Leah's Requested Appearance

Brennan

The next morning, Joey knocked on mine and Leah’s door, which didn’t surprise me the slightest bit, considering I heard him and Maddie arguing outside of the door the night before as I made love to Leah. He wanted to talk to me, but Madison told him to wait, telling him that I needed time with Leah. I was definitely going to buy Madison something nice for getting Joey to leave us alone. Not that it lasted long. 7:30 AM, and I was glaring at my brother while my woman snored behind me.

“We need to talk. Get dressed and come to my office.”

I rolled my eyes as I shut the door to pull some sweats on over my boxers. I was the older brother, but Joey and Caleb were a lot more bossy. And speaking of Caleb, I narrowed my eyes on him as I walked into Joey’s home office. Just great. I was about to be double-teamed.

“Sit,” Joey ordered as he stood behind his desk, obviously trying to intimidate me with his suit and dominance.

I rolled my eyes but did as he asked. “Can we get this lecture over with so I can go back to Leah? It’s early, and we didn’t sleep much last night.”

“That’s your own fault.” Joey took a deep breath before rolling his shoulders back. “We need to know if you’re serious about Leah. Don’t come back into her life if you’re not sure. Don’t give her hope if you’re just going to walk away later.”

I stared at him like he had grown a dozen more heads. “Are you fucking crazy?” I hissed. “I am not going anywhere. We’re going to do some wedding planning stuff today. I love her. And isn’t she my woman? Isn’t it my job to be worried about her happiness?”

“Yeah, that may be so, but you haven’t exactly done a kick- ass job in that regard so far, Brennan,” Caleb said, making me groan.

“I know I haven’t. Can I please have a chance to prove myself before y’all just assume that I’m going to run away like a coward again?”

“Not when it comes to a child or her. We love her too, brother. She is family. Even if she’s not with you,” Joey replied.

My jaw clenched repeatedly as I crossed my arms over my chest. I could not believe these two! Didn’t it count that I came back with her? Didn’t it matter that I told her that I loved her and that I was trying? Would anything I did be enough to show them that I was going to do whatever I had to keep her by my side?

“We’re not trying to upset you—”

“Yeah, I call bullshit on that,” I interrupted.

“BRENNAN! For God’s sake! Can you let the man finish before you cut him off?” Joey hissed.

“Whatever,” I grumbled.

“As I was saying, we’re not trying to upset you; we just want to make sure that you are serious.”

“What do I have to do to prove to you that I’m serious? I am here, aren’t I?” I snapped.

“You are, but for how long? Until Eden calls you back? Leah doesn’t want to be in Eden. She won’t tell you, because she just wants to be with you, but I’ll tell you. She told Maddie that she didn’t want to hide anymore. She wanted to be free. And I don’t think she should be forced to go back to Eden. If you love her, then you have to let it go.”

I narrowed my eyes on him. “My replacement is already in place with two backups. Next. What else do I have to do to prove to *you* that I love her?”

Joey blinked in surprise. “You left Eden?”

“I just said I did, didn’t I?”

“Oh, ummm, that is really all we wanted to talk about,” he mumbled, glancing at Caleb.

“Can I go back to bed now?” I asked.

When they both nodded, I got up to hurry back to my room. As I was sliding back into bed with Leah, she roused a little, snuggling into me.

“Where’d you go?”

“To get a lecture from Joey and Caleb,” I admitted before kissing her forehead. “Leah?”

“Mm- hmm?”

“How do you feel about Eden?”

“It’s nice. It helps a lot of people.”

“But do you like it? Or would you rather live somewhere else?” I inquired softly.

She was silent for so long that I began to believe she had fallen back asleep. Finally, she sighed before pressing a kiss against my chest.

“I’d rather live somewhere else, but we don’t have to. I love Eden. I love the people.”

“Then what is it?” I pressed.

“It’s the walls, Brennan. I lived my whole life in a prison. I felt trapped at times. Even though I had a key, I still felt like a prisoner. I want to feel free. I want to feel like I could do whatever I wanted in the world. I want to meet people and make friends. I want to get an education and a job. Maddie is in school. She wants to be a vet. Did you know that? When she was trying to distract me from my heartbreak over you, she would weave this plan of being a vet with me as her tech. Do you know how exciting that would be? To be in business for ourselves? We would be self-sufficient. We could make our own hours and our own little home away from home. I can’t do that in Eden. It’s exciting to think about. Don’t you agree?”

I sighed as I kissed her forehead. “I’m glad you think it’s exciting. If that’s what you want to do, then we can do it. I’ll help you however I can. I’ll pay for your program.”

She tipped her head back to look into my eyes. “Really?”

“Yeah. I love you, Leah. If being independent will make you happy, then I will do my best to assist. I know you can do it.”

She smiled at me. “Thank you, Brennan.” She kissed me softly. “I love you too. Does that mean that we can live outside of Eden?”

“Yes, but I will have to go back and check on things on occasion.”

“I’ll go with you.”

I chuckled as I pulled the blankets up over her. “That’s so kind of you.”

She nuzzled into my side. “What are wives for if not to make sure their men make it to their destinations?”

I laughed again. “I think we are going to be moving very far away from Maddie and Ramira. They are very bad influences on you.”

“Don’t you dare! She promised to teach me how to punch people in the throat 16 more ways.”

I groaned. “Oh, yeah. We’re moving across the country.”

******

A few hours later, there was another knock on our door, making me grumble angrily as I got up to answer it. I yanked it open, and the angry words died on my tongue when I saw a very worried Maddie on the other side.

“Hey, Mads. What’s up?”

She held up an envelope addressed to Leah. “It’s from the courthouse.”

Courthouse? Why would they be trying to contact her? I took it from her, nodding.

“I’ll give it to her. Thank you.” When she went to walk away, I called her back. “What time is it?”

“Almost 1. I was going to wake you guys up in a little bit. Our appointment to look at dresses is at 3 PM.”

I nodded. “Are you hungry? I can order us a pizza.”

“Shhhh. Don’t say that too loud. Joey will stop it before I can eat a slice. Extra cheese and pepperoni,” she requested.

“I got you. Thank you.”

As she walked off again, I shut the door before going back over to the bed, where Leah was already sitting up, watching me.

“I want pizza.”

I chuckled as I handed her the envelope. “You read this, and I’ll order pizza. What do you want on it?”

“Maddie’s toppings sound good.”

“Perfect.”

I looked up the closest pizza place, frowning when it was a Domino’s. I hadn’t ordered pizza in years. I had no idea if I liked Domino’s or not, but for two pregnant females, the faster it got here, the better. As I ordered two large pizzas with extra cheese and extra pepperoni, I watched Leah’s face as she read the letter. In the span of a minute, it paled to the point of making me think she was going to pass out. As soon as I hung up, I sat on the edge of the bed to take her hand.

“What is it, baby?” I asked worriedly.

“It’s a court date.”

“A court date?” I repeated. “For what?”

She held the piece of paper to me, and I quickly read it as my heart thundered in my chest. When I raised my eyes back to hers, she gave me a small, nervous smile.

“It’s really happening. I’m getting a divorce.”