Eight Years of Maybe One Day of I Do—Bride Swapped Deal With It novel Chapter 59

Chapter 6

“Mommy, did you see me on TV? Wasn’t I good? Wasn’t I awesome?”

I tapped his little nose. Smiled.

“You were the best, baby.”

A pair of big hands scooped him out of my arms. The face I’d just seen on TV appeared in front of me-except now he looked annoyed.

“You’re getting too old for this. You know how heavy you are? If you tire out Mommy, you’re gonna answer to me.”

“Daddy’s lying! You’re the one who always wants Mommy to hold you! Shame on you!”

I laughed, watching them bicker. Started heading for the car.

Then-

“Claire.”

Damon’s voice. Disbelief dripping from every word.

“Who… who is this?”

I turned around. Smiled politely.

“This is my husband. Ethan Shepherd.”

Damon stood frozen. Still couldn’t process it.

“Everyone knows Commander Shepherd. He just got reassigned this year. There’s no way he’s married.”

“Claire, if you’re gonna lie, at least make it believable.”

Fair enough. The Shepherd family keeps a low profile. We had a small, quiet ceremony on base years ago. Hardly anyone knew.

Makes sense Damon wouldn’t.

Ethan shifted our son to one arm and reached for my hand with the other.

“You must be Captain Morgan and Mrs. Morgan.”

“My wife mentions you two a lot. Nice to finally meet you.”

The sarcasm was thick. Damon’s face went white.

He didn’t move. Just stared at our intertwined fingers like they’d burned him.

Serena stood there too, tears still wet on her face. Forgot to wipe them.

Both of them watched us get in the car and drive off.

After I put our son to bed, Ethan trailed after me like a sad puppy with droopy ears.

I turned around, cupped his face, and laughed.

“What’s wrong? I just had dinner with them. The whole time, all three of us were together.”

“I know… but the cleaning lady found this.”

He held up the skincare set.

Oh. Right. I’d forgotten about that.

“They gave it to me, so why not take it? I’ll give it to the housekeeper. Perfect.”

“Besides, I brought you a gift.”

I pulled out a tie and held it up against his chest.

“Mm. Looks good.”

His eyes lit up again.

But he still wouldn’t admit he’d been stewing over this for hours.

He pressed his forehead against the back of my neck. Inhaled.

“Babe… let me help you shower tonight. Gotta wash you real good. You almost got dirty…”

I thought after that night, Damon and I would never cross paths again.

But a week later, Mrs. Lynn-the cleaning lady at the old apartment-called me,

Her voice was shaky.

“Ma’am, I came to clean today and there’s a huge pile of cigarette butts outside your door.”

“The whole hallway reeks of smoke and booze. Nearly knocked me out.”

“Nothing inside the apartment, though. But the neighbors downstairs said they’ve been hearing weird noises in the stairwell the past few days.

Think someone’s casing the place?”

I frowned. The building was old, sure-but ever since Ethan took over management a few years ago, security had been solid. Fewer sketchy people hanging around.

And if someone was trying to steal intel, why would they just sit outside doing nothing?

I had a security camera sent over.

The next day, I checked the footage.

Damon. Unshaven. Drunk.

He stumbled over, leaned against the wall, and slid down. Lit cigarette after cigarette.

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