Chapter Eleven
Lyndsey
It’s not rare for me to be at Ellis and Liam’s home.
Usually to spend time with Ellis when she is feeling overwhelmed or if I’m here to spend time with the kids.
Jack has been my little bestie since he was born.
Back then Ellis had nobody by her side, her ex Michael kicked her out when she told him about her pregnancy.
She hired me not long before that and I think having me around to help when she became a single mom bonded us.
Still, I was surprised when she gave birth to Charlotte that she asked me to be her godmother.
Edge and I are in constant competition to be the favourite godparent and I’m winning.
He would disagree but he is wrong. So when I told Ellis I wanted to see my favourite kids she didn’t bat an eye.
It wasn’t until she opened the door and I found it impossible to look her in the eye that she probably started to suspect something is wrong.
I’m sitting on the floor with Charlotte on my lap as Jack explains to me the difference between ice hockey positions.
“My dad says that Anders has the hardest job but I think Edge does,” he tells me excitedly, and I try not to flinch at the mention of Aiden. Jack started calling Liam ‘Dad’ not long before Charlotte was born and Liam is a better dad than he would have ever guessed.
“All right, bud, get your shoes on, we’re going to the park!” Liam calls as he and Ellis come out of the kitchen where they have been talking about me. They thought they were being slick but I know them well enough to know Ellis wants to find out what’s wrong with me.
“No! My babies!” I snuggle Charlotte closer to my chest but she bursts out of my arms and crawls over to her dad, babbling as she goes.
“Stop using my kids as a buffer,” Ellis admonishes, her English accent still as strong as the day I met her, flopping onto the sofa behind me.
Liam just laughs while I mouth “traitor” at him as he rallies the kids towards the door.
Pushing myself up from the floor I settle onto the soft brown leather cushion until I’m next to her.
Still I don’t look her in the eyes. “You want some tea?” she asks after a moment of silence.
I think she is doing that mom thing where she is trying to trick me into getting comfortable before she starts badgering me.
I came here with the intention of telling her about the fact I’m a married woman but now that I’m here?
I don’t want to disappoint her. She is the closest thing I have to family any more and if she feels less of me, I would hate it.
I doubt I’m going to have her full support in this stupid plan but I just need her to trust that I know what I’m doing.
Because I think I do. A few days in the Texas sun while Aiden collects his dad’s stuff. A well-placed press release to show Kayla I have moved on and to strengthen the validity of our claims.
“Got anything stronger? Tequila?” I ask, finally looking at her.
“Okay, that’s enough. What the hell is going on?” she demands, hitting me with a cushion, which makes me laugh.
“I’m just going to come out and say it, I’m married to Aiden.
” There is no grace to my words. I have thought about this conversation maybe a hundred times since Aiden and I decided to pretend to be married and every time I get too scared or I basically choke on the words.
Now that it’s out there I bite down on my lips to stop from over-explaining, I don’t want to overwhelm her with this.
“I think I misheard, can you say that one again for me? Because when he called you his wife, I thought I must be going crazy.” She shakes her head lightly, a smile on her face clearly thinking whatever she heard was a joke.
“I married Aiden in Vegas. Surprise!” I do a shitty jazz hands to soften the blow. It doesn’t work.
Ellis stares at me and I stare right back.
I can almost see her mind coming to terms with what I said.
Her mouth opens and closes as she tries to find the right words to say but she comes up with nothing.
That is when I start to worry, I’m so used to her having an answer for everything.
She is only a few years older than my twenty-seven but she has always been more wise and put together.
I think it is because she had to grow up so fast because of her shitty childhood.
“Please say something,” I ask, pulling her hands into my lap, needing that physical connection, hoping it will ground her somehow.
“Like what? Congratulations? Are you two together now? I was rooting for you two to date but I thought maybe a nice meal or go to the museum not this,” she rambles all at once. Her words meld into each other as though she can’t order her thoughts.
I remember last year when she and Liam first started dating and Aiden and I had a lot of tension. She was a big supporter of us dating but it would never have worked. I mean, he is the type of man who could have any woman in the world and I’m just a normal woman from Seattle, I’m a dime a dozen.
“We aren’t together… technically,” I start but she yells out again.
“You’re married!”
“Okay, listen.” I squeeze her hands once to settle her before I try my best to explain how I got here. “We got drunkenly married and are planning on getting divorced but we have to stay married for a little while and go to Texas together.”
“Why?” She is getting frustrated and I don’t blame her.
It’s a lot to take in, I’m really married but also pretending to be married to fool my husband’s family.
Though I don’t want to go into the details of the inheritance, I don’t feel comfortable sharing all of Aiden’s secrets without at least his go-ahead.
“That’s Aiden’s story, but this will be good for me too,” I promise.
It might seem like I decided to do this whole thing a little off the cuff but I know deep down that it makes sense.
I know Aiden will help me if I need it, plus there are worse men to be married to for a couple of weeks. As long as that is all it is.
“How do you figure that?” She laughs as if I’m crazy. She might not be wrong.
“It’s going to get Kayla off my back, she will see I’ve moved on and leave me alone.” The words come out sure and steady. I have to believe this will work, I have tried everything else, what is one more attempt at trying to get her to leave me alone?
“You are not that naive!” She frowns but her words take me aback. She sounds completely outraged and I wasn’t expecting that reaction.
“What?” My jaw drops open and she pulls me closer to her along the leather seat until our legs are touching. She throws one arm over my shoulder.
“It might just make her more mad, what then?” she asks, genuinely worried, but I have thought about that too. I’m not usually a planner but in this case all I can do is run through every eventuality.
“Well, I’ll be in Texas so it’s not like she can confront me.
By the time I get back she will have cooled off and have moved on to the next thing.
” I’m sure of it. Kayla is a lot of things but she gets bored easily.
Outside of her texts to me I never saw her care about anything for longer than a few days, a week at most. Whether it was her quitting a job because the boss asked her to clean up her mess, or when she wanted to take up tennis but stopped because she thought the coach was too overweight to be any good at sport, there was always something that made her give in before things got complicated.
“I hope so.” Ellis sighs, pulling me even closer under her arm and I take comfort in how much she cares. For a long while I thought I would never have people that cared about me and about keeping me safe. I’m so lucky to have found her. And, I guess, the hockey team she brought with her.
“I’ve thought about this, El, I swear, it’ll work,” I assure her, pulling her into a full hug, wrapping her taller frame into my arms.
“Well… I guess good luck, Mrs Anders.” She laughs and I pull back with a groan.
She is going to love teasing me about this.
She knows how big of a crush I had on Aiden, I have done since the first day I met him – hell, before even then.
Now I’m his wife, it would almost be serendipitous if it wasn’t so ridiculous.
“So how about that tea?” El slaps my leg before standing up and walking to the kitchen, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
I’m so glad she doesn’t hate me. I didn’t think she would but the Spears players are an important part of her life now.
More important than me. It wouldn’t have shocked me if she had chosen them over me, she is going to be married to a man who is always around those men.
Her son loves them and her daughter already adores her uncles and, as much as I’m a part of their lives too, I’m used to being expendable.
If I was expendable enough for my parents to toss me aside then why should I expect anyone else I know to pick me when it comes down to it?