Rock Wedding (Rock Kiss #4) - Nalini Singh Page 0,93

Bringing up a particular image, he turned the phone toward Sarah. “Mom would do her hair up in these pigtails and she liked to wear pretty dresses and little socks with patent leather Mary Janes.” Exactly as she was dressed in the photograph he’d snapped in their family backyard. “That summer she told me my dirty sneakers were atrocious.”

Sarah had taken his phone, was going through the images with gentle care. “There are lots of pictures of her all dirty and in playclothes.”

“Oh yeah, pretty dresses or not, she could roughhouse with the best of them.” Abe rubbed a fisted hand over his heart. “One rainy day right before she got sick, I was chasing her around the yard and we both slipped on a patch of mud, right onto our faces. I was worried she was hurt… but Tessie laughed and laughed and laughed.”

His voice broke.

SARAH HAD NEVER SEEN ABE CRY. NEVER.

Today he ducked his head, his shoulders rigid; she knew he was fisting his free hand hard. Her own eyes gritty, she put down the phone and, sliding her fingers from his, got up and moved around to tug his head gently against her stomach. “It’s okay,” she whispered, one hand stroking the back of his head. “You’re allowed to cry for her.”

His arms locked around her, and though he didn’t cry, he held on so tight that she’d probably have bruises tomorrow. Sarah didn’t mind. Not when this was the first time in their entire relationship that Abe had allowed himself to be vulnerable with her.

His body trembled.

Swallowing her own response to his pain, she just held him, this big, strong man who knew how to love so deeply that the loss of his little sister had almost destroyed him. He’d love their baby the same way, she suddenly realized, the understanding perfect and clear and bright. She never had to worry about her child feeling unloved or unwanted like she had.

Abe Bellamy knew how to love the innocent.

ABE WASN’T USED TO ALLOWING ANYONE to see his weaknesses, but as they sat down to finish breakfast ten minutes later, he realized that having Sarah hold him hadn’t felt like weakness. It had felt right. She was his wife; of course she’d hold him if he needed it.

Ex-wife.

Shut the fuck up, he told the annoying voice in his head that insisted on piping up whenever he thought of Sarah as his wife. That stupid, needling voice that insisted on reminding him of his idiocy needed to be thumped. Wishing the voice was corporeal so he really could thump it, he helped Sarah clean up after breakfast, was about to ask her what she wanted to do today when he got a call from Thea.

“Jeez, Thea,” he said as Sarah motioned that she was going upstairs, “I just saw you the other day. You gotta control your violent passion for me, or David will get jealous.”

“Ha-ha.” Dry as dust, her tone made him laugh. “Now that the comedy portion of the morning is out of the way,” she continued, “I called to tell you that you and Sarah have been well and truly outed. Be careful of possible paparazzi at the gate.”

Abe clenched his jaw, had to force himself to relax it so he could speak. “Do they know Sarah’s pregnant?” He kept his voice low; the last thing Sarah needed right now was to worry about an intrusive media storm.

“No, that’s still under the radar,” Thea reassured him. “But a photographer got a very clear photo of you two kissing on her doorstep, and G&V decided to publish it front and center. You know how things get when they decide to push a particular story.”

Yeah, Abe knew; the damn blog was gossip central for the entire entertainment industry. “Why now?” He’d figured people had gotten their kicks already, would leave him and Sarah in peace. “I kissed her in broad daylight for the photo shot by that weasel, Basil.”

“Social media’s been buzzing quietly but consistently with the Abra hashtag for weeks. I think G&V’s clicked onto the fact you two have a deeply devoted following—that equals more visits to their site, more ad revenue, the usual.” Thea’s tone was pragmatic. “From the number of comments already on the article, I don’t think this’ll be the last time they feature you.”

Abe shrugged, his muscles no longer knotted up now that the first slap of anger had passed. “We’ll continue to be boring and straitlaced and they’ll find juicier targets