Not Broken: The Happily Ever After(100)

When she turned back, tears ran down her face. The haunted expression she wore made me wish I’d never asked the fucking question. I despised seeing his initials on her shoulder, and I don’t know if it was ego or some morbid curiosity that’d made me ask, but I regretted it now. That fucking bastard had taken advantage of her.

She wiped away the tears only to have new ones replace them. “Anyway, we argued over it. To say I wasn’t happy would be an understatement. He dragged me out of the house to the shed...it...it was then I learned about who he really was.” She paused and drew in a sharp breath. “So, now you know.” She wiped the tears away again.

“Now I know.” I leaned forward and gave her a soft kiss. “And nothing’s changed.”





Chapter 52


Calida





The sound of Shawn talking to himself came over the baby monitor. I stretched up to give Mal a quick kiss on the cheek before easing out of his embrace. He rolled over and hugged a pillow in my absence. That action brought a smile to my face.

I picked up his discarded shirt off the floor and slipped it on as I exited. Shawn’s bright blue eyes and smiling face greeted me when I entered his room.

“Mornin’, baby boy. Did you sleep okay?”

He bounced up and down in his crib, calling my name until I picked him up. After a quick diaper change, we headed down for breakfast. Malcolm walked downstairs as I was wiping the sticky syrup from Shawn’s hands.

“Good mornin’.” He walked over, gave me a kiss on the top of the head, and ruffled Shawn’s hair on the way to the kitchen.

“Mornin’. There’s some leftover pancakes and bacon in the microwave.”

He popped a pod in the coffee machine. “Aw, baby, you made me breakfast,” he said with a smile as he pulled the plate out.

I unbuckled Shawn from his high chair. “Nope. I made him breakfast.” I gave Shawn a quick kiss on the cheek before setting him free. “You’re just lucky he left you some.”

Shawn made a beeline for Mal. Soon as he was picked up, Shawn reached for the bacon on Mal’s plate.

“I see. You didn’t want me, just my food. That’s cold, man. Used by a toddler.”

As soon as he was put back down, Shawn scrambled over to the couch and enjoyed his prize. Mal and I laughed as we watched him sit back and cross his legs at the ankles when he sat to watch the cartoon program. Malcolm settled down at the table to eat while I continued to clean up the mess Shawn made.

“Can you keep an eye on him while I take a quick shower?”

“Yeah, no problem.”

“Good ‘cuz I need to get dressed and then get him dressed so we can head out.”

“Where ya headed?”

“Home.”

The sound of utensils hitting the plate stopped. Shawn laughed at something on the TV. I looked in his direction first then over to Mal who’d gone back to eating his breakfast.

“Your sister called. We are apparently going on a double date tomorrow, so I need to get more clothes. I only packed a few things.”

The tense, disappointed look he’d had on his face quickly got replaced with a look of relief, followed by confusion.

“How does she assume we don’t have plans of our own?”

I laughed. “Well, she did start the conversation with asking if I had plans, and when I answered no, she made them for me. Well, us.”

Mal took a sip of his coffee. “That is no big surprise.”

After drying my hands, I strolled over and wrapped my arms around his neck. “It’ll be fun. Besides, now that she’s feeling better, I think she wants to get out while she can. It’ll be harder when she has two.”

He brought my hand to his lips. “If you say so.”

∞∞∞

An hour and a half later, I stood in my room packing while the boys ran around making as much noise as possible. The sound of Shawn’s infectious laughter grew louder. Moments later, he and Malcolm burst through my bedroom door. Shawn’s arms were out by his side as Mal flew him around.

“Crash landing.”

Mal plopped him down on the bed, right on top of the bag from the lingerie store. Shawn did a quick flip to his stomach, and the loud crinkling noise of the bag drew his attention. Shawn started hitting the bag so that it made noise again. He giggled each time, as if it was the best thing in the world.

“The simple joys in life,” Mal said. He had the biggest grin on his face when he sat on the edge of the bed and started hitting the bag along with Shawn.

I watched, waiting, hoping Mal wouldn’t read the label on the outside. When I’d originally packed, I’d left my new purchases behind. I’d chickened out after convincing myself that parading around in underwear would result in a horribly failed attempt at being sexy. However, I’d bought them for him, so he deserved to see me in them. It would just be done without any sort of sexy modeling on my part.

Shawn dumped the contents of the bag onto the bed. Mal looked down at the items. I grabbed for them, but he was closer and quicker. The smile on his face grew bigger when he held up the lacy, boyshort panties.

“You weren’t supposed to see those.”

“Why not? I like these.”

I yanked them out of his hand. “I’m sure you do. But they were supposed to be a surprise.”