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‘Shhh!’ Alice raises her hand, two fingers resting over my lips. Though this time she misses my bruised eye, I still flinch at the contact – memories from our night together always close to the surface of my mind.
Oblivious to my thoughts, Alice studies the little girl lying in the bed. ‘Let me check and make sure she’s still asleep.’ She tiptoes to the other side of the bed.
My lips tingle as I watch Alice peer down at the little girl who’s laying on her side facing away from me. Over her dark brown hair, I watch Alice’s eyes soften, her face transition from anxiousness to a mixture of concern and love.
It makes me… envious?
I brush the back of my hand across my lips.
‘She’s asleep.’ Alice’s words are whispered as she tiptoes back.
Shaking off whatever wayward emotions are trying to cling to me, I refocus on the task at hand. ‘What the hell?’
She flinches at the harshly whispered question.
‘You said, multiple times, that you would not tell anyone about our marriage.’
‘I’m sorry.’ Hands up, she looks as apologetic as she sounds. ‘They were going to put Mary in foster care.’
‘Why? You’re her aunt.’
‘I’m not her real aunt.’ She glares at the door behind me. ‘Not by blood, anyway.’
I continue to stare until she shifts on her feet.
‘And since I’m not her relative I had to volunteer to foster her, but when you foster children, you need to meet certain requirements and—’
‘A requirement is marriage?’ My incredulity echoes in the room.
‘Shhh!’ She watches Mary for signs she’s awake. ‘No, the requirement is a large enough place of residency.’
My eye pinches as I frown. ‘What’s wrong with your apartment?’
‘It’s a small studio in High Bridge.’ She rubs a shaky hand down her face. ‘And fostering requires designated bedrooms.’
‘Why do you live in High Bridge?’ While not the worst, it definitely isn’t the safest place to live. Not for a single woman.
Ignoring my question, she continues. ‘If I use my address, Mary goes into emergency foster care. Even if I can find a suitable apartment, I’m not sure they’ll revert her care back to me if they’ve already settled her somewhere else. But—’ Alice grimaces ‘—if I use your address, my husband’s address, there’s no way they’d turn down my foster request.’
It wasn’t what I had in mind when I thought she’d use me for my money and name, but I was right none the less.
‘Please, Thomas. Just until Kayla comes back and can take care of Mary.’
I lack the confidence she seems to have on Mary’s mother returning. But that isn’t my problem. My problem is something my lawyer told me a little over an hour ago. ‘The basis of the annulment is that we were not in our right minds when the marriage occurred.’
She raises her fingers toward my mouth again, this time looking furtively over my shoulder where the police officer and social workers wait.
Reluctantly, I lower my voice but keep my distance. ‘If our marriage is recorded on legal documents and you register my address as yours, our reason for annulment won’t look as reasonable. It will probably mean we’d need a divorce.’
‘That’s fine.’ She shoots more glances at the door. ‘Doesn’t matter.’
I will my shoulders to relax. ‘It might not matter to you, but it matters to me.’
Her teeth press into her lower lip, like a last-ditch effort to keep herself in control. ‘If you want me to sign the post-nuptial agreement, then this is what I require.’
Ice seeps into my veins. ‘Is that so?’ Even to my own ears, I sound menacing.
Swallowing, Alice holds her ground. ‘Yes.’
