Chapter Eighteen – Matthew

Matthew spent the rest of the day floating around on a cloud of happiness. A big white fluffy cloud, the kind that skims across a startling blue sky on a summer’s day. If only he’d known how finding his mate would feel, he’d have spent his whole life looking for her, tearing the world apart until she was in his arms.

His hands tightened on the steering wheel of the truck he still had on loan from Gus. He was already convinced that he had to trade his car in for a truck. As soon as he had time, he’d head on down to the local car dealership and see what they had on offer. He wanted something reliable, the kind of truck that wouldn’t break down easily. The girls would have to get to school no matter the weather and they wouldn’t do that driving down the country lanes in a car, no matter how heated the seats were.

He wriggled in the large seat of the truck, he’d never used the heated function since his bear blood always kept him warm. But Sian might have appreciated it. A smile crept over his face. Maybe before he sold the car, he should take her to someplace quiet and make love to her on those heated seats. It certainly would be a unique lasting memory of the car, which until now had been his most prized possession.

Not anymore, his bear told him. No material thing could eclipse the feelings he had for Sian.

Love. Where the hell did that come from? It had hit him as soon as the words were out of Sian’s mouth. Hit him hard, right in the solar plexus.

He parked the truck outside the empty house that Sian used to live in. It was a temporary place for him to sleep. All he had to do was bide his time,

Unlocking the front door, he went inside and switched on the lights. If he inhaled deeply and focused his inner senses, he could single out Sian’s scent from all the others that filled the house. He closed his eyes and conjured up an image of her lying on the bed in her undergarments. She was stunning, soft and ripe like a peach.

His bear burst out laughing. Don’t ever say those words out loud, his bear told him. Not if you want Sian in our lives.

A bubble of laughter built up inside him but before it could go pop, there was a loud knock on the door.

He stiffened, his senses exploring outward, trying to figure out who it was. Of course, they would be here for Sian, or maybe it was one of her daughters’ friends. Yet the scent of a man reached him through the drafty wood of the front door. A scent he’d smelled before.

Trying to contain his anger, he spun around and yanked open the front door. “Peter.”

Peter took a step back. “Why are you in this house?” he accused. “You don’t live here.”

“Actually I do. Not that it’s any of your business.” Matthew smiled sweetly, trying to contain his bear who was itching to spring out and rip Peter’s throat out.

“That’s where you are wrong. You are standing in my wife’s house.” Peter jabbed his finger at Matthew but quickly retracted it. “You have no right.”

“As I understand it, you and Sian are getting a divorce. In fact, if you’d manned up and paid her the money you owe her, you would no longer be man and wife.” He gave Peter a withering look, as if trying to decide if he even counted as a man.

“You’re just after the money she’ll get from the divorce settlement,” Peter accused.

“Peter, watch your words, please. I don’t want to take you to court for slander.” Matthew leaned forward, his voice low and menacing. “Believe me, you won’t walk away with a penny to your name.”

“You are threatening me?” Peter asked, outraged. “Does Sian know what kind of man you are?”

“Yes. She does.” His deadly calm voice unnerved Peter.

“I can’t believe she let herself be bought by a man like you,” Peter spat.

“A man like me? You mean the kind of man who can see what a wonderful woman Sian is and how she’s raised two great kids?” Rage flared inside Matthew, but he let it simmer, determined not to let it boil over and cause trouble for Sian.

“My kids.” Peter jabbed his thumb at his own chest.

“Really? Because as I see it, you haven’t been a husband or a father for a very long time.” His words were like a slap across the face to Peter.

“She’s told you this?” Peter asked incredulously.

“No, she didn’t have to tell me, I can see it with my own eyes.” Matthew quelled the rising tirade that surged inside him. “You don’t know how lucky you were.”

“How lucky I am,” Peter corrected. “Sian is still my wife, Ella and Rachel are still my daughters.”

“Is that really what you want? Is that really what you think Sian wants? To stay married to a man who treats her with no respect, who didn’t even have the decency to pay her the money from the sale of your house. You made her go to court, you put her through all that stress and still never paid her.” He just about stopped himself from yelling at Peter, telling him he was no longer the man in Sian’s life and the sooner he realized it, the better for all of them.

“Once the girls leave home, we’ll be together again and back to how life was before,” Peter insisted. “So I’m holding on to the money.”

“Peter, Peter, Peter.” Matthew shook his head to emphasize his words. “She loves the girls and they might live at home for years.” He raked a hand through his hair, trying to let go of the anger building inside him. “I don’t understand how you would want them to leave home. They are your flesh and blood, you conceived them, most people would kill to have two beautiful children.”

“But they spoiled everything. We never talked about children then we were having a baby and all our plans were over. Finished. I wanted to love them, I really did. But we had plans. Surely a man like you, someone who has amassed such a great deal of wealth, can see that?” Peter stepped onto the defensive.

“I’d give everything I have to be a husband and father to a family,” Matthew spoke from the heart, but Peter saw an opportunity.

“I’ll trade you. All your wealth for my family. I’ll walk away, pay Sian the money from the house, leave her happy...”

“I don’t know how I’m stopping myself from punching you in the face,” Matthew said calmly.

“But we’d both get what we wanted.” Peter could not see the flaw in his idea.

“But I already have everything.”

Peter’s eyes narrowed. “Sian is my wife. Ella and Rachel are my children.”

“Are you willing to change to give them the life they deserve?” In that moment, Matthew was scared, scared he might be throwing Sian and her daughters back into their old life. If Peter decided to turn himself around and truly show them love and affection, would they go? And would they be better off if they did?

Yet this was a man who only moments before was trying to trade them for Matthew’s fortune.

“I love Sian,” Peter insisted.

“The woman she is now, or the woman she was when you first met? They are two different people, Peter. Can you see that?” Matthew saw the moment of realization in Peter’s eyes, when he understood he’d been living in a fantasy world. “You can still have a relationship with them. You can still be part of their lives. But you need to do the right thing, Peter.”

A pang of guilt swept over Matthew. Had he returned to his old manipulative ways? Should he have stayed out of Peter and Sian’s lives and let them resolve their differences?

No, he knew no man could ever make Sian as happy as he could. As a shifter, his life was devoted to being there for her, through whatever life might throw at them.

Peter didn’t say a word. He simply turned around and walked away, leaving Matthew in a state of uncertainty.