Page 87 of One Quick Obsession

She was my everything, and my family was just the same.

We had community projects to attend to, and countless other small things that were required of a Cage, but I was no longer running from it. I would do what I had to in order to keep my family safe, and to keep us together. And as I placed an absent kiss on the top of Scarlett’s head, and she smiled up at me before continuing her conversation, I knew I would fight to hell and back to keep Scarlett in my life.

She had been my obsession, my desire, and my enemy.

And now she was just mine.

Forever.

Chapter Twenty

Sophia

Leg extended, I leaned into the stretch, my joints aching for more than one reason today. But the world didn’t need to know why. I let out a breath and sank deeper into the stretch, before moving out of the angle and deepening my breath so I could continue my movement.

It had been a long day of classes, the twins needing a thousand things, and just exhaustion in the head. School had just finished, and that meant that everybody’s priorities were shifting. Oh, many students would come back for their favorite classes, and continue on during the summer, but others wouldn’t return until the fall semester.

Some of my middle schoolers would begin the path toward advanced classes, and even private tutoring. While I was no longer a principal ballet dancer for the Denver Ballet, I still danced to my heart’s content as much as possible.

So I didn’t have as much time as I once had.

But that made sense. I was a mom of two, owned my own business, and was doing my best to make my marriage work.

I rubbed my temples, telling myself that it was working.

Yes I made a few mistakes here and there, but those couldn’t be helped. I wasn’t the sweet, affable Sophia that Cale had married so few years ago. I was no longer dancing full time, or in the same shape I had once been. I had let myself go when the babies had come, and was working on strengthening everything that I could. It’s what Cale needed from me. He worked long hours and went on countless business trips to provide for our family.

When we had gotten together, I’d had a decent savings from my time dancing, but it wasn’t until my father’s will had been read that I’d been able to be financially solvent enough to find balance in everything that we’d wanted.

But that was okay. We were learning this new life of ours.

I did a few of the moves, letting the music sing its way through my bones. I loved dancing. Ever since I had been a little girl, I had tried to stand on my toes, plié, and jeté. I wanted to be the graceful dancer in a skirt and tutu, gliding and flying over the dance floor as if I could walk on air.

I had been blessed in my career and had gone out on top. I still danced with a local troupe, one filled with retired dancers who no longer wanted to dance professionally but still had the bug.

I couldn’t join often these days, not with the twins at home, and a husband who needed to be looked after, but I did my best. Besides my family, dance was the one thing that could truly be mine.

I smiled at myself, letting one final move take me, before bending down for my towel to dry off the sweat.

I needed to shower, get presentable, and then head home so I could feed the girls, and get ready for dinner. Cale had been out of town for the past week. He’d had a tough trip, with his bags being lost on the way there, and having to change hotel rooms halfway through, so I knew he would be excited to get home and see me and the twins.

My lips curved into a smile as I thought about our babies.

I never thought I would be a mom. It wasn’t that it had been a definite no, it was that my priorities had shifted. I had only worked towards being a dancer. My sister Isabella, as well as my mother, had done everything they could to ensure that I had the childhood I needed in order to find balance. I had been competitive and determined. Much like my brother Kyler, we had gone into the arts and never turned back. Kyler was still out on a world tour, and had just won yet another Grammy, because of course he did. I couldn’t wait until my little brother came back to visit, but until then, I would be the artist at home. Even if I didn’t do it professionally anymore.

Violet and Hazel, however, had changed my life. They were my babies, my darlings, and were somehow, over two years old. They were little people now, rather than infants, who were developing their tiny personalities. And they were changing day by day.

I knew Cale missed spending as much time with them as he wanted to. He was always on the road, doing what he could for his companies, and that meant he missed out on a few firsts.

I rubbed my shoulder, an odd pain that I pushed back. But he would see other firsts, and as soon as we finished with the next step of my father’s will, Cale said he would pause and take more time to be with the family. After all, we would have more money now, thanks to my philanderer of a father.

I pressed my lips together, doing my best not to think about that. I had loved my father as a little girl. He had doted on me and called me his little princess. And then he had ignored me so he could focus on his business, and his other family.

I hadn’t neglected naming him in my thoughts when I had imagined who had helped me push myself to where I was today. My father’s ambitions might not mirror my own, but he had similar determination. And that had been pretty much the only similar things about us.

But he was dead, his secrets long buried, and now thanks to my brothers and sisters who actually knew what they were doing when it came to business, Cale and I would be far more comfortable in our financial standings, and we would be able to breathe more.

Cale wouldn’t have to work as hard, and I would be able to spend more time at home with the girls, just like he wanted me to.