“Is it working?”
“A little.”
“I wanted to talk to you about something. A couple of things, actually.” He took another scoop of noodles before grabbing the file he’d glanced over with Billy. “Take a look.”
“I don’t have a clue what I’m looking at.”
“You and Reaper were never married. We don’t have to wait for him to be declared dead before I can marry you,” he said.
“Wait? What? No,
there was a ceremony.”
“The man he used didn’t have the power to marry you. He couldn’t do the service. It was all fake.”
“All this time we weren’t married?”
“No.”
“Oh.”
“Are you sad about that?” he asked.
“What? Oh, no, I’m not sad.”
Preacher didn’t believe her. “Then why do you look like I’ve just given you some of the worst news you could have possibly gotten?”
“I’m sorry. It’s not that. I can’t believe this is all. I know it’s the truth, but I guess I was kind of … I don’t know.”
“You thought you were married.”
“Yeah. I don’t miss him. My memories with Reaper will always be messed up. You understand that, right?”
“I do.” He also didn’t like it and doubted he ever would. Reaper had fucked with his woman’s head, and if he could go back, he would totally kill him all over again, only this time, he’d go slow, really fucking slow. “I know this is a lot to take in and I don’t expect an answer now. I want you to think about it.” He pulled out the engagement ring he’d spent hours looking for. It was only a small diamond. Small but beautiful. His love for Robin was the one good part of him.
She owned him in ways he didn’t even believe she realized, but he belonged to her. He’d give her whatever she asked for, no questions asked.
“Will you marry me?” He pressed his fingers to her lips. “No answers. I’ve given you a lot to think about already and I know I’m a bit of a bastard for doing it. No answers. I won’t even take your answer now. You’ve got to hold on to it until I’m ready to hear it.”
“Okay.”
“I’ve got something else.”
“Preacher, I don’t know how much more I can take.”
“This isn’t bad, I promise. It’s not bad.” He got to his feet, grabbing the paperwork he’d gotten and placed it in front of her. “If you still want to graduate, then I got all of your teachers on board. They’re willing to help you get what you need in order to graduate either at the end of this year, before, or when you need to.”
Robin’s hand shook as she touched the top of the file. “You … how? I know Arnold hates me. He’s still the principal of the school. There’s no way he would’ve even let me back in.”
“He didn’t need to have a reason, Robin. I asked and we came to an arrangement.”
“You blackmailed him?”
“Blackmail is such an ugly word, is it not?”
“You did, didn’t you?”
Preacher smiled. “Let’s just say he knows it’s in his best interest if he wants to keep his life in order.”