by Anne Martin
My mother started laughing as soon as she was out of earshot. She came around the table and put her claw-like hands on my shoulders. “Aren’t you going after her?”
I shoved back my chair and like a fool, chased my wife up the stairs. She hadn’t locked the room, so I went right in where she was laying on her bed crying.
I didn’t touch her, didn’t say anything, just stayed there so she wouldn’t be alone. When she reached out and gripped my hand, my heart twisted painfully. When she fell asleep, I undressed her and put her under the blankets before I went out. When I went downstairs to the library, my cousin stood there in his neat suit and blond hair, the perfect gentleman. He poured me a drink without my asking him to.
I walked over and took a seat. “Daniel. How’s Stina?”
He shot me a hard look, but only smiled. “I’ll let her know that you asked after her. How’s Sunny?”
“My wife has discovered that my life’s work involves pummeling other men into submission, also that I’m in love with her. She’s not happy.”
He frowned, so furious, but he held back any outward displays. “Why would you tell her that?”
“You think that I should have told her about my bet with you instead?”
He smiled. “The bet was whether you could get a woman to marry you who wouldn’t marry me. You didn’t have to actually go through with it.”
I blinked at him then stared a little harder before I started laughing. I threw back the drink and poured another. “Daniel, remind me not to tangle with you in the dark. You’re like my mother.”
“We are relatives.”
“Indeed. So, all this time you planned for me to save your girl? Unfortunate that she didn’t finish the therapy before she found out that I’m a lying son.”
“Pity. She’ll go through with it if you ask her to.”
“She wouldn’t do it for you.”
He hesitated. “Only because she never let me get close enough. She’s emotionally invested in you. If you told her that you needed her, that you couldn’t live without her, she’d go through with it. She’s your wife. It’s her duty to see to your needs first.”
I snorted. “What’s in it for you, Daniel?”
He glared at me. “I love her. I want her to live a long, happy life. This world is a desolate place. Women like her don’t overpopulate the place.”
“You’re not personally invested in her? You wouldn’t try to sabotage my marriage if I managed to talk her into doing the treatment?”
He smiled. It was the same smile my mother used when she was about to bite someone’s leg off, metaphorically speaking. “Oh, no. If you used guilt and duty to force her to do the treatment, there’s no way your marriage would last afterwards.”
I shook my head. “Diabolical. I won’t do it.”
He nodded. “I know. You’re honest about your live and let live philosophy. If she wants to die, to throw away the millions you’ve already invested in her, returning to work when you’d wanted to leave that world behind, all to save her, that’s her prerogative. Luckily, I happen to know someone who has no such scruples.”
Chapter 15
Sunshine Wilson
Thanksgiving dinner was full of unpleasant surprises. Daniel was there. I stared at him where he stood beside a banquet holding a glass of red wine and talking to a very pretty brunette in a full skirt.
I blinked at him and tried to stop the room from spinning. I should have stayed in my room. Daniel raised his glass when he saw me.
I gave him a quick smile before turning away. Nix was on the other side of the room, also wearing a suit and looking every bit the picture of propriety. He smiled politely to another pretty girl, this time a blond. I walked towards them without thinking about what I was doing. He glanced at me and gave me a slight nod of acknowledgement before refocusing on the woman.
I slipped my arm in his and leaned into him so he had to hold me up. I beamed at the other girl. “You must be a cousin to be speaking so familiarly with my husband.”
She blinked at me. “No. I’m actually distantly related by marriage. How many husbands has your mother had?” she asked, giving Nix a wide smile.
He smiled back, all warm and soft. I almost kissed him so he’d have to give that softness to me, but then there were chimes to announce dinner. I walked to the table and sat when Nix pulled out my seat for me. He didn’t sit beside me, no, that place was marked with a female’s name on one side, and Daniel’s on the other.
When Daniel sat down, I glanced at him then back at my plate.
“Not even a hello? We’re still friends from where I’m standing.”
“What do you have to do with this whole thing?”
“Nix is one of my cousins. You know how many I have.”
“You didn’t mention him before now.”
“I didn’t. I hoped that he could save you even if you wouldn’t ever let me do it.”
“Hoped?”
He laughed. “He’s always been very good with women.”
“And you weren’t?”
“I’ve always only wanted you. He’s older than me, much more experienced in getting his way.”
“I have the feeling that you’ll eclipse him real soon.”
He laughed again. “You look good. The treatments are going well, I take it.”
“I’m only doing preliminaries.”
“Three million he paid for that.”
I glared at him. “How do you know?”
He smiled back and cut into his slivered beef. “I make it my business to know as much as it’s possible to know about you, Sunny.”
I whispered, “Daniel, you need to let me go. I’m married to someone else.”
He nodded. “My cousin. He has more money than me. He’s working right now to pay for the final treatments. He already had three million in the bank.”
I stared at him while my blood went cold. “You knew that? Did you tell Stina to kiss him?”
He frowned at me. “I would never introduce the two of you like that. No, I believe she was trying to sabotage all my best efforts.”
Best efforts? I was on my feet, gripping a fork while I stared at him.
“Is everything all right, Sunshine,” Nix’s mother called from the end of the table. Her face was placid, but there was something shark-like beneath the surface. This whole family was a bunch of sharks.
I swallowed. “I’d like to raise a toast to the mother of the man I married.” I lifted my glass. “You’ve brought up a real gentleman and I’d like you to know how grateful I am for it. To our host.” I couldn’t remember what her name was, whether it was Mrs. Hammer or something else.
“To our host!” everyone echoed, standing with their glasses raised. Daniel looked as sincere as anyone else. Was anything real in this world? I found Nix’s eye. He didn’t smile, wink, or nod. He only gazed back with something sad in those brown depths.
I ate the rest of my dinner in silence. Ate isn’t the right word. I’d lost my appetite the moment I’d seen Nix in that cage and would never be hungry again. After dinner, I walked outside, wandering the grounds. There were a lot of weeping willows and magnolia trees, dripping moss like women in wedding veils. I hadn’t had a veil over my eyes, so why didn’t I see any of this coming?
I walked until it was getting dark. The frogs chirruped in the darkness and I rubbed my arms, not because I was cold, but so terribly bewildered. Daniel had been my rock for so long, but I’d never known him, like I hadn’t known Nix in spite of being married to him. Maybe people couldn’t really know each other. Maybe I was just incredibly stupid and gullible to think that you could.
“Kitten, I’m afraid you’re going to fall into the bog. Can I help you find your way inside?”
I whirled around, and there was Nix, a shadowy outline that I would know anywhere. “Did you agree to marry me because Daniel asked you to?”
“No. I bet him that I could marry the woman who wouldn’t have him. It’s a good thing I do
n’t gamble often, because, as I’m sure you agree, I have a terrible track record.”
I shook my head. “You always win.”
“Kitten,” he said, coming closer.
“Call me Miss Wilson, if you would be so kind.”
“I’m not inclined. If you must be addressed formally, Mrs. Death-Hammer will serve.”
“On the contrary, it will not. I’m going to apply for an annulment as soon as I get home from this harrowing place.”
“When you’ve gotten your annulment, I’ll call you Miss Wilson, or Mrs. Daniel Smith, whichever you prefer, but until then…”
“Wait, did you agree to marry me temporarily so that Daniel could have me afterwards? You wouldn’t do something quite that awful, would you?”
He hesitated.
“Would you?” My voice was high, piercing. People could probably hear me from the house.
“If you’re asking if I want to give you up, the answer is no, Kitten. You’re my wife and I’d like to keep you that way. I intend to keep you in my bed until the very last moment of our lives, however long they are.”
“Or short, because your career doesn’t exactly encourage long life expectancy.”
“No, it doesn’t. I live hard. That’s part of my package. You’re dying. That’s part of yours. We’re so compatible it’s almost scary.”
“What’s scary is that I walked into all of this just wanting to live in the moment, to feel adored and to adore you, no games, no strings, just simple, easy happiness.”
“Happiness isn’t easy. When has happiness ever been easy? Most of the time it’s downright impossible. You make me happy. I’m not going to deny that, or the fact that I lied through my teeth to keep you with me, hoping that you’d try to live for a little bit longer. I can’t ask you to live for me, to go through the agony of those treatments that may or may not work, but I’m going to pay for them. My blood is going to pay whether you accept them or not.”
I took off my shoe and threw it at him. He caught it. I threw the other one. He caught that. I ran at him and started beating him with my fists, but he caught my wrists, strong but still gentle.
“Don’t, Kitten. You’ll hurt yourself.” He kissed me so soft and gentle until I pulled him down on the grass.
“I hate you,” I whispered as I unbuttoned his shirt.
He kissed my jaw before he whispered, “Hate is awfully close to love, Kitten Princess.”
I would have protested, but he kissed me and I was tired of thinking. I fell asleep in his arms on the lawn looking up at the stars and not thinking anything beyond the moment.
When I woke up, I was buck naked in my bed, tucked in with one of those notes on his pillow.
Gone hunting with the boys.
I crumpled it up then straightened it out and followed the flowing letters with my finger. I called Aunt Willie. It rang for a few minutes before she answered, sounding groggy. “Sunny, how are you doing?”
I wasn’t sure what to say. “I’m going to come home. I need to get my head straight.”
“All right, honey. I’ll leave the light on for you.”
I nodded, hung up, and called a cab. By the time it came up the winding drive, I was walking down the fancy stairs, carrying my suitcase.
Nix’s mother stood at the bottom in neat cream skirt suit and pearls.
“Are you going somewhere?” she asked with that smile that wasn’t halfway nice.
“I was going to visit my Aunt tomorrow, but she wanted my help planning my second cousin’s wedding shower, so I thought I’d go a day early. Thank you so much for your hospitality. I’m so glad I married into such a wholesome family. If there’s ever anything I can do for you, please don’t hesitate to call.”
She grabbed my arm as I was about to walk past her. Her smile had vanished. “Do you know what it’s like to be a mother?”
“No ma’am.”
Her fingers burrowed painfully into my flesh. “I’ve watched my son flail through the world, looking for happiness in all the wrong places, but now he’s found you. I’m not the most gentle woman, and he could have done with more nurturing, but I still love my son and want to see him happy. You are his wife, for better or worse. You made those vows. Don’t forget them as soon as it becomes convenient to do so. My son’s happiness depends on it.”
I jerked away from her. “You could certainly do with more gentleness. You just bruised my arm. I don’t care. You can bruise me or beat me within an inch of my life, but I’ll be the kind of wife I choose to be, just like you were. It isn’t my burden to fix your mistakes. Heaven knows I make enough of my own. Good day, ma’am.”
I ran across the polished floor, out the entryway and to the cab, climbing in the back and slamming the door behind me. I didn’t realize that I’d left my suitcase in the hall until we were three towns away.
I got to my Aunt’s on Friday night. I went to bed, but I couldn’t sleep. I got up and took the keys from the hall table that Nix had left with my aunt so she could watch out for his house. I crossed the lawn with my dad’s flannel shirt wrapped around me. In Nix’s house, I curled up on the couch under the blanket he’d tucked around me when I’d fallen passed out drunk in the Camaro. I inhaled the traces of aftershave on my dad’s shirt, not because it reminded me of him, but because it reminded me of Nix.
Nix Death-Hammer. I spent the rest of that weekend days at my Aunt’s house, night’s at Nix’s. I slept in his bed Saturday night. I slept past church on Sunday. I kept my eyes closed. I didn’t want to ever open them again.
I was laying there, aching for my dad, my mom I never knew, Daniel the friend I’d thought I’d known, Stina, the friend who I didn’t have, but most of all and achingest, for Nix, for the bad boy who said he loved me, who’d tricked me into trying, who’d shown me more love and tenderness than I’d thought was possible.
“Dad, what should I do?”
I felt like he put his warm hand on my shoulder through the blanket, his love so strong, so real, that tears came to my eyes. Love suffered long and was kind. Love envied not and was not proud. My dad had always loved me like my aunt had loved me. They’d taught me love. Daniel never had that example. It didn’t seem like Nix did, but he knew sacrifice. He knew gentleness. I didn’t know enough about him. I didn’t know anything other than that he wanted me to fight. He’d be fighting for me, literally. It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t fight for myself.
I threw back the blankets as a new energy surged through me. Going back and forth was exhausting. No more. I was going forward with the treatments. I was going to fight for my life. After that was over, I’d have to see if I had a marriage to fight for.
Chapter 16
Nix Death-Hammer
I was at work when Sunny texted me.
My flight gets in at six-fifteen. If you could pick me up in my Camaro, I’d appreciate it.
I stared at that text and almost missed my signal to go into the quick spar with Horse. I hit him harder than before, because we had to wrap this up so I could go see my Kitten.
Between rounds, I was sitting on the bench, trying to compose the perfect text when he came and sat next to me. “Your wife?” He nodded to my phone.
I covered it with my hands like I could keep her out of his thoughts. “She’s none of your concern.”
He smirked. “She is if she wants to be. I can’t remember the last time I’ve had anyone entirely natural.”
I scowled at him, but he only laughed, happy to get a rise out of me. “I’ll let her know.”
“Don’t ruin the surprise, wait, I guess she’d have to think that I’m not interested, which isn’t possible. I thought she was cute in her little missy suits, but that leather bustier? She’s incomparable.”
I growled at him.
“I particularly like the way she waves her diamond in the face of anyone who gets too familiar. Doesn’t she realize that’s just raising the stakes and making it more of a challenge?”
“I’m sure she does. She
just does it to entice you even further.”
He snorted. “What she doesn’t know about men like us could fill a book.”
“A series.”
“An epic series. Why did you bring her back here? She’s not in it for the money.”
“She is in it for the money, she just wasn’t aware of it.”
“What do you mean?”
I shook my head and stood up, ready to go another round. When I picked her up, she was waiting with a big carry-on bag in loose jeans and t-shirt with an old plaid shirt that had probably been her dad’s. She wore those sneakers, the streak of rebel I’d always loved.
“Kitten,” I said, when she opened the door and tossed her bag into the back and then settled in, buckling her seatbelt.
“Take me to the clinic,” she said.
I hesitated. “Are you sure that’s what you want?”
She turned to look at me. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t. You’re not the only one who can fight.”
I covered her hand only for a moment before I shifted down and pulled out. I drove quickly, weaving through cars through the city. I needed to get her there before I lost my nerve. The idea of her hurting, suffering, it was unbearable. Knowing she was going to die was one thing, but pushing her to hurt herself when she might die anyway, was something else.
After our silent drive, I pulled up at the clinic. She opened the door, but I reached for her bag before she could.
“I’ll walk you in.”
She frowned at me. “Why?”
“Because you’re my wife. I’m going to come visit you as often as they’ll have me. You can decide whether or not you want to see me, but I’m coming.”
“Don’t you think that you should ask me if I want you to come?”
“You’ll let me know on visiting days. Every one of them.”
She grabbed my shoulders, anger in her eyes that burned hot, but when she kissed me, it was soft and sweet, aching and hungry.
I kissed her, pulling her against me so careful and gentle. If only there were some kind of guarantee that she’d come out of this whole and well. I’d give anything for that assurance.
