“Yes, of course.”
Brice stood and walked his mother and aunt to the door. Brooke collected the dirty dishes, returned them to the kitchen and start putting them in the dishwasher. A dull pain was creeping up her torso; it was the beginning of an MS episode that she didn’t need. Brooke was about to head upstairs to get her medicine when she noticed it was on the counter next to the coffee pot. She selected the bottle she needed.
“What—”
“I figured you’d need to take them,” Brice explained, walking into the kitchen.
“That was very thoughtful of you,” she replied, doling out the required dose. She turned to find that Brice had removed a water bottle from the refrigerator and was handing it to her. “Thank you.”
“Sure.” Brice took a seat at the island; his arms were folded across his chest. The muscles in his jaw twitched, but his eyes had softened. Brooke didn’t know if he’d brought his anger under control himself or if his mother or aunt said something to him. Either way, she was grateful.
Brooke twisted the top off the bottle, popped two pills in her mouth and chased them with the water. She took the stool across from him. “Is that all you need to take?”
Brooke nodded. “For now.”
“So...” he prompted.
“I apologize. I should’ve told you everything about myself before we got married.”
Brice nodded slowly. “I deserve the truth. I should’ve known about anything and everything that could have an impact on our future before we got married.”
“I just... I didn’t... I just didn’t...” she stuttered, having trouble getting the words past her lips.
“You just didn’t what...trust me?” he concluded.
Brooke swiped away a lone tear that had escaped. Just be honest. “No, I didn’t. I wasn’t sure you could handle the truth about my world, my life. Not given where you came from. How you grew up.”
“What does that—”
Brooke raised her palms to stop his protest. “I know you understand loss, probably better than I do, because of your father. But what you don’t get is the concept of being totally and completely alone. Having no one to depend on but yourself. When bad things happen to you or if you have to make difficult choices, you just handle them. It’s like you go on autopilot. I’m sorry I didn’t trust you.”
“And you had every right not to,” Brice replied.
Brooke recoiled. “What did you say?”
Sadness clouded his features. Brice stood, came around the other side of the island, took the seat next to Brooke and turned his body toward her. “When we first met, I thought you were the smartest and most beautiful woman I’d ever met. You were also the most guarded,” he said.
“True. To the guarded part, I mean,” she clarified.
“See, you still have no idea just how stunning you are.” He ran the back of his index finger down the side of her face before dropping his hand. “Once we started getting to know each other, I fell for you hard and fast. I was determined to sweep you off your feet.”
Brooke cupped his face with both hands. “You did, and I fell hard for you too. I’ve never been so happy in my entire life,” she admitted.
Brice gripped her wrist and gently removed her hands from his face before intertwining their fingers.
* * *
Brooke’s words and touch sent a warm feeling throughout his body, igniting his desires, and all he wanted to do was kiss and carry her back to bed. However, he knew they had too much to settle first.
“I love you so much and was determined to make you mine. I didn’t take the time that I should have to earn your trust. You should have never had any doubt about my response to anything you had to tell me. I didn’t give you that opportunity and I’m so very sorry. Will you please forgive me?”
Brooke’s eyes filled with tears and Brice bowed his head. He brought their hands to his mouth and kissed her palms. He was fighting hard to keep his own emotions from overtaking him. He wanted to show Brooke strength, but in reality, he was scared. Scared she wouldn’t forgive him. Scared she still couldn’t trust him. Scared he would lose the ground he’d gained.
She pulled her hands free, and Brice raised his head. Brooke threw her arms around him, burying her face in his neck. She nodded and spoke incoherently into his neck as she cried. Brice picked her up and carried Brooke into the living room where he sat on the sofa with her on his lap.
After several minutes passed, Brooke raised her head, looked into his eyes and said, “There’s nothing to forgive.” She kissed him as though her life depended on it. After coming up for air, Brooke leaned her head against his. “Do you have anything you want to ask me?”
“Several things, but let’s start with how long have you been sick and the specific diagnosis and prognosis.”
“What?” Brooke’s face twisted. “How did you find out about that?”
“After I put you to bed Friday night, I accidently kicked over your bag and all these pill bottles came rolling out. I know I shouldn’t have but I got curious so I did some research.”
“Research?”
“Yes, the drugs for fatigue, depression, pain and numbness can treat a lot of things. As I started reading, the one consistent theme I found was treatment for an autoimmune disease.”
Brooke slid off his lap and stood in front of the window. Brice could see she was struggling with something, but he wasn’t going to push. He needed her to know he wasn’t going anywhere, no matter what she said.
Brooke released an audible sigh and turned to face him. “I have multiple sclerosis, or MS.”
Brice offered a supportive smile, nodded slowly but remained quiet. He had thought that might be it, but hearing her say it out loud made him thankful he was still sitting down. While Brice was relieved to finally know what was going on, he was anxious to hear how she was doing.
“I was diagnosed several months ago. My foster brother, Peter, is my doctor and my prognosis is good. There hasn’t been too much damage to my nervous system. For the most part, I’ve been symptom-free, but when I do have a flare-up, I have a very specific treatment plan that gets me over the hump.”
Brice stood. “I can’t begin to explain just how proud I am to call you my wife.” He walked up to Brooke and pulled her into his arms. “I’m so sorry you had to go through all this by yourself. Never again.” In that moment Brice vowed to himself that he was going to do everything in his power to ensure she stayed healthy and happy.
Brice’s cell phone rang. “You should get that. We’d hate a repeat of this morning.”
“Good point.” He gave her a quick kiss, released her and walked into the kitchen to find his phone.
* * *
“He still doesn’t know about my past,” she mumbled to herself, as pain began to shoot up her spine. “I have to tell him right now.”
“That was Alexander. He was just checking to make sure we were all right after Mother’s visit.” He placed his phone on the coffee table.
Brooke nodded. “Brice, I need you to sit down.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Please.” She gestured toward the sofa.
Brice frowned. “Okay,” he replied, sitting on the sofa’s edge.
Brooke returned to the chair across from Brice. She knew he’d physically try to comfort her as she tried to explain things he needed to know, which would only distract her. “You asked about Perez and the blackmail.”
“Yes. I don’t see why he thinks my not knowing about you having MS would cause any major problems for us or our company. It doesn’t make sense.”
“You’re right, it doesn’t. He’s not blackmailing me because of my MS.” Brooke stared down at her hands.
“Then what else is there?”
Brooke pushed out a quick breath, raised her head and met his fixed gaze. Brice’s visible anxiousness that had
disappeared after hearing about her MS diagnosis had returned and so had Brooke’s fears about his response to her past.
“Before I changed it, my name was Brooke Avery and for eighteen months, between graduating high school and my freshman year of college, I was a high-end escort.”
Brice’s face was expressionless and unresponsive to her words. Brooke wasn’t sure if he’d stopped breathing or simply gone into shock. “I swear that I never once had sex with any one of my clients.”
Brice sat back and dropped his shoulders. “What else?”
Brooke took a deep breath and released it slowly, adjusting in her seat, trying to ease the pain in her lower back. She filled Brice in on her life during that time and the role Shannon had played. Brooke gave a detailed account of her arrest, why she’d changed her name and the initial blackmail attempt, including the doctored evidence against her.
Brice leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees. “You were blackmailed once before and instead of telling me everything then, you chose just to leave me. You let someone end our marriage without a fight.”
“I thought I was protecting you and your family. Plus...”
“Plus what?”
“I’d just been diagnosed and told that children might not be possible. With my luck that might mean no. I know how much you want to have a child so...”
“So, what...”
Brooke wiped her tears that were rolling down her face. “I figured you could find someone else that could for sure give them to you.”
Brice rose from his seat, came and knelt before Brooke. He cupped her face and brushed away her tears with the pads of his thumbs. “I’m so sorry if I ever made you think you were supposed to be some kind of baby-making machine. Yes, I want to have children, but I want to have them with you. Not necessarily from you.”
Brooke’s brows creased and her face flushed. She was feeling confused and the pain had spread to her torso, which made her ability to concentrate that much more difficult. “I don’t understand.”
“Sweetheart, when the time comes for us to have children, we will weigh all of our options. I am a very wealthy man. With wealth comes responsibility and choices. If we can’t have biological children, we’ll adopt. You are my great love and life partner. I’m sorry if I failed to make you realize that.”
As difficult as it was, Brooke wrapped her arms around Brice’s neck, buried her face in his chest and cried. Brice rubbed her back. After a few minutes, her tears subsided and Brice picked her up and carried her back to the sofa.
“Ouch...” Brooke cried out, gripping his arms.
“What’s wrong?” Fear transformed his face.
“MS...my chest...hurts.”
“I should get you to the hospital.”
“No hospital.” Brooke could hear the panic in his voice.
“What do you want me to do? Should I call Peter?” Brooke could see the distress in Brice’s eyes and it was breaking her heart. “No...get...my pills.”
Brice ran into the kitchen, grabbed Brooke’s pill bottles and a glass of water. He returned and sat on the side of the sofa where Brooke was now lying, holding her arms around her body.
“What do you need?”
Brooke pointed at three of the bottles he held. “Two...from each...one,” she whispered.
He handed her the pills and Brooke couldn’t help but notice the slight shake of his right hand. Brice helped her sit up and fed her the requested dosage. “Are you sure you should be taking all these pills?”
Brooke offered him a weak smile. “I’m sure. I’m going...to be asleep...soon.”
“I’ll take you upstairs.” Brice picked up Brooke and cradled her in his arms.
“Stay with...me...awhile?”
“Only for the rest of my life,” he whispered.
Chapter 22
Brice carried her to the bedroom and sat her on the bed. “Do you need help getting undressed?”
“I... I’m afraid...so,” she admitted.
“Lay back, my love.”
Holding his gaze, Brooke did as he requested. Brice unzipped Brooke’s jeans and caught sight of her red lace panties. He had to fight to stay focused on the task at hand because his wayward body instantly responded. Brice removed her jeans and tossed them to the side. He leaned over her. “Let’s get that top off too.” He unbuttoned her blouse and a red lace bra with the front snap showcased her beautiful breasts and her erect nipples peeking through the lace. “Damn,” he whispered. Brooke gifted him with a small smile.
“Are you...okay?” she asked, staring up at Brice, her eyes scanning his face.
Brice tried to present a poker face, failing miserably. “I’m fine.” He raised her upper body slightly and removed the blouse.
“You don’t...look fine,” she said.
“Don’t worry about me. How do you feel? You sound a little better.” He pulled the covers over her.
Brooke sighed. “Weak, but getting there.”
“On a scale of one to ten, how do you rate the pain?”
“It’s about a nine, down from fifteen,” she said.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to call Peter?”
“I’m sure. What I’d like for you to do is hold me,”
Brice joined her on the bed, staying above the covers and wrapping his arms around her. “Baby, can I ask you something?”
“Anything.” Brooke snuggled into him.
“How often do you have these attacks?”
“Stress is a trigger, so more often since I got back.”
Brice tightened his arms around her. “I’m sorry.” Brooke leaned back and proclaimed as forcefully as she could, “My flare-ups aren’t your fault.”
Brice kissed her hair and pulled her back into his chest. “I appreciate you saying that, but I disagree.”
“Perez is the primary cause, but we’ll bring him down tomorrow.”
“Yeah, about that...”
“What about it?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Brice could tell Brooke was getting sleepy and he didn’t want to upset her anymore but he wasn’t going to let anyone, including his family, hurt her ever again.
“We’ll talk about it later. Go to sleep.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
After nearly an hour, Brice slid his half-asleep arm out from under Brooke. He slowly got out of the bed to ensure he didn’t wake her. Brice made sure she was sound asleep before he went into the closet to retrieve the envelope with all the false evidence she’d told him about and made his way back downstairs. Brice opened the envelope and examined all the material and even though he knew none of it, except for the arrest report, was real, Brice’s heart broke. Not because of what the fake evidence portrayed but for the pain it had caused Brooke.
Brice found his phone, stood in the middle of his living room and placed a call he knew he’d have to explain later to a very angry Brooke.
“Hello,” a strong baritone voice answered.
“What’s up, A? Can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Sure, I can talk. What’s up?”
“It’s about tomorrow.” Brice started pacing the room.
“What about it?”
“I don’t want Brooke meeting with Evan Perez alone.”
Alexander exhaled noisily. “Brice, I understand how you feel but don’t you think that’s a decision Brooke should be making?”
“A, she’s sick, man. She can’t handle the stress and she’ll never admit that, either.”
“I’m guessing you talked to her.”
“Yeah, she has MS.” His voice dropped an octave.
“I’m sorry, man.”
“Yeah me too, but her prognosis is good.”
“Well, that’s something,” Alexander stated.
“That’s everything and I want it to stay that way. Coming face-to-face with Perez could make things worse.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, stress is one of her triggers,” Brice said.
“Triggers?”
Brice could hear the confusion in his brother’s voice. “Yes. Stress can trigger an MS flare-up and before you ask what that is, it can mean different things to different people but for Brooke, she has trouble breathing and can be in a lot of pain and have a host of other symptoms.” Brice stopped pacing and looked up at the ceiling. “She’s upstairs medicated and sleeping right now because of an episode after telling me all of this.”
“So, she told you everything?”
Brice took a seat on the sofa. “Yes, finally. The thing is, she thought I knew about her past when I was talking about her being sick.”
“Oh, man.”
“So after we discussed the MS she told me about her history with Shannon and how it connected her to Perez, the blackmail and she even told me about the doctored pictures. It took everything I had in me to stay still and hear her out. Because all I wanted to do—”
“Was find him and cause him as much pain as he’d caused her, right?”
“Right.”
“That’s how I felt after China’s car accident. Remember what you told me?”
Brice dropped his head in his left hand while he held the phone to his right ear. He knew what words were about to be fed back to him. “Yes,” he responded, hoping that would be good enough. It wasn’t.
“You told me to let the security team handle things regarding China’s accident when I wanted five minutes alone with the driver.”
“That was different,” Brice insisted.
“How so?”
“China was safe with you. What you wanted was revenge.”
“And you don’t?”
“Hell yeah, I do. For everything he’s put us all through, but not at the risk of my wife.”
The phone fell silent. “I get that. What do you have in mind?”
“I know if I tried to convince Brooke to stay away, she won’t do it, so I need to be there with her,” Brice stated.
“If Perez sees you, he’ll know something’s up.”
Be My Forever Bride Page 17
