Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 146417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
She sighed and let go of her anger. This man had been everything she’d needed him to be. Even when she’d been a child her aunt and uncle had been the bright spots in her life. “I’m sorry. I’m happy here, and I don’t want to think about what could happen in the future.”
“The future always finds us.” He settled back in his seat. “It’s about more than merely your safety. It’s about your ex-husband. I don’t think you’ve gotten over him.”
She actually laughed at that thought. “I assure you I was over Beck the moment he threw my childhood in my face.” That had been the hardest thing to deal with. She’d talked to him about her fears because she’d trusted him, because he’d been her safe place. With all the fights they’d had, he’d never broken her trust in that way. “He’d always been angry, and I was used to dealing with it. But he turned cruel over the years. I don’t know what he would have done if I’d stayed.”
“Have you considered that he might have apologized? That if you had talked to him, he might have come to understand how much that hurt you?”
That felt like victim blaming. “It’s not my responsibility to make Beck see reason. He divorced me without a real talk. I figured I could take charge of my life without begging him to see my side of things. You don’t know Beck. Once he has a grudge, he never lets go. He always loved his outrage far more than me.”
“Well, you did hide his brother from him,” her uncle pointed out. “You lied to him.”
“I did that to protect Ezra. Maybe Beck and I were always doomed.”
Her uncle sighed. “All I know is I lost my Rosa far too early.”
She felt a soft spot in her heart when she thought about her aunt. “Beck and I were never you and Aunt Rosa.”
“Oh, your aunt and I fought a lot in the beginning. I think it was only our religion that kept us together for some of those early, volatile years. Even with our profound belief, we talked about separating more than once in the first six years of our marriage.”
She felt her eyes go wide. “What did you do?”
He chuckled. “Your aunt wasn’t a saint. She instigated many of our fights. You only knew us when we were solid. And your parents were a terrible example of a good marriage. I worry that you were caught between what seemed to be a perfect marriage and your parents web of lies and neglect. I wish I’d been able to advise you when you and Beckett were having trouble. Do you know what turned your aunt and I around?”
“What?” Kim asked.
Her uncle leaned closer. “We learned how to talk to each other. I know it sounds odd, but women and men speak different languages.”
She wished it was that simple. “It was more than that.”
“And I worry it still is. I worry you’ll spend the rest of your life alone because no one will ever move you the way he did.”
“You should talk,” she replied pointedly. “You took actual vows of celibacy, uncle.”
“I did that because I won’t ever love another woman. I’ll be true to my wife until I die, and the vows show both my love for her and my love for God,” he explained. “It’s the same for Ezra, though he didn’t have an earthly love. Some men and women don’t, and there’s nothing wrong with that if they’re fulfilled by something else.”
“I’m happy with my son. He’s the love of my life.”
“Then why do you dream of his father at night? Why do you call out for him?”
She felt her skin flush. “I do not.” Except she knew she dreamed about Beck. Almost every night. “I’m sorry. It’s a subconscious thing. It doesn’t mean I’m still hung up on Beck.”
“All right.”
She could practically feel the disappointment coming off her uncle, and she hated it. Had he and Ezra decided to push her? She stood again, grabbing the crossover bag and slinging it over her torso. “I should go. I’ll try to be back before dinner. There’s chicken salad in the fridge in case I’m late.”
She strode away because her uncle could be stubborn.
He wasn’t right any more than Ezra was right.
What was she going to tell Roman when he asked about his dad? She made quick work of the walk from the residence to the battlement, passing from the cool confines of the garden into the open sun and tourists who stopped and stared as though trying to figure out why she’d come out of the highly secured area. Most simply shrugged and figured she was some kind of curator, but she’d had a few pushy tourists question her and try to get a tour of the area.