Charity Case - The Complete Series - Piper Rayne Page 0,186

the girls. “What are you wearing, Chels?”

Beckett rolls his eyes, heading down to the front with his buddies. They’re both razzing him about how great the pipe is in New Zealand and how behind he is because of all this wedding stuff.

“You can use mine.” I turn, but Zoe’s already wrestling with my purse, digging through every nook and cranny.

“I’m organized,” I say. “Grab the makeup bag.”

Zoe walks toward me, her focus on the bag, her hands probably messing everything up. “I don’t see a makeup bag.”

Caiden jumps off a pew landing on Zoe’s back. “Horsey!” he screams.

Zoe looks behind her, scowling at Caiden, and my purse tips in her hands. She falls down to her knees, Caiden laughing thinking his mom is actually going to be a horse right here in St. Matthews. All of the contents in my purse spill out before the purse plops down like a dead fish in the middle of the aisle.

“Caiden!” she screams.

Vin grabs hold of him. “No, Mommy was going to be a horse,” Caiden tells his dad, struggling to get back on her.

“Not today,” Vin says.

“That’s what you said last night. Why is she a horse for you but not for me?” Caiden crosses his arms, a scowl across his face as all of our eyes widen in surprise.

“Shut up. All of you.” Zoe points as everyone in the circle giggles like someone just said vagina and we’re six years old.

“Maybe you should lock your doors.” I laugh.

Zoe narrows her eyes at me. “The kid can pick a lock. Hence the fact” —she looks at a still very pissed off Caiden— “he saw me and Vin playing horsey and cowboy last night.”

All of our combined laughter echoes off the stained glass and beamed ceilings.

“Okay now. Everyone stop,” Aunt Liz tries to get everyone in order.

“Grow up,” Zoe mutters.

Vin comes over and puts his arm around his wife, an arrogant smirk on his face.

“Chelsea,” Dean says, and I look over my shoulder.

My heart shudders and almost stops, the breath leaving my body.

He’s holding out the ultrasound picture with half the contents of my purse packed back in, the rest still scattered on the ground.

“What’s that?” Aunt Liz asks and then her eyes widen. She finds my mom a few people back. She points, and my mom steps up, grabbing it from Dean’s hand.

“Chelsea!” she scolds me. “Is this…is this yours?” She holds it up and everyone gasps around me, their eyes pinging between the ultrasound and me. They want answers.

I stare into Dean’s eyes. “Yes.”

His head falls back between his shoulder blades and his hands fly up to cover his face. There’s no happiness in his body language.

It’s silent for a moment and after a minute he holds his hand out. “Can I see that Barb?”

To my surprise, my mom hands it to him.

He looks it over. “We need to talk.” His tone is clipped and his face holds no emotion.

My mom holds out her arm at him as he approaches me. “Not with that sour look on your face. You will not do to her what you did to her five years ago.”

Dean’s feet stop, his eyes turning darker than I’ve ever seen. His gaze flicks to my mother. “Good thing this isn’t five years ago then.” He takes her arm and moves it to the side of her.

“I…”

“Not here,” he says to me.

“Dean.” Zoe grabs his arm.

He pulls his arm free.

“You’ve known this entire week.” He towers over me and I meet his stormy eyes.

“I have,” I say in a quiet voice.

“Oh, Chels,” Sky sighs and I catch her and Zoe sharing a look.

Dean stands there, tucks the ultrasound in the pocket of his suit jacket. “We’re going to talk now.”

I walk up the aisle and through the doors, standing in the lobby area. Dean makes sure to shut the doors behind us.

“When are you ever going to forgive me?” He sits down at the pew on the wall, his head in his hands.

“I did forgive you.”

“You clearly didn’t. You refuse to talk about what happened. I’ve tried so many times to get you to talk about it. And now this…”

I throw my hands up in the air. “Why would we talk about it? So we can feel the pain again or should I say so I’ll feel the pain. You’ll probably just deal with it on your own like last time.”

He leans back like I slapped him. “I was fucked up then. I was an alcoholic. I wanted to