Blossom Street Brides (Blossom Street #10)(81)

“A year, maybe.”

“Maybe?” she asked incredulously.

“We lived together less than a year and then separated. It took a few months for the divorce to go through, so it might have been more than a year that we were legally married.”

“In other words, you weren’t together that entire time?”

“No. Come on, Lauren, it happened years ago. I don’t remember all the finite details. If you want to make a huge issue out of it, fine. It’s a part of my life I’d rather put behind me. You’re right, I should have told you. I would have in time.”

“Why not before the wedding?” This was the burning question.

“Because I didn’t feel it was necessary or important.”

“Is there anything else you didn’t feel necessary to mention that I should know?”

“No,” he all but shouted.

“You’re sure about that?” she asked, her voice raised to the same volume as his.

His gaze narrowed. “What did you do? Did you go digging for dirt in my past, is that it?”

“I didn’t need to. It was all right there in the background check my father had done on you. My mistake was that I didn’t bother to read it.”

“What else did you find?” he demanded.

“You told me you were an only child.”

His eyes widened, and he looked away. “Okay, you’ve got me there again. I did have a sister. She died when I was young, too young for me to remember her. So, technically, you’re right, I wasn’t an only child.” He walked into her kitchen and poured himself a glass of water, which he drank down in several large gulps. He set the empty glass down on the countertop and then stepped back.

Lauren didn’t know what to say or if she should say anything.

He remained in the kitchen and pressed his hands against the edge of the countertop as he leaned forward. “I’m beginning to get the picture here. You’re having second thoughts. Regrets. You’re feeling that you might have acted hastily and this marriage wasn’t such a great idea after all.”

“I … I don’t know what I’m thinking.” Her head reeled. “I’m feeling confused and shaken.” Plus a dozen other emotions she had yet to identify that came at her like a boxer’s fists.

“You’re unsure?”

“Yes,” she admitted. “You don’t hide the fact that you were married from the woman you’re about to marry.” The least he could do was apologize, offer a plausible excuse. Anything.

He studied her as though waiting for her to speak.

“Would you have ever told me?” she asked, her voice low now, shaken as she was.

“Of course. You have to admit we rushed into this marriage business.”

“We talked every single day, Rooster. Every single day, oftentimes for hours.”

“Fine. I’m guilty.”

“I’ve lost faith in you—”

“Faith in us, you mean,” he clarified.

She didn’t respond.

He walked around the counter and stood with the tips of his fingers in his jean pockets. “What do you want to do?”

She didn’t know. The truth was, she didn’t have a clue what she could or should do. “I can’t answer that.” For all she knew, she might be completely overreacting. While it was true the news of this brief marriage had stunned her, the fact that he had purposely kept it from her cracked the foundation of trust. It was terribly early in their marriage to be confronted with a lie of omission from her husband.

For the longest time they simply stood and stared at each other as if waiting for the other to make a decision.

“I heard what Elisa said,” he admitted after a while.

“When?”

“Just now, while I was in the shop. You might want to know that for future reference.”

“Know what?”

“How clearly voices carry from the back office. Out of sight doesn’t mean the customer in front can’t hear the discussion going on behind the counter area.”

Lauren felt the warmth invade her cheeks. So Rooster was privy to Elisa’s shock when she realized Rooster was the man Lauren had married. The motorcycle man who looked completely out of place in the high-end jewelry store. Anyone looking at him might assume he wouldn’t be able to afford to be shopping in that store.

It deeply embarrassed Lauren that Rooster had heard her friend’s comments.

“Do you share your friend’s sentiments, Lauren? Is that what this is really about? I don’t fit the image of the upscale, corporate ideal Elisa was expecting you to marry?”

“No,” she returned quickly, perhaps a shade too quickly.

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yes,” she insisted.

The hard look in his eyes challenged her. “Perhaps you should have married Todd.”

She shook her head.

An awkward silence followed, and again it was Rooster who broke it. “Okay, now what?”

“I don’t know.”

“It might be a stretch here, but I’m making the assumption there will be no honeymoon.”

Rather than respond verbally, she nodded.

“That’s what I figured. So what would you like me to do?”