AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Rat,” Ben snapped.
“What does my father have to do with this?”
“Shit,” Rat looked ready to run.
“If you want to stay with Jake and Max when I am not home, I’m fine with that.”
Angelina laughed until the tears ran down her face.
“Since when did I need permission to stay overnight somewhere? Do all your women get your permission to do things? That must get confusing. You might want to try a color-coded spreadsheet. I feel for you trying to keep all that straight. Jenna looks like she does whatever she wants. Oh, and she wanted me to remind you if you don’t want to be tracked, you might not want to use your bank card.”
“Angry kitten has claws. I like her.”
Ben growled something she didn’t hear, but Rat understood.
“I assume Rat is not on your birth certificate. I don’t think it is too much to ask for an actual name.”
“Angelina, love, this is Drake. He works with me. Drake, this is my woman. The same woman who still needs cameras installed in her office.”
“Why do I need cameras?”
“She has your nuts in a vice. Kitten, if you need help twisting, let me know.”
“Go now,” Ben commanded.
Drake downed the last of his coffee in one chug. He placed the cup in the sink and shot Angelina a wink before quickly fleeing through the kitchen door.
Ben stared at Angelina. He knew he had to tell her all the things he should have said weeks ago. He thought they would have time-should have known better. Nothing ever goes according to plan. The last trip out was a great example of that. He should have laid it all out and given her a choice. Ben couldn’t bring himself to do it. She was his. She owned him. The only thing left to do was to make her see it. Make her smile at him, love him.
“Let me start this off,” Angelina dove in since she could clearly see Ben was struggling. He wasn’t a chatty man. When feelings were involved, it seemed like he closed up tighter. Walking into the living room, she snatched the picture Jenna had left off the table by the door. The sooner they had it all out in the open, the sooner he could take Rat and leave.
When Angelina sat, Ben reached across the island and took her hand in his. Lacing their fingers together, he brought them to his lips. Kissing each fingertip, he held their hands over his heart. He had to make sure she understood how much she meant to him before they got into the heavy stuff. He dreaded telling her. Taking two to the chest was less painful than talking about his past.
“Before we get to it, I love you and only you. There is no other woman anywhere else. Yes, I should have told you I was leaving. I should have told you a lot of other stuff. I should have given you a choice if you wanted to be involved with me. I couldn’t do it. There was no choice for me. From the moment I saw you, I knew you were mine. Just so you know, I’m not letting you go no matter how this goes.”
Angelina’s heart stuttered as she dissected his words. No, it wasn’t the most eloquent declaration, but it was all Ben. Before he could say anything else, she slid the picture across the counter. Watching emotion cloud his eyes as his thumb traced over the image was almost more than she could handle.
“You need to go be the man this child needs.”
“Never got to go to the doctor,” Ben murmured. Clearing his throat, he continued. “Never got to hear the heartbeat. No idea if it was a boy or a girl.”
The shards of her heart cracked again. A ball of unease settled in her stomach, but she stayed silent and waited for him to continue.
“Jenna is my ex-wife.” Ben stared at the jellybean in the photo. “Met her on leave. We wrote and emailed back and forth while I was deployed. When I came home, we got married. She told me she was pregnant when I was on my second tour. I was so happy.”
The strain of his voice was more than she could take. Angelina let the tears flow unchecked.
“One week, I was a husband and a proud soon-to-be dad. The next week, I was getting served divorce papers. Out of the blue, she filed for divorce. I tried calling her, emailing, and letters. I sent a buddy from the base to see her. Jenna had already packed everything of value and moved. She emptied the account and disappeared with my kid on the way while I was thousands of miles away and couldn’t do a damn thing about it.”
Ben sat silently, staring at the picture. The old wound throbbed to life like it was yesterday. No one knew the rest of it. He never told another soul what happened when he got home.
“What happened to the baby?”
“I didn’t fight her on the divorce. It was all done and over by the time I got home. The only thing left in our house on base was some of my clothes. She took everything else. The mail was stacked up. On my first night back on US soil, I was sitting on the counter sorting through a giant tub of mail when I came across a bill. It was marked overdue and in collections on the envelope. I opened it.”
“Fuck it,” Ben stormed around the island, plucked Angelina off her stool, and sat with her on his lap. He needed the closeness. He needed to feel her there with him. If he had to tell her one of the most tragic things that happened to him, he had to do it with her goodness surrounding him.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Angelina wrapped her arms around him, careful not to inflict any more pain on his body.
