Young Revelations (Young Series) (6 page)

“Again, not pleased,” Matthew says crisply. “He seems to think the baby is the reason for the wedding.”

I would give almost anything right now for this couch to open up and swallow me whole. Of course I expected this reaction from any number of people, including Paul Young, but hearing it out loud isn’t doing anything to comfort me right now.

Sighing, Matthew slides towards me, holding my chin between his thumb and forefinger. “Hey, none of that,” he chides gently, wiping away a few tears from my cheeks. “I love you and I love our baby. I want to be married to you again. This pregnancy is in no way forcing me to do anything. My father is an idiot who has no idea what it’s like to really love somebody.” My eyebrows shoot up briefly; he smirks slightly, though it’s gone quickly. “He loves my mom. But growing up, I never saw much evidence that he would do whatever it took to make her happy. It was almost as though my mom was there to bear his children, keep his house clean, and cook his dinners. You’ve seen them together; there’s not a lot of affection in that relationship.”

I bite my lip, thinking back to when we’d all believed Matthew had died in the plane crash and how his father held his mother all throughout her grief.

“I’ve always had the belief he’s got another family somewhere who gets all his love,” Matthew goes on bitterly. “Probably not fair or accurate, but I couldn’t ever understand how a man could be so distant from his own children. He never really knew us; even between deployments he was happier when there was some business trip for him to make to meet with whomever he met. I think that’s the reason Claire and I are so different from our sisters: they always wanted to be exactly what he demanded; Claire and I resented the fact that he was gone so much and when he was back, he demanded so much from us. I was never good enough; neither was Claire. Over the years, our relationship has gotten slightly better, but…” He shrugs at me. “He still thinks he can control my every move and dictate my every decision. That’s what today was about.”

Uncertain what to say, I just nod and allow him to pull me back against his chest. I don’t know what we have to do to prove to people that we’re in love and no mitigating factors have influenced our decision to get married. We agreed to get married before the baby is born on principle, but aside from that, nothing is forcing our behavior. On some level, I can understand their concerns. Maybe we are moving a little fast by most people’s standards; for us, though, this is exactly the pace at which we went when we first met. Not to this extreme, but within months of meeting, I was packing up my entire life to move across the country to live with a man I hardly knew. It was the best decision of my life and I wouldn’t take it back if I could. And I learned over the years how difficult it is to make others understand, so I just stopped trying. Those who counted understood and the rest could either adjust or stay out of our lives.

“Dad brought up something else as well,” Matthew tells me very hesitantly. I tense against him. “And before I even tell you, please understand I’m not accusing you of anything; I just want to find out what’s going on. Okay?”

Dread fills my body and I know exactly what he’s about to say. Since Claire found out, I knew it would only be a matter of time before I would have to bring it up to Matthew, but as I hadn’t figured out a way to do so, I’d kept it to myself. “Okay,” I whisper, my eyes wide as I stare across the room at nothing in particular.

Matthew sighs very heavily. “He says the reason you left is because you’d tried to blackmail me and he paid you off to drop the threats and left me for good.”

My emotions are all over the place—shock, confusion, fear, and finally incredible anger. “What?” I shout, forcing myself away from Matthew.

A hurt expression passes his face as I scoot to the other side of the couch from him. “I’m just telling you what he said.”

I have no words right now, or at least none that I would want my son to hear; though Tyler is sleeping two floors above us, I have no doubt he’ll hear everything I shout. Matthew’s expression is blank as he watches me closely—I’m not sure if his gaze is just wary of my reaction or wondering if what his father said was true. “That isn’t…” I whisper, trying to find a way to explain.

“Just tell me you didn’t,” he says quietly, his eyes pleading. “Tell me that didn’t happen and we’ll never discuss it again.”

“I didn’t,” I tell him emphatically, watching as a huge sigh of relief leaves his body and he rests his head on the back of the couch. “You thought I would have…”

His head jerks up to meet my gaze again. “No,” he says firmly. “I know you wouldn’t do anything like that, Samantha. I just needed to hear you confirm it.”

When all I do is watch him for several minutes, his brow furrows and I know he’s working something out in his mind. “Why would he say something like that to me?” he wonders out loud. “Did something else happen?”

Again, I want to disappear. And again, he gets an answer from me by merely watching me.

“Sam, what happened?”

We can’t have this secret between us any longer, despite my desire for him to never hear this. I let out a shaky sigh. “He bribed me,” I breathe, unable to look at him. “While you were in the hospital after the attack. He cornered me one morning and spent an hour telling me how I didn’t deserve you and how I’d never be good enough and that if I had even one decent bone in my body, I’d just leave and never look back. He even tried to convince me to leave Tyler behind, because you could do a better job raising him than I ever could.”

I can’t tell if he’s livid or disgusted by what he’s hearing. Probably both. “What did you say?” he asks in a measured tone.

“That I wasn’t going anywhere. That I loved you and nothing would ever change that.”

He nods once in acknowledgement. “How much did he offer you?”

I blink in surprise at the question, but answer, “Half a million.”

His eyes close tightly as though he’s in pain. I wait for him to speak, not moving, barely breathing. Finally his eyes snap open again, narrowing on me. If I could scoot further away from him right now, I would. “You left me not six months later,” he reminds me, his jaw tightening. “Did my father’s offer have anything to do with it?”

My mouth drops open. “Are you fucking kidding me?” I whisper in horror. “No, Matt! Of course not!”

He looks skeptical as he watches me silently for several moments, and I finally see the fight leave his body. He believes me. “I’m sorry,” he whispers, reaching out for my hand. I give it to him reluctantly. “With everything that’s been going on, I don’t know who to trust anymore. I know that’s not you, Samantha, and that you would never do that. I’m so sorry.”

I nod, still feeling slightly hurt that he would doubt me.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” he asks quietly minutes later. He’s scooted over to my side of the couch, pulling me into his embrace again.

Sighing, I snuggle further into him. “I didn’t know how,” I whisper. “You had enough on your plate between the recovery and the physical therapy and the bombing investigation… I didn’t want to add more to your concerns. And you weren’t exactly receptive to other people’s problems after that whole thing.”

I feel him wince. “I know,” he tells me. “And I still regret all that. I wish you would have said something, though; did that play a part in your decision to leave at all?”

Of course he’s worked out that my self-confidence had suffered terribly after that situation and even though I never would have taken his father’s money, his words stuck with me for years. “Possibly,” I tell him. “There were a lot of things…”

He nods, but doesn’t press me for more information. “My dad was on my shit list before today,” he eventually tells me. “This just pushes things over the edge. I won’t stand for people treating you like that, Samantha. I don’t care who they are.”

I want to ask what his dad had done to end up on his shit list, but decide we’ve discussed this enough for one day. Instead we sit silently in our individual thoughts and once I think we’re calm enough again, I speak. “So Bonnie asked me something very interesting today.”

“Oh?” he asks, his tone light again.

I nod against his chest. “Apparently she’s going to be cutting back her hours at the store due to medical issues and she asked if I’d be interested in taking over temporarily.”

“Medical issues?” he asks concernedly. “What’s wrong with her?”

Shrugging, I look up at him. “I don’t know,” I tell him honestly. “She says it’s nothing, but she could make stage-four cancer seem like the common cold, so…”

He chuckles softly. “True…” He drops a kiss on top of my head. “And what did you say?”

“That I’d talk to you about it,” I say, looking up at him. He takes the opportunity to kiss me. “What do you think?”

“I think you should do whatever makes you happy,” he says quietly, tucking some of my hair behind my ear. “I also think you’d be incredible at running a bookstore, however temporary it might be. Furthermore, I think Bonnie found the perfect candidate for such a position.”

My lips twitch. “Anything else?”

Pretending to think for a few moments, he eventually nods and before I know what’s happening, I’m straddling his lap. “Yes,” he says, pulling my face closer to his. “I think it’s been far too long since I’ve been inside you and I need to rectify that oversight immediately…”

Surprisingly, I agree wholeheartedly.

The last few weeks have passed relatively uneventful. Matthew and I have quickly settled into a routine revolving around our jobs and our son, and I don’t think I could be happier than I am right now. Not that that’s stopped Matthew from trying every chance he gets. If he’s going to be late home from work, he sends a bouquet of flowers as an apology. If I’m too tired to make dinner or do any cleaning, he does it for me and so far hasn’t burned down the house. And on the mornings my morning sickness made it difficult to do anything, he would call out of work and take care of me until I felt better. I truly couldn’t have found a man more amazing than he, and I find myself falling more and more in love with him every day.

Aside from the obvious, we’ve kept very busy. To my surprise, running Bonnie’s shop has been much easier than I thought it would be and I love every second of it. During the downtime, I’ve been making arrangements for the wedding. Matthew and I discussed it a bit more and decided to risk the Upstate New York winters and have our wedding out near the lake behind the house. The guest list is short compared to our first wedding—then we invited every single person we had ever met to help us celebrate; now it’s a select group, some of which we’re obligated to invite. Like Matthew’s father. And his older sisters. We’ve also invited my brother and sister, though I’m not expecting my brother to attend, considering the last time I saw him, while I was recovering in the hospital, he nearly punched Matthew. I can only imagine what would happen if Jimmy had alcohol in his system at our reception; somehow the thought of spending my wedding night watching a fight between my husband and brother isn’t exactly appealing…

Today is our next appointment to check on the health of our baby and we’re really hoping we might find out whether it’s a boy or girl. We’ve gone back and forth for weeks about whether we wanted to know, and we’re still not completely sure, but last night over dinner Tyler asked whether he was going to have a little brother or sister. We told him we didn’t know yet and the look of disappointment on his face nearly broke Matthew, who seems to be putting five years worth of spoiling his son into a matter of months. So we came to the decision in bed last night that we would come home with an answer for our son. I tried explaining we shouldn’t make big decisions based on the opinion of a six-year-old, but Matthew was adamant. Personally, I think he wanted to know anyway and just took Tyler’s reaction as the perfect way to convince me.

Currently, I’m pulling into a spot in the Young Industries underground garage, fully aware that this is the first time I’ve been here in over five years. In fact, the last time I was here was before the bombing. After that, I refused to set foot in the place, even when the renovations were completed three months after the incident and Matthew tried to coax me into visiting him for lunch. Just the thought of visiting the place where my husband so nearly lost his life was beyond horrifying and I hated watching him leave for work every morning to return here.

I take a deep breath and exit the car, heading towards the elevator. I’m a little early for the appointment, but I thought we might be able to grab some lunch first. Making my way into the building, I go through the first of several security checks and get a few curious glances when I say who I am and who I’ve come to see. There’d been a time everyone who worked in this building knew exactly who I was and I couldn’t walk down the halls without being greeted as the boss’s wife. Now there are only a few familiar faces and none of them seem very welcoming. I ignore it as I follow the path to Matthew’s office, suddenly missing the life of anonymity I lived for the last five years. In that time, it didn’t matter where I was: nobody looked twice at me. And I liked that. A lot. I’m going to have to get used to drawing eyes again; with Matthew, it’s impossible not to attract attention and there is no such thing as “anonymous” in his life.

The sigh of relief I let out as I reach the waiting area in front of Matthew’s office is almost embarrassing, but I find a smile when I notice Sandra is still Matthew’s secretary. While most women would be nervous about their husbands working so closely with someone so beautiful, I never had that insecurity. Perfect body. Long, shiny black hair. Legs that go on for miles. And not the least bit interested in men. Matthew had always joked about Sandra being the first secretary in history to steal her boss’s wife.

“And here I thought he was full of shit,” Sandra says, beaming as I enter the waiting room. She stands and doesn’t hesitate to walk around the desk to hug me. I chuckle and return the hug. “I can’t tell you how good a mood he’s been in since he’s been back and despite all his talk about you being home again, we were all starting to think he was hitting the bottle a little too much.”

I laugh. “Might be the case,” I retort. “But I’m home as well.” I nod at the closed door of Matthew’s office. “Is he busy? I know I’m a bit early, but I thought we might grab some lunch.”

Wondering if I’m imagining it, an expression of nerves seems to cross Sandra’s face very briefly. “He’s just finishing up a meeting,” she tells me. “I can let him know you’re here, if you want.”

“No, I can wait,” I assure her. “Don’t interrupt his meeting.”

Hesitance and slight concern flashes in her eyes, but she nods, offering me some water as I move to sit down in one of the chairs. While I wait, I check my phone for emails and find one for Claire practically demanding we throw a dual engagement party/baby shower. Personally I’d be perfectly content not to have either and just celebrate with a couple people. With Claire in charge, the guest list will be more than a hundred people, most of whom I’ve never heard of, let alone met. But I don’t think I want to be the one to tell Claire no; maybe Matthew can figure out a way without getting himself killed.

It’s nearly fifteen minutes before I hear voices approach the office door and I look up eagerly in anticipation of Matthew’s appearance. The door opens and I’m momentarily thrown at the sight I see. A woman is exiting the office with what I can only describe to be a satisfactory smile. She’s about my height with long brown hair that falls freely around her shoulders and greenish-gray eyes. I feel like I should know her from somewhere, but my mind is busy thinking how beautiful she is and how she’s been locked in a room with my fiancé for who knows how long. I mentally shake myself out of such ridiculous thoughts and climb to my feet, anticipating Matthew’s arrival in the doorframe very shortly. The woman’s eyes dart to me and I swear she smirks, as she looks me up and down. I want to ask her what her problem is, but I don’t bother as I watch her board the elevator. Still, I watch her as the doors close and she seems to wink at me.

I don’t have much time to dwell on that before a pair of arms slip around my waist and I feel lips against my ear. “Well, isn’t this a very pleasant surprise?” Matthew murmurs huskily. “I thought it’d be hours before I got to see you again.”

Forgetting about the woman who left his office for the next several moments, I melt back into his embrace. “Bonnie came in a little early and I thought we could get a bite to eat before the appointment,” I explain as he releases me just enough to lead me into his office. “But if you’re busy…”

“I am never too busy for you.” He turns me around to face him, placing his hands on my cheeks and leaning in to kiss me deeply. “And that was my last meeting for the day,” he jerks his head at the closed door, “so, I’ve got nothing but time.” To prove his point, he backs across his office, pulling me along with him as he continues our kiss, then sinks down onto the couch against the wall, pulling me down until I’m straddling his lap. His fingers slide into my hair, holding me in place as I wrap my arms around his neck, pressing down into his hips. I grin inwardly at the hiss he emits at the contact and it only seems to encourage his behavior further. Lips leaving my mouth, he traces the path of my jawline down to my neck and it’s my turn to have irregular breathing.

We continue in this vein for several minutes before he finally pulls away, much to my annoyance. I open my eyes to find a blurry outline of Matthew grinning at me. “Tease,” I murmur, kissing him once more before taking his hint and sliding off his lap, though I immediately curl into his chest.

He chuckles. “As much as I would love to continue this, I believe you said you were hungry. If we leave now, we’ll have just enough time to eat before the appointment.”

Annoyed as I am at his talent of getting me worked up just to end things, I can’t fault the man for his logic. That is the reason I’m here, after all. But still, we could have kept going and settled for running through a drive-thru on the way to the doctor’s office. Scowling at his proud smirk, I wait for him to pack his briefcase and shut down his office for the day before leading me out. I glance around for Sandra, but don’t see her.

“Didn’t see much point in making her work when I’m not here anyway,” Matt tells me at my questioning glance. “Gave her the afternoon off.”

“Well, aren’t you a nice boss?” I mutter on our way to the elevator. As we enter, I catch a glimpse at his thoughtful expression as he watches me. “What?”

“I was just thinking how I could show you how nice a boss I am,” he says suggestively. It takes me a moment to figure out his meaning, but once I do I know I’m blushing brightly. He laughs at my reaction. “I mean it’s not like I have a secretary who would be interested in being seduced by me. Perhaps you could fill the spot?”

I don’t even dignify his suggestion with a response, mostly because the idea is incredibly appealing and I fear anything I say will either be a high-pitched, highly embarrassing giggle or a suggestion to act out this idea of his. Clearly he’s aware of my dilemma and allows me to use the elevator ride to recover myself. That doesn’t stop him from wrapping his arms around my middle, his hands linking just over my barely visible baby bump protectively. The couple of times the elevator stops on different floors to pick up other passengers, Matthew is quick to gently guide me away from them as though he’s afraid they’ll rush right into me. It’s actually very sweet.

Out in the garage, to my surprise, we head towards my car rather than his. “Leo’s going to drive it home,” Matthew explains as he helps me into the car. “I thought I’d come home with you after the appointment, unless you have objections.”

Raising my eyebrow in response, he chuckles, kisses me briefly, closes the door, and walks back around to the driver’s seat. After a few minutes deliberation, we decide on a little restaurant we used to frequent that has the best cheeseburgers I’ve ever tasted. Having grown up in the beef capital of the world, that’s saying something. Matthew leads us to what had once been our usual table and I can’t help but wonder how often he came here without me over the last five years, and whether he came here alone.

Rolling my eyes, I push that thought out of my head, uncertain why my thoughts are taking this sort of turn. As we place our orders, the reason hits me—the woman walking out of Matthew’s office when I arrived. I can’t get the feeling that I know her from somewhere out of my head.

“What are you thinking so hard about?” Matthew asks, reaching across the table for my hand and successfully snapping me out of my thoughts.

I consider lying to hide my insecurities, but I also know he’ll have no trouble figuring out I’m lying. I sigh heavily, not believing I’m about to have this conversation with him considering what we’re doing after lunch. “I was just wondering,” I begin slowly, “who the woman you were meeting with was.”

His eyebrows shoot up and his lips twitch. The bastard is laughing at me. “Nobody,” he answers. “A business associate.”

“Oh,” I reply. “She just looked familiar.”

For the very briefest seconds, I think slight panic crosses his face. “Really?” he murmurs, taking a sip from his glass of soda. “I can’t imagine why that would be.”

Just as easily as he can detect a lie from me, I can detect one from him. I’m suspicious, but unwilling to ruin our afternoon by pushing him into the truth. It’s not worth it. I change the subject to Claire’s demand for an engagement party and I pretend not to notice his shoulders drop with what I think might be relief.

“It could be fun,” he tells me brightly when he agrees to the suggestion of a party. “And we can have final say on the guest list. You know Claire; any excuse for a party.”

I roll my eyes. “Doesn’t she have a family to take care of?”

Matthew snorts a laugh. “You’d think so,” he says wryly. “I think she prefers keeping us on track to actually being at home.”

“And why does she think we need to be kept on track?” I ask primly, even though I know she’s determined to make sure now we’re back together, Matthew and I don’t backtrack again.

“No idea,” Matthew says, lifting my fingers to his lips to kiss them. “As far as I’m concerned, we’re perfectly on track with no intention of drifting away from that.”

I raise an eyebrow, biting back my smile. “Damn right,” I mutter as our waitress returns with our lunch.

While we eat, we discuss mundane things, though I don’t miss Matthew’s shiftiness when I ask him how work is going. In all honesty, I probably don’t want to know. He asks me about the latest shipment at Bonnie’s bookstore and offers to come in after work tomorrow to help me put it away. We discuss taking Tyler to an amusement park before the weather turns nasty for the winter. Before I know it, we’re pulling into a parking spot outside the doctor’s office and I’m being led by the hand inside where Matthew directs me to a chair while he checks us in and joins me.

Neither of us speaks while we wait and judging by the furrowed brow on his face, Matthew has something on his mind. It could be anything from work to the baby and I find myself unable to find out which. My name is called about ten minutes after our arrival. Matthew stands, giving me a tight smile as he guides me to the nurse waiting at the open door.