Chapter 48
Chapter 46: Telling Them About Her Ex
Sedona’s POV
Claim
“When did she come along?” I asked, mostly because I needed to shift the conversation away from my own guilt before I drowned in it. The conversation was getting very heavy and despite me happy for them, there was a part of me that felt hurt that they managed to find
happiness while I was stuck in a miserable relationship. I had run away from Enzo to be happy only to end up miserable. What an irony.
“About three years after the wedding,” Rachel said, her whole face softening the way people’s faces do when they talk about their children, when they see them as absolute treasures and
well loved.
“Complete surprise. We’d talked about waiting a few years like maybe 5 years so we could be settled down properly, getting established doing our various businesses and companies, doing the responsible thing, by making sure that we hadn’t rushed into the marriage blindly and would start regretting it. But apparently Molly had other plans p>
“She’s beautiful,” I said, and meant it completely.
“She is,” Enzo agreed, with the absolute certainty of a besotted father who could see no wrong with their baby.
“Though I might be biased p>
“You’re definitely biased to Molly, you once argued with your friends that Molly was intelligent because she yawned..she yawned Enzo.
“That was a very intelligent yawn.” Enzo said trying to defend himself as I chuckled, amused at the argument,
Rachel said fondly. “He had always been like that Sedona. Enzo cried for twenty minutes straight when she was born. The nurses were concerned about his mental health p>
“I was overcome with emotion. It’s permitted p>
Watching them together-the easy banter, the casual touches, the way they moved around each other with the practiced choreography of people who’d built something real-I felt
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Claim something complex move through me. “I’m happy for you,” I said, and was surprised to find I meant it without reservation, without envying Rachel or trying to steal what once was mine. “Genuinely. You’re good together. You’re good parents. This-” I gestured at the three of them, at the family visible in their arrangement, “-this is right p> “Thank you,” Rachel said softly. “That means more than you know p> We sat in comfortable silence for a moment, Molly’s breathing the only sound in the room besides the quiet beep of my IV pump. Then Rachel’s expression shifted, became more careful, like she had been waiting for the right time to bring up a conversation she knew was going to be difficult to talk about. “So. Chicago p> I’d been expecting this. Dreading it, but expecting it at the same time. Rachel had always been too curious for her own good. “Yes p> “Cameron told us the basics once he came back home and told us you had been found and you were back in seattle. He told us that you were married. That you have a son. That it ended badly and you came home p> She paused. “That’s about all he’d tell us about the whole thing. He said the details were yours to share if you wanted to share them p> I looked at Enzo, who was watching me with the same careful neutrality on his face. He wanted to know more but was trying to hide his eagerness to know what happened to me, for me to turn out this way. “What did he tell you, exactly p> “That your husband’s name is Logan Hayes,” Enzo said. “That he’s a billionaire. That he has a first love who came back into his life and basically dismantled your relationship with your husband leaving you feeling abandoned. That things deteriorated from there.” A pause. “Also that if he ever sees Logan Hayes in person again without you present, there will be violence involved, and Cameron is not typically a violent person p> That sounded about right. 2/4 Telling Them About Her Ex Claim “His name is Logan,” I confirmed. “Logan William Hayes. We met about three and a half years ago. I’d had a car accident-nothing serious, just a fender bender, that was more of a fright to me than an actual accident-and he stopped to help. We started talking. He was kind, attentive, everything I thought I was looking for after running from an arranged marriage p> “You told him about the arranged marriage?” Rachel asked, her eyebrows raised in surprise as I shook my head. “No. I told him I was an orphan. That I had no family, no connections, no past, that I was trying to find something worth living for p> I felt the shame of it even now, saying it out loud. Disowning my past, my family, all for a man who was as fickle as can be. “I wanted to be someone completely new. Someone who wasn’t Sedona Preston with all her family obligations and expectations. Just… Sedona. Someone starting fresh p> “And he believed you,” Enzo said. It wasn’t a question. “He never questioned it, actually. I think he didn’t really care but back then, I was too wrapped up in my perceived love to realize it. He never asked for details about my fictional orphan childhood, never seemed curious about how I’d ended up in Chicago with no support system.” I shifted Molly slightly, feeling her warm weight against my chest. “In retrospect, I think he liked the idea of me being alone. It made me… easier. No complicated family dynamics to navigate, no need for him to work hard to gain the approval of my parents, no one to answer to if he did anything that hurt me, no one who might question his decisions p> “What was he like?” Rachel asked. “At the beginning p> I tried to remember Logan from those first few months, tried to access the version of him I’d fallen in love with. “Charming. Successful. Confident in a way I found compelling after years of feeling uncertain about everything. He made decisions easily, knew what he wanted, when he wanted it and he didn’t second-guess himself.” I paused. 3/4 The Summary Of Her Life Admins2