Chapter One
Two years later
Opal Shaw stared down at her wedding ring.
No, Opal Hunt. She was a married woman.
She couldn’t believe she’d been married two years ago on this day. Biting her lip, she glanced around the room. Lily had her children with Wayne and Scarlet her children with Richard, while Opal sat in her brother’s house with a wedding ring and nothing else. She’d been married two years and didn’t know much about her husband other than the crap she read in the glossy magazines. He escorted her to events but never took the time to talk with her. He accomplished only the social graces that her brother Richard had required in an agreement for her and Tony to be married.
After the wedding, which had been in a registry office with her brother and his wife as witnesses, her parents had kicked her out. The scandal was so far-reaching that they couldn’t bear to look at their only daughter. The wedding night she’d dreamed about had been a disaster. She didn’t want to ask Lily and Scarlet about their wedding nights in case they asked her about hers.
“So, I wanted to tell you guys the news first,” Lily said. Opal stared at the beautiful dark-haired woman. Wayne and her brother had gone to talk business. The three women were alone with the children.
Tony hadn’t turned up yet. Probably another long night partying and doing nothing else but shagging the next model or something. She kept up to date with all of his conquests. He showed no interest in being with her. She didn’t blame him. The moment she left her parental home the weight had come back on. The diets they had kept her on had ended, and she ate what she liked when she liked.
“Wayne and I are going to have another baby.”
Opal smiled and congratulated Lily. Scarlet did the same, and she was already pregnant with Richard’s third child herself.
Would Opal be cursed to never have news of her own? What had she done in the last two years of being married to Tony? She spent most of her days cleaning the house he’d placed her in.
“I take it you’ve told them our good news?” Wayne asked as he entered the living room, carrying a tray of drinks.
“Yes. You know I can’t keep everything to myself for long.” The couple shared a smile. Opal yearned for what the two couples had. Richard walked over to Scarlet, kissed her on the lips and stroked her bulging belly.
“Have I missed the party?” Tony asked as he walked into the room.
Her brother scowled at him, but then turned and shook his friend’s hand.
“Sorry, I’m late.” Tony didn’t acknowledge her. Glancing at his finger she saw he still didn’t have a wedding ring. She twirled the modest diamond on her own finger.
Was it time to call it quits?
“Excuse me,” she said. Without looking at anyone she got up and left the room. Running up the stairs, she found the bathroom. She closed the door, going straight to the sink.
Dampening her wrists she splashed her face and neck. Her heart pounded. Tony always had the ability to disarm her. Out of the two men her brother came home with, Tony had been the one to make her head spin with crazy ideas. How quickly her ideals had changed. Her wedding night came to mind. His words and the way he’d spoken, scaring her. Brushing the memory off, she took some deep breaths before she felt in control.
She opened the bathroom door and hit a hard masculine chest. Staring up she looked up into his eyes. The dark brown, almost black, eyes stared back at her. She fisted her hands at her side and turned to look away. When they were alone she struggled to find the right words to say to him. It was like they got married, and everything changed. She became another person for him.
“What’s up, petal?” he asked. His voice went through her and made her lower body tighten. The warmth spread up until she knew a red blush would be staining her cheeks.
“I-I-I’m fine.” This was another thing. Why had she developed a stutter?
“I haven’t seen you for a while or heard from you. How have you been?” When they’d first gotten married he’d demanded a call from her every week to check in and make sure she was fine. As the months moved on, she simply stopped calling. Or more to the point, as soon as the glossy magazines had the latest kiss and tell story about him, she’d stopped calling.
“What do you want to know?” she asked.
“To make sure you’re okay.”
“I’m fine.” Talking to him without looking at him helped for her to speak.
His hand cupped her face, tilted her head back and forced her to look at him. Without her realising it he’d been budging her further into the bathroom. She gasped as the door closed.
They were alone together.
“I want to know why you stopped calling me.”
“You started to look busy.”