To The Woman He Loves 2

by Theresa Hodge

  TO THE WOMAN HE LOVES 2

  by Shani Greene-Dowdell

  and Theresa Hodge

  PUBLISHER’S NOTE

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  © Theresa Hodge & Shani Greene-Dowdell, All Rights Reserved

  PROLOGUE

  Ronan

  The symptoms Ruby had been showing over the past months rushed back into my mind. She had started wearing wigs, which I thought she was doing for cosmetic reasons. She was super tired and slept most of the day, and she had upped the amount of time our kids spent with Shauntay. She had withdrawn from emotional and physical contact with me. All of this made me think she’d begun spending time with a new man. After all, I’d convinced myself into believing that she was different than my first love, Rosetta. The woman I’d bought a promise ring for and had ever intention to marry once I graduated college.

  However, when I made the surprise trip to Washington to visit her, I found her entangled in the arms of another man. That alone cut me deep. I just never knew the incision hadn’t healed, until insecurities crept in about my Ruby. No matter what I did to try to get Ruby to open up to me, nothing worked. What was I supposed to think? No, I didn’t see it with my own two eyes, but she was acting so suspicious. I never would have thought my superwoman was vulnerable and weak.

  She needed me.

  That thought marinated in my mind and ripped through me like a lead bullet. I felt like a total ass. I should have thought better of my sweet Ruby. She had never given me a reason to see her in the light of a cheater. I should have trusted the love we built and not put her in the same category as Rosetta. Ruby wasn’t some loose panty woman looking to bag a rich man. She was my sweet baby that gave me the most precious years of my life.

  And I failed at guarding her heart. Miserably.

  Fear ripped through my chest as the truth of my wife’s suffering weighed heavily on my shoulders. She waged a war with cancer, one of the toughest diseases to beat, and I was off being sexed into oblivion by Misty. Oh, Misty. I had to break this fling off with her. I had to let her know there was no way I could ever see her again. Touch her again. Feel her again…

  My God, it was me wanting to feel again that got me in this mess in the first place. It was that weak ass word that clouded my judgement, making it where I didn’t recognize any of the signs that Ruby needed me.

  My hands began to shake uncontrollably as I thought about my sweet Ruby and the way she must have felt when she found out about her cancer diagnosis. How she must have felt when she made the decision to go it alone. And the terrible way she must have felt when she found out I had been satisfying her neglect with Misty. Did she cry, did her heart break in two, did her eyes blink uncontrollably before the first tear dropped?

  I wanted to know every detail. I needed to know something, as silence rang loud in my ears from the barren walls of my empty home.

  Sleep was not an option, if Ruby was off with my kids, God knows where, feeling the sting of betrayal in her heart.

  I just lay on the couch, dozing in and out of consciousness, and periodically checking my cell for any communication from Ruby. With every minute that passed, my anger grew. In ten years, she’d never spent a night away from home without me.

  I sprang from the couch and took the stairs two at a time and went into our bedroom. I started searching through Ruby’s personal things, dumping them onto the floor and bed, not caring where her precious items landed. I went from drawer to drawer throwing out garments. I needed proof, something tangible, anything to confirm what Shauntay said was indeed a fact.

  I kneeled on Ruby’s side of the bed and saw a velvet, black security box with a red lock. How in the hell did I miss that earlier? I wondered, before conceding in my mind that I’d been missing a lot lately.

  Anyhow, I needed a key to unlock this box. I would not be deterred by a flimsy lock. In hopes that the contents of the box would lead me to Ruby’s whereabouts, I bounded down the stairs, nearly jumping the entire staircase. I sprinted into the kitchen and picked out the biggest and strongest knife I could find. I hurried back upstairs.

  It wasn’t long before I had the box pried open. It was full of medical bills that had been paid in cash, all addressed to Ruby. I scanned each letter and saw the type of surgery she had, radiation treatment and its cost. Everything was outlined in black and white and in detail. The medical bills fell from my hands, like the rage fell from my heart.

  “Sweet Jesus!! I have messed up the best thing that ever happened to me!” My voice boomed through the empty house, ricocheting off the walls, causing even more pain to enter my heart as the words echoed loudly. I sat there on the floor amidst my own pain, a broken man who destroyed everything I held dear. I made a mess of our lives, and, if it was on my last breath, I was going to fix it.

  Chapter 1

  Ruby

  It was Monday morning and the kids and I had a good few days of vacation time. I’d taken pleasure in making the kids happy by spending money from my personal account. It was an account full of the money Ronan had given me every month as an allowance, which was far more than I could ever spend. Seeing as how he paid every bill, there wasn’t much need for me to spend the money—until now.

  The kids needed new clothes, while we were away from home. This made the perfect time to take them on a shopping spree. Seeing Yasmine and Benedict’s faces light up as they ran across the beach, or shopped until they dropped, helped push away the image of Ronan and his mistress intertwined and gazing lovingly into each other’s eyes under the moonlight, if only a temporary distraction. I just didn’t think I would ever get over the way their reflection glistened under the stars that night, like they were copied and pasted straight out of a sappy ass Harlequin Romance. That sight was more prevalent in my mind than any of the special times I’d shared with Ronan. Ugh!

  “Will daddy be back home when we get there?” Yasmine asked, prying me from my thoughts.

  She had so many questions behind her young, innocent eyes. She was the most inquisitive child, so I had been thinking about what lie to tell her, when the time came to broach the subject of going home to see her father again.

  “No honey, he’s still away on his business trip. And, uh…the house is being fumigated for woodworms, so we are going to spend time at Auntie Shauntay’s and Uncle Mark’s house for a while, when we get back to Miami.” I mustered up as much excitement as I could about us spending time with Mark and Shauntay.

  “Woodworms?” Benedict said before they both fell out in laughter.

  After a brief explanation of what woodworms were, where they came from and how they ended up in our house, the lie seemed to be believed. They were more interested in asking me questions about woodworms than anything else. I smiled and assured them that our home would be back to livable condition in no time. Though I had no idea when, or if, that would be the case.

  I put the car on cruise control when I hit the highway that would take me back to Miami. We eventually arrived at Shauntay’s and
she came out to greet us and help carry our retail therapy bags into the house. The kids hugged her and ran inside to see Mark who greeted them at the door.

  “How you doing, baby girl?” Shauntay asked and gave me a big hug. “You’ve been hard to get a hold of, phone off one minute, on the next.”

  “I didn’t want to keep looking at Ronan’s bipolar text messages where he was begging me to come home one minute and demanding that I be there or else he would have someone come bring me home the next,” I said, “but I’m feeling a bit stronger now. The time away did me some good.”

  “Good to hear. He’s been texting me too, asking where you are and when you’re coming back,” said Shauntay. “I’ve just been ignoring him, but you don’t know how tempted I was to tell him to jump off a cliff. You know, Mark isn’t very happy with him either, not only about that night he came around but generally.”

  “I’m sorry we have brought you two into our mess,” I said, as I twiddled my fingers. “This really is a mess, huh?”

  “Girl, after letting your secret out the bag, I think I’m the one who should say sorry to you,” she replied, taking my unsteady hand into hers.

  “You have nothing to apologize about,” I told my beautiful friend, who had been nothing but wonderful to me.

  We decided to stop talking outside and went to her backyard and sat in the gazebo that was in the middle of her lively garden. An assortment of flowers and fresh vegetables were rowed off and blooming at various stages. Shauntay went inside and brought us some ice tea to drink and we both relaxed on the comfortable sofa underneath the gazebo.

  “My life is such a mess,” I said, taking a sip of my tea. “If only I had told him, none of this would have gone down the way it did.”

  “Oh no, I’m not going to let you sit her and blame yourself. You have been married to that man for ten years and you go off track for a short while and he’s out there sniffing around a bitch that’s in heat. No, he is a dirty dog for sleeping with that woman. He should’ve been more patient, had more questions about what was wrong you, my friend. I mean damn, it was only a few months and he was already out hoeing around. If I don’t have sex with Mark for a year, his ass better be waiting patiently and ready to hit the sack when I say I’m ready again.”

  “You have a point, Shauntay. But, let’s face it, you are my friend and you have always been very kind to me,” I replied, looking at my girl. “You wouldn’t tell me what I really need to hear right now, and that is that some of the blame lies with me.”

  “You’re thinking of forgiving him?” Shauntay ignored my statement and twisted her face in disgust. She had me figured out and my silence confirmed her suspicion. “Seriously Ruby? I know I couldn’t if it was Mark.”

  “Shauntay, I have said plenty times I would not take my husband back if he cheated on me. But the older I get, the more I know for sure that I don’t know what I will do until I’m faced with the situation. In this situation, I feel like we need a second chance to get it right with no deceit,” I said, feeling my heart swell with a pang of guilt for telling lies I never imagined I’d tell and hiding things from the man I promised to always be honest and open with.

  “Ruby, I don’t care what you say, I just know I wouldn’t put up with Mark cheating on me. If a man cheats once, he will undoubtedly cheat again,” Shauntay said, as if she was trying to change my mind about going back to my husband.

  “You have a new baby now. I’m sure you wouldn’t just up and leave Mark that easily,” I said, trying to get her to be real with me. She worshipped the ground Mark walked on and cherished the life they built like her next breath. There was no way she was going to let some woman walk in and take it all away without fighting for what she knows she and Mark have.

  “I would, Ruby. In a heartbeat,” she said, but I wasn’t convinced.

  “Well, there is more to think of than my feelings. Feelings will only cause me to make even more irrational moves. I have to think sensibly about the best thing to do for my children and myself.”

  Yes, I was on the defensive.

  The truth was, I missed the old Ronan. Hell, I missed the old me. I was highly upset with him and he had a lot of groveling and rectifying to do, but I loved that man. I needed and wanted my husband back with a passion. He was mine, after all. We had lots of air to clear, but it was our dirty air and I was certain that (both willing) we could start over fresh.

  Shauntay’s face softened as she looked at me go through a range of emotions.

  “Look Ruby, I’m sure having children in the mix makes a difference. I know it can’t be easy, but how do you know he won’t do it again? Like I said earlier, I believe he will do it again. It’s been proven time and time again that once a cheater, always a cheater. And I’m not trying to hurt you, Ruby. Honestly, I’m not.”

  I looked away from Shauntay; my heart lurching painfully with her words. I wasn’t ready to receive anything she had said. I wasn’t ready to hear those words. No. Not then and I doubted I ever would be ready to concede that my husband was a cheating bastard that would never be faithful to me again.

  “I have to look in his eyes and see what I see,” I finally responded. “To see if I believe him. I know my husband, and if I’m being honest with myself I knew the first night that he was unfaithful. He came into our bedroom, and even in the darkness I could see the wild look in his eyes. I could see the changes in him. The way he turned away from me in bed and didn’t even try to come near me. I just didn’t want to acknowledge it. I wanted to believe that once I finished my therapy and was able to be what I once was for him that we would get back to being one.”

  Shauntay looked unsure of what I was saying. Hell, I was unsure of what I was saying my damn self.

  “You told him about my mother and father. Tell me, do you think I’m damaged? You know, mentally…” I asked.

  Shauntay laughed.

  “I’m serious, Shauntay.”

  “No, honey, no. Well, yes, but we are all damaged goods in some way. Nice houses, foreign cars, beautiful babies and chef-catered barbecues don’t change the fact that we are human. Scratch the surface and we’ve all got issues, every picket fence has a dent or two.”

  “Ain’t that the truth,” I said on a sigh. “A person can have all the riches in the world and still be unhappy.”

  Shauntay rocked my hand that was cradled in hers before letting go to pick up her drink. “You know, you and the kids can stay here as long as you like. We love having you here and we have plenty of room. You can stay here and take the pig for every penny he’s got in the meantime.”

  I laughed at the thought of taking Ronan to the bank, even though it was an unsavory thought to me. “That’s the problem,” I pondered and sipped my iced tea, as well. “I’m still not sure which way this is going to go. I have to look in his eyes and talk to him first,” I said neither denying or confirming that I would pursue getting my fair share of Ronan’s estate if we parted ways.

  “Talking is good, I suppose. I just can’t get over how Ronan thought you were sleeping with another man. You should have seen the rage in his face when he asked me what man you were fucking,” Shauntay said, turning up her nose.

  “Oh my God! I can’t believe he said something so disgusting to you. That’s the very reason I had to cut off my phone when I did. He was so angry and threatening me about having his children around another man. Those messages were awful, Shauntay,” I said as tears filled my eyes. “It would serve his ass right, if I had truly been with another man though,” I said with a cruel twist to my mouth.

  “That’s what the hell I’m talking about, honey. You know good and well he couldn’t take what he dished out. Just the thought of you sleeping with another man sent him on this retribution stent with that wench. I also know that you’re just angry and mad at Ronan and you have every right to be. You would never cheat on him, because you love him too much. Just like I love Mark and couldn’t imagine myself with another man. Come here,” she said and stretched
her arms out wide.

  “That’s exactly my point. Love takes us places we never thought we would go,” I said, as welled up tears betrayed me once again. Shauntay held me into her embrace and comforted me.

  “I’m sure he’s beating himself up now that he knows the truth, but I will never excuse how much he hurt you,” she said.

  I wasn’t sure how I was going to react once I saw my husband again, when the last image of him I had was of him kicking Misty Crewe’s door closed, so he could undoubtedly make love to her. But I had to face him soon.

  Chapter 2

  Ronan

  There I was on the couch with the bottle of rum that had been my only solace during this time. Ruby had been gone for an entire fucking week. And, I hadn’t been in to work since she left. How could I work? I was too busy checking our bank account every hour to see if she’d made a purchase that would give me any indication of where she was. She hadn’t spent a dime on any of our joint accounts or her credit cards. I turned on the GPS tracker that was on her phone and I couldn’t track her down that way either. Even my two-bit private investigator hadn’t come up with anything tangible.

  “Damn it, Ruby!” I said as I tossed the half empty bottle of rum across the room. It landed on the floor by the fireplace and the contents seeped out onto the floor ruining her precious cream-colored carpet.

  Ruby. I’m sorry baby.

  My cell rang bringing my attention to the intruding sound buzzing in the kitchen. I sprang to my feet and rushed to the kitchen counter to get it. I answered on the fourth ring.

  “Hello…Ruby?”

  “No, it’s Jacob. How are you doing man?”

  My whole world deflated, when I heard the voice of Jacob Turner, the CEO of Turner Enterprises where I worked. I longed to hear the voice of my sweet Ruby. I could have done without hearing from Jacob at least another day.