Page 44 of Forever King

Alone with my mother-in-law, I can’t help but notice how much she looks like my Duck. She’s older, but the signs that she was once as stunning as her daughter still remain.

“What’s up, Janine?” I ask with a chuckle, unsure what she could have on her mind but sure it’s going to be interesting.

“I heard something today, and I want to know if it’s true,” she says flatly while folding her arms across her chest.

Great body language there. I have to wonder if she really does want to know if this thing she heard is true. I guess I’ll find out in a second or two.

I fold my arms across my chest to mimic her and lean against the chest of drawers. “Hit me with it, and I’ll let you know.”

Her gaze slides down my body and back up to my face, like she’s trying to figure out what the appeal is. I don’t think she wants that answer, though. If she did, she’d ask her daughter.

“Did you cheat on Eden?”

I’ve never actually felt gobsmacked, but Janine has finally made that something I can truly say I’ve experienced. My mind races to figure out what she could be referring to, but I have noidea since I haven’t been with another woman since Eden and I got together that night in Vegas.

And I haven’t wanted to.

“No. If you give me some more details about who I supposedly went with, I can probably clear things up for you.”

“Pretty brunette whose sister is married to your youngest brother. Not surprisingly, she doesn’t seem to like you much, which only makes the claim you two hooked up all the more believable.”

How nice. Even as she’s accusing me of cheating on her daughter, she sneaks in an insult about people not liking me. If I didn’t love my wife as much as I do, I’d tell this woman off right here without a single worry about hurting her feelings.

As for Kelly, while I didn’t cheat on Eden with her, I can’t deny I’ve been with her. Why she hates me so much I can only speculate since she dumped me, not vice versa.

“Well, her name is Kelly, and while I did have a relationship with her in the past, it didn’t happen since I met your daughter.”

“You might want to tell her that since she heard what I heard.”

I hate this woman. Why didn’t she lead with that instead of taking up my time with her bullshit?

Without another word to Janine, I rush out of my room and down the stairs to where I know Duck is getting ready. Matthias sees where I’m going and tries to stop me with the reminder that I’m not supposed to see the bride before the ceremony, but since we’re already married, I don’t think that superstition applies in this case.

And I don’t fucking care if it does.

Waving him off, I knock on the door a single time and push the door open to see Eden and Ava staring at me in shock. I don’t know for sure, but it looks like Eden’s been crying.

I point at her best friend and brusquely order her to leave. “We need to talk, so I need you to leave us alone.”

Ava waits a second and then hurries out when she sees I’m deadly serious. It’s not my usual style, but I need Eden to hear the truth from me.

She’s calm, which makes me wonder if Janine lied to me. “What are you doing, Marius? You aren’t supposed to see me, remember?”

“Yeah, that’s not really apropos since we’ve been married for a while and this is a show for your family. Regarding that, I just had a visit from your mother. She said you heard I cheated on you. Is that true?”

Duck rolls her eyes and lets out a heavy sigh. “My mother told you that?”

“Yes. Are you upset? She made it seem like you believed I cheated on you.”

In her typical fashion, she walks over to me and immediately begins to straighten my bow tie. Looking up at me, she smiles and answers, “I knew about you and Kelly before we even got together. I never thought you were a monk before Las Vegas, Marius. She and I had a laugh about it at Ronan and Kate’s wedding, in fact.”

“Then why the hell did your mother act like you were rattled by the news?” I ask before dipping my head to kiss her softly on the lips.

“Because she’s my mother, baby. She’s just that type of person.”

“This is all because I’m not Sicilian, isn’t it?”

She nods and kisses me. “Probably. I’m sorry you’re stuck with the worst mother-in-law. I wish she wasn’t like this, but if it’s any consolation, we won’t have to spend much time with her after today.”