Their Marriage Reunited

by Sheena Morrish

  “Are we okay?” she asked cautiously as he moved around the room and packed away what little they’d brought with them.

  “Of course we are,” he said. Lilly’s heart sank. He hadn’t even glanced at her when he’d said that. She wasn’t sure what had happened since last night but somehow the dynamic had changed and she no longer knew where they stood.

  Connor finished packing the cases and carried them out of the bedroom without another word and Lilly could feel an awkwardness that hadn’t been there the night before. She silently got out of the bed and hurriedly got dressed as she willed herself not to cry. It wasn’t long before she was ready and she found Connor easily enough. He barely spoke to her though as they made their way silently back to the airport in the jeep. She could practically taste the tension and it made her want to cry. She’d had one perfect night and now it was like it had never even happened.

  The trip home seemed to take twice as long as it had to get to the island and Lilly spent most of it curled up in a chair trying not to look as miserable as she felt. Connor didn’t seem too bothered that they were leaving their honeymoon destination and had spent most of the flight absorbed in documents that were laid out before him.

  Lilly had thought that Connor would accompany her home and she’d at least get the chance to ask him what she’d done in the relative privacy of their home. She was shocked when he suggested she get a taxi back to his place instead as he had to swing by the office. What could she do but agree? She watched through the back window of the taxi as he disappeared from view and then she let the tears trickle down her cheeks. She didn’t understand what she’d done wrong. He was the one who had been pushing for reconciliation and he’d promised her that he didn’t feel any different towards her now he knew the truth. Why was he acting like this just hours later then? It made no sense and she was too emotionally exhausted to figure it out. She simply wanted to curl up in a ball and forget the world for a while.

  Lilly woke up hours later to the realisation that she’d obviously fallen asleep. She sat up slowly and blinked at the clock as she struggled to orient herself. The lights flashed faintly to let her know that it was after three in the morning. She frowned at the bare side of the bed next to her and struggled to her feet as she went in search of her husband. She searched everywhere but couldn’t find him. Where the hell was he?

  It was as she was sitting back on the bed that she noticed her phone had a message. She listened to the voicemail and any hope she’d had that she’d been imagining things faded as Connor’s cold voice filled the room.

  “I’m going to be late home. Something’s come up and I can’t get away. I’ll probably see you tomorrow,” he said.

  That was it, end of messages.

  Lilly sat back on the bed and fought the urge to cry. She knew that she was being ridiculous but she simply didn’t understand. Why was he being like this? She thought he’d wanted them to go back to how they were and now he was acting like they were strangers.

  She thought that maybe if she stayed up then she would run in to him and be able to sort things once and for all. Instead the hours drifted together and she paced and worried and cried until she fell in to an exhausted slumber. When she woke it was to discover that Connor had been home at some point because his side of the bed had been slept in but he hadn’t woken her and was already gone. She felt empty and vulnerable in a way that she hadn’t in years. It was the same sort of hurt that she’d felt when she’d been told that he was using her and having an affair.

  Lilly stumbled out of bed and tried not to focus on the ache that currently resided in her chest. For just a brief moment of time she had thought that her and Connor had finally fixed what was broken in their relationship and she’d had visions of them going back to the way things were. She’d thought that they would be stronger than ever and that they would start the family they’d always wanted and that everything would work itself out. Instead it was like Connor had changed overnight. He’d gone from being the supportive and understanding husband that he’d always been to an unreasonable guy who wouldn’t even listen to her apologies. She could hardly blame him given that he was only giving her a taste of her own medicine but it still hurt. For the first time she realised how much her actions must have hurt him because even though she knew what she’d done to cause this reaction it didn’t make it any easier to deal with.

  Once showered and dressed she felt more like her old self and she resolved to find Connor and get to the bottom of what was going on. She was sure that once she got him talking to her again that everything would work itself out and they could finally go back to how they should have been from the very start.

  That was the intention. Instead the days began to blend together and Lilly barely saw Connor. Every time that she did manage to pin him down for a few minutes he didn’t have time to listen to her and simply told her that he was busy. She couldn’t believe that after all the promises he’d made her he was acting like she was nobody and he never had time for her any more. The worst part was that he certainly made time for Alexa. Several times she’d seen them together or heard him talking on the phone to her. Once she’d caved and rang his office looking for him only to discover that he was out to lunch with Alexa. Lilly tried her hardest not to read too much in to it but it was hard not to when the picture of them kissing kept flitting back in to her mind. She knew that it was faked and that he hadn’t been cheating on her but that didn’t matter because all she could see in her head was the possibility that she’d pushed them in to each other’s arms. Whatever happened she needed to talk to Connor and get to the bottom of what the hell was going on.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Connor gave a sigh and ran his hands through his hair. He was beyond stressed and it didn’t look like it was going to get any better. His life had turned in to a crapfest. He’d thought for one perfect moment that his life was back on track and that he was finally having everything he’d wanted. Then his brother had managed to burst that bubble and now he didn’t feel like anything was going his way.

  That night on the island, after Lilly’s confession, he’d felt like everything was falling in to place. He’d slept peacefully with her snuggled in his arms and it had felt so right to have her back where she’d belonged. Then his phone had rung. He’d wanted to ignore it, would have if it weren’t for the customised ringtone telling him that it was his brother calling. He didn’t know much about what it was his brother did for a living but what he did know was that it was a dangerous job and that at any moment he could get the call saying that his brother was dead. He felt sick constantly with worry over not knowing where his brother was or whether he was alive or dead. It was one of the reasons that he never ignored a call from him, because he didn’t know when he’d receive one again.

  Sliding from the bed he’d swept up the phone and answered with a hushed tone telling his brother to wait one minute. He’d cast one more glance at Lilly as she gave a small grumble in her sleep and snuggled deeper under the covers. Hurrying from the room he’d waited until he was outside on the deck before he’d spoken again.

  “What’s up?” he’d asked and had been careful to keep his tone lowered so that he didn’t wake Lilly.

  “I need your help brother.”

  Connor knew that things were bad when his brother asked him for help. Cameron had been out on his own since they were kids and he rarely asked for help. The only other time he’d asked Connor for anything was when he’d come home with a wife and then disappeared again. He’d asked Connor to keep an eye on her and he’d agreed because he knew that his brother rarely asked for anything and it was the least that he could do for him. Now was not the best time to be receiving a request from help though, not when he’d finally got things back on track. But how could he deny him help when he knew that he must be desperate to ask?

  “What’s up Cam?” he asked and heard his brothers deep sigh from the other end of the phone. He could imagine his brother as if he was stood next to
him right now. He’d be staring out in to the distance as he debated whether to issue his mysterious request or not while thinking through all the possible fallouts from asking.

  “I’m in trouble,” he said and it was Connor’s turn to sigh. His brother was a man of few words and it was like drawing blood from a stone when you wanted to get information out of him. It was one of the things that had made him a good fit for the type of jobs that he did.

  “What kind of trouble?” Connor asked. He didn’t really expect his brother to answer. He never discussed his job apart from a few basic facts.

  “I fucked up, big time. I messed with the wrong guys and their reach goes further than I anticipated,” he said in a strained voice. Connor frowned at that. He couldn’t believe that he’d even got that much out of him. It had been years since he’d really known anything about his brother and especially never about what he was doing.

  “What happened?” he asked as curiosity got the best of him.

  “I was on an undercover mission. It seemed simple enough and I figured that for the money they were offering me it was worth it. Seems I wasn’t given all the facts though and this organisation reaches further than the small group I was involved in,” Cameron said sticking to the vagueness that he seemed to like.

  “Don’t see where I come in to this,” Connor said. He was all for helping his brother out but he didn’t have the training or any of the relevant facts to be able to do anything.

  “I took down the small group but the head of this organisation figured out that I was a spy. I’ve took a lot of shit because of the way this thing went down and I was handling it until now,” Cameron said.

  “What happened to change that?”

  Cameron hesitated and Connor wondered what the hell had his brother calling him out of the blue. It certainly wasn’t so that he could do his mission for him.

  “They figured out who I really am,” he said. Connor froze in place at that. It was the one thing that his brother had always been really cautious about. He barely spoke to any of the family or even to his own wife in case the call was tracked. He had cut himself off from them all so that he could stay off the grid and though that killed Connor sometimes he understood the necessity.

  “What kind of trouble am I looking at?” Connor asked. He knew that his brother had made enemies along the way and if that trouble came looking for someone to punish then the first place they would look was his family.

  “I’m not sure. They don’t know everything but they sure as hell know something,” Cameron said.

  “Not sure I understand what you’re asking me for bro,” Connor said. He needed to know what kind of threat he was facing before he went insane imagining the possibilities. It was bad enough always having to live with the possibility of his brothers death but the image of his sister and niece lying in a pool of their own blood made fear and anger rise in his gut.

  “They don’t know exactly who I am and they don’t know about the family but they managed to get some info. I think they know about Alexa,” Cameron finally said.

  “Are they coming after her?” Connor demanded. He couldn’t believe that his brother would be so stupid as to marry her, abandon her and then get her threatened by some dangerous guys that wouldn’t hesitate to do unimaginable things to her.

  “I don’t know what they know about her but I know that they’re aware she exists and where they can find her. One of the guys I trusted blabbed. We found him gutted and near death. Hell, if he wasn’t already dead then I’d probably kill him myself,” Cameron spat furiously and Connor sighed. How had he suddenly become involved in his brother’s drama?

  “What do you want me to do?” Connor repeated. It wasn’t like he could take on some dangerous criminals on his own.

  “I need you to protect Alexa and not tell anyone about this conversation,” Cameron said and Connor gritted his teeth together furiously. Was he insane?

  “I can’t just start playing bodyguard to her, I think she’ll realise that something’s up,” Connor said. Alexa wasn’t stupid and she’d figure out that he wasn’t just hanging around her for nothing.

  “Fine, you can tell Ally about this. But nobody else, do you hear me?” Cameron hissed.

  “Listen brother, I know that you’re not exactly clued up on this whole husband thing but there are certain secrets that are doomed to kill a marriage,” Connor said. He couldn’t keep something like this from Lilly and he didn’t want to.

  “You can’t tell that wife of yours,” Cameron ground out and Connor stiffened. How dared he ring him in the middle of the night and then refuse to even let him tell his wife about it? Did he not think that she wouldn’t find it odd that he was suddenly busy doing other things rather than spending time with her?

  “I can’t not tell her,” he said and heard his brother sigh again.

  “If you tell her then you risk her life too,” Cameron said. That had Connor’s heart stopping as he imagined anything happening to Lilly.

  “She isn’t even a part of this, how exactly would she be at risk?” he asked.

  “The reach of this organisation reaches further than we know. Anyone that is in the loop is at risk of becoming a victim. I rang you because I had no choice but I can’t risk anyone else falling in to their path,” he said. Connor couldn’t believe the selfishness of him. Why did he have to drag him in to this shit now?

  “You put me at risk and everyone that I know,” Connor growled out and Cameron chuckled at that.

  “Have you even looked in the mirror recently brother? Wouldn’t matter if I told them about you or not. If they come sniffing round Alexa then they’re going to figure you’re connected to me,” Cameron reminded him. Connor froze at the reminder. He’d loved being an identical twin when they were kids and it had been fun to fool people in to thinking he was Cameron but now he realised what a curse it could be. One look at him and anyone looking for Cameron would be coming for him and whoever he was with. He couldn’t let that happen. He refused to let Lilly become a victim of some asshole who would kill her just to get back at his brother.

  “Fine, you win. I won’t tell anyone but Alexa. Now what?” he demanded.

  “I’ll meet you tomorrow at eight in the usual spot,” Cameron said. Releasing a sigh Connor agreed and then ended the call.

  He stared out in the distance but saw nothing. He’d wanted nothing more than to get his marriage back on track and instead he was dragged in to his brother’s shit. Connor had given up on sleep because his mind had been too full of everything else. Instead he’d packed up his stuff and worried about everything. He worried that if he didn’t get the hell away from Lilly that she would become a victim, then he worried that if something happened to him then she wouldn’t know just how much he loved her. All he knew was that he couldn’t let anything happen to her.

  Drawn back to the present by a sudden noise behind him Connor turned and offered a faint smile to Alexa. She looked as stressed as he felt. She still looked effortlessly beautiful but there was an added strain to her features that hadn’t been there before and her easy smile was missing as she chewed nervously at her lower lip.

  “When will this be over?” she asked and his heart went out to her. She didn’t deserve all the crap her brother was putting her through any more than he did. She hadn’t asked to be dumped here while her husband went gallivanting around the world and she hadn’t asked to be the potential victim of some psycho.

  “I don’t know any more than you do,” Connor said. It was mostly true. He’d seen the documents on the guys connected to this organisation but it hadn’t given him any more insight in to how he was supposed to stop them.

  “You’ve seen him?” she asked quietly and he nodded slowly. He couldn’t believe what an asshole his brother was being. He was back and instead of coming home for even five minutes to see the woman he’d left behind, he was hiding and acting like a coward.

  “He didn’t stop long,” Connor said and she nodded even as she wrapped h
er arms around her stomach and began pacing. He could feel her pain. It was awful to be the one left behind, wondering what the hell was so bad about you that they didn’t want to be around you.

  “He’s never coming back, is he?” she asked in a resigned tone. Connor wasn’t sure how to answer that.

  “I don’t know what to say,” he admitted. He’d always hoped that his brother would see sense and come home but it hadn’t happened yet and as each day went by the hope faded a little bit more.

  “If he’d wanted me the way I wanted him then he wouldn’t have stayed away,” she said firmly. Connor felt for her then. He had all the experience he wanted to have with being the one left behind.

  “He’s busy,” Connor offered and even he knew how ridiculous that excuse sounded.

  “If he loved me then he would have found a way of staying in touch. I finally realised that I’m a burden around his neck and I can’t stand being that anymore,” Alexa said. Connor didn’t know what the hell that was supposed to mean and he daren’t even venture a guess.

  “What are you saying?” he asked as he took a few steps in her direction. Alexa was a good friend of his since Connor had left. She was the only one who really understood what he went through on a daily basis as he worried over his brother.

  “I’m saying that I think I’m finally ready to accept that we’re over,” Alexa said sadly. Connor saw the glimmer of tears and before he’d even thought about it he’d crossed the room and taken her in to his arms. He moved his hand gently up and down her back in a soothing gesture while she cried in to his shirt.

  “It’s going to be fine,” he murmured. He knew how difficult this realisation must be for her. He’d seen how much she’d loved Cameron even as kids and he knew that deciding there wasn’t a future for them had to be hitting her hard.