Page 238 of The Reason I Married Him
“No,” she shouts, holding her hand up. “Don’t. I don’t want to hear anything from you. I should have known this was going to happen. I told myself to keep it together, not to fall under this enchanting spell you seem to put on people, but slowly, I got caught up in it as well, and that’s my fault. I lost my composure, but that won’t happen again.” She wipes her tears and raises her chin. “I understand what this is, who we are together, and I understand the contract we signed. There will be nothing else between us other than what we signed up for. I should have never let it get this far. I see my mistake now.”
She moves toward the door, but I stand from the bed, my heart tearing out of my chest with every step she takes away from me. “Aubree, please, just listen to me.”
“No, Wyatt,” she says, looking over my shoulder. “This is done . . . I’ll see you back at the guest house.”
And then she takes off, her stoic, empty persona pushing her loveable, soft exterior right out of the way. She’s back to the woman she was when I first saw her.
And it’s all my fucking fault.
AUBREE
“How long has she been crying?”Ryland says as I lie against the couch, unable to control myself.
“Since we left The Almond Store,” Hattie replies. “Wyatt was there and tried talking to her. I still don’t know what’s happening.”
The floor creaks, and I hear Ryland approaching right before he sits beside me and places his hand on my knee.
“Hey Aubree, can we get you anything?”
I shake my head as more tears fall down my cheeks.
“Grab her tissues,” Ryland says to Hattie.
Hattie is on it and has tissues to him in seconds. He takes one out and dabs at my face, which only makes me cry even more. We may have had a tough childhood, and we might not have been shown the kind of love every kid deserves, but somehow, we persevered and showed love to each other. That’s exactly what Ryland is doing.
“When you’re ready, we’re here to listen,” he says.
I take one of the tissues and dab at my eyes as well, realizing that if I’m going to make it through this next year, I’m going to need all the support I can get, which means telling them the truth.
While I was up in the apartment above The Almond Store, I thought about what I was going to do with Wyatt and how I’d handle this. I could walk away and call everything off, but I know if that were the case, he’d hand over the land and consider me stubborn, but I’m not taking that for free. I’m earning it, even if it means saving up enough to buy it off him early. But I refuse to take it because he hurt me or he pities me. This means I’ll be spending the next year with him, and I can only do that if my family surrounds me with support.
After a few deep breaths, I look up at Ryland and Hattie, who has moved an ottoman in close so we’re all sitting in what feels like a triangle.
“Um, I have to tell you guys something.”
“Okay,” Ryland says.
“But I beg of you, please don’t get mad.”
Ryland’s jaw clenches before he says, “Did Wyatt do something to you? Did he hurt you physically? Because I won’t be able to remain calm about that.”
I shake my head. “No, he’s never harmed me. It’s nothing like that.”
Ryland only slightly relaxes as he nods his head.
“But I will say, I haven’t been entirely truthful with you. Um . . .” I dab at my eyes again as guilt swarms me. “Wyatt and I . . . well, we married for convenience.”
Hattie sits back while Ryland’s brow creases in confusion. “What do you mean?” he asks.
“The week he initially came into town, well, it wasn’t because we were secretly seeing each other. He actually came into town because he had a business proposal for me.” I try to stop my hand from shaking as I continue telling the truth. “You see, he has this family cabin that means a lot to him, and the only way he’d get ownership of it was if he was married. He didn’t want it going to his horrible cousin, Wallace, so he came to me and asked if I’d marry him.”
“Why would he do that?” Hattie asks. “He barely knew you.”
“He told me if I married him, he’d give me ownership of his half of the farm.”
“What?” Ryland yells as he stands. “He fucking blackmailed you?”
“No,” I say as Ryland’s hand clenches at his side. I tug on him to sit back down, and thankfully, he does. “It was more of an agreement.”
