Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 27792 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 139(@200wpm)___ 111(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27792 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 139(@200wpm)___ 111(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
“You can’t kick us out of here!” Anna hisses.
I open but close my mouth, not sure if I do have that power or not. This is my and Michael’s house. I glance up at the ceiling again, thinking I heard something.
“I can,” Jericho announces. “Get the fuck out.” I almost smile at his rudeness, but I don’t give him the satisfaction.
“This is far from over,” Anna pushes.
“I’ll be right back.” I turn to leave the office. I head straight up the stairs.
When I reach the top of the stairs, I know Asher is awake. I never should have had this meeting here. Michael never wanted his family to know about Asher. I don’t either. The last thing I need is for them to try to get their hooks into him.
One of Michael’s downfalls was how big of a heart he had. He never could push his family out, even when all they ever did was harm. That had been the difference between him and me. I was only sixteen when I’d packed a bag and left my family behind. I knew if I stayed, I’d end up being just like them.
While his big heart might have been his downfall at times, it was the thing that let me into his life. I’d been eighteen and in need of a place to stay. Michael was in need of a nanny. My only experience was I’d practically run the daycare at the women's shelter by myself. I don’t know what Michael saw in me that day, but he’d opened his home to me.
Within a week, I was not only in love with Asher but Michael as well. I didn’t think things could get more perfect until the doctors gave Michael two years to live. He asked me to marry him the same day he received his terminal diagnosis. I thought he’d lost his mind. We loved each other, but we weren't in love.
Both of us wanted this. For Asher to have both a mom and dad. Said if I married him, he’d get my name on Asher’s birth certificate. That I’d be his mom and we’d all have the same last name. I’d have a real family for the first time in my life. How could I say no to that? My best friend was dying, and he was asking me for something I wanted myself too.
“Mommy!” Asher squeals when I open the door to his bedroom.
His whole face lights up when he sees me. Everything else fades away. He reaches his arms out, wanting me to pick him up from Dora’s lap. She’s rocking him in his favorite chair.
“He’s getting too big for you.” I pluck him from her lap. She’s right, he is, but I don’t care. He’ll always be my baby. I kiss his cheek. “I think the noise woke him. Is everything okay downstairs?” Dora asks.
“Not really,” I admit.
“Want me to go down and handle them?” Dora offers.
She might be in her seventies, but she’s not one to be trifled with. She’s been with us for the last year. I needed some help when Michael started to get sicker. She’s become like a mom to me and a grandmother to Asher. I honestly don’t know what we would have done without her these past few months.
“I’ve got them. I just wanted to quiet him down before they heard him. I never should have agreed to the meeting here.”
“Were you going to go somewhere else?” She lifts one of her gray brows.
Yeah, not likely. I’ve started to develop a few problems of my own. The sicker Michael had gotten, the less I would leave the house. It’s gotten so bad that now just thinking about having to go somewhere sends me into a panic.
One that only heightens when I think about having to deal with Jericho. The man who stole my heart with one kiss.
3
JERICHO
“You never used to be so mean-spirited,” laments William. He rises from his chair and sways unsteadily on his feet. “I remember when you were this high”—he places his palm at his thigh—“and always wanting a sweet. Do you remember?” He peers at me, probably wondering why there are two of me instead of only one.
I cross the room and take his arm. I don’t hate William. He isn’t all bad—just weak. “I haven’t been that short since I was five.”
“You did grow up fast,” he agrees. “Too fast. You left Michael behind.”
A pang of sorrow tinged with guilt arrows through me. I tighten my grip on William’s arm and help him to the front door where Anna waits, staring at herself in the entry mirror.
“I picked this out,” she informs me. “Michael wanted to buy the gaudiest thing with these hands all over, and I told him that it would scare visitors away.”
“Maybe that was the point.”