“Oh, I will use that language in your presence. You cannot and will not tell me what to do. I am a grown woman who makes her own decisions. If I want to say ‘fuck,’ I will and I’ll say it as many times as I want to.”
“What happened to you?” My mother narrowed her eyes in disgust at me. “What happened to my daughter?”
“The daughter you created is gone and she’s never coming back. She’s dead and buried deep down in the depths of the Earth. By the way, that man sitting over there that you keep referring to, his name is Drew Westbrook and you will respect him.”
I grabbed my purse from the table and Drew followed me to the door.
“Goodbye, Mr. and Mrs. Bell. Oh, and by the way, Patricia, Kellan helped me plan my little escape. He knew where I was the whole time. You are to stay away from him. If I even catch a hint of you going anywhere near him again, I will leak to the press about Daddy’s illegitimate child and how the two of you went to great lengths to keep her a secret.”
“You wouldn’t dare.” She glared at me.
“And you never thought I’d skip out on my wedding day either.” I smiled. “Don’t underestimate me. I learned from the best.”
Walking out the door, I let out a deep breath and fell into Drew’s arms.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Drew
I held her as tightly as I could and ran my hand up and down her back. I expected her to break down and start crying, but she didn’t.
“I’m so proud of you for holding it together in there and standing up to them.” I kissed the top of her head. “Are you okay?”
She broke our embrace and looked up at me.
“I’m fine. Actually, I feel great. Is that fucked up?”
I let out a light chuckle. “I’m not sure.”
“Let’s get out of here before one of them opens the door,” she spoke.
As we climbed into the back of the Bentley, Jillian laid her head on my shoulder.
“Will you stay with me tonight?” she asked.
“Of course I will. I wasn’t planning on leaving you anyway. Where do you want to stay? My place or yours?”
“How about your place? But can we stop by mine really quick so I can grab some clothes for tomorrow? I really don’t feel like putting this dress back on in the morning.”
“To Jillian’s apartment, Roland,” I spoke.
After stopping by Jillian’s apartment, we headed to my townhouse. Jillian went upstairs while I grabbed a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses. When I walked into the bedroom, she was in the bathroom washing her face and letting her hair down. I poured us some wine, climbed under the covers, and waited for her.
“I brought some wine. I figured you’d want some.”
“Thank you.” She softly smiled as she climbed in next to me.
Taking the glass from my hand, she brought it to her lips.
“So now what?” I asked. “What are you going to do about your parents?”
“Nothing. I said what I had to and it’s done. I’m never going back to Seattle. I’m sorry you had to witness all that and I’m sorry for ruining your night.”
“You didn’t ruin my night and don’t be sorry. Your parents. Wow.” I shook my head.
“I told you. They’re something else. I lived my whole life like that.” She finished off her wine and held her glass to me.
Grabbing the bottle from the nightstand, I refilled her glass.
“Are you still up for going to my parents’ house tomorrow?”
“Of course I am. Do you think I’m going to let this ruin anything? I’m done letting my parents ruin and run my life.”
I reached over and softly stroked her cheek. “You are a brave woman, Jillian Bell.”
“Thanks. I’m trying to be. Tonight was the last thing I needed with everything else going on.”
“I know.” I pulled her into me and kissed her head.
****
The next morning, I opened my eyes as Jillian stirred in my arms. Kissing her back, I softly spoke, “Good morning.”
She turned and faced me, placing her hand and her head on my chest.
“Good morning. What time is it?”
“Eight o’clock.”
She yawned.
“You were restless last night,” I spoke.
“I kept having bad dreams about my parents. Ugh. I don’t want to think or talk about them. What’s for breakfast?” she asked with a smile.
“What do you want?” My arm tightened around her as my hand softly stroked her arm.
“I don’t know. Let’s go see what we can whip up. Do you know how to cook?” She glanced up at me.
“Yes.” I grinned.
“Really? I’m surprised.”
“Why?” I chuckled.
“I don’t know. I just am.”
“I used to help my mom cook all the time. Come on, let’s go make some coffee and get breakfast started.”
“Can I just say one thing?”
“What?” I smiled.
“I’m happy you can cook because I can’t. I can’t even boil water.” She laughed. “If you said you couldn’t cook, we’d be screwed.”
“Then I will teach you.” I winked as I kissed her soft lips. “And after breakfast, I promise you will be screwed.”
As she lifted herself up from me, she grabbed the pillow and hit me with it.
“You’re dirty.” She grinned.