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

you could just try to see that regardless of the mistake I made with Tabitha, Curtina is simply an innocent child.If you could just try to see that maybe Curtina is God’s way of replacing Marissa. Maybe Curtina is God’s gift to both ofus.”

Charlotte shoved Curtis away from her. “God’s gift? You can’t be serious!”

“Okay, baby, maybe that didn’t come out right. But you know what I mean. I—”

“I just don’t get you, Curtis,” she shouted, interrupting him. “I don’t get any of this.”

“Baby, look, I’m sorry. And why don’t you please try to calm down.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down! Hell, why don’t you calm down? Or better yet, why don’t you tell that little bastard child of yours to calm down?”

Curtis stared at Charlotte in a way she’d never seen him stare before, and she knew she’d gone too far. She would even takeit back if she could, but her pride wouldn’t let her.

Curtis finally shook his head and then left the kitchen.

When he was out of sight, Charlotte tried settling her nerves and regaining her composure. Things were spiraling steadilyout of control, and she was getting scared. She’d been telling herself for a while that she didn’t think things would getbetter, but deep down there had been this part of her that wanted to believe she and Curtis would eventually be fine. Now,she wasn’t so sure. They were playing a very dangerous game of tug-of-war, and she didn’t see how anyone had a chance at winningit.

Charlotte sat for another twenty minutes, then went upstairs. When she entered their bedroom, she saw Curtis putting on hisshoes, though he wouldn’t look up at her. So she went into the bathroom and turned on the shower. However, to her surprise,when she came back out, Curtis had already left. She wanted desperately to go find him, but at the same time she was stilltoo angry about that whole Curtina-replacing-Marissa comment he’d made. She could just kill him for being so thoughtless.

Finally, she walked closer to the doorway and heard Curtina singing in her bedroom. This infuriated Charlotte even more, andshe wished Curtina’s little jovial behind would just shut up. For good.

Charlotte returned to the bathroom, took her shower, and then stepped back out into the bedroom. This time, she looked outof the window and saw Curtis backing his shiny, black SUV out of the garage and the wrought-iron gate closing. As he droveaway from the house, Charlotte saw Curtina sitting in her car seat, clapping her hands. Probably to one of those irritatingDVDs she loved so much.

Charlotte watched until her husband and stepdaughter drove completely out of the subdivision and knew she had to do something.She still didn’t know what exactly, but something. Anything. Anything at all as long as it had to do with eliminating Curtinafrom their lives. Maybe not literally—although literally doing away with her would solve everything.

Chapter 6

Mom, things really couldn’t be worse between Curtis and me right now,” Charlotte told her mother as she curled her legs upon the chaise. She’d browsed the Internet for a while and then decided to call her mom at work.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“Curtina is what’s wrong. I can’t stand her, Mom, and I want Curtis to send her to live with one of Tabitha’s relatives. Myhusband just won’t hear of it, though, and he’s acting as if I don’t even matter to him anymore.”

“Sweetheart, I’m so sorry. I had no idea. And why have you kept this whole thing from me? I mean, I knew when Curtina wasborn you didn’t want Curtis having a relationship with her, but once she started coming around I just assumed you’d acceptedher. I thought you and Curtis were very happy now.”

“Yeah, I’m sure everybody thinks that. But so much for appearances.”

“You do think the two of you can work through this, though, don’t you?”

“I don’t know because, Mom, I can’t deal with being around Curtina every day. It’s enough to drive me insane.”

“Well, I do have to admit, I can’t imagine that you would be happy living with your husband’s outside child. I don’t thinkany woman would.”

“I know, so I’m not sure why Curtis can’t seem to understand that.”

“Maybe he’ll soon come to his senses and will realize that keeping Curtina isn’t good for your marriage.”

“I don’t think so. Not when he’s already said Curtina isn’t going anywhere. He loves that child, and she thinks the worldof him. As a matter of fact, even Matthew thinks the sun doesn’t shine the right way unless it’s shining directly on his babysister. She’s got them both wrapped around her little finger, and it’s sickening.”

“Then, what we’re going to have to do is pray over this one. And you should also talk to Curtis again. Get him to see whyhaving Curtina there with all of you isn’t a good thing.”

“I’ll try. But I doubt it’ll change his mind because whenever the subject comes up, he always brings up Marissa and yada,yada, yada. He keeps harping on what I did to him.”

“I’m sure he does. But you just hang in there. Curtis is a wonderful man who loves you, and in the end, that’s what’ll count.”

“I hope you’re right, Mom.”

Charlotte chatted with her mother for a few more minutes and then hung up. Soon after, she flipped through channels on theirmounted flat-screen but stopped when she heard a show host on TBN talking about forgiveness.

“No matter how much another individual has wronged you or betrayed you, God still wants you to forgive, forget, and move on.He wants you to forgive others the same as He has forgiven you for all your misdeeds,” the bearded man explained.

Charlotte wished forgiveness was truly that easy. She wished she could somehow accept Curtina and go on with her life, businessas usual. But she couldn’t.

She flipped through more channels; however, when she didn’t see anything interesting, she decided to change out of her loungewearand take herself to lunch. At first, she considered calling Janine at the university to see if she already had plans,