Chapter 46
Having his cake.
Grey pulled in front of my car almost nine hours after he strolled through the doors of my store with warmth and excitement. He could barely look at me now. I climbed out of his jeep, and he finally spoke, “I’ll text you when and where to meet me tomorrow.”
“Okay.” I closed the door. “Are you going to tell Tatianna?”
He shook his head, and his face twitched. “I don’t know what to do about anything. Except to meet my daughter...” Grey stopped himself. “That’s strange even to say that I have a daughter.”
“Let’s take it day by day. We’ll figure it out.” I backed up from his jeep, hating to leave him hurt. But only time would heal the pain of betrayal.
He raised a sardonic brow. “Me and you or Carter and you?”
“Knowing him, it will be you and me. And now I need to face the music.”
“No matter what he says, go with your gut to determine if it’s the truth,” Grey quietly said. “You better go.”
I nodded, and he remained parked in front of me until I drove past him. Then I peeked through my rearview mirror as he turned the car and headed in the opposite direction from where we’d driven. He was going home to Tatianna, and I was going home to my husband as we were supposed to, despite the love and passion still between us. With a new resolve to handle anything Carter said, I called my mother.
“Darren, where are you? Carter is upset. Said you two had a fight, and he came home to work it out, thinking you were here.” My usually calm mother answered, flustered.
“I promise I’ll explain everything later. Can you take the children and stay in a hotel? Carter and I do need to talk, and we should be alone to do it.”
She advised, “Marriage has its ups and downs. Don’t walk away from your husband.”
“I never said I would, but I refuse to stay if he doesn’t change.”
Mama sighed somewhat impatiently, “If he’s stepped out, you can work through that.”
“Mama, Carter isn’t Daddy.” I rolled my eyes as I entered the interstate. My father wouldn’t cheat on my mother with her best friend.
“He’s exactly like your father...willing to do anything for his family. That man downstairs is upset and scared to lose you. Use his fear to your advantage.”
“I wish it were that simple.” She had no idea how I wished we were just having simple marital problems or that he had cheated with a random woman.
Mama asserted, “It is that simple. He married you, knowing you loved another man. That you have that man’s child, if he can move past that, you can move past anything he’s done.”
I gasped. I loved my mother and considered us close. Still, I kept the secrets of my marriage between Carter and me. "How did you know?"
“I’m not judging you. You were young and so caught up in love for the first time. I thought that giddiness was for Carter until I saw you and Grey talking on the balcony. I remembered smiling and watching how you moved around each other. I’ve loved Grey like a son because he’s been there for you and for us. Always popping by to have dinner with us when you were teens.Thought he would make you a good husband. But then you told us you were pregnant and that you and Carter planned to get married. I shifted to fully welcoming Carter into our family. Imagine my surprise when I held Elle for the first time. I’ve seen that face at my dinner table for years. You didn’t think I would guess that her father is Grey?”
“I... thought...” I stammered and then took a deep breath. “E looks so much like Carter. I just assumed you would think Elle looks like someone on Carter’s side.”
“That’s what your dad and brother believe. Dani and I know different.”
“Ya’ll talk about Carter and me?” I swerved, and the angry blare of the car in the next lane quickly reminded me that I needed to focus. “Well, Dani also knew that Grey wanted to marry me before I married Carter, and maybe we wouldn’t be in this mess if she had stayed out of my business.”
“You have no one else to blame for your actions except yourself. No one made you sleep with two men so close together and marry one if you still loved another man.” Mama reprimanded sharply before she blew out her breath. “I’ll be here for a week, and we’ll have plenty of time to talk. Just come home and deal with Carter.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I responded obediently. I had no rebuttal for the truth. “I’ll be home in about thirty minutes. Can you make sure you and the children are gone before I get there?”
“There’s a hotel downtown I wanted to go to anyway, and we can order room service. I’ll keep them too busy to worry about their parents. You know E’s in his room on his game, oblivious to anything. Elle is the one worried about you and Carter.”
“I know. Elle hates it when he’s upset about anything.” My temples throbbed.
Elle.
She deserved so much better than me as her mother. Mama was right. I couldn’t blame anyone but myself. “Thank you, Mama. Glad you're here when I need you the most.”
