“Laurent didn’t want to adopt, so, we didn’t adopt.”
The way she spoke made it clear that, in her desire to build a family, she tried that too.
And she, again, failed.
In other words, what Laurent wanted or didn’t want, Laurent got.
No matter what Elle wanted.
Yes, Prentice detested him.
“You know what’s funny?” she asked the sea, her face turned away from him, her gaze thoughtful.
“No, baby. What’s funny?”
“He divorced me.” She looked at him and continued, “I never wanted him and, in the end, he divorced me. Isn’t that funny?”
What it was, was ironic.
What it was not, was funny.
He didn’t answer, he simply pulled her closer. Her head tipped back further to keep her eyes on him and her hands came to rest lightly on his waist.
Prentice liked the feel of Elle’s hands on his waist. He’d like it better if it was her arms around his waist.
“Why do you think that?” she asked quietly.
He put a hand to her jaw and stroked her cheek with his thumb, asking, “Think what?”
“What you said about me. That I was the best thing to come in your life. With all the gifts you’ve been given, how can you think that?”
His mind flooded with all that was Elle.
Her pancakes. Her cookies. Her smile.
The way she cared for his home.
The way she cared for his family.
The way she handled Sally with infinite patience appearing to enjoy every second.
The way she understood what Jason needed and gave it to him after Prentice spent a year trying to figure it out.
The way she kept his children’s mother’s memory alive instead of trying to bury it deep.
The way she could make him laugh when she forgot to be Isabella and, instead, was Elle.
The way she responded to his hands, his mouth, his c**k moving inside her.
The way she consistently gave of herself, second by second, to him, to his children, to her friends the latter to whom she’d been giving for years, without even noticing she was doing it or expecting that first thing in return.
Prentice was in love with her.
And he’d been in love with her for over twenty years.
But now, knowing what he knew about how she’d helped Annie with unfailing determination and seeing what he saw when she dropped everything and raced to his daughter’s bedside at the hospital, he loved her even more.
He’d had a beautiful run with Fiona and he loved his wife deeply.