Remarriage Failed Again Today

Leona Grant saw her continued silence and remembered how she always had endless things to say to Aaron Wyatt. A pang of bitterness shot through his heart, and he couldn’t stop himself from roaring, "Are you still thinking of going to see him?!"

Annabelle Linton felt he was being completely unreasonable.

She opened the door and started to walk out.

Annabelle Linton rarely wasted her breath on questions she felt didn’t deserve an answer, a fact Leona Grant knew well.

’So, she was implying... that I was asking the obvious?’

Leona Grant let out a scornful laugh. He thought of her lovey-dovey days with Aaron, of how she’d spent the last few days moping over him, and his eyes turned scarlet. "Answer me!"

Annabelle Linton didn’t want to argue with him. "We’re just friends," she said, her voice laced with resignation.

"Friends?" The explanation was completely unconvincing. "Are you two just friends? Have you only done things that friends do?"

Leona Grant realized Aaron Wyatt was a thorn in his side. Even though he was gone, his influence was still just as strong.

It wasn’t that Aaron Wyatt was so great; it was that his place in Annabelle Linton’s heart was far too high.

So high that it made him jealous, made him crazy.

’They’d go shopping together, walk around town, eat together... and even get married.’

And though he hated to admit it, every time she was with Aaron, Annabelle Linton would smile. She’d be so agreeable.

The atmosphere between them was always so pleasant, so warm. And these were all undeniable facts.

’But what about when he was with Annabelle?’

’Never mind all the other times—just look at today. They hadn’t seen each other in days, and the moment they did, they were at each other’s throats.’

’She’d been ecstatic about marrying Aaron Wyatt.’

’But marrying him? Her face had been ashen, like death.’

’Thinking back on how inseparable she and Aaron had been, it made his own feelings seem like a pathetic joke for them to laugh at.’

’Was he really so unbearable?’

’So unfit to be seen with?’

No matter how much he agonized over it in his head, it was useless. They were together now, so he might as well get a clear answer.

Leona Grant’s eyes grew cold and dark as he looked at her, his voice calm now. "Annabelle Linton, it’s not that I want to make a scene. But are you absolutely sure you’re just friends? What kind of friends ever get to the point of discussing marriage? If it wasn’t for your brother, you would’ve run off with him long ago, wouldn’t you? Hmm?"

’If she doesn’t love me, then we’ll start with duty,’ Leona Grant thought, taking a breath. "You need to get one thing straight. I am your husband. The law recognizes only me. Everyone recognizes only me. I will be the father of your children and the husband buried beside you when you die. I am the one you should care about. Do you understand?"

The only light in the room came from a desk lamp, leaving much of it in shadow.

His face was half-hidden in the gloom, but the sadness in his expression was clear, as was the red handprint on his cheek... She really had hit him hard.

Annabelle Linton sighed. "It’s not that I don’t understand what you’re saying," she said quietly. "But what do you want me to do, Leona Grant? He’s my friend. I’ve explained that to you countless times. If you insist on reading more into it, what can I do?"

Leona Grant stared at her, a wave of sorrow and heartache washing over his eyes.

’So, even now, this was still his fault, wasn’t it?’

’Why was Annabelle Linton so impatient with him, yet her eyes would well up so easily for Aaron Wyatt?’

’Getting Ryan Linton out of trouble hadn’t been easy. He’d acted like it was nothing, but it had been a huge undertaking.’

’Annabelle had run around for days trying to solve a problem that money couldn’t fix. Even if he had managed to handle it, did she think he’d done it effortlessly?’

’He hadn’t told her any of this. He didn’t want her to worry, and he didn’t want her to feel indebted to him.’

’He thought being good to her meant clearing every obstacle from her path. All he wanted was to live a peaceful life with her. Was that really so much to ask?’