An hour into their marriage, and he’d already thrashed her trust, her faith that this relationship wouldn’t damn her more than the alternative.
“But Aurelie, we’ll figure it out.I’m not going anywhere.”As soon as he said it, he knew it was true.The time to cut and run had long passed.He was in it now, whatever that looked like.
“Can I tell you something scary, then?”He nodded, grateful that she trusted him after this latest twist in their new relationship.“I barely made it off of North Caicos alive because of my dad, because of the weight he pulled.If I get pregnant and have to take mybabyback there?I can’t do that.I just can’t.This matters more than anything now, that we fool whoever needs to think we’re a real couple.Do you understand?It might not just be about me anymore.If nothing happens, if I’m in the clear, we can go our separate ways sooner, but if I’m pregnant, we’ll need to see this through.”
“Of course.Now, come with me.Let’s enjoy the afternoon air.”He swept her up and carried her to the porch, a wrap-around so well-constructed he made a note to ask Owen who’d done the work so he could hire them to help on his when the basic construction was complete.
Next door, high up on the hill above them, dust swirled as the weight of the back half of his century-old farmhouse—and first eighteen years of hard-earned life lessons—fell on the dry ground, thanks to the crew he’d hired.It left Jace with a view of his land, bare and stripped down.Damn.The demo part had happened quickly, but the hold on his heart was still strong.It also showed what could happen when money and power combined, which only served to remind him what would happen to Banberry if Isaac Puckman’s money and power gained any leverage.It was a nightmare, almost as bad as what Aury was facing.
There was more than one reason to see all this through.
He sat on one of the lounges, Aurelie curled in his lap, her head against his chest.
“My dad and I didn’t talk much until the past few years.Did he ever tell you that?”She gazed up at him and shook her head.He owed her a reason for his distance but wasn’t sure how much to share.Still, he trudged on.“Not really.Just a Christmas card and a phone call on my birthday.”Aurelie’s breath was warm on his chest.He tried like hell not to recall what it felt like on his bare skin; this was neither the time nor place.“My senior year, I’d told him my dreams were bigger than the ranch, than this town with barely a stoplight.I basically told him that everything he’d worked so hard to give me wasn’t good enough, which, to him, meanthewasn’t good enough.It took me a long time to realize that as kids we are supposed to do more, want more than our parents, but by then, the rift was too big.”
“Was it always Hollywood that called to you?”
Ah, the million-dollar question.In for an ounce, he reasoned.
“According to my aunt and father, acting was my mother’s dream.”
“Did she get to see you do any of it?”
He closed his eyes against the heat.He’d never met her, and still, he could picture how it might have been to have her in the front row of the Oscars, where he’d been nominated last year for best supporting actor.
“She died in childbirth.”
“You’re an only child?”she asked, seeming to put the pieces together.He nodded.“I’m so sorry.If she’s anything like you, I’ll bet she was an amazing woman.”
“That she was, at least according to everyone who knew her.”He didn’t get into the rest, that his dad didn’t only think he wasn’t enough for his son, but that his son was the reason he’d lost his wife.There was no saving that relationship, but Jace had always wondered if he could have tried harder to bridge the gap between them.In the end, he’d known it wasn’t his bridge to build.He was the son of a man wrapped up in grief.“She’d have loved you, I think.If for no other reason than you’re the one source of joy—honest-to-goodness joy—that I’ve come by honestly in years.”
That was true, too.It didn’t—couldn’t—mean anything, but it was a fact.
“Thank you for sharing her, them, with me.I’m sorry for thinking your life is perfect, and I was the only one with problems.You deserve better.”
The moisture burning the bottom of his eyelids stung, but not as much as hearing the words he’d felt every day of his life coming from the woman he’d just wed.She already knew him, the adult version of him, so much better than anyone else.That should have scared him, but instead it filled him with a peace he hadn’t felt since he left town all those years ago.
“So do you, Aury.We both do.It may not be conventional, but let’s be that for each other.”
She kissed his chin, sending a fiery chill across the rest of his skin.“As long as my father stays on his side of the world.”
His mouth enveloped hers again, desperate to stave off the fear that circled him.Like it or not, now that they were married, he had something to lose, and that scared the living shit out of him.
Her mouth opened for him, salt from her tears mixing with the sweetness that she exuded.God, she tasted like heaven and hell tempting him at the same time.If given the opportunity, he’d devour her whole, temptation and sin be damned.
“Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it,” he said.“I’ll do everything in my power to make it impossible for him to touch you, starting this afternoon.Let me make some phone calls while we eat to start the paperwork for your green card.Is that okay?”
“Thank you, Jace.I’m going to check on Maddie and grab lunch.I think part of these tears is because my body is eating itself from the inside out.”
Jace chuckled.
“Go eat.I’ll work out here and see what I can get done.”
When Aurelie left, Jace felt her loss in a visceral way.His body felt lighter but heavier at the same time.Sighing, he pulled out his phone and made good on his promise, starting with the American consulate.It was time to see what his name could do for him.He sent off a silent prayer that all his philanthropic work, which had thrust him into the limelight, would pay off in political dollars now that someone he cared for was in need.
While he spoke on the phone to assistant after assistant, followed by a hold that seemed to last an eternity, Jace got his laptop from his bag to handle the PR of his situation to his benefit, since his agent had chosen the absolute shittiest time to decide to stop doing her damn job.He pulled up his social media accounts and cropped a photo of Aurelie in her stunning dress, hair tumbling over her right shoulder, her eyes looking down at the ring that sparkled in the dim lighting of the courthouse.She was the furthest thing from a hillbilly, which Cammie would know if she’d bothered asking questions instead of worrying how this all looked for her.He added a caption that he knew his fans would eat up.
Starting a new life begins with picking the right partner.Feeling lucky and in love.#weddedbliss #thenewandimprovedJaceM
