Chapter 12

12

Iona

I pulled into Tyrion’s driveway a little after nine.

It was Sunday, and we always spent Sundays together with Summer. I’d gotten us tickets to a movie she wanted to see, so I needed them both up and ready. Climbing out of my car, I walked up to the front door. From the outside, I could hear music playing. A frown formed on my face as I stuck my key into the lock and opened the door.

When I walked in, I could see Evenie moving about in the kitchen. Tyrion and Summer were nowhere in sight. They couldn’t have been sleeping with music that loud. Walking over to the stereo, I turned it down, causing Evenie to look up at me.

“Iona,” she said flatly. She looked over at the clock. “You’re here early.”

“Well, normally I would already be here, so technically, I’m not early at all.”

“Hmmm. Well, in any case, it would be nice if you didn’t just barge into my house.”

“I’m sorry, your house?”

“Yes. My house. Gifted to Tyrion and me by his grandfather as a wedding present. My name is on the deed, so yes, it’s still my house.”

I smirked. “For now.”

She mimicked the look on my face. “We’ll see about that.”

She went back to whatever she was cooking. As I walked further into the kitchen, I saw that she was looking way too comfortable in the sleep attire she wore. She had on a silk pajama set. The top was undone, and she wore a camisole beneath it that hugged her curves and showed off her perky breasts. The shorts weren’t too short, but they were too short for her to wear around my man.

“Where are Tyrion and Summer Rose?” I asked, crossing my arms.

“Both are in the shower. You can have a seat and wait for them. Oh, and turn my music back up.”

I fought the urge to scoff. Have a seat? Turn her music back up? Who did she think she was? Storming over to the stereo, I turned it up obnoxiously loud before going down the hall to Tyrion’s bedroom. Inside, I slammed the door as I heard the music decrease in volume. The bathroom door opened, and Tyrion stuck his head out.

“Iona? What’s wrong with you? What are you doing here?”

I frowned. “What do you mean, what am I doing here? We spend every Sunday together, Tyrion.”

“I mean, I know that. I just thought we’d skip this Sunday, given the circumstances.”

“You mean your wife being home?”

“Well, yeah. We were gonna take Summer Rose skating and to the bowling alley today.”

“Tyrion, I bought tickets to a movie she wanted to see.”

“I’m sorry, babe. Why didn’t you say something before? You always talk to me when you make plans. You never just spring things on me at the last minute.”

“I thought it would have been a nice surprise.”

He stepped into the room, wrapped in a towel. Coming to me, he kissed my forehead.

“It was a nice thought. Why don’t you come with us?”

“And be the fourth wheel? Yeah, no thanks. I’m already feeling like an afterthought, Tyrion. I didn’t hear from you all day, yesterday. What were you doing?”

“I made up the guest room so Evenie could have some privacy and not have to sleep with Summer. Then my in-laws called and invited me to a homecoming party for her—”

“So the whole day was about her, I see.”

“Baby, you can’t be seriously upset right now.”

“But I am, Tyrion. It’s been two days, and you’ve already put me on the back burner.”

“I haven’t put you on the back burner. I’m being supportive of my w—the mother of my child.”

“You can say wife. I can’t forget that you’re still legally married to her. When are you filing for the divorce?”

He sighed. “Can we pump the brakes for a second, Iona? Okay? There is a lot going on right now. She just got home. She’s getting re-acclimated to the world outside of that fucking basement. She’s getting to know our daughter. Can we just handle one thing at a time? Besides, now that she’s back, we’d have to go through the proper channels. It’s not as simple as filing the papers through the court and waiting a couple of months anymore.”

I wanted to scream. If he had just filed the paperwork a long time ago, this would have been a done deal.

“I feel like you’re playing in my face right now,” I said calmly.

“Well, I don’t know what else to tell you. I’m being honest.”

I nodded. “Okay, Tyrion.”

I walked out of the bedroom and almost bumped into Evenie as she rounded the corner.

“Leaving?” she asked.

I smirked. “No. Actually, I’m coming with you guys today. Since my kind gesture wasn’t thought out, I figured there was no need to miss out on the fun, even if it’s something I didn’t plan.”

She raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know what Tyrion told you, but this was a day for us to spend with our child alone.”

“Well, she’s going to be my stepchild, so she’s mine too.”

She chuckled. “Not yet. Listen, I appreciate you building a relationship with her. She clearly loves you, and I’ll take that as a sign that you were good to her. Thank you for that. But I’m her mother. I’ve missed out on ten years with her, and I would like to enjoy time with her on my own. So respectfully, regardless of the invite her father extended to you, you can’t come today. Sorry.”

She brushed past me and went into Summer Rose’s door. It took everything in me not to snatch her back by her hair. I glared as she spoke softly to her before closing the door. When she got to Tyrion’s room again, she tapped on the door.

“Breakfast is ready!” she called.

“I’m coming!”

She turned to me. “Do I need to walk you out, or can you see yourself?”

I ran my tongue across my teeth as I glared at her. “I’ve got my eye on you.”

“Be careful about that. You might not like what you end up seeing.”

She brushed past me again and disappeared around the corner. I smirked to myself as I made my way to the front door. If this bitch wanted to play games, I could play games too.

“Mama!” I yelled, bursting into my childhood home.

I’d come over here from Tyrion’s. I made the mistake in not leaving right away. As I was leaving, Evenie’s words echoed in my ear.

“I’ve got my eye on you.”

“Be careful about that. You might not like what you end up seeing.”

That had me seeing red because, what was she plotting? Was she trying to win Tyrion back? Make him break our engagement? What went on while I wasn’t there? Instead of leaving, I circled the block and parked a few houses down. Anxiously, I sat waiting until they came out of the house. It was another two hours before they finally emerged, looking all happy and shit.

I frowned at the sight of Tyrion opening Evenie’s door and grinning like they were all one big happy family. Who told him to be such a fucking gentleman? She climbed into the car, and he leaned in.

“Did he just kiss her?” I said aloud. “I know the fuck not!”

Even though I couldn’t see exactly what had taken place in the brief five seconds that he was in the car, my mind had created several different scenarios. None of them were pretty. Tyrion stood upright and closed the door. Rounding the car to the driver’s side, he climbed inside and cranked up. As he backed out of the driveway, my first mind told me to follow them and pop up on their little family outing anyway.

Alas, I pulled off from the curb and headed straight to my mother’s.

“Ma!” I yelled again, storming through the house.

She appeared at the top of the stairs with a frown on her face.

“Iona, I’m on an emergency call with a client. Stop all the damn yelling.”

I huffed as I crossed my arms. “How much longer are you going to be?”

“About twenty minutes. Go make you a drink or something and calm your nerves.”

She sashayed away. I stormed into the family room where the bar was and grabbed a bottle of vodka. It didn’t matter that I hadn’t eaten a thing this morning. I popped the top, tossed my head back, and let the liquid trickle down my throat.

“Now that is some alcoholic shit if I’ve ever seen it,” I heard behind me.

I turned to see my sister Meena leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. As usual, she was dressed to the nines in nothing but designer. Being a housewife of a wealthy man with no children afforded her the opportunity to do nothing but spend money. Meena was a pain in my ass. She loved to throw it in my face that she married well, and she lived better than I did.

Even when we were kids, she always thought she was better than me. She liked to refer to herself as the pretty sister. She was. I mean, I was far from ugly, but I’d never felt as beautiful as Meena. I was always in my sister’s shadow, and it was a dark place to be. Our father died when she was sixteen and I was fourteen. He left us both a nice inheritance that was ours on our eighteenth birthday.

She spent hers traveling the world, where she met her husband. I spent mine enhancing my appearance. My surgery was pricey, but very worth it. I didn’t go overboard. I simply upgraded what God had already given me. Everything looked natural and proportionate.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Mom and I were on our way out to brunch when she got a call from a client in crisis.” She tilted her head as she looked at me. “Looks like they aren’t the only one. Why are you drinking this early?”

“Why are you in my business?”

She laughed. “No need to be testy, little sister. What is it this time? Trouble with your boy toy? Mom told me his wife turned up.”

I could choke my mom for telling her my business, knowing that we didn’t fuck with each other like that.

“I told you not to date a man with a kid or a missing wife, Iona,” she said, shaking her head. “You never listen to me.”

“Meena, I barely even like you.”

She wiggled her finger at me. “That’s that green-eyed monster. You never could stand being second best.”

I gripped the bottle in my hand, fighting the urge to throw it at her smug face.

“Your best bet is to go wait in the car,” I said, taking another sip.

“Still the angry drunk, I see. Don’t worry. I know your anger is misdirected at the possibility of losing your man, sis.”

Her laughter echoed as she left the room. A few seconds later, I heard the front door open and close. I sighed heavily as I capped the bottle and placed it back on the bar. The sight of my engagement ring almost made me cry. I loved Tyrion so much. I’d worked overtime to get and keep that man.

I catered to him.

I loved his daughter.

I made his house a home again. I was everything to him when he needed me to be. He couldn’t just forsake me for a woman that went missing for ten years. Who knew if she’d really been kidnapped? What if she had just run off with another man and decided to come back when she was tired of him? There were so many different scenarios of what could have happened.

I was in my head for so long that I didn’t hear my mother come into the room. When she called my name, I jumped.

“Iona.”

“Ma, you scared me.”

“You know what your grandmother said about being scared easily. It means you ain’t living right.”

“Ma, I didn’t come over here to hear Granny’s sayings, okay?”

“Well, if you came to talk about Tyrion, I don’t want to hear it, Iona. I told you to give that man grace.”

“How am I supposed to give him grace, Ma? His wife is in the house. By the way, I don’t like her. She should have stayed missing.”

“Iona, don’t say that! If you love Summer Rose, you should be happy she has her mother back. Every little girl needs her mom.”

“And that’s fine. She can be a mother without having to be with Tyrion. I just know she’s gonna try to get him back.”

“If you go over there spiraling, you’re gonna make it that much easier for her.” She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Listen, baby. Every relationship goes through tests. This is yours. If Tyrion is meant to be yours, nothing will stand in the way of that. If he’s not, then you’ll find someone else. You knew what you signed up for, love. The man told you his wife was missing. He told you he didn’t know if she was dead or alive—”

“Mama, he proposed to me. All of that went out the window.”

“No, it didn’t. It didn’t magically erase any of his past. You took the risk when you decided you had to have a man with that type of baggage. There was always a possibility of her coming home. Even if he divorces her and marries you, you still have to deal with her because of Summer Rose. You think she’s gonna give up her husband and her child? Be for real, Iona. You have no reason in the world not to like her. I know you. You probably went over there being passive aggressive toward her, didn’t you?”

I crossed my arms and remained silent. Sometimes I hated that she knew me so well.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” she said. She walked over to me and pulled me into her arms. “I know you love him, but maybe you should step back if this is too much for you, baby. I don’t want to see you hurt, and I don’t want you doing something you’ll regret.”

She kissed my cheek and pulled me in for a hug. For a moment, I felt like that little girl who was never anybody’s first pick. I hugged her back as a tear slipped from my eye.

“Come to lunch with me and your sister,” she offered.

I shook my head as I pulled away. “No thanks. I’ll probably end up murdering your oldest child if she says one more thing out of the way to me.”

My mother rolled her eyes. “You both need to grow up and act like sisters. When I’m gone, you’ll be the closest thing each other has. Stop with this imaginary competition you have with each other and love each other.”

I did love my sister… enough to push her off a fucking bridge.

“I hear you, Mama.”

“If you’re not coming, at least stay here. You can climb in my bed and take a nap until I get back. We can watch a movie and sip wine while we talk about how men ain’t shit,” she added with a grin.

I tried not to smile. “Fine. Have fun with your evil spawn.”

She smacked my arm. “Stop it. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

She kissed my cheek again before leaving the family room and heading out the front door. I turned back to the bar and plucked a bottle of wine from the rack before heading up to my mother’s room.

I might as well get started on the pity party without her.