you’re reading,” she said. “I still need to talk to you about something.”

“I’ll be right back,” he called over his shoulder as he took the stairs two at a time.

CHAPTER 46

The stairs creaked when Damian came down from putting the boys to bed. Amy was finishing off the tidying up and waited for him to appear in the kitchen. When he didn’t, she wandered into the living room in search of him.

She didn’t bother to question why he was standing staring at the painting above the mantelpiece and instead blurted out exactly what was on her mind.

“I need to tell the boys about us,” she said.

Damian turned to look at her but didn’t react.

“I know you think we should wait,” she added quickly. “But I can’t wait any longer. I need them to know we’re together and that you’re going to be living with us from now on. Partly because I hate the secrecy and partly because I’m terrified that the reason you don’t want them to know is because you don’t think this is going to work out.”

Damian chewed on his bottom lip and eyed her intently.

“Is that what you think?” she demanded. “Do you think this isn’t going to work out between us? Are you going to leave me again?”

“No.” He shook his head and stepped into her personal space. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Why don’t you want us to tell the boys then?”

He blew out a breath. “I wanted to wait because I thought you might get sick of me and decide you don’t want me around.”

“Don’t be silly.” She took his face in her hands, trying to figure out how he could ever think that.

“We can tell the boys,” he said. “But I need to talk to you about something first.”

“What?” Nerves tugged at her stomach and she felt slightly sick as Damian led her to sit on the couch.

“I hate that painting,” he said, tipping his head at it.

Her eyes roamed to the green vines in the picture while confusion wrinkled her forehead. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

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