by BWWM Club
He had gotten the report earlier and had picked up the phone several times to call his wife and tell her but he hadn't found the fortitude to do so. He had been praying about it and the way he felt but he was still feeling down. He had so much to give thanks for, a wife and a son and a normal life but he still felt ashamed of who his parents were. His mother was coming along so great, insisting on being there with her grandson and helping them out with him. She had allowed the Lord to turn her life around, so how could he tell her about the past that she wanted to get away from? He closed the file and glanced at the clock on his desk. It was time to go home to his family.
*****
“I am so proud of you!” Janet had come back from the walk half an hour later and Leah had showed her the books, while taking her son out of the stroller. She held him close to her, breathing in his baby scent and the fresh air from outside. It was getting a little cold but not unbearably so.
“Thanks,” Leah said with a smile, giving the woman a hug. “I owe it to you and Gladys, God rest her soul.”
“How far have you reached in the next book?” Janet asked her curiously. She placed the book gently on the table in the living room and sat beside them.
“I am at chapter three,” Leah kissed her son softly on the cheek as he made little cooing sounds. “This little one keeps interrupting me.”
“I told you I want to help more,” Janet told her, reaching out to touch a bunched up fist. She did not believe it possible to love someone so much the way she loved her grandson. He had given her a new lease on life.
“It’s okay Janet, as much as I am enjoying this writing bit, I also need to be there for my husband and my son.” Leah told her with a smile. “Speaking of my love,” she looked up; a smile lighting up her face as her husband came in. “Hi darling, I was just talking about you.”
“All good I hope.” He briefly greeted his mother with a reserve that Leah noticed and kissed her gently and took his son in his arms.
“Want me to get you some dinner?” Janet asked getting up.
“No, that’s fine, I am not hungry yet,” he said taking his son and going towards the nursery.
“He looks tired,” Janet commented as she watched them leave.
Leah gave a fleeting smile; her expression thoughtful.
*****
“What’s wrong?” she asked him as soon as they were in the bedroom together. David had gone to sleep fifteen minutes ago and Janet had gone to bed. Leah had noticed that Paul had hardly said two words to his mother only exclaiming over the book.
“I don’t know what you mean,” he climbed into the bed beside her.
“You barely spoke two words to your mother.” She said, leaning on her elbow and staring at him. “Talk to me.”
“I had the P.I. look for my father,” he sat up against his pillows. He looked so lost that Leah wanted to take him into her arms.
“You did not tell me,” she said softly.
“I wanted to see if I found him first. I told you that I did not want to find him but when David was born I wanted to know my roots.” He looked down at his hands clasped loosely between his legs.
“So you found him?” she asked him curiously.
“He was found dead sometime ago from a drug overdose.” He told her woodenly.
Leah stared at him, a little horrified. “Baby, that’s awful!” she touched him tentatively on the arm.
“Both my parents were drug addict and my mother sold herself for a living.” He shoved his hands through his hair. “What am I going to tell my son?” his voice was anguished and she had never heard him sound like that before.
“First of all stop with the self pity,” she told him firmly even though her heart was breaking for him. “You have turned out to be a wonderful human being in spite of who you came from and two: your mother has turned her life around with the help of God. We should not judge a person for the life they led in the past. Your dad whom you never met or knew, died because of the life he led, it has nothing to do with you and you will never be like him, you are a great father and an unbelievable husband, so I don’t want to hear about what you are going to tell our son. He is going to look at us, his parents, and we are going to bring him up in the best possible way with the help of God.”
Paul stared at her. He had listened to her and he had felt the shame coursing through him. He had always been the one talking about faith, love and forgiveness and here he was going berserk about a man who had fathered him and had died because of his bad habits. He was thinking about himself and he had been disrespectful to his mother.
He reached out his hands and took hers, his hands shaking a little bit. “I am sorry,” he told her huskily as he pulled her into his arms. “I am so sorry,” he buried his face in her strawberry scented hair. “I just went crazy when I found out. I hoped briefly that he would have been a good guy. A man that I could introduce to our son and he would be a proper grandfather to him. I let my expectations take over and was so crushed when I discovered his lifestyle that I got angry and unreasonable.”
Leah held him to her and stroked his curls. “I love you,” she murmured. “I want you to know how happy I am with you and I am glad the day I came into your office for that interview. You have changed my life for the better and I will not have you beating yourself up over what your parents did in the past. Get over it.”
He raised his head and Leah could see the tears glinting on his blonde tinged lashes. “Yes ma'am,” he said huskily. He cupped her cheek and his thumb caressed her soft skin. “I love you too.”
“You mean so much to me that I cannot explain it fully.”
She spent the rest of the night showing him how much and afterwards she held him in her arms as he fell asleep.
*****
He did not tell his mother what he had found out because he did not want her hurt all over again but he hugged her the next morning and told her he loved her. She hugged him back with tears in her eyes.
Leah smiled at him over her head. “I love you,” she mouthed and he grinned at her
*****
Rhea came over to have lunch with her and brought her the contract for the next book and also a royalty check for the books that had been sold already. She stared at the figures on the piece of paper with a look of incredulity. “This is for me?” she asked looking at her friend in amazement.
“It has your name on it so I guess it’s yours,” Rhea told her dryly as she nuzzled David. “Get the contract read by a lawyer and let me get it back in a couple of days. The rich does get richer,” she added.
“I am taking us shopping to celebrate,” she said decidedly. The weather had turned chilly and they were indoors. It was almost five o’clock and Paul had said he would be in a meeting for the next two hours so they should go ahead and eat without him. “You’re going to be the best dressed editor in that company.” Leah said giving her friend a quick hug.
*****
They had the launch and book signing at the huge auditorium at church and the place was filled to capacity. It was David’s first Christmas and her son was dressed in a black velvet pants suit with a red bow tie and hat on his dark brown curls. He looked so much like his father that Leah swore she had a hard time telling them apart. He was six months old and was so adorable that Leah wanted to take his picture every five seconds.
She stood up to give a speech and gripped her husband’s hands with hers. He was holding their son as they stood on the raised dais and faced the crowd. “I want to thank God; first of all and I want to thank my husband,” she smiled up at him tenderly. He brought her hand up to his lips to kiss her. “I also want to thank two women who gave me a different perspective on life, love and forgiveness. Janet, my mother in law and Gladys who is no longer with us in the physical but is with us in spirit. I never expected all of this when I came back here. But I came back to find love, a family and so many friends that I can hardly count. I also want to thank my dear friend Rhea and my editor for believing in me an
d working with me to get this book off the ground. Thanks everyone and please enjoy the food and buy all the books here.”
There was a round of applause as people drifted over to buy the signed copies of the book.
The party broke up around ten and the books were all gone. Leah took David away from Janet and took her husband by the hand.
“What’s going on?” he asked her as she led the way to the office.
“I want to be alone with my family for a little bit.” She told him, closing the door behind them. “And I wanted to give you this,” she took out a heavy silver watch and turned it over to show the words engraved there: “To my husband, my love, my heart. With all my love, your wife: Leah”
He looked up at her, his eyes suspiciously moist as he put the watch on his wrist. “I love you so much and I am so proud of you, I will never live long enough to show you how much.” He took both his son and wife into his arms, hugging them and sending up a silent prayer of thanks. He had everything.
The end.
The Anniversary
A 20 year anniversary, but is the trust still there?
A game changing clean romance by hit author Erica A Davis.
Simone and Toby are very close to celebrating their 20-year anniversary, which they're excited about.
Unfortunately, Toby’s parents have never liked Simone, and went as far as to kick him out of the family for being with her.
While the couple have managed to get over this, the same old family dramas are about to rise again!
When Toby’s brother plants the seed that Simone is cheating on him, Toby doesn’t want to believe him.
But when he sees a text on Simone’s phone from someone named Brett, he wonders if he should reconsider.
What Toby doesn’t know is that Simone is trying to plan a surprise for their anniversary, and his new distrust of her could ruin everything.
With even more family dramas on the way, will Simone and Toby’s anniversary be remembered for all the wrong reasons?
Find out in this emotional yet passionate marriage romance by Erica A Davis of BWWM Club.
A clean romance which can be enjoyed by all. :)
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 1
"Wakey, wakey, handsome."
Toby Reynolds groaned and rolled onto his back. He cracked his eyes open and saw the beautiful woman leaning over him with a smile and her eyes twinkling. He thought he had woken up to an angel.
But sleep threatened to pull him back under. It won and Toby yawned and rolled onto his other side, pulling the duvet up to his head.
"Can I have a few more minutes, please, Simone?" He pleaded. "I'm so tired."
"I've given you half an hour already." Something hot was waved in front of his face and Toby inhaled the special coffee his wife bought for him. "Come on, Toby, smell the coffee. Wake up."
The smell was delicious. Toby knew it would perk him right up. But the bed was warm and soft. It would be better with Simone in the bed with him but coaxing Simone into bed unless it was bedtime or she was ill was next to impossible. He shut his eyes tighter and pulled the duvet over his head.
"No. Let me go back to sleep."
Simone sighed and the heat moved away.
"You're worse than the kids." She grumbled.
She moved away and Toby thought she had left the room. Satisfied that he had won a small battle, he snuggled further into the warmth of the duvet. This was a way to spend a Monday morning.
No sooner had he relaxed then a hand snaked in under the duvet and tickled the bottom of his feet. Toby yelled and kicked out. He sat up just as Simone pulled out from under the duvet and sat on the floor laughing. Seeing her like this Toby couldn't be cross at her. He could never bring himself to be angry at Simone.
Nevertheless he tried to glare at her.
"Hey, not fair!"
"Yes, fair." His wife grinned and stood up. "We're all up so why should you be sleeping still?"
She was looking very summery in a sleeveless yellow dress, the fit of the dress snug against her chest and hips. It looked very nice against her dark brown skin. Her neckline was up around her collarbone but Toby couldn't take his eyes away from her breasts, which were still perky.
Even after twenty seven years, at the ripe age of forty-one Simone was still the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
He loved her more now than he had done when they first met.
Toby yawned and rubbed at his hair, aware that it was standing up on end.
"I don't have to go to work." He complained. "I think I'm allowed."
He had been lucky enough to make billions at the right time to ensure they had a big house, the children went to good schools and both he and Simone didn't necessarily need to work if they didn't want to. They were the idle rich and Toby thought he deserved a few quiet minutes having a lie-in.
"But you're meeting Emil at the club at ten." Simone reminded him. "You do need to get up."
Now he remembered. Toby groaned. He would never live it down if he was late to meet his friend.
"Okay, fine. I'll get up." He flashed Simone a sly grin. "But can I have a kiss first?"
Simone rolled her eyes, a smile spreading across her lovely mouth.
"Seeing as it's you."
She came around to his side of the bed and leaned over. Toby kissed her, cupping the back of her head as he sank into the embrace. He pulled away slowly, watching as Simone's eyes darkened. He loved the effect he had on her. Two decades together and they still had the sparks between them that had been there since first meeting in college.
Simone grinned, brushing her fingers across his stubbled cheek, and straightened up.
"Get a move on or the kids will have eaten all the breakfast."
Blowing him a kiss, she left the room. Toby dragged his eyes away from her backside and threw the covers back. She was right; their children were like trash cans when it came to food. They would eat anything and everything until there was nothing left. Simone always cooked a big breakfast, aware of their healthy appetites, so there was plenty to go around but if Toby wasn't fast enough he was left with much less than he had expected.
Sometimes telling kids that they had to clear their plates or they wouldn't leave the table had been a bad idea.
Forcing himself to get up, Toby staggered into the bathroom. After a hot shower and a shave, he began to feel more human. Standing in the middle of the room with a towel wrapped around his hips, he took the time to have a look at himself in the mirror. He didn't look too bad for forty-two. Topping six feet and still slim from regular visits to the health club with short black hair streaked with gray, the sessions on the squash court were doing their job in keeping his shape. His dark eyes had the start of wrinkles at the corners and there were more lines around his mouth, hidden behind the goatee and mustache he sported. Simone liked the new look, said it made him look even more sexy.
After that comment Toby was not going to change it.
Dressing in a white shirt and tan-colored pants, Toby padded through the house in bare feet to the kitchen. Their younger two sons, Craig and Nick, were at the kitchen table tucking into big plates of fried bread, fried potatoes, bacon, eggs and sausages among other things. A rack of toast was in the middle of the table being refilled by Simone. Carl, their eldest, was sitting in the lounge on one of their huge couches, his earphones firmly in his ears as he ate toast watching the huge plasma TV Toby had purchased the month before.
Simone placed his breakfast in front of him as Toby sat at the table, his plate full. Luckily he had arrived before the food disappeared. Then she filled a plate for herself and sat beside him, giving him a loving smile as she poured coffee for both of them.
"Dad, can I g
et a dirt bike?" Craig piped up, his mouth full of bacon. "Mom says I can't."
Toby glanced at Simone with a raised eyebrow.
"You're twelve, Craig. What do you want a dirt bike for?"
"Kyle Graham has got one and everyone thinks he's cool."
Toby could see the reasoning behind this. Craig was at the age when he wanted everything because somebody else had it and it raised their status at school. He sighed.
"So you want a dirt bike to be cool as well?"
"That's his logic." Simone gave Craig a stern look. "But I've told him that dirt bikes are too dangerous and he's not getting one."
Not to mention that children under twelve were not allowed to ride a dirt bike, certainly not alone. Kyle Graham's parents were breaking the law by letting him have a dirt bike if he was riding solo. Toby hoped they weren't.
Craig pouted.
"Mom!"
His nine-year-old brother Nick grinned around the fried bread he was stuffing into his mouth.
"Ha ha."
Craig stuck his tongue out at him. Toby had to laugh at them. He loved his sons. Because of their mixed race heritage, all three of them had Simone's black hair and light brown skin with his eyes. It caused some contention and friction with a lot of their neighbors and most of Toby's family because he had married an African-American instead of a white girl they had picked out for him but Toby didn't care. He had the woman he wanted and their children were bright, vibrant kids and never failed to make him smile. They did him credit.
Except, for now, his eldest. Something was wrong with Carl and Toby had noticed him pulling away from the family recently, choosing to stay in his room and refusing to interact unless he couldn't avoid it with his brothers and his mother. This upset Simone because she and Carl were close but Simone was careful not to show it. She didn't care what people thought in public but she still had to keep her head up; there were people in among those who loved his wife who would rip her apart.
