AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Fourteen
Phoebe
“You haven’t said anything in over three hours, Phoebe.” Julian’s tentative stare burned the side of my face but I refused to look at him. We sat across from each other on the deck of our house after the flurry of activity had quietened. Upon returning home, Julian immediately filed a police report for the break-in and had the window repaired. Faith insisted on paying for carpet cleaning.
The events of the last six hours weighed heavily on my mind as I glanced at the shoe dangling off the back of my foot as I sat, legs crossed in proper debutante style. I’d been forced to wear slip-on sneakers since I’d found myself unable to tie my own shoes in the past couple weeks. In fact, I’d found myself unable to do a lot of things the past couple of weeks: scratch the backs of my thighs, shave my legs, or get comfortable in any sort of sleeping position. Everything that seemed so monumental this morning now appeared frivolous. After the bomb that’d leveled my world hours earlier, nothing mattered except the phrase repeating itself on a loop in my head.
“Your father murdered Elisabeth Cayden, and he’s been tracked to Los Angeles.”
Down deep I knew it all along. Hell, I’d been the one to admit it to Julian in the first place. I’d been the one to sneak out to Griffith Park, just to prove to myself that it wasn’t true—or was. I didn’t know on the way which answer I’d been seeking. Inside, the little girl who’d taken beatings quietly in fear of harsher ones, and the young woman who believed the monster from her dreams would someday emerge back into reality, knew Elisabeth Cayden and I shared a twisted kinship.
Once more, he’d stepped out of the shadows. Another showdown was on the horizon.
It took me three tries to find my voice. “You asked me to trust you, but you also swore you’d never lie to me. You looked me in the eye and lied when I asked you if you knew something about Elisabeth Cayden or my father.”
Julian came to life, swinging his chair around to face me. “Hell, Phoebe! What was I supposed to do? You’d just been released from the hospital. The last thing I wanted was to be the reason you delivered early. How would I have forgiven myself?”
I pulled at my hair like a crazy person. “This isn’t about you. We’re a team. How could you keep something like that from me?”
“I thought I was protecting you.”
“Damn it, Julian. We’re supposed to be learning from our mistakes, not repeating them. Don’t you see that? You thought you were protecting me in New York by not telling me you had a stalker. Not only did that separate us, it almost got us killed.”
Defensiveness flared in his darkened eyes. “That’s not fair.”
Boiling over with anger, I grabbed his hand and held it across my belly. “I did the same thing. Don’t you remember? I thought I could stop her from hurting you by keeping my pregnancy a secret. But I realized I’d stolen something you’d never get back. We swore to each other in that hospital room after Tanna attacked us there’d be no more secrets.” I tried holding my composure, but my voice cracked. “Since we left New York, there’s been nothing but secrets. I can’t marry you, not knowing if you’re being honest with me.”
“What the hell do you mean you can’t marry me?” I winced as his voice sharpened, and twisted the diamond on my hand. “Don’t you fucking take that ring off.”
Pressing my thumb against the smooth solitaire stone, I sighed heavily. “Tell me right now if there’s anything else I don’t know. Come clean, Julian. There won’t be a second chance.”
“Is that a threat?”
I ran my fingertips over my dry lips. “I’d never threaten you, but I also won’t live with deceit.”
His mask of fury dropped, revealing a man on the verge of devastation. “You can’t take my own kid away from me.” The quiet phrase shattered my heart.
“My god, Julian,” I choked through a sob. “Do you really think I’d do that? I know I’ve made mistakes, but regardless of what happens, I’d never deny your rights as a father.”
He moved his hand from my stomach and gripped the sides of my chair, pulling it toward his own until our faces touched. “I don’t want to just be a father. I want to be a husband.”
“I know,” I said quietly. Silence fell and a shiver started from the base of my spine. It didn’t surprise me when his chair violently pushed away and he stormed into the house. After everything that’d happened, I didn’t have strength to chase after him. Cradling my head in my palms, I lowered my elbows onto my lap.
Then, my senses filled with him, as the soft thud of his knees hit the ground in front of me. The familiar scent of soap and spice assaulted my lungs. “Do you still love me?”
“Julian…”
“Do you still love me?”
“Why do you—”
“Do…you…still…love…me?” he demanded.
There was only one truth. “I’ll never not love you. It’s impossible for me not to love you.”
The first touch of his calloused fingers on my arms burned a trail with every brush of his hand. When I didn’t protest, his other hand ignited a path down across my cheek, and I closed my eyes, memorizing the grooves in his fingerprints. One touch and he’d enveloped me in a protective shell.
His lips pressed against my ear with warmth and a rasp in his voice. “I’ve loved you from the first minute I saw you. As long as we remember that, princess, we can get through anything. I promise I’ll win back your trust…if you’ll let me.”
