Chapter 18

18

Tyrion

I ’d officially set myself up for failure.

If the last two weeks had taught me nothing, it was that I was unhappy as hell. There was no denying it. I was walking around here miserable. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t shake Evenie from my system. I’d prayed and asked God to align my life and actions with my heart, but the truth was, I was the only person who could do that. I knew what I wanted, and I knew what I had to do to have it.

For the first time, I was looking at Iona in a different light.

It started the day she showed up at my house, and I’d been drinking. Actually, I was past drinking; I was drunk. It was rare when my home felt too big or too empty for me. I was used to Evenie being there, and when she couldn’t be there, I was used to Summer. Even during the times when Summer would be with her grandparents or Nina, it never felt so lonely.

There was a void, and that day I filled the void with liquor. Fighting with Iona hadn’t been in my plans, but neither was drunk, make-up sex. That was probably the worst experience, simply because Evenie was on my mind the entire time. Every time I looked in Iona’s face, I saw my wife. My subconscious had me in a chokehold and wouldn’t let me go. Every time I entered her the past two weeks, all I could think about was my wife.

All week long, Iona had been at the house, and for the first time, it was annoying me. She was super chipper for some reason, and it left a bad taste in my mouth. I felt like she was trying way too hard. On top of that, she kept bringing up the divorce papers. I could understand where she was coming from, but I wasn’t a heartless man. Evenie was someone I cared deeply for.

We were eating dinner one night when she brought it up.

“I have something for you,” she said, getting up from the table.

I paused in my eating and set my fork down. She went into the living room and dug through her work bag. When she came back, she had papers in her hand, which she gave to me.

“What’s this?” I asked, reaching for them.

“Open it.”

I frowned as I looked down. “Divorce papers?”

“I took the liberty of printing them out for you.”

I tossed them on the table. “I didn’t ask or need you to do that, Iona.”

“Well, clearly, you need a little push, Tyrion. The longer you wait, the further back we have to push our wedding date.”

“Iona… are you listening to me when I tell you this isn’t the right time?”

“When is the right time, then? How long are you going to spare her feelings instead of ripping the damn Band-Aid off?”

I pushed my chair back and stood from the table. “I’m not doing this with you. It’s disrespectful as fuck that you would even bring this to me right now.”

“Disrespectful? You know what’s disrespectful, Tyrion? I feel like a side chick to my own man. I’m starting to believe that you don’t want me to be your wife. Maybe that’s the real reason you won’t file the papers.”

“You’re making this about you, and it’s not!” I yelled.

“The fuck if it isn’t!”

“It’s not. The mother of my child just came out of a ten-year traumatic experience. She’s trying to get her life together and get back to herself, and you want me to throw this at her? I’m not doing it. This is my last time telling you to let this shit go, or you are gonna see a very ugly side of me, Iona.”

I’d left her at the dinner table and grabbed my keys. I needed a break from her before things got too heated and I said some shit I couldn’t take back. Evenie was already having a hard time with all this, and I refused to kick her while she was down. Even though she said she would sign the papers, I knew how much it would hurt her, and that wasn’t something I was willing to do. Sure, it wouldn’t hurt any less, but I wouldn’t add salt to a fresh wound.

I pulled up in front of the Longs’ house to pick up Evenie and Summer when I noticed that Nina’s car was parked on the curb. Evenie and Summer came out on the front porch. Baby girl waved at me excitedly, while her mother just stared at me with a blank expression. I got out of the car at the same time as Jaime, Nina’s husband. Through the rearview mirror, I could see Nina glaring at me.

“What’s up, man?” he asked, dapping me.

“Hey, Jay. What are y’all doing here?”

“Summer told Jersey about y’all taking her to the festival, and she begged us to go too. Ev asked us to pick her up.”

“Why would she do that if she knew I was coming to get them?”

Jaime placed a hand on my shoulder. “You’re in trouble… like big trouble, my nigga. I don’t know what you did, ’cause Nina won’t tell me shit, but the two of them were on the phone for hours the other night talking about you, dude.”

I frowned. This was news to me. I hadn’t done shit that I could recall recently. My gaze drifted to Evenie as she and Summer made their way down the driveway.

“I didn’t do anything, Jay,” I protested.

“Well, she says you did. Hey, how about I ride with you, and we can try to figure it out?”

I didn’t answer as Evenie and Summer got closer. Baby girl ran and jumped into my arms.

“Hi, Daddy!” she said, kissing my cheek.

“Hey, princess. Daddy missed you.”

“I missed you too. I can’t wait to go to the festival. Me and Jersey are gonna have so much fun!”

“I bet you are. Go on and get in the car so I can talk to mommy right quick.”

“Okay.”

She climbed in the back seat of Jaime and Nina’s SUV while he opened the door and told her he was riding with me. She glanced over at me, giving me the evil eye before climbing over the console into the driver’s seat. Jay headed to my car, leaving me alone just as Evenie reached me.

“Ev, what—”

“Tyrion, not right now. I don’t want to be in a sour mood all day because I talked to you too soon. Just get in your car so we can go.”

She didn’t give me a chance to say anything else before she opened the door and climbed in. I stood there, thoroughly confused as to what I had done to piss her off now. Defeated, I walked back to my car and got in.

Somebody had some explaining to do.

When we got to the festival grounds, Evenie seemed to be in slightly better spirits. I wasn’t sure if that was the case or if she was simply putting on a smile in front of the kids. Either way, it was nice not to get the death glare from her. I couldn’t say the same for Nina. I loved my friend, but she loved Evenie more. I had no doubt that she would turn against me for her if it came down to it.

I wasn’t trying to lose a friend or, possibly, my life if she got trigger-happy.

Once we got on the grounds and got our tickets, the girls were immediately trying to go play games. Jamie and I had the right idea in stopping by the ATM before we got here. When Summer Rose and Jersey saw the funhouse, they immediately wanted to go inside. It was a huge funhouse. Summer and I had been in it before, and there were all types of twists, turns, and surprises at every corner.

I saw the moment uncertainty entered Evenie’s eyes. She’d been looking in every direction since we got here. I didn’t miss the grip she had on Summer’s hand. When it became too much, Summer whispered to her that she was squeezing too tight. She apologized and handed her off to me. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to bring her to a place with so many people. I was sure thoughts of Summer being snatched were driving her crazy.

“I’ll go in with them,” I offered.

She nodded slowly. “Thank you,” she said faintly.

Gently, I took her hand. “They will be okay. I promise.”

“I’ll go with him,” Nina volunteered.

I reached for Summer’s hand while she grabbed Jersey’s and went to stand in line. It didn’t take long to get to the front. We let the girls go ahead of us, instructing them not to stray too far.

“I should box you in your shit,” Nina said in a low voice.

“Please tell me what I did that was so bad.”

She scoffed. “You know exactly what you did, Tyrion. You broke my girl’s heart.”

“Nina, I love you, but you really need to stay out of our business.”

“Since when? We’ve always told each other everything.”

“Y’all aren’t kids anymore. You’re grown women with children and husbands.”

“Only one of us has a man that’s acting like a fucking husband,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Daddy, Auntie Nina, hurry up!” Summer urged.

“Coming, baby!” Nina called.

We picked up the pace and caught up with them. They stopped when they reached a mini game, so we let them play. I turned to Nina.

“Now you know I was a good husband,” I whispered.

“Oh, you were a great husband until she came back. Now, I don’t know who you are, Tyrion.”

“Yeah, well that makes two of us. This is hard for me, too, Nina.”

“Considering the obvious, it seems pretty fucking easy to me.”

“What is the obvious!” I yelled, throwing my hands up.

“You sent her divorce papers, Tyrion!”

I frowned. “I did what ?”

“So you didn’t put divorce papers in her parents’ mailbox like a coward?”

“No, I didn’t. I would never do some shit like that to her. If I was going to divorce her, I would tell her to her face because she deserves that much respect.”

She stopped and stared at me. “You really didn’t do it?”

“On my life. I love her, Nina. The last thing I ever want to do is hurt her more.”

“Then who—” She paused. “That bitch. I’m gonna fuck Iona up. On everything I love, she’s catching these hands, Tyrion.”

She stormed ahead of me to catch up with the girls. I stood there for a moment, infuriated that Iona would pull some shit like this. She just wasn’t going to stop. At this point, she was being antagonizing, and the shit was turning me all the way off.

I took a deep breath and counted to ten to get my raging emotions under control. Once I was calm, I made my way through the funhouse to catch up with Nina and the girls. About five minutes later, we came out on the other side. Evenie was standing next to Jaime, with a look of relief on her face. Walking over to her, I gently took her arm and led her away.

“Tyrion, let go of me,” she said calmly.

I released her, but my gaze never left hers. “I know what you think I did, but that wasn’t me.”

She folded her arms. “So it was her?”

“It had to have been.”

“But you got the paperwork, and you signed it.”

“No, I didn’t. She took it upon herself to print that out—did you say signed it?”

“Yes. Your signature is there clear as day.”

I shook my head. “I wouldn’t do that to you, love. You know me, Evenie. You know how I feel about communication. Maybe I didn’t tell you about Iona first thing, but I have never lied to you. I’ve never done some underhanded shit like that, and I would never leave something as serious as divorce papers in your parents’ mailbox. If I wanted to divorce you, I’d bring that conversation to you like a man.”

She eyed me suspiciously, but my stance never shifted. Her hands dropped to her side.

“You really didn’t know?” she asked.

“If I knew, you would have never gotten those papers. I told her flat out that I wasn’t doing this shit to you when she presented them to me.”

She closed her eyes and swallowed hard. “You need to get her under control. I’ve played nice, but she isn’t above me putting my hands on her, Tyrion. This shit is crazy. That’s the woman you want? That’s who you want to play step-mama to your daughter? Wow.”

She tried to walk off, but I gently took her arm again.

“Let me go,” she said firmly.

“Look at me.” Her gaze slowly met mine. “I’m gonna handle this. I’m sorry she did this shit to you, Ev. It’s not okay, and I’m not gonna let it slide.”

“If you say so, Tyrion. I’ll believe it when I see it. Can we just get back to the day?”

I released her by raising my hands in surrender. She walked back over to the group with me following close behind. Jaime fell back to walk next to me.

“I take it you know what happened?” he asked.

“Iona’s ass sent her divorce papers, man.”

“What the fuck? Why would she do some shit like that?”

“She’s been pushing me to file, and I haven’t. I kept telling her it was too soon to drop something like that on Evenie.”

“Let me ask you something, Tyrion.”

“Go ahead.”

“Do you really wanna marry that girl now that Ev is back? Think about this, my nigga. As long as I’ve known you, it’s been you and Ev. It’s never looked right seeing you with anybody but her. I ain’t said shit because you looked happy after being miserable for so long.”

“I love Iona, I just…”

“You’re in love with Evenie. You’ve always been in love with her, and you’ll always be in love with her. There is no woman you will ever love as much as her. You know that, and I know. I get it. You want to be the good guy that honors his commitments. Your biggest commitment is walking ahead of you. That’s your wife. You don’t forsake her for anybody or any reason.

“I know Iona was good to you and lil bit, but the shit she’s pulling now is only going to get worse. She’s gonna be the type of petty to always remind Evenie that she won. If you think this shit was disrespectful, you ain’t seen nothing yet. My advice? Cut this shit off and win your wife back… if you’re lucky.”

He slapped my shoulder before catching back up to the girls. I palmed my forehead. He was right. If I let this go, Iona would get too comfortable with the disrespect. It was bad enough I let it get this far.

I had to make this right.

If I had to fight to the death of me… I’d make it right.

The rest of the day went by in a daze for me.

All I could think about was getting to Iona and praying that I didn’t wring her fucking neck for this shit. She’d never given me the type of vibes I was getting now. It was jealousy mixed with a little bit of crazy. It was the fact that she went behind my back, forged my signature, and did exactly what she wanted to do like I wouldn’t have found out.

When I dropped Evenie off, I asked for the papers. She’d gone in the house and brought them out. When I looked through them, my anger only surged. She’d really taken it too far. I’d left the Longs’ house and checked her location so I could pull up on her. Ironically, she was at my place, which I made a beeline for.

When I pulled up in my driveway, I frowned at the U-Haul backed up to my door and Iona’s car parked along the street. Two men were moving things inside, and I was more than a little confused as to why they were doing so.

“What the fuck?”

I grabbed the manilla envelope and jumped out of my car. “Excuse me!” I called.

The men stopped and looked at me. “Can I help you?” one of them asked.

“Uh, yeah. You can help me by putting this shit down. Don’t move another piece of furniture into my house.”

“Your wife—”

“That woman is not my wife. Wait here.”

I left them standing there confused as I walked into my home, anger seeping through my core. That anger was only fueled by what I saw as I looked around. She’d added pictures of us to the walls. There was a pile of my things on the kitchen counter that I could only imagine she was getting rid of to make space for her things.

“Iona!” I yelled, slamming the door.

I heard the sound of her footsteps on the hardwood floors before she appeared in a pair of paint covered sweats and a tank top.

“Hey, babe—”

“What the hell is this?” I asked, motioning to the living room.

“Oh, this! Well, I’ve been thinking. Instead of waiting until after the wedding, I decided to go ahead and move in now. I’m just doing a little redecorating—”

“Just stop! You have been doing the most, but this latest shit just takes the cake.”

She crossed her arms. “I don’t think what I did was unreasonable, given the circumstances.”

“You sent her fucking divorce papers!” I yelled, waving the manila envelope in her face. “Are you out of your mind!”

She stared at me with a blank expression. “You wouldn’t do it, so I did.”

I threw the envelope at the wall. “What the hell is wrong with you, Iona?”

“There is nothing wrong with—”

“Oh, there is definitely something wrong. Why the fuck would you send her the papers like I wasn’t gonna find out? I told you to leave this alone.”

She shoved me. “If I’d left you to do it, it wouldn’t have gotten done. You keep playing in my face about this bitch—”

“Watch your fucking mouth when you speak on her,” I warned.

“That bitch has your head gone, Tyrion. You’ve been walking around here acting like you lost your best friend for damn near three weeks now.”

“I did lose my best friend, Iona, damn. She left, and she took my child with her. You think this is easy for me?”

She crossed her arms. “You keep saying that shit. Did you want her to stay, Tyrion? Did you want Evenie to live here like nothing has changed? Like you don’t have me.”

“This has nothing to do with you—”

“It has a lot to do with me! You already confessed to kissing her. How do you think I feel watching you sit here sulking over your wife… the woman you should have filed divorce papers on before you ever asked me to marry you.”

I chuckled. “You know what. You don’t have to worry about me getting a divorce because you don’t have to worry about me marrying you.”

Her eyes widened. “What?”

“You heard what I said. You’re vindictive, disrespectful, and with the shit you pulled, you might be fucking crazy. I’m done.”

I walked over to the front door and opened it. The movers looked back at me.

“Aye, all this shit you moved in here, pack it the fuck up and get it off my property. Now.”

I turned to Iona, who stood frozen. Picking up her keys from the key holder, I flipped through them until I found my house key. After slipping it off, I tossed them at her feet.

“As for you, you can leave with them. Y’all have fifteen minutes to make something shake.”

Iona stared at me, not uttering a word. I could see her breathing pattern shift. Her gaze darkened as she slowly stepped back in the direction she came from.

“I’ll give you time to reconsider this,” she said lowly. “I love you, and you love me. I’m not gonna let you ruin our happiness just because you’re mad at me.”

“Iona, if you want me to be honest, I don’t think we would have been truly happy together. You were never gonna get over Evenie being a part of my life, and the fact of the matter is, I was never going to get over her not being a part of mine.”

“Did you really just say that to me?”

I shrugged. “It’s the truth. Finally, the truth.”

“So this whole time, I was just a placeholder until you could have the woman you really wanted?”

“No. I love you, and I mean that. I just can’t do this anymore—”

She laughed. Not a giggle or a chuckle. It was a full-blown manic laugh.

“You think I want a fucking apology!” she screamed. “You played in my face for four years, knowing you could never love me like you love her! I took care of you. I took care of your daughter, and this is how you repay me? You take away the family I worked so hard to get? Fuck you, Tyrion.”

She scooped up her keys, then stormed down the hallway and into my bedroom, returning moments later with her purse. Brushing past me, she sprinted down the front steps.

Turning to the movers, she spoke. “Pack up my shit and bring it back.”

Without another word, she power walked to her car and got in. She’d barely cranked it up before I heard the tires screeching as she pulled off. I palmed my forehead. This wasn’t at all how I expected life to be right now. Contrary to belief, I hadn’t used Iona as a placeholder. While I may have hoped for my wife to come home, I had given up all hope of it.

I’d done the organized search and rescue parties.

I’d held candlelight vigils in her honor.

I’d prayed on my hands and knees for years for her to be returned to me.

When I finally gave up and took the steps to moving on, she came back. No matter how much it hurt Iona, I loved Evenie. I’d never stopped loving her. I would never not protect her from anyone that meant her harm, be it mental, physical, or otherwise. It didn’t matter if it was family, friends, enemies, or the full army of God.

One time of not protecting her was enough to know that I’d never do that again.