Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 87255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
And my world falls apart.
District Court
Clark County, Nevada
Joint Petition for Divorce (with no children)
A deep, raw sob spills from the depths of my chest. “No!”
Tears blind me. I wince from the pain of having my hopes and dreams ripped from me. I hunch over to prevent my whole heart from shattering on the floor.
My hand hits the mattress. The motion bobbles the papers just enough for me to see Renn’s signature in black ink at the bottom of the last page.
I crawl to the middle of the bed and curl into a ball. The force of the heaves is so strong that it’s nearly impossible to breathe.
It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have left him. I should’ve stayed.
I want to think we should’ve gotten an annulment right after our wedding, but I can’t make myself believe it. The last few days have been the best days of my life. I wouldn’t trade them for the world.
“Renn …”
My eyes squeeze shut, tears leaking from beneath my lashes anyway.
All the visions I had for us—morning coffee in the sunroom, vacationing in Australia, evenings in the pool while we share all our secrets—are gone.
There won’t be nights that turn into mornings while we forget to fall asleep. Dark-headed babies racing down the hallways with Renn chasing after them. Telling our grandkids that we accidentally got married on my thirtieth birthday.
“I’m so sorry,” I whisper through my tears. “I’m so, so sorry.”
The mattress dips.
I swipe behind me. “Leave me alone, Foxx,” I say, hiccuping. “I don’t want my phone. Just take it.”
Instead, the mattress dips more. And slowly, a body lies behind mine.
My sobs shudder as an arm with a number seven tattoo stretches across me, pulling me into him.
What?
I roll over as fast as I can with one hand and a heart on the verge of exploding.
“Hey, cutie,” Renn says, his head resting on his hand.
“What are you doing?” My mind races. “You can’t … You just …” I scramble to sit up, confused. “You just served me divorce papers and come here like this?” My throat squeezes. “I can’t do this. I don’t know what you’re doing, but I can’t—”
He grins. “Do you want to know what I’m doing?”
“In the words of Foxx …” I shrug.
His laughter shakes the bed. I’m so confused.
“I didn’t want you to leave,” he says in his casually cool way. “I was mad. Worried. You didn’t let me take care of you. You deprived me of that, and it hurt me.”
I watch him, too scared that I’ll read things wrong to say anything.
“But it’s not just about me,” he says. “And you needed to be alone, and I have to give you what you need.”
I mean, you didn’t have to …
“But all I can give you is one night because I miss you too much.” He reaches for me. “Let me hold you.”
Slowly, I fall into his arms. He holds me so tight I almost can’t breathe.
He presses a kiss on the top of my head. “I love you. I love you with all of my heart and soul. And I will never not love you, Blakely.” He kisses me again. “We aren’t getting out of this bed until we’re on the same page.”
I close my eyes and absorb the peace. The love. He loves me? But he doesn’t want to be married to me? How cruel. How does that make sense?
I smile. “I love you, Renn. I love you in ways I didn’t know were possible. But if you love me, why did you give me divorce papers?”
He lets me pull away. “Because you said our marriage wasn’t real. It’s the realest thing in my life. But if I need to divorce you and remarry you, so we remember it, let’s do it. I’ll do it tomorrow. But I can’t love you more than I do right now. Nothing will ever be any more real than our marriage.”
“Really?”
“Really.” He takes my broken hand gently and inspects the cast. “Are you okay?”
“It hurts.”
He pulls me into another hug. “My mom is divorcing my father. None of my siblings will have anything to do with him. Ripley got a pretty good shot off on him before I returned to the house.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Never, ever apologize for that, baby. I’m sorry my father put you in that position. And I’m proud as hell that you stood up to him.” He presses his cheek against my head. “Thank you for giving me and my family another chance.”
“Your family?”
“Not my fucking dad. But the rest of them … they hope you’ll get to know them. That they can be a part of our family.”
My brows pull together. “You mean that I can be a part of your family?”
“Nope. It’s me and you now. And all ten of our kids.”
My heart swells. Although, ten kids is a stretch. I was thinking maybe four …