Chapter 36
? Francesca - Hozier
Griffin
Tyler comes out of the diner with a smug smile plastered on his face. He stops across from me, lighting a cigarette. My gaze strays to Angie, who’s in the diner leaning over Jessie’s stroller. I can’t see her face to know what she’s feeling, but my gut is telling me something is wrong.
“Hope it was worth it.” Tyler exhales a long ribbon of grey smoke. “I wouldn’t bet on it, though.”
The words echo in my mind as he fades into the distance.
The familiar bell above Rosie’s Diner draws my attention to my expressionless wife striding toward me.
I pull open the back door, but as I’m reaching for the car seat, Angie gets there first. She wordlessly unhooks it from the stroller base and sets her in the truck without sparing me so much as a glance.
I hold open the passenger door, my mind running over a million questions, not the least of which is ‘did he sign the paperwork,’ but nothing comes out, and before I know it, she’s tugging the door shut on her own. I let it go and walk around to the driver’s side.
Maybe I’m worrying too much. It couldn't have been easy to see Tyler again, or to have him sign over his rights to his daughter. She’s probably having a lot of feelings about it, and she doesn’t need my insecurities adding to the stress. She’ll talk to me when she’s ready.
Before I can pull away from the curb, Rosie dashes out of the diner with two takeout boxes in hand. Angie rolls down her window and plasters on a fake smile. “I’m so sorry, Ro. I was distracted.”
“No harm done. Are you alright, dear?”
“I’m fine,” Angie says, holding out a wad of cash. “Thanks for lunch.”
Rosie shakes her head. “It’s on me. Careful getting home.”
I give her a wave and wait for her to get inside before pulling away from the curb.
The drive back to the ranch is eerily quiet, but I don’t try to fill the silence, even though my mind is begging me to say something, anything to ease the tension. I want to reach for her, at least. Against every one of my instincts, I hold back.
When we arrive at the house, I cut the engine and glance into the mirror attached to the headrest in front of Jessie. She’s fast asleep like the angel she is. Sometimes I catch myself watching her, wondering if all of this is real. It still seems too good to be true most days. I’m a lucky bastard.
“You go ahead inside,” I say. “I’ll get Jessie.”
Angie unbuckles and finally looks my way. “Ok.”
That one word should feel like a victory, but it hits me like a death sentence, fueling the doubts swirling in the back of my mind.
I carry the car seat into the house and set it on the couch, unbuckling the sleeping infant to cradle her against my chest. Angie follows me into the nursery where I lay Jessie in her crib and watch her sleep for several long minutes until the distance between my wife and me is too much to bear.
I gesture for her to follow me out, grateful when she does. I sink onto the sofa, uncertainty holding me in a vise grip. “Did Tyler sign the papers?”
She nods. “He didn’t even look at her.”
“I’m sorry. That must’ve been hard.”
“No. Not really,” she says, pacing the length of the living room. “I expected that.”
I lean forward, bracing my elbows on my knees. Each word I say next is carefully measured. “What did he do?”
She stops and stares at me pointedly. “Why don’t you tell me what you did?”
“I would if I had any idea what the fuck you’re talking about.”
“Vegas. I’m talking about Vegas.”
My pulse ratchets up as her accusation lands like a gut punch. “If you think for one second I’m going to apologize for anything that happened in Vegas, you’re wrong. I don’t regret a single second of it. I’d do it all over again to end up right back here.”
“Even if it meant hurting me? You’d make that wager again?”
My stomach plummets. “Wager? What wager?”
She couldn’t possibly mean…
Her voice pitches higher. “The night before the wedding. You had a drink with Tyler, and you won me in a hand of blackjack. Do you deny it?”
I stand and run my hands through my hair. “You think I won you?” I say, my voice low and measured so as not to wake the sleeping baby down the hall.
Anger churns in my gut, and it’s a goddamn feat that I’m still standing here when all I want to do is rush out the door and make Tyler pay for what he’s done.
There’s a slight tremble in her hands, the only outward sign of distress.
My woman is strong as hell, even when she has every right to fall apart.
“That’s what it sounded like to me. He said he’s been competing with you for years, and it all came down to one more wager.”
“I’ve never lied to you, Angel. Not once.”
There’s a fierce determination in the set of her jaw. “A lie of omission is still a lie.” She swipes away the tears cascading down her cheeks. “And just so we’re clear, the tears are because I’m fucking pissed.”
Desperation overpowers reason, and the last thread of my resistance snaps.
“I watched you with him for 1295 days. I watched him break you down day after day, over and over again. Do you know what that felt like? It was agony to see you with him, knowing I could've loved you the way you deserve. I would’ve stood at the altar and pledged my love to you for an eternity if you’d chosen me first—not in that shitty Las Vegas chapel, but here in front of everyone we love because you deserve to be more than just an afterthought.
You are my first thought every goddamn day.
Do you think I would’ve bet on that? Bet on him hurting you? I would never do that. Never.”
I take a step toward her, but she mirrors the movement.
“Angel. Please.”
When she doesn’t say anything, I take another step, and this time she lets me close the distance. As if my hands have a mind of their own, I reach for her, cupping her cheeks in my rough palms. Heat radiates off her skin—anger or worse. Pain.
“I love you,” I say. “I am in love with you. I have loved you for six years. It only took me two days to decide I wanted to give myself over to you completely. But the universe had other plans, and I convinced myself to let you go.”
A soft exhale escapes her parted lips, and I resist the urge to close the distance.
Not yet.
“When I found Tyler the night before the wedding, drunk out of his mind, unsure whether he wanted to go through with it, I never considered playing the villain in your story. I tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t listen.
So, I made a wager. One hand of blackjack, and he would have to let me speak my piece. Do you want to know what I told him?”
She nods once, her eyes glistening with so much repressed emotion that the weight of it nearly suffocates me. Her pulse beats erratically beneath my palm, keeping perfect time with mine.
“I told him that he never fucking deserved you, but by some goddamn miracle, you loved him anyway. I told him he would be making the biggest mistake of his life if he didn’t marry you, and if he let you slip through his fingers, he’d regret it forever.
The same way I regretted ever walking away from you in the first place. ”
“Griffin…”
“It’s my fault for not telling you sooner, Angel.
I never should’ve given him room to make you doubt me.
Doubt us. You were never a wager. You were never anything less than my dream come true.
The way I love you isn’t logical or rational.
It’s instinctual. Essential to my happiness.
I love you in a way that’s maddening. Excruciating.
Fucking hopeless. I love you with such reckless abandon that my heart can’t even contain it.
Loving you and our beautiful little girl is my goddamn destiny. ”
Angelina
His thumb traces the line of my jaw as the words hang in the air between us, and my stubborn resolve weakens.
Regret.
Love.
Destiny.
Am I really so desperate as to let pretty words erase what I thought to be true only minutes ago? But then, wouldn’t I be letting Tyler’s words erase what’s been true for far longer than that?
I love this man with every atom of my existence.
I may not have the words to convey the depth of my affections, but I know my heart unreservedly belongs, at least in part, to Griffin Hayes.
It has for a long time. The other part belongs to our daughter, the little girl he chose to love without reservation.
My skin prickles with awareness as I gently lay my hands over his. Words are not enough, but I can show him. My heart hammers as I raise onto my toes and claim his lips. I revel in the low sound that rumbles through his chest.
One hand leaves my cheek, palming my hip to pull my body flush against his. We mold together perfectly, like destiny crafted us to fit. I feel dizzy and weightless as his scent swirls around me. My fingers tangle in his hair, trying to bring him impossibly closer.
His lips drift lower, over my jaw and neck like he’s mapping me from memory. Pressure builds behind my eyes with each reverent touch, and a different kind of desperation grabs hold of me.
“I love you, too.” My vision blurs as the whispered words slip past my lips.
I swallow the salty tang of unexpected tears as his lips return to mine, and I savor every languid stroke as urgency gives way to tenderness.
He pulls back, pressing his forehead to my temple like he’s caging me in so nothing else exists but us.
His thumbs glide gently over my cheekbones, capturing my tears.
The emotional weight of the last several hours drifts away as I breathe him in and let his ardent affection swallow me whole.
“Tell me you believe me.” The deep timbre of his voice flows through me like warm honey.
“I believe you,” I say breathily.
“Thank fuck,” he grits out. His hands find my waist, and he walks me backward until my ass hits the wall.
Bracing one arm above my head, he grips my chin between his thumb and forefinger.
“You’re going to go to our bedroom, strip yourself bare, and wait for me in our bed.
When I get there, I’m going to remove all of my clothes and run my tongue over every inch of your bare skin.
I’m going to take my time with you, Angel.
Make you come over and over until you can’t take anymore, then I’ll fuck you long and slow until you can’t tell where you end and I begin. ”
“What about—”
He silences me with a finger against my lips. “Trust me to take care of everything else.”
“Ok.”
His lips press tenderly to the tip of my nose. “Go.”