“Oh, for goodness sake.” Tessa marched up to her father. “Quit with all the preacher talk. Maybe you should remember what happened when I was sixteen.” With that, she turned to Damon. Reporters started yelling questions.
Damon took her hand and raised it to his lips. Tessa smiled, and they walked away.
* * * *
“I’m dying of curiosity here, what did your father do when you were sixteen?” Sierra asked as all of them were at Damon’s house celebrating.
“I caught my father cheating on my mother.” Tessa’s mother knew and had forgiven her father, but Tessa never really had. “Hearing him today with all his bluster and crap, I couldn’t take it anymore.”
Her cell rang; it was her mother. “I need to take this.” Tessa stood up and walked outside on the patio. “Hey, Mom.”
“I’ve left your father.”
Tessa wobbled on her feet. “Oh my God, Mom. If what I said had anything to do with it—”
“It wasn’t what you said, my darling Tessa. I’ve been fed up with your father for a while now. That’s why I put my foot down when you wanted to get your master’s. Why I encouraged you to move away and take my maiden name. What he intended to do and has done to you and your nice young man was the last straw.”
“Mom, what are you going to do?” Tessa was worried. Her mother had married straight out of high school. She’d always been a wife and mother and in politics and the public eye.
“I’m going up to New Hampshire to live with my sister for a while. I wanted you to know because the crap is going to hit the fan. I didn’t want you caught unaware.”
“Thanks, Mom. Call me when you get to Auntie’s house.”
“I will, baby. Maybe once everything is calmed down, I’ll come out to Washington to visit you and your young man.”
“That would be great, Mom.”
“Love you, baby girl.”
“Love you too, Mom.” Tessa went back inside. Damon was at her side in a second.
“Is everything okay? You’ve got that stunned look on your face.”
“My mom is divorcing my father.” Tessa smiled. “Life is grand.”
* * * *
It was after ten when everyone finally left. Tessa helped Damon clean up and then Damon led her into his bedroom.
“It’s been a long week, hasn’t it?” he said as he began undressing her.
“It has.” Tessa let Damon do this for her. He’d been so supportive, so there for her. “I love you so much, Damon.”
“I love you too, my Tessa.”
“I am yours.”
“And I belong to you.” He stared at her. “On the bed, I have a surprise for you.”
Tessa did as Damon asked, wondering what he had planned. She kept her gaze on him, and when he turned from the closet, she burst out laughing. “Oh no, the big bad wolf, are you going to eat me?
Damon had on the wolf mask from the Valentine’s Day party. “Why yes, my dear. I’m going to eat you in a way that will give you pleasure.”
He pounced.
