Whispers of a Broken Halo

by Glines, Abbi

  “I’m sorry, Bryn,” I said loud enough that I knew she could hear me through the door.

  She didn’t open it. I stood there for several minutes, hoping she’d change her mind about me leaving.

  When it was clear she wasn’t coming back, I turned and headed for my Jeep. I had known losing my temper and hitting him was a bad idea, but I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t do it again. Controlling myself with his arrogant grin as he’d said things about Bryn felt impossible. She didn’t see it that way though.

  One thing we agreed on: Cullen was what was most important right now. That asshole was not going to take him.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Bryn

  Taking Cullen to camp was difficult. I wanted to keep him with me and hold him. I couldn’t sleep at night from the fears running through my head.

  Decker’s lawyer had contacted mine, and the DNA test was set to take place tomorrow. If Decker was Cullen’s father, I would still have a fighting chance at winning custody. Decker was not a man who wanted to be saddled with a kid. I knew this, and he knew it, yet he was still going through with everything.

  The what-ifs were haunting me though. That, and the fact that I had barely spoken to Rio in two days. Cullen had asked where he was the past two nights, and I’d just told him Rio was busy. At work, I didn’t have to stay in the office all day. I went in the mornings and went over the things I needed to handle, then came home to do the paperwork, ordering, and pay the bills. Rio had tried several times to talk to me, and I only spoke to him if it was work-related.

  I wasn’t still mad at him, I’d realized as I lay awake in my bed, looking at the ceiling most of the night.

  My anger over the fight had faded, and today, when he tried to talk to me, I would be ready. I missed him. While I’d cried in my pillow last night, I had wished he were there to hold me and reassure me. Left to my own thoughts, I was tormented with the different outcomes.

  Heading into the back door of the farmers market, I almost didn’t see Rio and wouldn’t have if the female he was with hadn’t laughed. I turned my head and saw his back. He was facing a woman I didn’t know. She wasn’t an employee. Rio must have said something funny. Her sheer cover-up did nothing to hide her bikini. There wasn’t much of it. I watched them for a moment, trying to decide if she was a customer, but then she put her hand on his arm and tilted her head as she leaned in to whisper something to him. There was a familiarity there. She wasn’t a stranger.

  I walked away then, toward the office, not wanting to see any more. Rio was obviously not suffering from our being apart. There was already another female vying for his attention. It wasn’t surprising. I was sure there would always be someone waiting for him to be single.

  Maybe he thought he was now. I set my bag down on the desk and stood there, staring at the table and piled-up files that I needed to handle. I would get through this day. I wouldn’t let Rio flirting with some sexy, tall, thin redhead bother me. If that was what he wanted, then fine.

  Even as I told myself that, I looked back at the open door and glared as if it were offensive. It had been two days. He couldn’t give me two freaking days?

  After everything we had been through, he was going to enjoy some other female laughing at his jokes and touching his arm and whispering in his ear?

  No. The hell he was. My life was in a current state of turmoil, and I wasn’t going to just let him mess us up. I was allowed to need space to deal with things.

  Stalking out of the office, I went to find Rio alone now, walking in my direction.

  I went up to him and shoved my finger into his chest. “You don’t get to do that. It’s not okay. I needed a little time, Rio. I’m facing what could become a nightmare. I was angry with you for putting fuel in Decker’s fire, but I just needed to get my head wrapped around all of this,” I said, glaring up at him now.

  “Two days, and you think it’s okay to flirt with a half-naked female and let her touch you and whisper in your ear? That’s not you. At least, I didn’t think it was. I don’t play games, and if you want us to work, you won’t either.” I was talking a little too loudly, but the more I talked, the angrier I got.

  I stopped stabbing him with my nail and spun around to leave him there. His hand wrapped around my arm, and I was pulled back against him. I turned to look up at him and ask him what he was doing, but his mouth was on mine before I could say anything.

  Rio grabbed my waist and held me against him as he licked at my bottom lip slightly before his tongue tangled with mine. My hands went to his face, and I felt tears sting my eyes as I kissed him back. For the first time in two days, the world didn’t look as dark, and my heart didn’t hurt as badly.

  “I missed you,” he said against my lips.

  I only managed to nod. I was afraid my voice would crack from the emotion clogging my throat. He kissed me again and then pressed kisses on my cheeks and nose. Then, he pulled me against his chest and held me there.

  We said nothing as we stood there. No one came by, but I wouldn’t care if they did. Part of my heart was beating right again. The other part was still clenched tightly as the unknown lay before me with Cullen’s DNA test. But this part was going to be okay.

  “Thank God for that,” Hazel said from behind me. “I was about ready to lock ya both in a room together and get this figured out.”

  I lifted my head from Rio’s chest and turned enough to see her. “I’m sorry,” I told her.

  “Yer sorry?” she asked and pointed at Rio. “He’s the one who was meaner than a hornet. If he snarled at one more employee, they were all gonna stop showing up.”

  Rio shrugged, and I gazed up at him. He gave me a crooked grin.

  “I might have been a little moody,” he admitted.

  Hazel let out a loud laugh. “Little moody? Heck, you were growling and barking at anything that moved.”

  “Maybe the employees needed to be tall redheads with bikinis on for him to be charming,” I said.

  His eyes narrowed, and his hands tightened on my waist. “Be careful, baby,” he warned. “You know what seeing you get jealous does to me.”

  “Oh, fer heaven’s sake,” Hazel said loudly. “I’m going back to the front.”

  “You let her touch your arm and whisper in your ear.” I pouted.

  Rio took my arm and spun me around, then walked me back through the stacks of potatoes toward the office. I went willingly. I wanted him alone.

  When he closed the door and locked it behind me, I backed up while he stalked toward me until my bottom hit the edge of the desk. “Vanessa came here, looking for me. She asked when I got off work. I told her I wasn’t available. She asked if we were exclusive. I told her”—he paused and cupped my face with his hand—“that I was in love. She laughed, and I told her I had work to get done. Then, she touched my arm, leaned in, and whispered that when I found out love was shit, I should give her a call.”

  His thumb brushed my bottom lip.

  “You told her you were in love?” I repeated.

  “Mmhmm,” he replied as he leaned down to kiss me. “But your little display out there, pointing at my chest, was hot. I’m glad she stopped by.”

  I laughed as he nibbled on my lip.

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  I had chosen not to tell Cullen the real reason why he had been taken to the doctor’s office yesterday morning. Instead, I chose to let him think it was a routine visit. He hadn’t questioned it, and I was thankful. I didn’t want him to worry. He was four, and I wanted him to get to be a child.

  His birthday party was in two days, and he was excited about it. I was torn between the pleasure of hearing him talk about his party and the fear of the test coming back with news I did not want to hear. I caught myself studying Cullen’s features closely, trying to find something that reminded me of Decker but I couldn’t.

  Cullen laughed loudly at Rio, who was asking him questions about the different Spider-Mans. He was as confused as I was about it. He had been cli
nging to Rio today. I knew it was because of him not being here the nights I had been mad at him.

  He was attached to Rio, and if things ever did go bad with us, then he was going to hurt. I wasn’t sure if I could have helped it though. Not falling in love with Rio had been hard when I thought a part of me had always loved him.

  Rio glanced back at me then and winked. The butterflies in my stomach woke up, and I felt my cheeks warm. I was as attached to him as Cullen. Rio was a charmer. I watched him attract people, not even meaning to do it. At work, I often caught myself getting jealous over the way women reacted to him.

  I finished cleaning up the mess we had all made while making breakfast this morning. Rio had talked me into staying home today with Cullen. We would get a call about the results at any moment, and he didn’t want me at work when it happened. Instead, we had made plans to have a big breakfast, which we had, and go to the park. Maybe even visit the candy store later.

  I glanced at the clock on the microwave, and it was almost ten. I twisted the towel in my hand as I stared at it, wondering how I would keep from breaking down if I was told Decker was in fact Cullen’s father.

  Rio’s hands slid around my waist and held me against his chest. “It’s going to be okay,” he told me.

  I tried to nod, but I couldn’t. It wouldn’t be okay if I had to fight for Cullen. Nothing about that would be okay. I didn’t say that though because I did not want Cullen to hear me.

  The phone rang, and I jerked as if it had slapped me instead. Rio reached for it and handed it to me. I took it from him. My entire body was shaking. I held his gaze as I answered the phone.

  “Hello?” I said over the lump in my throat.

  “May I speak with Bryn Wallace, please?” the lady on the other line said.

  “This is she,” I replied, my voice trembling.

  “Ms. Wallace, the results of the paternity test for Cullen have returned,” she began.

  I wanted to yell at her to tell me. I knew why she was calling.

  “And?” I prompted.

  “Decker McGiven is not the father.”

  I thanked her, I thought. The tears that filled my eyes as I ended the call made it hard to see. Setting the phone down on the counter, I felt as if the fifty-ton weight on my chest had been lifted. I could take a deep breath again.

  Rio took both my hands, and I knew he was waiting on me to tell him.

  I smiled through my tears of relief, and his entire body relaxed as he pulled me to him, hugging me.

  “He’s not the father. For once, my sister told me the truth,” I said against his chest.

  Rio ran his hand over my head and back, and he let out a long sigh.

  “What’s wrong with Aunt Bryn?” Cullen asked as his little hand pulled on the hem of my shirt.

  I let go of Rio and bent down to pull Cullen into my arms and hold him. “Nothing. I am just very happy,” I assured him.

  “Why are you crying if you’re happy?” he asked me.

  “They are called happy tears. Sometimes, when you’re really happy, you cry because there is so much relief and joy inside you.”

  Cullen stared at me with the frown that reminded me of his mother. “Okay, but that’s weird.”

  Rio ruffled his hair and laughed. “Buddy, you have no idea how weird girls can get.”

  Cullen looked up at him. “Yes, I do! Katie stuck a rock in her ear on the playground last week.”

  I kissed Cullen’s head, then stood up.

  “Let’s go to the park!” Cullen said.

  “Then, go get ready,” I told him.

  He hurried off, and I turned my attention back to Rio.

  “That’s over,” I said more to myself than him.

  He reached for my hand and threaded his fingers through mine. “During nap time, we can celebrate in the shower,” he said with a grin.

  “I like that idea,” I replied as he tugged me in for a kiss.

  Maybe life had decided it was time to give me a break. If Rio March was going to be the way my story ended, then it was going to be a happily ever after worth fighting for.

  Bryn

  five years ago

  I always wondered what the day would be like when I left this place. It seemed fitting that the sun was shining bright. It was a happy day. Sure, I had no idea where we were going, but Tory did. She’d said she had plans for us. Anything to get away from here.

  I stood in the trailer that had been our home since Mom had been arrested. The past year, it hadn’t been so bad here other than the heat and my having to drop out of school so I could work full-time to help pay the bills.

  Mabel Lynn’s death shouldn’t have made life easier, but it had. Tory and I managed to get by just fine. I worked more than her, but she struggled to keep a job. She had even applied at the feed and seed where I worked. My boss, Mr. McGiven, wouldn’t hire her. He had told me she was trouble and he was sorry. I hadn’t asked him to hire her, and I was thankful he hadn’t.

  “You got everything you want from in here?” Tory asked me as she walked back into the trailer and looked around.

  “Yeah,” I told her.

  “Then, let’s get going,” she said and spun around and left.

  We loaded down Mabel Lynn’s car outside. I started for the door when I heard Decker McGiven’s voice. I had met him while working for his dad. Decker was my first kiss and the first boy to tell me he loved me. Although I hadn’t believed him. He had simply wanted me to have sex with him, and I didn’t want that.

  I walked to the door and looked out through the screen. He was arguing with Tory. She was blowing him off as she got into the driver’s seat. His gaze swung up to meet mine, and I stepped outside onto the wooden stoop with cement bricks for steps.

  “I’m sorry, Bryn,” he said, walking around the car toward me.

  I doubted his apology was sincere. Tory had told me she’d had sex with Decker, and they had continued to have sex after I broke up with him. However, Tory wasn’t easy to deal with, and I assumed Decker had found out how cruel she could be.

  I simply waved and headed for the car. I didn’t have anything to say to him.

  “I’m hitting the rodeo circuit in a couple weeks. Call me and tell me where you are,” Decker told me.

  With my hand on the car door, I looked back at him. “I d-d-don’t th-th-think so, D-Decker.”

  “I am so sorry. Please just listen to me. You can’t just leave like this and leave things hanging like they are,” he pleaded.

  I shrugged. “N-n-nothing is h-hanging. It’s j-j-just done.”

  Decker reached for my other hand, and I pulled it away.

  “Bryn, I made a mistake. I messed up. I’m a guy, and you weren’t even letting me touch you. All I could do was kiss you. Then, she came along.” He pointed at Tory, who I knew was rolling her eyes at all this. “And she was easy. She basically threw herself at me. I was weak. But I love you, babe.”

  My eyes shifted from Decker to the trailer two doors down. Another family lived there now. Rio March had been gone for over a year. When I heard the word love , I always thought of him. I was sure that if I could love someone, then it was Rio. Maybe I had loved him. I didn’t know.

  “Good-bye, Decker,” I managed to say without a stutter.

  I opened the car door and got inside.

  “Are y’all done with the drama bullshit?” Tory asked as she looked in the rearview mirror, putting on red lipstick.

  “Y-y-yes,” I told her.

  “Thank God. That was painfully ridiculous. Let’s get out of this shithole, sis,” she said, putting the top back on the lipstick and tossing it into the ashtray.

  “D-d-does he know y-y-you’re pregnant?” I asked her.

  She shrugged. “Yeah, but it don’t matter.”

  I looked back at Decker, who was standing there, watching me still.

  “Call me!” he shouted as Tory pulled away.

  My eyes went back to the trailer where Rio had once lived, and I looked
at it until I could no longer see it. One day, I was going to find him again.

  I just hope he remembers me.

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