The Storm In Their Hearts - Aching Hearts Series #3

Good Goodbye

One or two chapters more to go :)

CHAPTER 53 - GOOD GOODBYE

MAYA'S POV

I didn't expect a warm welcome. And I didn't receive it. I expected her to shoot me blood-freezing glares, and so she did. What I didn't expect was her face when Byron told her about us and his new plans. Man, I wish I'd taken a picture. I mean, I knew her face would fall, I'd pictured the scene in my head all the way to our hometown, but really, in person it was a completely different feeling.

She burned and froze at the same time. While her husband remained there speechless, yet the ghost of a smile crawled it way to his lips, either because his lovely Gabrielle had just agreed to get married properly, which means that he'll be able to escort her down the aisle, as I presume he's been dreaming of ever since she was born, or because, in the end, George Wayne has always kind of liked me. He said it was fun to see how much was I able to prickle his wife's coldness.

Patricia didn't take the news well, you can bet your head. Already seeing me there at her door, hand in hand with her holy son, who not only did nothing to cover the fact that we're back together, but also held me against him, basically challenging his mom to say a word. And when he told her ... oh, man. She was going to either combust spontaneously or turn into a thick ice statue and break itself into tiny little pieces. Anything not to see her worst nightmare become reality: me and Byron back together.

"Mom? You alright?" Byron asked tentatively, tilting his head to the side. He didn't leave me one moment. Not a single one. As if to make it crystal clear to his mom that he wasn't kidding. He's decided. We're getting married. Pretty soon too. She will barely have the time to recover from the horrible news today, because we've established our wedding will be in three weeks.

I would have argued that we could have never made it in time, but Byron said there was already a wedding planner ready to take his orders. She was working on his and Claire's wedding. I'm not a picky type, I've never really dreamed about my marriage, so, to be honest, when he implied we could just take advantage of the fact that almost everything had been decided for his and Claire's wedding, I agreed. 

I really don't care for the whole preparations part, I've been through a wedding already and it was crap. To me it doesn't matter whether we get married in a crappy hotel in Las Vegas or at the main cathedral in town with all honors. What matters is that I'm marrying Byron Wayne and, to be honest, I still can't believe it.

I mean, it's been all so fast. One moment I'm in prison facing a sentence that'll take away 25 years of my life, the other I'm out and free, and I'm back with the one man I've ever loved. It's so absurd that it looks like material for a not very realistic book other than for real life.

I'm not gonna complain, though. Neither am I gonna be stupid this time. This time I've got him, I'm not gonna screw it up all over again. I gotta decide what to do with my life now that I'm divorced from Josh and with no preoccupations about jail and whatsoever, but what really matters is that in three weeks I'll be Mrs. Byron Wayne. Screw whatever Patricia has to say about this.

"You ... y-you ..." Wow. She never stutters. Never. And now ... she really sees the Antichrist in me, huh? "What about Claire?!"

Byron sighed beside me. "Mom, I just told you ... Claire and I broke up. It's fine. She's fine. She took it ... incredibly well."

"But why?!" her voice echoed so high that I think even the birds outside were scared. "How could you?! After all our plans! Claire is perfect for you, Byron! Not this ... this ..." her eyes, finally, snapped back to me. I don't think any other person in this world, including my father, has ever looked at me with such a concentrated mix of hatred, disdain and disgust. I love you too, Patricia.