Love, Honor, and Betray by Roby, Lawson (ebook reader ink txt) 📕

was completely distraught over the entire situation, and Charlotte knewshe had to treat this whole hostage-shooting incident with kid gloves. She was angry with Mr. Rush for placing her child’slife in danger, not to mention the despicable things he’d done to those young girls, and she wanted to see him rot in prison.But she also knew Matthew wasn’t focusing on the crimes Mr. Rush had committed, and instead was mainly concerned about Mr.Rush’s well-being.

Curtis turned the ignition, pulled the vehicle in gear, and drove away. Charlotte relaxed her head against the leather headrest,relieved the day hadn’t turned out worse. The three of them were headed home together as a family, and most important, Matthewwas safe. He’d walked away from this tragedy fully unharmed, at least physically, anyway, and Charlotte was very grateful.God had watched over Matthew, protected every inch of his being, and then kindly returned him to her—even though she’d betrayedCurtis to the nth degree. She’d slept with not one but two men behind his back and had been planning to meet Michael again this evening.She’d even been on the phone with him when Matthew had tried calling, and all she could think was, What if the situation had been different? It was true that Matthew had found another opportunity to call Curtis again so that they’d be able to listen in on his conversationwith Mr. Rush, but what if Matthew had been calling for a different reason? What if he’d needed her to do something, and ithad been his only chance to contact someone? What if he’d been calling her right before Mr. Rush had stormed into the schooland that had been her last chance to speak to him? Oh God, what’s wrong with me? Why can’t I just be happy with Curtis and be a good wife to him? Why can’t I just do the right thing?

Charlotte thought about one thing after another and burst into tears.

Curtis reached across the console and grabbed her hand, but this made Charlotte feel even worse. Why? Because she knew Curtiswas under the impression that her tears were related to what had occurred at the school. He had no idea she was crying overthe one-night stand she’d had with that Tom guy as well as the ongoing affair she was having with Michael. Curtis was beingkind and loving and acting as though they were happy with no problems. He held her hand in a way that told her he was stillin love with her. Deeply in love with her and ready to reconcile.

“Mom, don’t cry,” Matthew said. “I’m okay. So, there’s nothing for you to worry about now.”

“I know,” she said, sniffling. “But I’m not sure what I would have done if something had happened to you.”

Curtis stopped at the red light. “I know the feeling. I worked hard to keep my faith strong, but just the thought of you notbeing here with us, son, was almost too much to bear.”

“I don’t think we could go on without you, Matt,” Charlotte said. “I really don’t.”

“I get that, Mom. And while I don’t mean any disrespect to you, how do you think I feel when you and Dad don’t speak to eachother? Or when you do speak, it’s mostly because you’re arguing about something. I mean, how do you think it feels to wonderhow long it’s going to be before your parents break up?”

Charlotte hadn’t expected to be chastised this way and was at a loss for words. She couldn’t even turn and look Matthew inhis face or even at Curtis for that matter. She was ashamed of herself and all that she was doing and sorry that they wereletting Matthew down—again. She was sorrier about what she was doing individually, though, because she knew Matthew mostlyblamed her for the breakdown in her and Curtis’s marriage. He blamed her more than he did his father because he knew she didn’tlike Curtina. It was the reason Matthew was posing these questions to her directly.

She still didn’t say anything, not even when she saw Curtis looking at her, and continued focusing straight ahead.

“Dad, aren’t you going to pick up Curtina?”

“No, with all that’s happened, I think I’ll just ask Aunt Emma if she’ll keep her overnight.”

“She’s not gonna be okay with that,” Matthew said. “Not when she’s so used to seeing us every night before she goes to bed.”

“She’ll be fine,” Curtis told him. “Curtina loves Aunt Emma, and Aunt Emma loves having her there. I’ll pick her up tomorrowafter I leave the church.”

Good. Charlotte would never say it out loud, of course, but she was glad to finally have an evening at home without her. Itwould feel like old times—​pre‑Curtina, that is—and for the first day in weeks, Charlotte looked forward to being alone with Curtis. She needed to be with him andhoped he felt the same way. She wasn’t sure what had come over her, but she knew it had a lot to do with what they’d justexperi­enced and how this whole disaster had got her thinking. Made her realize what was important: family, loyalty, and everythingelse she’d been blessed with. Made her consider how it wasn’t good to take the people who cared about you for granted. Madeher rethink her relationship with Michael and wonder if it was time to end things with him.

Chapter 30

After they arrived home, and Alicia and Charlotte’s parents had left on their way back to Chicago, Matthew had finally eatenone slice of the deep-dish pizza they’d ordered from his favorite pizza place, Maciano’s, and had gone up to bed. It was stillpretty early in the evening, but he’d said he was exhausted and wanted to lie down. Charlotte knew he was more emotionallydrained than anything else, and that he was sad about Mr. Rush. He’d even tried calling the hospital as soon as they’d walkedin, but they’d told him they couldn’t release any updates to non-relatives. He’d seemed very disappointed, so for his sakeshe hoped Mr. Rush wouldn’t end up dying, because she