Authors: Grace Warren
Alton
Him and his damn mouth. Mary Anne had warned him this might happen, but he was
so arrogant and reckless, and now the whole town knew about their…arrangement.
Alton ran his hands through his hair. It had been hours since they returned
home, and Mary Anne had yet to exit the guest bedroom. He didn’t know what to
do. He was worried that the next action he took might be another disastrous
one, yet he couldn’t stand just waiting around and hoping things would work
out.
He went into the front room in search of guidance. Sure enough, his mother and
his siblings were all sitting there, reading. They liked to read now,
apparently.
“Is Mr. Ellison here?”
His mother raised her gaze from her book. “He went to bed some time ago. Why?”
She lowered the book. “What’s wrong?”
His siblings lowered their own books.
Alton sighed, then told them everything that had happened.
“How do I fix this?” he asked. He hated how his voice wavered a little—he hated
how is eyes were moistening—but he knew that his damn pride didn’t matter at
that moment. Mary Anne’s life and happiness did. “Please tell me y’all have an
idea on how I can make this right.”
“You…” His mother blinked, looking stunned. “You really care about this woman?”
Incredulous, Alton’s brow lowered and his mouth opened. “What? Of course I do!
She’s the best thing to ever happen to me—to us. We can’t…I can’t live without
her.”
The realization of this shocked Alton. He lowered his shoulders and glanced
over the room. His siblings were giving him a knowing, challenging stare, and
something clicked within his brain. He knew what he needed to do.
“Thank you,” he told them before running upstairs. He all but collided with the
guest bedroom door, and though he desperately wanted to open it, he resigned
himself to knocking on it. “Mary Anne? Mary Anne, we need to talk. It’s
important. Please come out.”
He heard her move about in the room before she came up to the door and opened.
Her eyes were bloodshot and her hair was a wreck. Her face was stiff with a
tired indifference.
The sight broke Alton’s heart. “Mary Anne—”
“Alton,” she said, smiling. She reached out and touched his arm. “It really is
okay. This was bound to happen at some point. It’s me, after all. I’ve never
been good at being…well, good.”
Alton shook his head. “That’s not true.”
Her eyes watered and she swallowed. “Listen…my father isn’t going to be happy,
at all. And I don’t know what he’ll do. He might do nothing, but just in case
he does do something drastic, I think it might be a good idea for you and your
family to leave.”
Alton’s chest constricted. “What?”
Mary Anne retracted her hand and glanced around, guilt marring her features. “I
would give you all a lot of money, of course. It’s just that my family’s name
is tainted now, and if any of you get hurt because of me…” She swallowed again,
wiping her tears away before they could even touch her cheeks. “Excuse me. I
told myself I wasn’t going to cry. I apologize for being so foolish. But I will
miss you very much. I…I…” She shook her head.
She was going to say something else, Alton could tell, but he could take it
anymore. Her pain, her self-loathing—it was horrid and undeserved.
Gently, he grabbed her face and stepped closer.
Mary Anne jumped, her eyes snapping up to his.
“Mary Anne,” Alton said, his voice weighted with emotion. He blinked past his
own tears and forced himself to breathe deeply. “I love you.”
Her eyes widened.
“I love you so much,” Alton continued. He shook his head in awe, grateful for
these circumstances—for this chance—for Mary Anne. He smiled. “I don’t give a
darn about reputations. I don’t care about your father. Whatever happens will
happen, but no matter what, I just want to be with. Always.”
“Alton,” she said. She blinked owlishly at him, her fingers running over his
chest as if they were searching for something. “Alton, I…really?”
“Yes. I love you.”
Finally, she smiled at him. Tears poured down her cheeks and she laughed—or
sobbed, or both.
She was beautiful.
Alton kissed her hard, needy. And God bless her, she kissed back.
“Love you,” she breathed in between their kisses.
Alton shuddered, pressing his lips against her jaw and then her neck.
It didn’t matter what happened now—what her father did or didn’t do. Alton
loved this woman with all of his heart. As long as they were together, they
could handle whatever came their way.