Wives and Champions (14 page)

Melanie glanced up at him. She
grinned. “You don’t know because you’re not even looking at the
menu, babe. Everything okay?”

He forced himself to smile. “Of
course. Why wouldn’t it be?”

She looked at him with skeptical eyes.
“I don’t know. I’m trying to figure out what I want to eat and
you’re not even looking at the menu.”

“
Why don’t you order for
me?” he proposed, then stroked his mustache.

With raised brows, she said, “Okay. If
that’s what you want.”

“
Yes. That’s what I want.
You know what I like, don’t you?”

“
Yes, but we’re not at The
Carribean Hut, so…”

“
Funny,” he said, mildly
amused.

She giggled.

When the waiter came by, Melanie
ordered chicken lettuce wraps along with an order of breadsticks
and marinara sauce for an appetizer. She figured Grace would stay
occupied chewing on a breadstick. For Dimitrius, she ordered the
bread-crusted, chicken parmesan and for herself, a thin-crust
medium pizza with spinach, onions, green peppers, sausage and extra
cheese. She knew Dimitrius would help her finish it.

When the food came and they were
halfway into their meals, she looked up at Dimitrius. Even though
they’d been conversational, something was off. She could feel it.
His mind seemed to wander now and then and she wondered if
something was bothering him. Was it problems at work?

“
So, how did I do?” she
asked to get him talking again.

“
What do you
mean?”

“
With the food.”

“
Oh. It’s good. Never had
this before, but it’s pretty good.”

“
You can have some of this
pizza, too. I’m not going to eat it all.”

Dimitrius took a sip of wine. “I need
to ask you something, Melanie.”

“
Okay,” Melanie said,
wiping marinara sauce from Grace’s cheek. The mere sound of his
voice warned her that something was wrong. She felt her stomach
drop but pretended to be calm while attending to Grace.

“
When Scott broke up with
you—”

“
Oh, gosh…this is about
Scott?”

“
Yes. As I was saying, when
he broke up with you—”

“
Why are you bringing him
up again, Dimitrius? I thought we were past that.”

“
I thought so, too,”
Dimitrius said, “But apparently, we’re not.”

“
Meaning what?”

“
When Scott broke up with
you, you were heartbroken. Am I right?”

Melanie exhaled a long breath. “I
don’t believe this.”

“
Just answer my question,
Melanie. When he broke up with you, were you
heartbroken?”

“
I was. We were together
for two years. We were supposed to get married.”

“
And then he found out you
couldn’t have children.”

“
Yes.”

“
So he left
you.”

Melanie nodded. “Yes. Why are
you—”

“
Do you still love
him?”

“
Why are you asking me
that, Dimitrius?”

“
Because I need to
know.”

“
But—”

“
Melanie, based on
everything I know about the man, he sounds like a jerk. You said
yourself that he left you heartbroken, yet you run into him at the
museum and chat with him like you’re old friends.”

“
I wasn’t chatting with
him. I told you I was trying to avoid him and—”

“
Well, you failed. You
didn’t avoid him. You were talking to him, and for the life of me,
I can’t figure that out. I would think you would be angry, furious
that the man would have the audacity to approach you.”

“
I was furious, but I
wasn’t going to cause a scene in front of my daughter. I—” Melanie
scratched her head and blew an agonizing breath.

“
Do you still love him,
Melanie?”

“
No,” she said, raising her
voice louder than she wanted to. “I love
you
, Dimitrius.”

“
Then I need you to be
honest with me right now.”

“
I
am
being honest. I don’t love
Scott.”

“
Then answer this for me.
Have you had any communication with Scott since seeing him at the
museum?”

“
Unfortunately, yes,”
Melanie answered quickly. She didn’t have anything to hide.
“Apparently he still has my phone number, and he texted
me.”

“
He texted you?”

“
Yes.”

“
When?”

“
Today,
actually.”

“
About what?”

“
It’s not
important.”

“
About what?” Dimitrius
asked again.

“
He wanted to know about
Grace.”

A frown dented Dimitrius’
forehead. “He’s texting you about
my
daughter.”

“
He’s an idiot, Dimitrius.
He thinks I owe him some explanation about how I was able to have a
baby after I told him I couldn’t.”

“
That’s a good question.
Did you answer it for him?”

“
Excuse me?” she asked,
holding his gaze, certain she heard him incorrectly.

“
Did you answer his
question?”

“
No, because I don’t owe
him an explanation. Where is all of this stemming from?”

“
From the text messages I
read between you two.”

“
What?”

“
You heard me.”

“
Dimitrius, you went
through my phone?”

“
I saw that he texted you
when I returned home from work. You were sleep, your phone beeped
and I saw his message scrolling across the top of your screen. So,
I picked it up and read it. Tell me, what exactly does he mean when
he says no one will ever have your heart but him?”

“
Unbelievable.”

Dimitrius’ face reddened in anger.
“What’s unbelievable is that you would’ve kept all of this from me.
Chatting with a man you used to love, who supposedly broke your
heart is unbelievable.”

“
I’m not doing
this.”

“
Of course you’re not,”
Dimitrius shot back, his eyes as sharp as razors. “Let’s just
pretend none of this ever happened.” He wiped his mouth with a
black, cloth napkin, then dropped it on his plate.

Melanie pulled in a breath and didn’t
say another word. She knew her husband. Getting through to
Dimitrius when he was angry was a nearly insurmountable task.
Tonight, she wasn’t up for the challenge, couldn’t believe dinner
was ruined and all she wanted to do was go home.

Chapter
Thirteen

“
What do you mean, you’re
leaving for Jacksonville early?” Dante asked.

Emily folded a pair of
jeans that she was certain she wouldn’t be able to wear in a few
weeks. She lowered them into her suitcase. She had planned on
visiting her parents in a few weeks, but with all the stress she’d
been under lately, she decided to leave early. Only thing was, she
hadn’t discussed it with Dante. After he walked out on her during
their early afternoon argument at her boutique, she figured he
didn’t want to hear it anyway. He was furious. Told her to
stop
wasting his time
like they weren’t even a married couple. Like she was some
girlfriend whom he could easily dismiss. So, she was dismissing
herself.

“
Just what I said. I’m
leaving early. As you know, I was planning on going to see my
parents in a few weeks, but since things are so tense between us, I
figured I’d go now.”

“
And you did all
this
figuring
without consulting me, first?”

She didn’t look up at him
when she said, “Yes, Dante. I
figured
you’d be happy.”

Dante walked up to her, grasped her
wrists and said, “What would make you think that?”

“
The way you left my office
today. You pretty much threatened to leave me and left in a
rage.”

Dante grimaced. “I wasn’t threatening
to leave you, Emily. I just need you to understand what you’re
doing to me. To us.”

“
And what might that
be?”

“
You’re stressing yourself
out, causing unnecessary ripples in our marriage. Baby, you don’t
even have to work. I don’t know how many times I have to tell you
that. Yet, you’re stressing out over having another baby – a baby
we are supposed to love. I want you to be happy that we’re adding a
new addition to our family, but you’re not.”

Emily shook her head. “You don’t
understand, and you probably never will.”

“
So does that mean you pack
up and leave me? Look at me, Emily.”

Emily looked up at him with sad,
tear-filled eyes.

“
Does that mean you leave
me?”

“
I’m not leaving you,
Dante. I’m just going to see my parents.”

“
For how long?” he asked,
throaty.

She shrugged. “A week or so. They’ve
been dying to see Ezra again anyway, so—” She pulled her wrists
from his grasp, folded more clothes and put them inside her
suitcase.

“
You haven’t traveled alone
with Ezra. Have you even taken a flight with him?”

“
No, but I’ll manage. I
think a little space might do us some good.” She turned to him,
pressed her head against his chest and wrapped her arms around him
while her body trembled. She sniffled. “I’m not running away,
Dante. I just need some time to figure things out.”

Dante cupped the back of her head with
this hand, holding her against him. “Okay, baby. Don’t cry, Emily.
It’ll be okay. We’ll get through it. You hear me?”

“
Yes. I hear
you.”

“
I know you’re not ready
for another baby, but I’m happy about it, Emily, and I wish,
somehow, I could give you a dose of what I’m feeling. So maybe this
trip will be good for you. I definitely don’t want you to be
stressed out while you’re carrying our baby. Okay?”

She nodded.

“
But just to clarify
something you said—no—I wasn’t threatening to leave you. I wasn’t
myself at the boutique today and I apologize for that.” He cupped
her face in his hands. “I love you, sweetheart.”

“
I love you, too,
Dante.”

Chapter
Fourteen

-Two Days
Later-

“
Turns out, you’re not the
youngest after all, Des,” Dimitrius said as they walked into the
bar.

“
What does that suppose to
mean?” Desmond inquired.

Dimitrius looked at Dante. “You didn’t
tell him?”

“
Didn’t have a chance to,”
Dante said.

The men pulled out a chair, took a
seat.

“
Besides,” Dante said
looking at Desmond, “I know you were busy taking care of Sherita,
and I didn’t want to disturb you.”

“
I appreciate that,”
Desmond told him. “But I’m here now, so enlighten me. What’s going
on?”

Dante sighed. “Well, a couple of days
ago, I got a visit from a guy named Harding Champion. He says he’s
our half-brother.”

Desmond’s forehead creased.
“Half-brother?”

“
Yes,” Dante said, “And
he’s meeting us here tonight.”

Desmond grinned uncomfortably. “Why
don’t you two stop with the antics.”

“
I’m serious this time,
Des,” Dante said.

Desmond looked at Dimitrius then back
at Dante. They weren’t playing games. The look on their faces told
him so.

“
So you’re actually going
to entertain this nonsense, Dante?”

“
We have to,” Dante
said.

“
No, we don’t. Are you
kidding me? We don’t have any other siblings. It’s only us. The
three of us,” Desmond said.

“
That’s what I wanted to
think, too, but—”

“
I don’t have time for
this,” Desmond said, standing.

“
Des, calm down man,”
Dimitrius said.

“
I could be home with my
family who needs me above everything else, but I’m here because
you
think
we may
have a half-brother?”

“
Yes,” Dante
answered.

“
Meaning what, exactly?
That our father cheated on our mother?”

“
I don’t know what it means
just yet. I
do
know we have to figure it out and quick,” Dante said. “And
we’ll do that with or without you.”

“
Fine. I’m out.”

“
Come on Des, man,”
Dimitrius said.

“
No, I’m out.” He turned
around and said, “And the next time you want to set up meetings
with people who
claim
they’re related to us, let me know in advance so I can
decline.” Desmond kept on to the exit.