Page 133 of Poisoned Promise
Felix’s face falls.
“Do you see?” I cup his face and my lower lip wobbles while tears threaten in the corner of my eyes. “It doesn’t matter how deeply I love you, or how badly I want to be with you every waking second of every day. It doesn’t matter that I feel safe in your arms or that sleeping next to you brings me infinite peace. I c-can’t say those things and mean them because…. because….”
“Because you’re a mother,” Felix finishes for me, his voice soft. “And Alex is the most important thing to you.”
I nod slowly and quickly wipe away a couple of tears that escape when I blink. “I don’t want to hurt you again, Felix. But Alex is and always will be my priority.”
The pain on his face will haunt me, even as he smiles. “I understand, Dove. Isn’t that what true love is? Understanding?”
I stroke my thumb along his cheek and guide him in for a sweet, slow kiss.
True love.
That’s what we always were, isn’t it?
39
DOVE
“If you lean to the left,” Bree says. “You’ll feel the stretch all the way up your flank. Do you feel that?” Her hands adjust on my waist and tighten ever so slightly.
Following her instruction, I deepen my squat stretch and groan. “Oh my god.”
“Good, right?” Bree grins cheerily at me.
“Yeah,” I grunt. “But I also kind of hate it.”
“That’s because you’re still healing but I promise you, another couple of days of these and you’ll be feeling as loose as a goose!”
“As a goose?” The moment she makes me laugh, I lose all focus on the stretch and collapse down onto the mat with a gasp.
“Yep,” Bree laughs. “I promise. I’ve never been as injured as you were but these stretches are a godsend.”
“I’ve also never been this injured before,” I grumble while climbing to my feet. “The next time I decide to do something this crazy, please stop me.”
“Oh I don’t think there’s ever any stopping you once you put your mind to something,” Bree grins. “But that’s not a bad thing.”
“Yeah, true.” I accept the bottle of water she passes me just as Alex joins us out on the patio.
“Mom?”
“Yes, honey?”
From the look on his face, he wants to talk and Bree seemingly gets the same impression because she suddenly rocks up onto the balls of her feet. “I think I’m gonna head in and take a shower. You good?” She looks me up and down, then meets my smile with one of her own.
“Yeah I’m good. Thank you, Bree.”
“Of course!” She dances back inside and ruffles Alex’s hair as she passes, then melts into the darkness of her home.
“You okay, kiddo?”
Alex nods. “Are your stretches helping?”
“Well, in the past week I have regained the ability to touch my toes and I can run up the stairs without losing my breath so I’d say so. Pro tip, if you ever get injured and you don’t take care of yourself as you heal, your muscles heal tight and stiff. So you gotta flex and stretch." I pause as he walks closer and then lightly tap his nose with my finger. “Not that you will ever get injured.”
“That’s… kind of what I want to talk about.”
“Walk with me?” I tilt my head toward the garden, then take a mouthful of water. It’s cold enough to soothe the rawness frommy breathless panting and we quickly fall into step with one another.
