The Prodigal Husband by Jacquelin Thomas

Author:Jacquelin Thomas [Thomas, Jacquelin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jacquelin Thomas

“I feel like you’ve been avoiding me,” Charlene stated when Shepard entered the bookstore. Tori had already gone home for the evening, and Charlene was working until closing.

“No, I haven’t,” he answered. “I’ve just been very busy.”

Locking the door behind him, Charlene questioned, “You’re still very angry with me, aren’t you? You haven’t said much to me since the night of the charity ball.”

Shepard shook his head. He stood by, reading a magazine, while Charlene took a reading on the cash register. When she removed all of the money, they proceeded to the back.

Once they were in Charlene’s office, she asked, “Then what is it, Shepard? Why are you still acting so distant? I thought you understood.”

Sighing heavily, Shepard uttered, “Charlene, I want children. You don’t. How am I supposed to act? I love you and I want to marry you, but I want to have a family. I can’t just skip over that little fact.”

“I realize that,” she replied quietly.

He met her gaze. “Do you?”

“I love you so much, Shepard. I really do, but you misunderstood me. I never said I didn’t want children. I said I couldn’t have any children.”

“Why not?”

“We’ve been together for seven years. I’ve never been on birth control in all that time, Shepard.” She paused for a second and her eyes teared up. “I’m not able to have children.”

“What?”

“I can’t have children. There’s scar tissue—” Charlene stopped short. She hadn’t meant to say that much, because she wasn’t ready to have this discussion with him. It was too painful.

Shepard’s eyebrow rose in his surprise. “Scar tissue? Why would you have scar tissue?”

Charlene chewed on her bottom lip. “The doctors see some kind of mass, and they believe it’s scar tissue, I guess.”

Shepard was concerned. “Could it be cancerous?”

She shook her head no. Charlene didn’t want to lie to Shepard, but if he continued pushing, then she would have no other choice. Bending her head, she pretended to be engrossed in working on the daily report.

He sat in the chair facing her, watching her in silence. When Charlene finished her report, Shepard offered to help her count the money.

When they were ready to leave, he escorted her to her car and followed Charlene to the bank to make the nightly deposit. Afterward, Shepard followed her home.

“I appreciate your looking out for Tori and me like this. Coming out here to make sure we’re okay when we close.”

“I care about you both.”

“Your friend Ben is real nice. He arrives every night right on time.” Charlene gave a short laugh. “You can pretty much set a clock by him.”

“I know he’ll take care of you ladies. This week he’s working a different shift at the police station. That’s why I came.”

“You’re not going to have to come out every night. Mall management has hired an off-duty cop for security. He’s going to start day after tomorrow.”

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