Page 114 of The Temporary Bride

Leaving my mother’s house, I step into the warm afternoon air, my thoughts rushing with what lies ahead for my brothers and our futures. I slide into the back seat of the Audi, the smooth leather cool against my palms.

I glance down at the picture on top of the stack of photographs. It’s a snapshot of my brothers and me at a pumpkin patch, our young faces full of laughter and innocence. I trace the outlines of our smiles, reminders of simpler times before the responsibilities and expectations.

As I look down at the photo, emotions move through me. Love, protectiveness, and a twinge of worry for what’s to come. And I know what I have to do. I pull out my phone and open the Thorne brothers’ group chat.

ME: Listen everyone, I just came from Mom’s. I have to tell you something, and you’re not gonna like it.

BECKETT: What’s up?

ME: Turns out I’m not the only one who Dad arranged a marriage for. He’s got one lined up for all of you.

DOMINIC: What? You have got to be fucking kidding me.

BECKETT: Yeah, no goddamn way.

REID: Please tell me you’re lying.

ME: Sorry. Heard it from Mom herself just now.

GABRIEL: Jesus fucking Christ.

My phone continues to buzz in my hand as my brothers react to this news. All of them seem shocked. Once the shock wears off, I wonder, how will they feel? Angry? Betrayed, like I felt?

I glance up and meet my driver’s gaze in the rearview mirror.

“Where to, sir?”

“Back to Thorne,” I say reluctantly. I still have a meeting this afternoon and need to prepare some materials.

Before we pull out of my mother’s driveway, my phone vibrates again in my hand. I glance down, expecting another text in the group chat… but it’s not one of my brothers.

It’s my wife.

CHLOE: My hearing is gone. It didn’t come back like it usually does, and I don’t know what to do. I’m freaking the fuck out. What should I do?

My heart skips a beat as I read her message. Without hesitation, I type out a response, my fingers flying over the keys.

ME: Go to the doctor. Now. I’ll meet you there.

Chapter 42

Chloe

The waiting room is too bright and too quiet—although it’s only too quiet to me, full of sounds I can’t make out.

The buzzing in my right ear is relentless, a high-pitched ringing that turns everything around me into a muffled, distant version of itself. The receptionist said something when I checked in and I smiled woodenly and nodded, but I have no idea what she told me.

There’s a television mounted on the wall across from me playing something with the captions on, and I stare at the words scrolling across the bottom of the screen without reading any of them. A little girl across the room is chattering to her mother about something, her voice animated and carrying. I can hear the rhythm of it but not the words, and the back of my throat goes tight.

I’ve been sitting in the same chair for fifteen minutes with my hands folded in my lap, staring at the door.

When it opens and Tristan walks through, I’m on my feet before I’ve decided to stand.

His mouth is moving, his lips forming words I can’t hear properly, his voice distorted and strange behind the ringing, and I don’t care. I cross the room and walk straight into him. His arms come around me immediately, pulling me in tight, and the tension I’ve been holding in my shoulders since my hearing went out lets go in a single exhale.

He holds me there without saying anything else, one hand moving slowly up and down my back. His chest rises and falls against my face, the heat of him coming through his shirt. I close my eyes and try to let the ringing recede.

A nurse signals that it’s my turn, and Tristan’s hand moves to my lower back as we walk through to the examination room together. I’m aware of his hand the whole way down the corridor, past the framed anatomy posters and the hand sanitizer dispensers and the half-open doors of other rooms.