The women looked away as I winked at them, grabbed my purse, and told Connor we were leaving. I heard him apologize as he walked past their table. I stepped outside the doors of the restaurant and Connor caught up with me. I put my hand up as I walked down the street.
“Don’t, say a word, Black. They deserved it. I don’t appreciate gawkers, especially when it’s directed at my husband.”
“Where are you walking to?” he asked.
I stopped and looked at him. “I don’t know,” I said as I threw my hands up in the air and laughed.
Connor wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tightly. “What am I going to do with you?”
“The same thing you’ve always done. Love me forever, no matter how much I embarrass you.” I smiled.
“My dear, sweet wife. I will love you, no matter how much you embarrass me, until the day I die.”
Chapter 33
The next few days were pretty much the same. The text messages were becoming more frequent and more graphic. Denny was doing better and was expected to be released in a few days. Connor was working hard at the office, not only on trying to keep up with Black Enterprises, but he was also under a lot of stress trying to find out who was sending me the messages. My security guy, Justin, followed me everywhere I went, and Detective James wasn’t any closer to finding out who was stalking me.
Connor and I took Julia to the toy store one night. As we were walking around and Connor was showing Julia all the toys that made noise, my phone beeped with a message. I looked at my phone and read the text message that sat on my screen.
“My hunger for you is getting worse. My love for you is growing stronger, and I’m going crazy not being able to touch you.”
Connor was occupied with Julia and a singing toy, so he didn’t hear my phone beep. We were having a good night. I didn’t want to show him the message and worry him even more than he already was. Julia laughed at the singing bear that Connor held up in front of her. When he went to put it back on the shelf, she screamed.
“Look what you did; now you have to buy it for her,” I said.
“She can’t get a new toy every time she screams. She has to learn what ‘no’ means,” he said as he pushed the shopping cart away from the singing bear.
Julia wasn’t having it, and I knew he would eventually give in and buy it for her. As we walked down another aisle, Julia threw a temper tantrum. I walked behind Connor, whispering in his ear, “I want that bear, Daddy. Please buy me that bear.”
“Ellery, knock it off. That’s not fair. She needs to learn she can’t have everything she wants.”
“Why not? You get everything you want.”
“That’s different. I’m an adult.”
“Are you sure about that?” I smiled as I slapped him on the ass and walked ahead of them.
I could hear Julia from the next aisle over. As I was looking at the dolls, it suddenly became quiet. The sounds of a screaming baby were gone. I rolled my eyes and made my way back to where Connor and Julia were. I saw the singing bear next to her.
“Way to go, Daddy. I knew you’d give in.”
“She wouldn’t stop screaming. Next time, no means no,” he said.
“Yeah, right!” I smiled.
Dinner with Julia was out of the question. She looked really tired, and she was starting to get fussy. Both of us knew that if we took her to a restaurant, we wouldn’t be there long, so we headed home and decided to order a pizza. While I fed Julia in her highchair, Connor placed an order for delivery, and I decided to tell him about the text message I received earlier. After I made him promise not to get angry and go off on a tangent, I read him the message. He slammed his fists on the counter so hard, he made me and Julia jump. Julia started screaming and I looked at him, shaking my head.
“I’m so sorry, baby. Daddy didn’t mean to scare you,” he said as he walked over to her and kissed her head.
“Connor, I warned you. I begged you not to get angry like that,” I said as I slammed the spoon down on the table and got up.
“What the hell, Ellery? How do you not expect me to get angry when someone talks to you like that? Damn it. What if this was happening to me by some strange woman? How the fuck would you feel? Huh? Answer me that,” he yelled. “We have this same argument all the time. You tell me not to get mad, I do, and then you get pissed off, and it results in me yelling at you.”
Anger overtook me as I walked over to him. “Let me make one thing very clear to you. There will never be yelling or fighting in front of Julia. Do you understand me?” I said through gritted teeth as I pushed my finger into his chest.
While he stood there and looked at me, I could see him start to slowly calm down. “You’re right, and I apologize to you and Julia,” he said as he kissed my forehead and then Julia’s. “I’ll take her upstairs and get her cleaned up and ready for bed. The pizza should be here shortly,” he said.
The doorbell rang and when I answered it, I was shocked to see Phil standing there, holding our pizza.