American Princess by Ward Susan

Author:Ward, Susan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Susan Ward Books
Published: 2020-03-17T00:00:00+00:00

Part Two

Chapter Twenty-Five

Khloe

The Past

I SAT ON THE cliffs, lost in the vignette of the shoreline and thoughts in my head. Spring was nearly over. The sun was high, the world around me was happy-normal as it always was at home.

Time moved on.

Soon to slip into another season.

Hopefully, not another season with Damon gone.

It was June. Half a year had passed since I saw my husband last…unless one counted video calls, which I didn’t.

“Earth to Khloe.” Cody waved his beefy hand in front of my face, and I turned my head toward him. He frowned. “You haven’t said a word in five minutes. I know that look on your face. Something’s eating at you. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” I sighed, and then admitted, “Everything. Damon not being here. Me being so fat I can’t see my feet when I stand. Being trapped in Pacific Palisades without an exit plan—”

“The junk in the papers.”

I cringed. I’d purposely left that off my gripe list. “Yes, the junk in the papers.”

Cody’s features tightened with anger. “At least they got most of it wrong.”

“But they got a lot of it humiliatingly right.” My cheeks burned and I hid my face in my hands. “How did they know, Cody? About me. Cade. Zane. Our private arrangement when we traveled in Europe. About my illness. How did they know?”

He pulled my sniffling self into his arms and held me fiercely. “Someone talked or someone got hacked. We don’t know which, but I’ll get to the bottom of it, Khloe. If it’s the last thing I do. They’re going to be sorry they messed with you. They’ve messed with the wrong family.”

“What good will that do? It’s already out there. My parents, my entire family has seen it. You can’t undo something once it’s out in print. There…there are people who will always believe that’s who I am. And it’s not. I’ve changed.”

“You were never that girl, Khloe. You only pretended to be. I saw through the act of trying to be a badass party girl and so did Damon. That’s why he fell in love with you. You didn’t have to change. You didn’t need to. You only had to be who you always were. And that’s all you have to be now, no matter what trash journalism writes about you.”

I let out a shuddering breath. “At least whoever is doing this doesn’t know about Damon and me or the baby. I couldn’t take it if my messed up past compromised all the good Damon’s trying to do. All he’s sacrificed for—”

“All you both have sacrificed,” Cody put in firmly. “You’ve had your share of hardship because of the war. Don’t think Damon doesn’t know that also. Or that he isn’t in agony that someone is doing this to you. The man was beside himself when it started.”

“He was? It doesn’t sound like it when we talk. It’s all stiff upper lip, like he’s above getting upset at the trivial shit people do. But it hurts, really hurts me that my parents had to see all those ugly pictures and read the stories that went with them.

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