Broken Soul (Jackson Family 3)

She was a much different queen than my mother was, that was for sure. Everyone besides the immediate family was beneath my mother, and yet, Emmaline treated everyone here with equality, shining her happiness on them all.

James’s wife had a way of lighting up every room she entered without even knowing she was doing it.

Whereas my mother made a great queen because she was hard and unforgiving, I could see that Emmaline made a much better one. She was the one that softened James’s rough edges.

I’d heard enough horror stories about her husband to know that he could be much worse than my father and grandfather when he wanted to be. And his wife held as much power as he did. Just as James did, Emmaline had a way of commanding the attention of an entire room as soon as she walked in.

After touring the mansion, she led us outside to a garden. Food was already set up on a blanket, and we all settled down to eat. Emmaline was talking about her son, Carter, and how he was doing with learning his alphabet and numbers.

I looked up when I heard a child squeal, his bubbly laughter drawing closer as he rushed over towards Emmaline with Jaxon, Darren, and James following behind him.

I tensed, but Jaxon merely took a seat behind me and tugged me between his muscular thighs before grabbing a basket at our side. “I figured after all the walking you just did, you might have built up an appetite,” he quietly spoke.

I had, and my stomach rumbled in response.

He handed me a bowl of grapes and strawberries. “Eat those, and we’ll see if you can stomach a sandwich after,” he commanded. He also handed me a bottle of cranberry juice. “And you need to make sure you drink that.”

I followed his orders. I didn’t want to piss him off any more than I already had this morning. I was trying to learn. I’d never truly learned living with my own family as it was near impossible to ever please them, but I was tied to this man for the rest of my life—until death did us part.

I didn’t want that time to be miserable.

Jaxon didn’t eat. Instead, his arms were locked around me, and he said some things to James and Darren when they included him in conversations. Mostly, he just spent the time typing instructions out on his phone to multiple different people. Watching him was doing my head in. I didn’t know how he kept up with it all, but somehow, he did.

It was truly a bit magnificent. Living with my family, I never got to see the day-to-day operations, and yet, Jaxon was so open about what he was doing.

When I was finished eating and my food was finished, including the sandwich, my husband suddenly stood up. “I need to go check on training,” Jaxon announced. “Emmaline, make sure you two get some shopping done online with Inessa please. She needs clothes that actually fit her.”

I cast my eyes down to my lap. Was he now displeased with my clothes? I hadn’t even decided to wear these! It was all I had—literally.

With that, he strode away, leaving me feeling ashamed of once again displeasing my husband.

I was never going to be able to get this right.