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

the day, but when he started to feel better emotionally, he’d gotten dressed and told Charlotte and Curtishe was going out for a while. Curtina had still been at Aunt Emma’s, and Agnes had left early for her granddaughter’s dancerecital, so Charlotte and Curtis had found themselves alone. It was almost as if they’d fallen in love all over again andwere enjoying a mini honeymoon.

Charlotte bit into a piece of buttered toast. “So, sweetie, do you think you’re really up for going back to school today?”

“Yep,” Matthew said. “I’m good, Mom.”

“Because if you don’t feel like going, you don’t have to.”

“No. I’m really okay.”

Curtis set down the sports section of the newspaper and drank some of the espresso Agnes had made for him. With the exceptionof an occasional vanilla latte, Charlotte wasn’t a huge coffee or caffeine fan, but Curtis loved just about any kind. “I knowI’ve said this more than once already, son, but your mom and I are very proud of you. You put your life on the line for thosetwo girls, and then you did everything you could to try to help Mr. Rush.”

“I tried to do the right thing, Dad. Just like you’ve always encouraged me to do.”

“Well, you did an awesome job.”

“But it still wasn’t good enough, because look what happened. Mr. Rush shot himself, and Elijah and Jonathan were tellingme last night that he’s in critical condition.”

“Nonetheless,” Curtis said, “you did your best and that’s all God ever expects from us. It’s all we expect from you, too.”

“Exactly,” Charlotte added.

Curtina clapped her hands and picked up her sippy cup. Agnes had filled it with apple juice, and Curtina seemed to love it.Actually, she’d probably loved it for some time now, but until today, Charlotte had never paid much attention to her likes,dislikes, or to her, period. She was really trying, though. It wasn’t easy, but she was trying not to feel any animosity orhatred toward her, not when things were going so wonderfully with her and Curtis. Things were fabulous, and Charlotte couldeven see how elated Matthew was about the two of them being on happy terms again. He’d let her know how he felt during thedrive home from the school, so Charlotte was glad she and Curtis were now in a different place.

“You love that stuff, don’t you, little girl?” Matthew said. Curtina grinned, nodded, and took another sip.

Curtis smiled at his daughter, and Charlotte thought about Marissa. Oh, how she missed her child and would do anything tohave her back. It was clear that Marissa had been born with a few “issues,” so to speak, and she hadn’t been the nicest childin the world, but Charlotte had still loved her. Plus, it wasn’t like she could help who she was. Yes, she had a dementedpersonality, did devious things to people, but it was only because she’d inherited serious mental problems from her psychofather. Charlotte still remembered the day she’d caught Marissa waving her hand through a flaming burner on top of the stoveand looking as though this was something normal.

If only Charlotte hadn’t been in denial for so long and had tried to get her some help a lot sooner, things might have turnedout differently. There was a chance she would have gotten better and would have been much more equipped to deal with the newsshe’d overheard Charlotte and Curtis arguing about—that Curtis wasn’t her biological father. She’d heard the truth, takenit badly, and had plummeted down the stairway accidentally.

“Hey, baby,” Curtis said. “When you finish up at the hair salon, why don’t you meet me for lunch?”

“I can do that. I won’t be finished until around two, though.”

“That’s fine. I won’t be finished with my one o’clock meeting until around then, anyway. So, let’s just meet at two-thirty.Actually, I’ll probably just take the rest of the afternoon off.”

“Sounds good.”

“Can I get you more espresso, Mr. Curtis?” Agnes asked, clearing away Matthew’s plate.

“No, I think I’ll pass.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I’m good. Well, I’d better get going.” Curtis scooted his chair back from the island. “I have a couple of meetingsthis morning, and since I was gone yesterday, I have a few things to catch up on.”

Matthew stood as well. “I need to get out of here, too. See you later, little girl,” he said, kissing Curtina on her forehead.

“Bye-bye,” she said, waving at him.

Curtis slipped on his navy blue pinstriped jacket, and Charlotte admired how classy he always looked. Always picture-perfectby anyone’s definition. The perfect tie, the perfect tailor-made French cuff white shirt, the perfect suit.

“I guess I should get dressed myself,” Charlotte said. “My appointment isn’t until eleven-thirty, but I need to run a coupleof those errands I never got around to the other day.”

Curtis walked over and kissed her. “I’ll see you in a few hours.”

“Okay.”

Matthew hugged her good-bye, and Curtis pulled Curtina from her high chair, removed her jumbo-sized bib, and put her coaton. Within minutes, they were all on their way to their respective destinations.

About an hour later, Charlotte was finally in her car, heading to the beauty supply store. She had driven for all of two blockswhen she heard her phone chiming. There was no doubt that it was Michael again, because she still hadn’t called him back.He’d sent her a couple of text messages the evening of the Mr. Rush incident and then again yesterday morning, but all she’ddone was delete them. She’d been solely focused on Curtis over the last forty-eight hours, and she didn’t know what to sayto Michael. She knew she wanted to tell him the truth, but after that dream she’d had, she was a little nervous. She knewshe owed him an explanation, though, so when she slowed at the stop sign, she pulled out her phone, ad­justed her earpiece, and dialed his number.

He picked up on the second ring. “Wow, I can’t believe it. You finally called me.”

“I know. I’m really sorry that I haven’t before now but a lot has happened.”

“Yeah, I assumed as much when I saw on WGN that