Happily Ever After: 6 Marriage Romances In 1 (BWWM Romance)

by BWWM Club

  "What's got into you, Toby? You've been acting strange all week and it's beginning to scare me."

  "Well, you're the one who keeps dodging the question right now."

  "Just like you avoiding me so far." Simone snapped back. She planted her hands on her hips and faced him defiantly, her patience wearing thin. "Okay, then, if I've been having an affair, who do you think I've been sleeping with?"

  "Emil."

  That Simone hadn't been expecting.

  "What? You think I've been sleeping with Emil?" She couldn't help but laugh. This resulted in a growl from Toby and she stopped. She reached towards him. "Don't be ridiculous. Emil knows I'm off-limits."

  Toby stepped away from her hand. His jaw tightened even more, anger burning in his eyes.

  "Other married women are supposed to be off-limits but he doesn't care." He snapped back. "You could easily be one of them. You spend enough time with him."

  "Because he's my best friend as much as he's your best friend." Simone shook her head. "I don't know what's got into you, Toby, but this has got to stop. You've trusted me in the past. Trust me now when I say I've never had an affair and I certainly haven't slept with Emil."

  "That's what they all say."

  That sounded strangely familiar. And Simone knew why. She narrowed her eyes at him.

  "Mike's called you, hasn't he?" The flickering behind Toby's eyes was her confirmation. "He's put stupid ideas into your head again. And you really believed him this time."

  Toby snarled and leaned forward. His hand went up to Simone's face. She flinched, waiting for him to hit her. A bout of fear hit her. Toby had never hit her. She braced herself but Toby's hand stopped inches away from her face. His hand clenched into a fist and he lowered it with a growl.

  "If you've been cheating, Simone, I want you out of here." He said in a low voice. "You'll get nothing from me."

  Simone's heart broke. She had lost him. He was finally believing all the bullshit Mike had been giving him over the years. She wished she had been more forceful in getting him to cut off contact years ago.

  She blinked back the tears that threatened to appear.

  "And if I had cheated I'd want nothing from you." She croaked, anger overtaking her broken heart. "I don't give a damn about the money. You should know that."

  She stepped into the house and pushed past him, shoving him in the chest to move him out the way. Toby grabbed her arm and swung her around.

  "Where are you going?"

  "I'm going to have a shower." Simone chopped sharply at the inside of his elbow. Toby flinched and let go. "And then I'm going to give Carl a lift to see a friend. After that I'm going to come back here and pack a bag."

  "So you can go to your lover?" Toby sneered.

  "I'll be staying at Maria's until you get your head together and realize people have been yanking your chain." Simone swiped angrily at a tear that dared to escape. "I haven't been married to you for this long to throw it all away and I want you to see some damn sense."

  She turned away and walked towards the bedroom.

  "I didn't say you could go!" Toby shouted.

  Simone shivered. She didn't like this side of Toby. She wished she could find Mike right now and beat him to death. He was the reason they were arguing now. He had a lot to answer for. She turned back and glared at her husband, wishing she didn't love him so much right now.

  "I'm not dealing with this when you're like this." She snapped. "You wallow in whatever you believe I've done and I'll get on with my life. Just let me know when you've come back to reality and you're ready to apologize."

  Then she stalked into their bedroom and slammed the door. It was only when she was in there, stripping down to get into the shower, that she broke down.

  *****

  Carl knew there was something wrong when Simone came to pick him up. She looked pale, her eyes red and watery. Tear tracks were still coating her cheeks. She had been crying.

  Carl wanted to know what was wrong but he had a feeling his mother would brush him off and assure him that nothing was wrong. He wanted to help. If his parents had been fighting, he wanted to be there for his mother. While he would never believe Toby would actually hit Simone, Carl wanted to be his mother's protector and look after her.

  He couldn't go and meet Louise when Simone was this upset. Carl leaned over and touched her shoulder.

  "Mom?"

  She didn't respond. Carl nudged her.

  "Mom."

  Simone jumped. She shook her head and rubbed her hand over her face. Then she glanced at Carl with a sheepish expression.

  "Sorry, honey, I was miles away. Did you say something?"

  "Are you okay? You've been off in your own world since you picked me up and you've been crying." Carl turned in his seat to face her. "What's wrong?"

  "Nothing's wrong."

  Carl snorted.

  "Bull."

  "Carl!"

  "Well, something is wrong. You and Dad have been acting strange all week." Carl grimaced. "Normally you're all over each other in a way that make us want to gag. But Dad is going out of his way to avoid you and you're getting upset over it. Plus Dad is sleeping in the guest room and he's never done that, not even when you're ill."

  "How do you know he's in the guest room?"

  At that Simone had looked embarrassed. Carl rolled his eyes.

  "We're not stupid, Mom. We know something's wrong. I've asked Dad about it and he quickly changes the subject." Carl could see Simone was about to cry again. "What's going on, Mom? Have you and Dad had a fight?"

  That was unusual in itself. His parents never fought. He had barely heard them raise their voices. Evidently the harmony was becoming strained but nobody would tell him why.

  Simone looked torn at what to say. Finally she gave up.

  "No, we haven't had a fight. Quite the opposite, really. Your father seems to be trying to avoid a fight. Well," she added, "He was until today."

  "What's he trying to avoid?"

  Simone glanced at him. Carl saw the torn expression in her eyes and took her hand, giving it a squeeze.

  "I'm seventeen, Mom. I'm not a little boy anymore. You can talk to me."

  Simone smiled weakly. She returned the squeeze, focusing her attention back on the road.

  "I set up a special surprise for him for our anniversary. I wanted to keep it quiet so he won't know anything until I want him to know. But he found a text message from the guy helping me with the surprise and now he thinks I'm having an affair."

  Chapter 8

  Carl was shocked. Simone had been trying to do something loving for her husband and he had found out and taken it the wrong way. It would explain the way they were around each other but Carl was surprised they hadn't approached the subject before. His dad never shied away from an awkward topic; he had been the one to give Carl an honest, unedited version of having safe sex. It had been embarrassing but Toby had said he preferred it to be embarrassing but informative rather than edited and resulting in confusion and Carl getting a girl pregnant before they were even ready.

  So to hear his father had been avoiding a subject and had come to a conclusion without everything in front of him was a surprise. That didn't sound like him at all.

  "Whoa. But why didn't he ask you before?"

  Simone sighed.

  "You know your father isn't a confrontational man. Although I'm surprised it took him this long." She paused. "But then he gave it a double whammy and accused me of having an affair with Emil."

  Carl snorted. That was the stupidest thing he had heard so far.

  "You've never slept with Uncle Emil. You'd hand him his balls on a platter."

  "I sure would. But Toby doesn't seem to realize this. Now he's threatening me with divorce if I have cheated."

  "What?" Carl sat up. "Dad's gone crazy. You love him."

  "Try telling him that."

  Simone looked like she was about to cry again. Carl squeezed her hand again. He wished he could do more
.

  "If it's simply a surprise you're keeping secret, why don't you tell him?"

  "I was planning to. But he kept walking away before I could tell him. I was going to tell him tonight but the way he was with me I'm going to wait until he calms down. He wouldn't believe me right now."

  Carl hoped she wouldn't stay away too long; Toby might not calm down at all. He didn't want his parents to split because of a stupid secret that was misconstrued.

  "I hope he doesn't turn into Mike." He said as he slouched in his seat. "Mike's a bastard."

  "Carl, language!"

  "Well, he is. I saw him at the pizza place today. He was staring openly at Charlie and she was really uncomfortable."

  Simone growled. Her hand tightened around his enough to hurt.

  "Mom, that's hurting."

  "Sorry, love." Simone released his hand and put hers back on the wheel. "If your miserable excuse for an uncle has had anything to do with Toby's frame of mind I'm going to forget I'm a woman with manners and I'm going to beat the crap out of him."

  "Get in line because I want to go at him first."

  With the last remark they sat in silence for the rest of the trip.

  *****

  Simone dropped Carl out in the parking lot at the park. She said she would drive around for a bit and he was to let her know when he wanted picking up. Carl wanted to tell her not to hang around but then he thought about his father at home. Simone didn't look in a fit state to go home so he didn't say anything.

  He was worried about her. Simone was always smiling, a warm, bubbly person. He had never seen her cry. Carl wanted to go home and knock some sense into his father. No one should treat the person they loved the way he had.

  If it was the last thing he did, Carl was going to make his father listen to his mother.

  Louise was sitting on one of the swings in the children's playground when Carl arrived. He vaulted the fence and walked over to her. She looked very pretty in a denim skirt and pink t-shirt, a sequined butterfly shimmering on the front. Her legs seemed to go on for miles, finishing off with her sneakers.

  Carl swallowed and fought back a wave of something he didn't quite recognize. If she knew she was tempting him more than she should that would be their date over as quickly as it had started.

  Louise looked up as Carl reached the swings and smiled.

  "Hi."

  "Hey." Carl sat in the swing beside her. "I haven't kept you waiting long, have I?"

  "No, I've only just got here."

  Then her cell phone buzzed. Louise fished it out of her pocket and glanced at the text message. A slight frown appeared between her eyes. Then it was gone and she shoved her phone back into her pocket.

  "Was that Jason?"

  "No, I've blocked his number." Louise tucked her hair behind her ear. "It was from my mother. She's very protective of me."

  "She's not upset that you're meeting me, is she?"

  "On the contrary, she's delighted. She thinks you're a nice boy."

  "Really?" Carl raised his eyebrows. "I didn't think she'd met me."

  Louise laughed.

  "Of course you have, silly. She works in the canteen."

  Then Carl was reminded of a petite blonde woman in her late forties with a sunny smile and booming voice. She was his favorite dinner lady. He smiled.

  "I'm glad she likes me."

  "She's just protective of me after everything I went through with Jason." Louise shrugged. "It's just made her a little wary of other boys I date."

  "Then I hope I live up to expectations."

  Louise smiled back.

  "I'm sure you will."

  *****

  Carl couldn't think of a more pleasant evening. After sitting on the swings talking for a while they had walked across the park to a diner nearby and had a burger each, Louise surprising Carl by choosing the burger with everything on it. She managed to eat everything and wolf down half of Carl's when he felt he had finished. Carl had never seen any woman put away that much food except for his cousins; they were like trash cans when it came to food.

  Then they had gone for a long walk around the park, Louise taking Carl's hand as they walked along the path by the river. Carl hadn't objected; it had been nice. This was making him feel like he had won a prize. And Louise was certainly a prize.

  They made their way back to the playground and sat on the picnic table watching the sun set. It was a beautiful setting. Very romantic. But Carl didn't get ahead of himself; Louise might not even go as far as a kiss on the first date. He needed to go at her pace.

  "What are you planning to do when you graduate?" He asked.

  "I haven't thought about it, really." Louise tucked her hair behind her ear. She had been doing that all evening. "I was thinking maybe I'd go straight into work but I don't like any jobs out there."

  "What would you study if you wanted?"

  "Probably psychology or nursing. That's my main passion, helping people." She glanced at him. "What were you planning to do?"

  "I'm having a year out to work. After that I'll go to university and study English."

  "You work?" Louise raised an eyebrow. "I would've thought with your parents' money you wouldn't need to work at all."

  "They may have lots and I do have a decent allowance but no more than other kids." Carl watched the sun dip even lower. "Dad got his money by working hard. He acts like a man of leisure now but he says it's because he earned the money. He wasn't born with a silver spoon and doesn't expect us to behave like we did."

  He was glad his father had raised him not to take money for granted. Others moaned that he had all that money and he didn't use it - a lot of his classmates tried to get him to fund an expensive trip but Carl always refused - but he didn't care. It was a lot better to use the money when he needed to instead of for the hell of it.

  "So they're not financing you on anything?"

  "They are. They pay for all the sports and music clubs we go to. But it works both ways."

  "How do you mean?"

  "Well, Dad says he'll buy me a car but I'm to pay for the lessons and to get my license, which is fair enough." Carl sat back on his hands. "He is happy with whatever I study but he doesn't want me to waste my tuition and scrounge on his money. So we agreed that if I get a job for my year out and save up enough, he'll pay for my tuition fees and then I can use whatever I earn to go out and the like."

  "Why would he do that?"

  Louise sounded surprised. Charlotte had sounded surprised when Carl had told her. But Carl saw his father's point of view.

  "He wants to make sure I will be good with my money. Mom taught me how to be good with it. If I save my money I'll have more to spend on myself when I go to university." Carl shrugged. "That's fair enough to me."

  "What about your mom? What does she think about all that money?"

  "She shrugs it off. I swear she's barely made a dent in what we have. There will be splurges, such as furniture for the house and whatnot but most of what she spends goes towards us."

  Louise laughed.

  "That doesn't sound like any woman with all that money to splash on. I would've thought she'd go to spas every day and spend thousands on clothes."

  Carl grinned.

  "Not my mom. She's the most down-to-earth person you could meet."

  He was proud of her. His mother was a credit to him. Carl couldn't think of a better woman than Simone. Except maybe Louise.

  The girl in question was looking at him in silence, her eyes looking into his. She caught her lower lip in her teeth before her tongue snaked out. Carl gazed at her. Damn, she was beautiful. If it was possible to fall in love so quickly it had happened to him.

  There came the sound of voices shouting. Louise broke eye contact and looked behind them. She stiffened and jumped off the picnic table.

  "Oh, God. It's Jason."

  Carl looked round. Jason and five of his friends were striding towards them. Jason was carrying his baseball bat, Carl's blood still sm
eared on it. Another one of the group was carrying a chain. They were glaring at Carl as they approached, Jason in the lead.

  A sense of foreboding settled in Carl's gut. This wasn't going to end well. He slid off the picnic table and stood in front of Louise, Louise clutching at his sweater, as Jason and his friends vaulted the fence and surrounded them. Carl faced Jason, trying not to look at the bat Jason was swinging.

  "I told you to leave my girl alone, Reynolds." Jason pointed the bat at his face.

  "Jason," Louise pleaded, "Just leave, please."

  "No, honey. He's going to tell on me. And he's trying to steal you. I'm not standing for that."

  Carl knew what was going to happen. There was no getting out of it. There were six of them and only him. This was not going to end well.

  "Hey! You bastards get away from my son!"

  Carl looked around and saw Simone running towards them. Her cell phone was in her hand and she was pointing at Jason.

  "Get away from him, Jason, or I'm calling the police!"

  Carl looked back at Jason at the same time Jason swung at his head. Then his head exploded and his vision went black.

  *****

  Toby stood by the bed and stared down at Carl, who lay unconscious with a breathing tube in, the ventilator whirring beside the bed.

  He was a mess. His stitches had come out and the wound was bleeding anew. His face was a mass of black and purple bruises, his nose was broken and his jaw looked distorted. Toby had also been told that Carl had had to have emergency surgery to mend his spleen, which had ruptured. His leg was broken and his pelvis was cracked.

  Toby's throat tightened. He couldn't believe that he was here looking at his son's broken body. When the hospital had called him to tell him Simone and Carl had been rushed to the hospital after being attacked he had feared the worst. But he was not prepared for what he was looking at.

  Simone was just as bad. She lay in another room, also unconscious but due to the morphine without pain. She had bruises down the side of her face and her arm was covered in plaster. Toby had taken one look at his wife and had to fight the urge to cry. They had fought and Toby was angry with her but he still loved her. That wasn't going to turn off anytime soon. He wanted to gather her into his arms and hold her but the doctor had advised not to touch her just yet as they were still tallying up her injuries.