Second chance for the Mafia prince (January and Gulliver) novel Chapter 17

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January felt her nose stinging with unshed tears as Kaylee snuggled against Gulliver’s chest, and he wrapped her up completely in his arms. He’d engulfed her entirely and Kaylee seemed as reluctant to let him go as he was to release her. Her eyes met Thisbe’s who was staring at the scene with tears streaming down her cheeks.

Her mother reached over the back of the sofa and

squeezed January’s shoulder reassuringly and she patted her mother’s hand before rising from the sofa. She escaped the emotions of the room by heading up the stairs to Kaylee’s bedroom. She felt her mother’s footsteps quietly following her and she wondered if she was feeling as miserable as January was.

Entering the bedroom, she went to the bookshelf full of books Kaylee refused to read on her own. Her child preferred to be read to, demanding voices be made and she be entertained. She was certain Kaylee was not going ‘to be the kid who stayed up late with a flashlight and a good book. January reached for her baby book and the scrapbook.

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Are you okay?”

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The quiet question from her mother made January lift her shoulders upwards until they nearly touched her ears, hold them for a breath and then let them fall again.

“Not really.”

“Talk to me.”

“I don’t have time. I need to go back down.”

“No. Your father is there. He can handle things for a minute. I need to know you’re all right.”

“I’m not all right. He came into the shop earlier and the minute he saw me he thought I was going to fly into his arms as if he were some missing pieces of my life I was desperate to cling back to.” She bit her bottom lip to stop from crying out. “Then he shows up here with his arrogant attitude, calling me his wife and he’s been blathering on about how he said the vows and he meant them and it’s pissing me off, Mom. It’s just pissing me off. How dare he come in here without an apology, without any ownership of the agony he caused me and expect I’m just going to fall back into his arms.”

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“He’s always been a cocky bastard.” Her mother intoned dryly. “There was a time you found his confidence sexy.”

“Not when it’s directed at me.” January huffed with

irritation.

“Well, it’s definitely directed at you. He wants you back.”

“Maybe it’s time someone taught him not everything he wants is going to be his.”

“You sure?”

“What do you mean?”

““I mean, I see the way you look at him. I saw the way his words affected you. The way he mentioned a family and being the three of you. He or Thisbe might not have seen it, but I saw it. I know you, January. I saw the slight flinch. He’s offering you everything you used to dream of. How many nights did you lay in your bed after we left -New York and cry yourself to sleep begging for him to

come find you and tell you it was a misunderstanding?”

She looked away from her mother, knowing it was her mother who more than one night had crawled into the2:45

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bed with her to hold her while her heart broke. “That was a long time ago.”

“It was,” her mother moved to prop her hip against the edge of the footboard of Kaylee’s bed. “It was a long time ago but that kind of hurt or that strong of a love doesn’t go away overnight. I’m not saying his love,” she held her hand up defensively as January opened her mouth, “your love. You loved him deeply. You loved him more than anything in the world, January. He was your everything. You loved him with everything you are.”

“I did but he lied,” the words felt lodged in her throat.

“It seems like he had good reason.”

“Did he? If he really loved me, if those vows he said he meant were uttered with truth and real, genuine love, why lie? Why carry such a huge lie for six months, Mom? Why not talk to me? Why not trust me? You can’t have love without trust, and he didn’t trust me. All the shit he -said downstairs means nothing Mom because he didn’t

trust me. He had a plan he was concocting with his

brother but left his wife, the wife he said he made vows to, out of the loop? It was my life, our relationship, our Ava@riage, which carried the brunt of this deception. Ĥ2:45

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