Shaking her head, she got up and followed me out the front door. I walked to the truck and held the door open for her. When we were both inside, I said, “I thought we could catch the sunset and talk.”
Jada nodded, and I watched her throat move with a swallow. “I think that’s a good idea.”
73.Jada
Bryceand I lay back on the air mattress in his truck bed, looking up at the stars while covered in a thick down comforter. Even though I wore a headscarf, the tip of my nose gathered enough cold to make me shiver.
Bryce tugged me into his arms, rubbing a hand over my jacket to help me warm up. But the heaviness in my heart kept me cold.
“Bryce, I have to talk to you,” I said.
“I thought you might,” he replied. There was sorrow in his eyes as he rolled to his side to face me. The air mattress and blankets shuffled around him until he stilled again. His gaze held mine for a long moment before he said, “Jada, I’m so sorry about Jude. That news... it wasn’t his to share. And I want you to know that I told him not to come to the wedding.”
My eyes widened as I listened to his words. We had discussed Jude coming to the wedding to prevent dissension from spreading within the company or rumors spreading in the press. “You really disinvited him?”
He nodded. “I’m sorry I didn’t do it sooner. Our publicist said it would look bad if he wasn’t at the wedding, but to hell withthat. I care more about our life than a few magazines that will be covered in bunny shit next week.”
I laughed, surprised by his comment. “Bunny shit?”
“Hamster shit?”
I laughed again. “I guess that works too.”
Sobering, Bryce took my hand. “Jada, tomorrow I’m walking down that aisle, I’m standing in front of all my friends, and I’m saying yes to you. A yes tomorrow is a yes every day of my life.”
My eyes stung at the admission, and I realized just how much I missed my parents. Ever since they’d passed, it’s been Glamma and me. But with her getting older, the roles switched. I had to care for her. To have someone looking out for me, having my back today and every day? It was all I ever wanted.
“I love you, Bryce,” I whispered. The soft wind carried my words until they reached his serious face. His expression melted into a smile, the one that touched his eyes and even my heart.
He held my hand. “I love you.”
“But...”
He tensed, even with my hand in his grip. “But what, Jada?”
“But I can’t be with you and have him around my daughter.”
His eyebrows drew together, and his expression darkened like the dimming sky above. “What does that mean?”
I took a breath, knowing my next words would hurt him more than Jude’s actions already had. “Jude sent me over half a million dollars and told me there was more to come if I didn’t marry you tomorrow.”
Bryce froze; even his chest didn’t move with breath. His eyes contracted to dark pits, thin rims of gray around inky pupils. “He didn’t…” Bryce whispered, almost to himself. “I told him I love you.”
My heart broke for him, a million fractured pieces. Jude kept hurting people I loved–my daughter, the man who wanted tostand by me. “I’m sorry.” My voice broke right along with my heart.
His gaze snapped to me. “Jada… what does that mean?” I could hear the fear in his voice just as I saw it in his gaze. He was losing me, and he could feel it.
I took a deep breath, despite the lump in my throat. These were the hardest words I’d ever had to say, but I knew I had to say them for my daughter.
Hot tears formed in my eyes. “I can’t raise her around him. I’ll always be wondering if she’s safe. And even if she is physically safe, I’ll be exposing her to the source of her deepest wound. It’s my job, my purpose, to protect her, and that means keeping her as far away from Jude as possible. If you can’t make that happen…” Emotion strangled my words, but Bryce understood.
“Jada, you have my word.”
I believed him, but for my daughter, I had to know: “Tell me your plan.”
Bryce nodded. “Here’s what I’m thinking...”
74.Jada
