Chapter 29

 

 

“Morgan, look at the guy that just walked in here,” Alicia whispered across the table during lunch at our favorite little sandwich shop. I turned, doing a double take.

“Wow, if I didn’t know Drew was an only child, I’d call him his brother. That’s a little scary,” I determined, looking at the guy who looked a lot like my husband. His physique wasn’t quite as strong as Drew’s and his hair was longer, but his facial features were haunting.

“You sure Drew doesn’t have a brother,” Alicia asked.

“I’m sure,” I stated. “What if he does? What if that guy really is his brother? Maybe Drew secretly sees him when he goes on trips, or talks to him in his office. What if he….” I rattled on and on.

“Jesus, Morgan. I was joking. I’m sure that’s not Drew’s brother. You need to stop reading those books,” Alicia decided, taking a bite of her turkey club. I turned to see the guy putting on one of the brown aprons. Alicia was right. Drew’s brother wouldn’t be working in a place like that. I did need to stop reading those books.

***

Drew and I spent three days at the beach house alone with Nicky. I loved Celeste, Alicia, and their two adorable kids. I was even a little disappointed when they didn’t want to come, too busy with the new house, new baby, and Vincent’s new obsession to learn to golf. After the first night I was glad it was just us.

We ate supper with my mom. Drew, Jason, and Caroline looked for sea glass with baby Nick in a backpack on Drew’s back. I was so happy and in love with my family. Drew put Nicholas to bed while I showered, and then we sat out on the deck listening to the waves lap along the shore.

“Come over here,” Drew requested, wanting me beside him and not in my own chair. I didn’t mind. The evening air coming from the ocean was a little nippy. Drew was warm.

“Hmm, this is my favorite place to be,” I said, snuggling into Drew’s arms.

“Where, the beach house?”

“No, inside your hug.”

I felt Drew smile on my forehead as he kissed me lightly. We talked for over an hour, just enjoying the conversation and each other’s company. We stopped talking when it almost turned into an argument. Drew was adamant about Nicky being homeschooled, I was not. I wanted him around other kids. We could wait on that one. He just turned one. We made love instead.

I’m not sure how my brain worked, but that’s where it happened, right out of the blue, I thought of it while my husband slid in and out of me, making slow passionate love to me; the new guy at the sandwich shop. It could work. Nobody looks exactly like their driver’s license. Shit. I how was I supposed to get that from Drew’s wallet?

“Are you still with me, Mrs. Kelley?” Drew asked, interrupting the scheme going on inside my head. “I don’t feel like you’re feeling me anymore,” Drew blamed.

“Oh, I’m feeling you,” I teased with a kiss.

***

I didn’t have to really lie to Drew about going into town. It just so happened that two of my favorite authors had books released over the next couple weeks.

“That makes no sense to me. You have five electronic devises; you could buy the books and be reading them in two minutes. Why do you have to have the paperback?”

“Because, Drew. I have all those beautiful shelves in there. I like to display them after I’ve read them. And I like reading to Nicky with an actual page and not something with a light behind it. Have you ever really looked at a book cover? It’s an art as much as the book itself.”

“It’s not art, and Nicholas loves when I read to him from my tablet. The stories interact with him more.”

“His parents should interact with him more. I’m just going to eat at Panino’s and stop at the book store and maybe the library.”

“Why do you have to go to both? You know what? Never mind. Just go. I’ll see you in two hours,” Drew agreed, looking at his watch.

Yes!

I got one of the two books first, figuring I’d say they didn’t have the other one yet, needing an excuse to go again the following week. I wanted to scope this guy out, maybe talk to him or something. Once I’d checked out three novels and two baby books for Nicky. Taking the booth closest to the counter, I ordered my sandwich and an ice tea.

I should have come sooner. All I got to do was watch him work. A lunch crowd entered, taking up all his time. Observing him, I watched him, speedily take orders, get trays, drinks, and repeat. Drew said two hours. I could stick around for forty minutes. Hopefully the crowd would dissipate by then. He didn’t sound like Drew at all. His pitch was a lot higher than Drew’s. He really didn’t look like Drew at all. His nose was wider and his lips were thinner. Drew’s eyebrows were more stylish too, of course he paid someone to make them look like that. I wondered if he’d have a makeover to look more like Drew, have his eyebrows done and cut his hair like Drew’s. Sure he would, money talks. If I’ve learned anything about having money from Drew, it would be that money can buy anything, and I do mean anything.

I wanted to search my phone about the regulations of having a deposit box at the bank. I didn’t know these things. Drew took care of that stuff. I didn’t dare do it on my phone. Drew would know. I didn’t search anything that he didn’t think I needed to go to. Like Facebook. He wouldn’t even let me join a book club where you could chat with people that liked the same genre of books as you. I could research a book or surf for new releases, but I couldn’t talk to someone about them.

Thinking about not being able to do what I wanted without having my husband furious with me led me to thinking about our last appointment with Deidra. First, I thought about the way Drew controlled everything that I did. I knew he did it out of love and worried about me constantly. He blamed it on my two years of him not knowing where I was, but I knew it was more of a control thing. For whatever reason, Drew had to be in control of everything, and he was obsessive compulsive when it came to controlling me.

Looking at the time on my phone, I knew I had to leave in ten more minutes in order to make Drew’s two hour rule. Drew’s twin did a good job rushing the long line through, maybe he could get the last two out of there long enough for me to order a gourmet coffee for Drew. Standing I gathered my things and got behind the last guy.

“Can I get a large, butter toffee, premium coffee, please?”

“Coming right up.” He smiled. That was it. His smile and his eyes; that’s why he looked so much like Drew. This could work. Couldn’t it? UGH! Was I stupid or what? Did I think I was going to be able to walk up to a perfect stranger and say what? Hey, how are you? Would you like to have a makeover, impersonate my husband, fraudulently open his safety deposit box, and maybe take a chance on going to prison? What was I thinking? Sure he’d do that, why wouldn’t he.”

“Ma’am,” I heard, shaking my internal rant.

“Oh, sorry,” I apologized, handing him my card.

I should have just let it go. I couldn’t. I felt like there was something in that deposit box that would give me something about Drew. It didn’t make sense. Drew had a hidden vault system at the house with more technology than a bank. It had to be his finger print and a thin beam of light shined in his eye before it would even let him put in a combination.

Why would Michael or Drew get a deposit box at the bank? I knew how sophisticated the vault was. Drew explained it to me one afternoon, telling me how if anyone got into it without his physical traits, they would be sprayed with a massive amount of teargas. I couldn’t understand the purpose of the lock box, I thought as I headed home.

“Hey, where’s my little man?” I asked, seeing Marta setting the table.

“Drew heard him whine a little,” she explained, rolling her eyes. I smiled and went to find him in Drew’s office, I was sure.

Opening the door, I laughed when I saw Nicky. He was no doubt Drew’s son. Drew had him in the middle of his desk, covered in paperwork, wearing nothing but a diaper. He was having a ball, crumpling up papers.

“I hope none of that is important,” I said, taking Nicholas as he lunged for me.

“No, I was shredding them. He was learning how to increase his margins.”

“You were not, were you? You were thinking about what a pretty waterfall you could paint on the paper, weren’t you, buddy?” I asked, kissing his little cheeks as his fingers went straight for my earrings and Drew’s hand stung my ass.

“He was not thinking about painting waterfalls. He’s going to be a business man. No son of mine is going to paint waterfalls,” Drew assured me, being extremely serious.

“How about our little girl? Can she paint?”

“Are you trying to tell me something?”

“Heavens no, Nicky just turned one. I just meant if we ever have a little girl.”

“Do you want to have a little girl?”

“Maybe when Nicholas is like three or so. I’m not ready to be fat and pregnant again.”

“You were never fat. You were a beautiful momma to be.”

“Let’s just practice for a couple years.”

“Mmm? I don’t know. I’m thinking I would like Nicholas to have a sibling to grow up with. If we had another boy they could be like two years apart.”

“Forget it, Drew. We’re not having another baby right now.”

“Why? You love Alicia’s baby.”

“Why do you always call her Alicia’s baby? She’s Celeste’s baby too, and she does have a name.”

“You’re just trying to change the subject.”

“Drew, stop. We’re not having a baby right now.” Damn it. He wasn’t doing this right now. I didn’t want another baby yet. Nicholas was still a baby. I would put my foot down if he insisted on this.

“We’ll discuss it later.”

“No, Drew, there is nothing to discuss. We’ll talk about it in another year or so.”

“We’ll talk about it when I say we’ll talk about it. Get out of here, Celeste just pulled up,” Drew ordered, kissing and dismissing me to leave him alone. I wouldn’t do it. There were just some things he couldn’t control.

***

 

“Morgan, would you like to start where Drew left off last week?” Deidra asked after getting me coffee and Drew a drink.

“I’d rather Drew do it. He tells it much better than I do.”

“But your feelings are going to be different if you tell it from your side.”

“I know. If there’s something I think needs a different explanation, I’ll interject.”

“You were describing the months after Morgan’s return,” Deidra nodded to Drew to begin.

“Morgan continued to fight her demons while I continued to do the same,” Drew began.  “I wondered if it was the reason we clicked. Maybe it was the dark places we both came from. Maybe it didn’t matter that she didn’t remember. She knew. She knew something and the more she questioned it the more I begged her not to remember. I had confessed without confessing.

We were so in love and the more time we put behind us the more we fell, the harder we fell. She felt the same way. I knew she did.” Drew was looking to me as he spoke.

 I didn’t need to interrupt. Drew was absolutely right.

 “She couldn’t keep her hands off me anymore than I could her. Everything was perfect. For the first time since I’d met her, I didn’t care that she conversed with Callaway. I liked it actually, I loved to listen to her talk about art, books, and composers that I’d never heard of. I often wondered how she knew all that she knew. I guess the books that she read. Lord knows it wasn’t from the kinky stuff I kept loaded on her e-reader for her.”

I smiled, remembering the first time I had to read those damn things, especially when he’d make me read them out loud. I hated when he’d call me and tell me to read to him, knowing he was watching and listening to me. I hadn’t realized I snorted at my last internal thought.

“Something funny?” Drew asked, turning to me.

“No, I just thought about something that I used to think when you made me read the books you downloaded for me.”

“What?” Drew urged.

“I used to picture you in another state, watching and listening to me read while you jerked off,” I teased. Hey, he didn’t mind putting it all out there, why should I?

“That’s exactly what I was doing,” he admitted with a sneaky grin.

I shook my head with a smile, knowing he was telling the truth and feeling a quick twinge, thinking about Drew’s hand stroking his massive rod.

“There’s nothing you can say that could embarrass me,” Drew tormented.

“Really? Not even when I say how much I love watching that? Especially when I walk into the bathroom and catch you doing it in the shower, all alone,” I said in some sort of messed up seductive tone. Where the hell did that come from? Drew of course didn’t falter.

“You’re not catching me doing anything. I know how much that drives you crazy. I do it when I want crazy shower sex. You always walk in the bathroom when I’m in the shower. All I have to do is have my dick in my hand and know you’ll be wrapping your legs around me before I get out.”

“Damn, you’re good,” I admitted, not even feeling the crimson flood my face. We’d talked about so much kinky sex with Deidra, it really didn’t bother me.

“The best,” Drew snidely remarked.

Deidra laughed at us. “Okay, Drew. You were saying how much in love you were with Morgan,” she beckoned for us to stop being rivalries.

“Oh yeah, my life was more than I’d ever thought it could be. Morgan was the reason for that. She truly was my whole world, and I would have poisoned her food everyday if there’d been a magic potion that would have kept her from remembering. Her remembering ate at me like nothing else. It consumed my days and nights. I’d lie awake watching her sleep, feeling remorse for all that I’d done to her, all that I’d taken away, and all that I’d kept her from experiencing for years.”