And still did, although nobody, given his behavior, would believe it. But as he watched her, his heart knew better than they would ever know.
“I don’t bite, William.”
His wife was looking at him through her dressing table mirror. He smiled, pushed away from the doorjamb, and went and sat beside her on the dressing table bench. He placed his arm around her waist, soaked in the wondrously fresh scent of her, and leaned her body against his.
For a few seconds she stopped brushing her hair and basked in the warmth of his embrace. She even closed her eyes because it felt so good. But their marriage was a constant struggle. She couldn’t even lie. Every single one of her girlfriends couldn’t believe she was still with that joker after all he did. There was no pre-nup, they said. Divorce his ass andtake the money and run. How could she stay with him, and still love him after all he did?
But Reecie wasn’t with William because she loved him too much. She was with William because she knew, despite his behavior, that he loved her. Nobody, not even her children, had ever put her on the pedestal William kept her on. In a lot of ways, in her mind, he was all she had.
But it was still self-defeating, and she knew it. That was why she leaned away from him and continued to stare in that mirror and brush her long, weaved hair.
But William wasn’t fooled. He knew she was looking at him through that mirror, rather than at her hair. And although she stopped leaning against him, he kept his arm around her. And was staring right back at her. Which led him to see that she was favoring her left side more than her right side. “That shoulder still bothering you?”
He paid attention to her, too, when they were together. “Not like it had been,” she said. “Doc Courtly said I carry far too much in my purse, and that was why my shoulder was aching. He said I need to get a smaller purse. I told him, ‘but darling, what do you propose I carry? A plastic bag? I am a Birkin girl first and last and have been for decades. A Birkin bag is small enough, thank you very much.’”
William smiled. That was Reecie. Everything was one extreme or another with his wife. She’d bear pain in both of her shoulders before she gave up her style.
He crossed his legs and pulled her closer against him again. “Other than that,” he said, “how have you been? I haven’t seen you in a few days.”
“I’ve been right here. I’m asleep by the time you get home.” She said this and gave him a hard look.
“And you’re gone when I get up,” he said, ignoring her little jab. “That’s life.”
Then Reecie stopped applying makeup to her beautifully sculptured face. “Have you spoken with Hawthorne?”
“I did, yes.”
“Please tell me he’s coming home next month for the wedding rehearsal and dinner at the very least. Please tell me that.”
William stared at her. “You can always call him and find out yourself, you know.”
“But I can’t.” Then she scrunched up her face, making her look older. “He judges me too harshly.”
William’s heart squeezed. He knew what the judgement was about. And it was unfair for their children to blame her for staying with him, despite his indiscretions, when that decision was hers alone. “I’ve ordered him to come,” he said. “It’s his duty to come and support his sister. He’ll be there.”
“None of us want to be there,” Reecie said. “Skinning and grinning and pretending she’s not your bastard.”
“Didn’t I tell you to stop calling her that? I’ll slap the shit out of you, Reecie, if you go out in public calling any one of my children bastards.”
Reecie’s anger rose too. “And I’ll slap the shit right back out of you if you dare lay your hands on me.” Her look was defiant. Uncompromising.
They had knockdown, drag-out kind of arguments since their youth. It was a marriage from hell for many years. Although some of their children, led by Hawk, felt it still was. “Our children may be afraid of you,” Reecie added, “but I’m not!”
Although he threatened to slap her or hit her many times because that was usually all it took to get their children’s attention, he’d never laid a hand on his wife. And never would.
But he could see how conflicted she was about this whole wedding situation. She squeezed the bridge of her nose and exhaled. Then she looked at him through her mirror. “You andyour bastards ran Hawthorne away. And yes I said bastards! I rarely get to see my oldest child because you couldn’t keep it in your pants. Because I wasn’t enough for you.”
His heart squeezed again. “You’ve always been enough for me, Reecie, and you know that.” He leaned her even closer and kissed her on her forehead. “You’re talking nonsense. Now I told you he’ll be here for the rehearsal and for the dinner afterwards. It’s going to be a family affair. And he’s coming back for the wedding a week after that. He’s a Webster. He’ll do his duty. He gripes and complains, but he’ll do his duty.”
“Duty,” said Reecie, continuing to put on her makeup. “That’s all we’re about.”
“And honor and love.” He looked at her through her mirror too. “I love you more than life itself, Resheda Webster, and you know you love my old ass too.”
She smiled a very slight smile, and turned and looked at him. But it was enough for William. He kissed her with a long, searing kiss.
When their lips parted, they both opened their eyes. His blue-green eyes looked violet. Her light-brown eyes looked hazel. Both had that look of love and regret that defined them.
So much so that William needed to change their unspoken, eyes-driven conversation. “Why do you put on all that makeup when you don’t need any makeup at all? You don’t need it.”
