Eternal Love: (The Cursed Series, Book 4)

by Kara Leigh Miller

  “You look tired.” She patted my cheek. “Did you have a nice visit with your dad?”

  “Yeah, I did.” I left my suitcase near the front door and followed Aunt Beth into the living room where I flopped down in Uncle Dean’s favorite recliner. “We talked quite a bit, and I think things are good between us now.” I no longer had any seething anger toward him, no resentment or distrust.

  “I’m glad to hear that.” Sincerity rang heavily in her tone. “So, he bought you a car, huh?”

  “Yeah, I wasn’t expecting that. It’s an SUV. He said he thought I’d need something that would be good in the snow, and he was right.” I yawned and leaned back in the chair. “I really like it, and I’m sure Abby will be happy she doesn’t have to drive me around all the time.”

  Aunt Beth shook her head, the sheen of tears in her eyes. “You two are growing up way too fast.” She sighed. “Are you hungry?”

  “No.” I rubbed my hands over my face, exhaustion dragging me down with each passing moment.

  “What is that?” Aunt Beth approached and grabbed my left hand.

  My heart stopped. “Oh, um…”

  “Chloe?” Her tone was sharp. “Why are you wearing an engagement ring?”

  I wished I had told her Trent went to Malibu with me. Telling her now would be worse than not telling her at all because she’d want to know why I lied, and I didn’t really have a reason. I simply didn’t tell her because I didn’t think it mattered.

  I took a deep breath and slipped my hand from her grasp. “Trent flew to Malibu for New Year’s. He surprised me. And he proposed.”

  Aunt Beth was silent, her expression a mix between anger and disbelief. She crossed her arms.

  “He asked my father for permission, and Dad gave us his blessing,” I said, hoping that would lessen the sting of finding out I was engaged.

  Part of me wished Trent had gotten Aunt Beth and Uncle Dean’s blessing, too, but why should he have to? They weren’t my parents. I hated myself for even thinking that, even if it was true.

  “Frank gave his blessing?” Her words were clipped.

  “Yes.” I stood.

  “I cannot believe your father.” Aunt Beth shook her head and huffed. “You’re eighteen, Chloe. You’re too young to be getting married. You’re not even out of high school yet!” Her tone rose with each word. “And what about college?”

  Suddenly, getting married in March didn’t seem like such a good idea—mostly because I didn’t want to upset Aunt Beth any more than she already was. Trent was right; we should wait until we graduated. I was going to have to tell him we needed to change the date.

  “I can still go to college, Aunt Beth,” I said as calmly as possible.

  Though, I wasn’t even certain I wanted to go to college, and being engaged to Trent didn’t have any effect on my indecision about this matter.

  “And it’s not like we’re getting married right away,” I said.

  “You haven’t even known him that long,” she said, eyes narrowed.

  Wow, she was really mad about this whole thing. I was positive my mother wouldn’t have reacted this badly about it, but if Mom was still alive, Trent would’ve sought her permission, too, so it wouldn’t have mattered.

  “No, but I’ve known him long enough to know I love him, and I want to marry him,” I said firmly.

  There was nothing she could say that would change my mind. I was going to marry Trent whether she liked it or not. I hoped she would eventually understand and support my decision, because I wanted her to be a part of this—she was the closest thing I had to a mom, next to Larissa.

  “Are you pregnant? And don’t you dare lie to me, young lady,” she said sternly.

  My eyes widened, and my jaw dropped. “No,” I said emphatically. “I swear. I am not pregnant.”

  “Then why, Chloe?” Her posture softened and so did her tone.

  “Because I love him.” I moved around the living room, my limbs suddenly restless. “My parents were married young.”

  “And look how that turned out for them,” she said. “Your father walked out on your mother, leaving her to raise you alone. Is that what you want for your life?”

  I scowled. She had no idea what she was talking about. “Trent would never do that to me,” I said, my words tight. I curled my hands into fists, my fingernails biting into my palms. “I’m sorry Trent didn’t talk to you and Uncle Dean about this before he proposed, but nothing you can say will change my mind.”

  Aunt Beth’s shoulder slumped. “At least take some time to think about this. I’m sure you were caught up in the excitement of the moment and—”

  “No. I mean, of course I was caught up in the moment, but so what? I know what I’m doing.” I approached her, my heart in my throat. “I really want you to be happy for me.”

  “I’m not sure I can. I’m sorry.” She turned on her heel and walked out of the room.

  I stared after her, stunned. Why was she so dead set against this? Was she angry that I was getting married so young, or was she angry I was marrying Trent? As far as I knew, she liked him.

  “Chloe!” Abby barged into the house, Isach right behind her. “You’re home!” She bounced up and down, then flung her arms around me.

  At least someone was happy to see me.

  “Yeah, finally.” I laughed and hugged her back, then released her, forcing my tears to stay away.

  “Is that your car out there?” she asked, eyes bright with excitement.

  “Yup. Cool, huh?” Just being in Abby’s presence helped brighten my mood. “Hey, Isach,” I said, nodding in his direction.

  He still hadn’t answered my message. I was beginning to wonder if he had gotten it or if he was choosing to ignore me.

  “Chloe.” He smiled, but his expression was guarded, almost sad. What was that all about? “Glad you made it home safely.”

  “Thanks. So.” I rocked on my heels, then stuck out my left hand. “He finally did it.”

  “Ohmigod,” Abby shrieked, clutching my hand and inspecting my ring. “You’re getting married!”

  She once again jumped with excitement, and I couldn’t stop from laughing, and soon, I was jumping around with her. I knew Abby would be happy for me.

  “Have you set a date yet?” she asked.

  “No. He just asked me two days ago. We haven’t really talked about any of the details, but it will probably be after graduation.” I twisted the ring on my finger, taking comfort in the weight of it. “You’re going to be my maid of honor, though, right?”

  “Duh.” She laughed.

  “Congratulations,” Isach said, and this time, his smile was genuine and light.

  “Thanks.” I sighed. “Aunt Beth is not happy. She thinks I’m too young and that I haven’t known Trent long enough.” I frowned. “She stormed out of here just before you came in.”

  Abby gave me a sympathetic smile. “Give her some time. I’m sure it was a shock.”

  “Yeah,” I said. But I had a bad feeling no amount of time was going to change Aunt Beth’s feelings about this, and I couldn’t even begin to think about how Uncle Dean would react.

  “Okay, I’m gonna take care of my stuff and let Mom know I’m home. When I get back, I want all the details.” She pointed at me.

  I grinned. When she left, I turned to Isach. “Did you get my message?”

  He nodded. “You’re absolutely sure about this?” He pinned me with a hard stare.

  “No,” I said honestly. “I mean, it’s Ivy. But I’m as curious as you are about this.”

  Isach had confirmed that Ivy could do the spell to make it possible for Trent and me to have a child, so I wasn’t too worried about her lying. I was more worried about why she offered in the first place, and why she was so eager to get Isach involved.

  “So, when do you want to meet with her?” I asked.

  He paced the living room, each step more agitated than the last. Clearly, he wasn’t as sold on this idea as I was—and I wasn’t tot
ally convinced yet, either.

  “Look, if you don’t want to do this, we won’t do this,” I said. I gripped the back of the couch and blew out a breath.

  In fact, the more I thought about this whole thing, the crazier it seemed. But the what-ifs racing through my head wouldn’t leave me alone. I needed to know what Ivy was up to now, why she suddenly wanted a Zoya in her midst.

  “Does Trent know what you’re trying to do?” Isach asked.

  “Not yet.”

  And I wasn’t going to tell him until after I talked to Ivy and had all the facts, including the risks. I already knew how Trent felt about the cost of using magic, so I needed to make sure the price wasn’t too steep.

  “Are you planning to tell him?” He raised a brow, judgment clouding his expression.

  “Yes,” I said harshly.

  Abby returned, effectively cutting off our conversation. “I think you should go talk to Mom. She’s upstairs crying.” Abby frowned.

  Guilt swirled in my gut, and my body slumped. “Okay.” I headed upstairs and knocked on Aunt Beth’s door. “Can I come in?”

  “Yeah.” She sniffled.

  I entered to find her sitting on the edge of her bed, a wadded-up tissue clutched in her hand, face streaked with tears. The sight of her like that broke my heart. Hesitantly, I sat next to her. “I’m sorry,” I said.

  She nodded and wiped at her nose. “I promised your mother I’d take care of you, and I feel like I’ve failed.”

  “You didn’t fail, Aunt Beth.”

  What was with the adults in my life thinking they’d failed me or had somehow done something to ruin my life?

  “Mom only ever wanted me to be happy, and Trent makes me happy,” I said. “I know she would have loved him, and she would be happy for me right now. Even Dad thinks so.”

  “I know.” She sighed, then sniffled again before shifting to face me. “I love you like you’re my own, Chloe, and I just want you to be happy and successful and to do all the things you want to do. Marriage ties you down, and I hate the thought of you missing out because of some guy.”

  “He’s not just some guy,” I said as gently as possible while still trying to make my point. “We want the same things. To travel. To go to college. To someday have kids.” I smiled wistfully, knowing full well that wasn’t a certainty. “Who cares if we get married now and then do all those things, or if we do all those things then get married? Either way, we are going to get married. And we will do all those things. Together.”

  “You’re really sure about this, aren’t you?”

  I nodded. “Yes. I want this, and I want you and Uncle Dean to be a part of all of it. You’re like parents to me, and…” My voice caught on a sob. “I need you two to be there.” Tears spilled down my cheeks. “Please.”

  After a moment, Aunt Beth nodded. “It’s going to take me a little time to adjust to all of this, but I will.” She smiled through her tears and patted my leg.

  “Thank you.” I hugged her, and when she hugged me back it was like the weight of ten boulders had been lifted from my heart. “I love you,” I whispered.

  “I love you, too.” She pulled back and wiped the tears from her face. “You girls are going to make me old and gray before I’m fifty.” She chuckled.

  Now, all I had to do was tell Uncle Dean. Maybe I’d make Trent come over so we could tell him together. He was so good with adults, always able to say the right things and charm them.

  I had a feeling convincing Uncle Dean that getting married at eighteen was a good idea would be a lot harder than it had been to convince Aunt Beth, and she still wasn’t a hundred percent sold on the idea yet. Maybe I should have Abby be around, too.

  I was going to need all the help I could get.

  CHAPTER FORTY:

  Rumors and Lies

  BY THE TIME I MADE IT to school Monday morning, everyone already knew Trent and I were engaged. The only other person I’d told besides Abby and Isach was Whitney, and she didn’t gossip like Abby did, so I had to assume it was my cousin who’d blabbed. I wasn’t mad at her, though, because people were going to find out eventually.

  “I missed you so much this weekend,” Trent said as he came up behind me at my locker.

  Despite repeatedly asking, Aunt Beth had refused to let me go to Whitney’s this weekend because “you’ve already been gone a week” and “it won’t kill you to stay home.” But she’d been wrong. Staying home, being away from Trent… it had almost killed me.

  I whirled around to face him and planted my lips over his. Being away from him was always hard, but it was even harder after spending an entire week together. He flexed his hands on my waist and pulled me closer, deepening the kiss.

  A group of girls walked by, whispering and giggling, and when I pulled away to look at them, they jerked their heads in the opposition direction and picked up their pace. I glared at their retreating backs, a lead weight landing in my gut.

  “Don’t worry about them,” Trent said, taking my hands and giving them a kiss. “They’re not the least bit shocked we’re engaged with how we’re always making out in the hallway.” He laughed.

  I rolled my eyes. If only I could be as calm about this as he was, but I never liked being the center of attention, and now it seemed as though the diamond on my finger was like a spotlight, demanding people take notice.

  The bell rang, and we parted ways—reluctantly—and I headed to Life Skills. Apparently, this was a year-long class as opposed to just one semester.

  “I hear congratulations are in order,” Jax said as I slid into my seat. There wasn’t an ounce of joy in his tone, and I had a hard time buying he was actually happy for me or his brother.

  “Yes,” I said, twisting to face him.

  I’d purposely not let myself think about Jax, and it had been working, but being face to face with him made that impossible.

  “Are you okay with this?” I asked.

  “Does it matter?”

  Not really, because nothing would change my mind, but through everything, I never wanted to hurt Jax. Still, his cold tone hurt. What happened to wanting to be friends?

  “I assume this means a change is coming soon.” He raised a brow, his meaning clear.

  Even though Ivy had transferred the bond, there were still lingering feelings for Jax, and the only way to get rid of those completely was to change, to have Trent’s blood flowing through my veins.

  “There is.” My voice cracked, and I cleared my throat.

  Suddenly, it hit me that if I made a deal with Ivy, and I managed to conceive a child with Trent, I’d have to stay human even longer, which meant the feelings I still shared with Jax would linger. Could I really do that?

  Not that I was acting on those feelings anymore, and I wasn’t obsessing over Jax like I used to. But I knew this was hard for him, and I didn’t want to torture him.

  The more and more I thought about it, the more and more I realized making any type of deal was a colossally bad idea, for so many reasons; it would affect too many people I cared about.

  Depressed, I shifted back around and faced the front of the room. My concentration was shot, and I spent most of the class in a zombie-like trance.

  In fact, I spent most of the morning that way, except for when I’d walk into a room and people would glance at me and whisper. Then I’d get annoyed, and I’d spend the entire class wondering what everyone was whispering about. It couldn’t be about my engagement, could it?

  By the time lunch rolled around, I’d gotten an answer to my question—people were trying to guess why Trent and I were getting married so young. Me being pregnant was the top guess, followed by I’d given Trent an ultimatum to marry me or I was going to dump him.

  Some of the other rumors and lies included I was dying, and Trent felt sorry for me so he was going to pity-marry me before I died; that my aunt and uncle had kicked me out and my only option was to marry Trent so I’d have a place to live. Honestly, some of the rumors were just ridiculous.<
br />
  I walked into the cafeteria, and the noise made my head throb harder. Shuffling toward my friends, I made it a point to stare straight ahead, refusing to listen to anymore of the rumors floating around about me.

  “Hey.” Trent pulled me down onto his lap. “You okay?”

  “My head is killing me, and I’m two seconds away from standing on top of this table and screaming at everyone that I’m not pregnant.”

  Trent frowned, and he draped an arm around my waist, his hand squeezing my hip. “Ignore them.”

  That was easier said than done, especially when all I could think about was possibly becoming pregnant. But that was no one’s business, and I hated how that was all anyone could talk about.

  “Please tell me I get to help with all the wedding plans,” Ellie said as she sat beside us. Her tone was pure excitement, devoid of all judgment.

  At this table, surrounded by my friends, I was safe from the rumors. I knew none of them believed anything that was being said, and I basked in the shield of protection they offered. I smiled at Ellie.

  “Well, I was hoping you’d be a bridesmaid,” I said.

  Her loud, high-pitched squeal made me cringe. She stood and flung her arms around me. “Oh, my God, yes, of course I’ll be a bridesmaid, and I’ll do whatever you want me to.”

  I laughed.

  Ellie returned to her seat. “We should get together this weekend, start making plans. Have you set a date yet?” Her eyes were wild with barely contained joy.

  If she was this happy about me getting married, I couldn’t imagine how she’d act when she got married. I glanced at Trent. “No, nothing set in stone yet,” I said.

  He tilted his head, his expression inquisitive. I wasn’t going to get into that with him here in front of our friends.

  Lunch passed faster than any other period so far, and before I knew it, I was headed back to my locker to gather my books for my afternoon classes.

  “I thought you had your heart set on March fifteenth,” Trent said, leaning against his locker.

  “I do, but I think you’re right. We should wait until after graduation.” I shoved my books into my backpack and avoided his gaze. I’d told him how Aunt Beth had reacted, but I’d failed to mention I had assured her we’d wait until after high school.