Sam meant no harm. I don’t blame her for falling in love with Marius. How could I?
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Marius
Noisefrom the kitchen wakes me, so I throw on some clothes and head downstairs. Matthias and I talked a lot about what I should do to win Eden back. Now I just have to convince Ava to go along with it.
Assuming she doesn’t want to slap me again.
I chuckle at the idea of my sister-in-law, a woman who’s half my size, getting rough with me. I deserved it, though. Ava’s always been very kind to me, and I hurt someone she loves.
Let’s hope she isn’t interested in round two this morning. That’ll make my winning back Eden difficult.
Walking into the kitchen, I see Matthias with the boys and Eleanor but no Ava. Did she spend the night at the penthouse with Eden?
“Good morning, Marius,” Eleanor says as she opens a cabinet to get a plate for my breakfast.
I stop dead and give her my best disapproving look. Since I’m pretty much a hedonist, I don’t disapprove of much in thisworld, but her overworking is one of the big things I’m not a fan of these days.
“Why are you up and around doing work? We’re supposed to be helping you, not vice versa,” I say as I walk over to her and give her a hug.
When I step back, she looks at me strangely. “You seem different today, Marius. Is something changed?”
Behind me, Matthias says with a laugh, “I’m not sure Eleanor has heard the news that you’re a married man, Marius.”
The shock written all over her face followed by her mouth hanging open tells me that she and the boys are the only ones who didn’t know. “I guess the cat’s out of the bag now.”
“You’re married? Who is your wife? Where is she?”
I look back at Matthias to see him grinning from ear to ear. “Are you happy? You’ve upset Eleanor.”
He throws his head back in laughter. “Nobody upset her. She just can’t believe you’re married and still sleeping here. Want to explain it to her? It’s quite the story, Eleanor.”
The woman who’s been my only mother figure since I was a young teenager dries her hands on the yellow towel beside the sink and waits for me to say something. I really don’t want to tell her the story about how Eden and I got together, but since Matthias has already mentioned my being married, I’m going to have to come up with a shortened version.
I look into Eleanor’s pale blue eyes and see real concern in them. It’s nice to know that while the rest of my family thinks I’m a fool who fucked up royally, at least one person who knows me all my life is worried about me.
“Eden, Ava’s friend. I married her two years ago. We kept it quiet until the other day.”
I stop there, but my brother says what I was hoping to keep out of the story for today. “Yeah, when she served him with divorce papers.”
After throwing Matthias a dirty look, I turn back to see Eleanor’s eyes are full of even more worry now. “It’s okay. We’re not getting divorced. I’m going to fix things.”
She doesn’t say anything for a while, but finally she smiles. “I’ve always loved her eyes. She has the most unique green eyes I’ve ever seen in my life. And I know she’s a lovely girl since Ava thinks the world of her.”
Leave it to Eleanor to be positive about the mess my life has become.
“But what’s this about divorce? Are you getting divorced?” she asks as she reaches for my hand.
She gives it a tiny squeeze while I explain things as much as I can. “No, there’s not going to be a divorce. Things are going to be good from now on.”
Then a darkness comes over Eleanor, and she asks, “Wait, didn’t I see her with that man Ava set her up with at the party?”
Looks like there’s no escaping this explanation.
“Yes, but don’t worry. That was all my fault because I didn’t want her to tell anyone about us getting married, so she had to lie to Ava. That’s why she was with that guy.”
Matthias stands up from the table and takes both boys in his arms. “I’m going to leave on that note since I’m pretty sure I’ve heard this story before.”