“I just want to know what you were thinking when you sought out that aisle. You had this hopeful smirk on your face, like some proud papa or something,” I hiss. My cheeks redden as my voice rises an octave or two. “I just thought we were on the same page, and seeing you today with that stupid flowery pink outfit just shattered my entire image of our marriage. I guess I just don’t know how to feel about you right now. About us.” The stupid, traitorous tears spill down my cheek and make me feel even angrier.
Angrier at myself.
Angrier at Lee.
Angrier because the lies of my past are most certainly going to ruin my marriage, because I can’t ever tell Lee what really happened back then.
Therealreason why I can never be a mother.
He would never look at me the same.
Lee rushes to my side of the table, pulls me up from my seat, and hugs me tight around the waist. One arm wraps around my body, and the other cradles my head against his chest.
“Baby, baby, baby,” he whispers into my hair. “Nothing has changed. I promise you. I wasn’t looking at that outfit in any kind of wishful or hopeful way. Trust me.”
The sob that leaves me is disgustingly guttural as he holds me, utterly unfazed by the others in the restaurant sitting around us. “Then why did you lie to me about where you were in the store?”
His laugh vibrates through his chest and my body. “Oh, you silly woman,” he chuckles, “This reaction right here is why I lied. Because I know you, and I know that you would have ended up spiraling.” Lee grabs my face and tugs my chin up gently so we are looking at each other. He wipes away my tears before he continues. “Sort of like the spiral you’re on right now. You know I don’t like to see you upset.”
I roll my eyes and lean my cheek into his palm. “Okay, fine. That’s true. But then why were you in that aisle?”
Another laugh escapes his lips before he reaches into his back pocket and pulls his wallet out. “Because I know you absolutely abhor that aisle, and I didn’t want to upset you.”
I raise an eyebrow at him and wait for him to continue.
“Anyways, Mariah, Aaron’s wife, is expecting another baby. Aaron’s convinced that this one will finally be his boy. You remember they have three girls already, right?”
I nod.
“Well, Mariah stopped by the hospital and handed me this envelope before they went to lunch earlier today. She asked me to surprise him tomorrow with the correct outfit before we leave for our trip.”
Lee pulls a small black envelope from his wallet and hands it to me. I open it carefully, and when I see what’s inside, I can’t stop the hideous cackle that leaves my body. I look up at my wonderful, amazingly patient husband, and all the stress and anger leave my body in an instant.
“Another girl, huh?” I say with a smirk.
Lee sighs and smiles. “I would say ‘poor Aaron,’ but that man was made to be a girl dad, and he knows it.”
I pull him down and place my lips against his. “I love you, you know that?”
“You love me as much as I love you, my dear.” He kisses me senseless again before pulling away. “Now…how do you feel about going shopping with me again for a ridiculously pink and insanely frilled outfit?”
“Only if we can get ice cream on the way home.”
Shopping for baby things for someone else doesn’t hurt nearly as much as thinking my husband regrets the decision never to have children of our own.
Capri:
Welcome back to Live, Laugh, Murder! I’m here with co-hosts, Teagan Shepherd and Lexi Casburn, to talk about A. M. Pierce’s novel,An Axe to Grind!
Lexi:
This is by far the most gruesome book Pierce has published!
Teagan:
Yeah, I may or may not have DNFed this one because the gore was just too much.
Lexi:
