Eric (Men of Honor 2)

I’ve never lived a life of leisure, never even dreamed that I ever would, so having a bank account with more than a few hundred dollars in it, one with enough zeroes to make my head spin, is still taking some getting used to as well. His argument is that the house is too big for me to take care of on my own, and besides, he’d had the full staff for years before we got married, and he saw no reason to change that since I was his wife and not his maid.

My argument is that he and Tyler didn’t have anyone back then, but now that I was here, I should be taking care of some of the stuff that needs doing. I’d even tried helping out in the beginning, but the housekeeper had ratted me out, and Eric had had ten kinds of fits, so that was the end of that.

I couldn’t tell him though that I didn’t like leaving the house because his ex and her cronies had some kind of campaign going to make my life hell. He’s already done so much for my daughter and me that the least I can do is not nag him with my first world problems. I did have the good sense, though, to tell him when my ex started showing his ass.

I have no idea where Sam and Kristen got the gumption to even approach me with their mess. I’d told him, of course, that I was leaving town. Even though he didn’t play any part in Lora’s life since the divorce because Kristen wanted it that way, he was still her dad, and I knew that had I just up and left, he’d have made trouble, all at her behest of course.

I never knew until our divorce just what a spineless piece of shit my ex was. It seemed like Kristen was the one in charge, and she had the final say in all of his decisions, which led to him pretty much cutting his own daughter out of his life. It wasn’t the move that had bothered them. They could care less and were probably glad to see us go.

But once they learned about Eric and I and who exactly Eric was, the shit had hit the fan. Suddenly, I was depriving him of his right to see his child, something I found laughable. They’d threatened to take me to court and take her away from me if I didn’t stay put, which had scared me more than I want to admit until Eric told me that at Lora’s age, no judge in his right mind would allow that because she was old enough to choose who she wanted to be with.

I’m still a bit nervous at the prospect, though, but it has been a few months since I heard anything. They’d amped up their nuttiness around the time of the wedding, which had been a small affair since I have no one really, and Eric was in some kind of rush to get the deed done, so there was no time to plan a big shindig even if I’d wanted to, which I didn’t.

I’d been amazed and still am by the fact that Eric acted like he was the one who’d lucked out by meeting me when in reality, I’m the one who’d been blessed with his love for whatever reason. I still wonder about that and about the way my life had changed almost overnight from skirting the poverty line and worrying about putting my kid through college, to her stepfather opening a college account just like the one he had for his son. I’m blown away.

Life with Eric has been amazing in every way, except for the outside interference we faced at the beginning from his ex and mine. But like I said, it has been some time since I heard from Sam and the very jealous Kristen, who was mad as hell that my new husband was ten times better than the one she’d stolen from me.

Justine

My phone was ringing when I stepped out of the shower, and I rushed to get it thinking it was Eric calling. He likes to call me with cute little steamy messages, which was his way of letting me know he’d reached the office. I know he does things like that to reassure me because of my past with Sam, and I’m surprised to realize that I trust him completely and have no need for him to go to those lengths, though I appreciate it.

I didn’t recognize the number but answered all the same as I secured the towel around me. “Hello?”

“I want to see my daughter.”

“What? Sam? Is that you?” I no longer panic at the sound of his voice the way I used to, but I still get nervous all the same. There’s never been a time in the last few years that a phone call from him was anything but unpleasant.