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CHAPTER 13
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LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT CHAPTER 14
He had never once during their two-year-long marriage said that he loved her, but he had shown her in so many ways that she had believed that was enough. In the face of his abandonment, she had come to question that love and had been forced to acknowledge that the words would have meant more; the words would have meant everything. They would have set his love in stone.Now he was standing here telling her that he had wanted Kayla after all? What was she supposed to believe? Why was he treating her like the villain for leaving, when he was the one who had driven her away? In the midst of her turmoil, she heard an unmistakable sound—the familiar irrepressible chatter and giggle of a toddler.Of a particular toddler. Cindy’s panicked gaze swung to the open door and she was horrified to see the babysitter leading her beautiful daughter toward the room. Her anxious gaze swung toward Gerard but he seemed oblivious. He was watching her intently, still wanting an answer to his previous questi
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT CHAPTER 15
“Me?” Cindy did not know what to react to first: the unbelievable news that her beautiful, strong husband was deaf, or the accusation that she was somehow responsible for his condition. It was all too awful to comprehend. “But . . . I . . . how?” Rick made an impatient sound at the back of his throat, seemingly sickened by her continued ignorance. He touched his brother’s arm to gain his attention. Gerard turned to face him.“ I’ve asked that girl Katrina where she lives.” He nodded toward Cindy, unable to even say her name. “Some dump downtown. I’ll pack a couple of bags for her and Mikayla.”“ Pack only a change of clothes for the little one,” Gerard ordered, his gaze softening as he looked down into his still-sleeping daughter’s pretty face. “If the rags she’s wearing right now are any indication, there won’t be anything worth keeping. I’ll clothe my own child.” Cindy’s eyes stung with tears at that terrible insult; if only he knew how much she had sacrificed and slaved for every s
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT CHAPTER 16
Kayla decided that she didn’t like scary and noisy helicopters and cried during the entire short, chartered flight from Plettenberg Bay to Camps Bay. Her beleaguered father, who was figuring out that parenthood may not be as fabulous as he had first imagined, battled to keep her calm while Cindy, who was feeling the effects of some pretty powerful medication, remained mostly oblivious to it all. Cindy was vaguely aware of Gerard frantically trying to shush the child. He made funny faces and played silly little games but Kayla refused to be comforted by someone who was a total stranger to her. She was too small to be belted in but she stubbornly refused to stay in Gerard’s lap. Instead she kept trying to crawl over onto her mother’s lap, and Cindy tried her best to soothe the little girl, but Kayla wasn’t too impressed with her limp hugs either.“ Do something,” Gerard eventually entreated, when Kayla slid from his grasp like a greased pig and melted to the floor in a boneless heap. On
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT CHAPTER 17
“Gerard “ She tugged on his sleeve to get his attention. She wouldn’t be swayed by the obvious vulnerability on his face. “I don’t know what kind of cruel games you’re playing with me. You tossed us away like so much garbage. If you wanted us you would never have done that. I’m sorry that you missed out on the first year and a half of your daughter’s life, but you do know that you have only yourself to blame for that, right?” She watched the barb hit home as he flinched at her words. The vulnerability fled from his face to be replaced by fury.“ You should get some rest.” His words were icy. “You look exhausted and ill! You’re also much too thin. Mikayla needs a healthy mother, not some wraith who can barely lift her.”Gerard….. I don’t understand. Why do you hate me so much. What have I done to deserve this ridiculous amount of contempt?” It was getting increasingly hard for her to remain upright, but this was important. She was physically weak at the moment, but she was not going to
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT CHAPTER 18
“ You look much better,” he observed, his eyes continuing to run over her face and form. “Not as gaunt, and you’re getting some color in your cheeks. How do you feel?”“Better.” She nodded. “Bored.” He shocked her by gracing her with the smallest of smiles.“ Yes, you were never one for long periods of inactivity.” He nodded. “Have you given any thought to what you want to do once you’ve recovered?” She stared at him in dismay, having no clue how to answer that question. She hadn’t dared think about the future; she had no idea what Gerard wanted from her. Did he expect them to just continue to live together in the same soulless fashion for the next fifty years or so? Because Cindy couldn’t do that. She absolutely refused to live like this for much longer; she would rather get a divorce. Did he want a divorce? For that matter, were they divorced already? She was certain of only two things; he wanted his daughter but he did not want Cindy. I don’t . . . what do you mean?”He frowned. “
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT CHAPTER 19
“Alice is fantastic,” he was saying. “Just what Pierre needs.” Sidetracked by that, Cindy frowned and tuned back in to the conversation.“Pierre De Coursey married a woman named Alice?” Somehow she had always pictured Pierre, when she had even entertained such an absurd notion, as ending up with a woman exotic in both name and looks.“Yes. She’s a nice woman, a bit quiet but sharp as the proverbial tack,” he recalled fondly, and Cindy forced back a tide of envy at the warmth in his voice.“How did they meet?” she asked, curious.“Hospital. Pierre was visiting me and wandered into the wrong ward. Alice had been in an accident too, a really bad one from what I understood. She was unconscious, apparently in a coma, and while every other patient in the room had cards and flowers, Alice had nothing. I don’t know, I think Pierre felt a little sorry for her, so he checked in on her every day on his way to visit me and soon learned that she had no family and that she had just moved here from
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT CHAPTER 20
“ I want to see you,” he muttered harshly. “When you speak, I want to know what you’re saying! When you laugh, I want to see your eyes light up, and when I make you come”—his voice lowered sexily—“I want to see you scream even if I can’t hear it.”“I don’t think . . .” she began uncertainly, preferring to make love with him in the dark, where she could fool herself into believing that he was the old Gerard, the one who had pretended to love her, even if he now claimed that he never had. A shaft of agony pierced through her as she recalled his confession at dinner, and she tried to move away from him but he would not permit it. He pinned her down, his eyes boring into hers, so that she was unable to hide her pain from him. His brows lowered into an intimidating frown, and she flinched, wondering what scathing remark he had in store for her this time.“You were crying at dinner,” he said almost accusingly.“What do you expect?” she asked bitterly. “You can’t keep cutting me without spil
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT CHAPTER 21
“ I saw you,” he maintained, clearly not believing her. “Saw you with my own eyes!”“You were sliding in and out of consciousness; you were in shock and in pain . . .” she pointed out reasonably. “You don’t think that maybe you were delirious as well? Seeing things that were not there?”He frowned and shook his head.“No, of course not,” she scoffed. “Not Gerard , he never makes mistakes.”“God damn you,” he growled. “I know what I saw . . . you were standing there looking impassive and completely uncaring.”“This?” She waved her hand back and forth between their naked bodies. “This thing that just happened between us? It was a mistake that shouldn’t be repeated. I should never have let you touch me, but you got me in a moment of complete weakness. That ends now. I won’t allow a man who just hours ago said I made his skin crawl use me like this again. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need a shower,” she informed him unsteadily. There was really nothing she could say or do right now to prov
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