Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 85387 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85387 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
I don’t even have to imagine the bottle of emotions I just threw into the back of my mind; the damn thing already has a crack in it. All from his teasing and his laughter. All because I love him—like a fool.
Maybe I’d be better off finding a bear to eat me.
CHAPTER 29
Coleson
I’m pretty sure I still have pink glitter and chalk in my hair.
Maverick will be a girl dad, and by the way he whooped and hollered once his hockey stick hit the puck full of glitter, it was easy to see he was excited about the gender. I’m not sure why I was disappointed since I won’t be around him to be in the kid’s life, but I really wanted it to be a boy. Not that I can’t teach a girl to be a great hockey player, but I wanted to have the opportunity to be a hockey mentor to a boy since I never had one before now. Thinking of Coach, I realize I didn’t see him at the party, which was surprising. He usually tries to come to these kinds of things, but maybe something came up. I don’t know, but I’d kinda hoped he would have been there to meet my wife.
I hold her hand in mine, and I have snuck glances at her at least thirty times while we’ve been in the truck. Ever since we walked away from Elliot, I’ve had question after question. I just don’t know if I have the right to ask. I feel like asking her would make this more real than it’s already becoming. It makes me anxious, but I want to know her. Desperately.
Even though the silence between us is comfortable, I rub my thumb along her knuckles. “I guess we both wore blue for nothing.”
A sputter of laughter leaves her lips. “I guess, but I love this dress, so I’m okay with it.”
“It is a beautiful dress. Though, I think that only because the person wearing it is so beautiful.”
She side-eyes me and giggles. “Well, thank you. Did I tell you I made it?”
My jaw goes slack at that, and I’m thoroughly impressed. “No way.”
“Yeah. I made it a couple years ago for Louisa, but it didn’t fit her right, so I altered it for me.”
“Wow,” I say, nodding. “I didn’t know you could make clothes.”
“Yeah. I grew up making clothes for all of us.”
I bring in my brows. “For fun? Because since your grandfather owns a hockey team, I’m sure money wasn’t an issue.”
She doesn’t answer right away, and when I glance at her, she’s chewing on her lip. “I didn’t grow up with my peepaw in my life. I’m not sure if we had money or not, but I was raised in a community almost like the Amish.”
My brows furrow more. “Really? That’s neat.”
“Hardly,” she laughs, shaking her head. I note that there is absolutely no humor in her laughter, which confuses me.
“What do you mean? I’ve always been intrigued by Amish folks. The whole simple life seems nice.”
If I were Amish, pictures of my cock and the endless gossip wouldn’t have been an issue. But I have an obsession with electricity that I don’t think I can give up. She fiddles with the back of my hand, drawing circles around my knuckles. “While, yes, it was nice to grow up playing outside and making our own dresses, food, and crafts, I was subjected to a lot of abuse.”
I whip my head to hers. “Excuse me?” She hesitates, her eyes on my hand as she continues to draw her circles. “You were abused?”
She swallows hard. “While I describe it as an Amish kind of thing, it was actually a cult.”
I feel like the air is knocked out of me. “You’re kidding.”
Of course, I’ve watched every documentary on cults, and none of them are ever good. Surely my wife was not subjected to such a thing. She’s so pure, so kind. How could she have that kind of past? But she nods, her eyes still not meeting mine even though I keep looking between her and the road.
“No, I’m not kidding. I was born into a cult called New Beginnings. Though, there wasn’t any kind of new beginning, only men owning women. My mother is still a part of it. Peepaw spent my whole life trying to find us, and every time he did, the group would move. We didn’t understand why he was trying to save us until the abuse started. Thankfully, Elliot and Clara weren’t subjected to much of it. Louisa did everything she could to make sure that didn’t happen and took a lot of the abuse herself.”
I’m speechless, and my heart is beating so hard, the vibration is making my vison blurry.
Someone hurt my wife?
Without thought, I ask, “Who?”
“Huh?” she asks, looking at me finally.