Beckham appeared a few minutes later like a thundercloud. “We should get you back. I need to return to work.”
“Okay.”
Beckham frowned at her compliance but didn’t object. In silence, they walked together back to her room.
When they reached it, Beckham tilted her chin up, forcing her to look in his eyes. “You are shaken.”
She tried to grasp at what she felt. “It’s sort of how I imagine it would feel to find out you can’t have children. You didn’t really consider whether or not you wanted to have them, but now that you can’t, all you can think about is the loss.”
Beckham’s eyes looked haunted by her words. He remained silent.
“I thought that maybe…one day…you and I…” She trailed off.
“I never wanted you to be this,” he told her, gesturing to himself. “No one deserves this hell.”
Reyna turned her face away. “I guess I see that turning me was never a possibility.”
“You make it seem like a tragedy.”
“The fact that our time is limitedisa tragedy.”
“Such is the way of the world.”
“My world,” she countered. “Not yours.”
“We cannot undo the mistakes of our past. Just hope to make better choices in the future.”
Except, it suddenly felt as if she had no choice in the matter, and she hadn’t even known whether it was what she wanted before that moment. Now she might never know.
Chapter Twenty-Five
With only four days until Christmas, Penelope had agreed to help Laura get a dress. She received a note from Beckham with the pickup time for her and Laura. Reyna raced out of her room and found Meghan, Jodie, and Laura seated around a table in the rec room, which was crowded for early afternoon.
“Hey!” she said, running up to them.
“Reyna.” Meghan jumped to her feet. “I need to talk to you. Can we do it outside?”
“Can it wait? I want to talk to Laura. I have good news.”
Meghan grabbed her arm and tried to all but drag her out of the rec room. “It’ll just be a minute.”
“What the hell,” Reyna said. “Meghan, stop!”
“Go with her, Reyna,” Laura said cajolingly, her face wan.
Only Jodie seemed too interested in the television to bother trying to corral Reyna out of the room.
Reyna yanked her arm out of Meghan’s grasp. “What is going on?”
That was when Reyna noticed the television and, more specifically, who was on it. Beckham and Penelope’s smiling faces and a bridal shop.
“Looks like he’s taking her to pick out her wedding dress. I guess they’re closing down the entire boutique just for her,” Jodie said with a sigh. Her eyes finally turned back to Reyna. “Sorry. Seems he played you again.”
Reyna laughed at Jodie. At all of them. “He didn’t play me. This is for Laura!”
Laura looked confused. Jodie disbelieving. Meghan a little sad.
Reyna took a seat across from Laura and took her hand. “It’s a setup, and it was my idea to begin with. We asked Penelope to pretend like she was going to get her dress there so we could get the shop to close. Then we can sneak you in the back to get a wedding dress.”
