Read Online Brides and Betrayal (Reconciled and Redeemed Book 1) by Michelle Lynn Brown - Free Book Online Page B

stretched across the line until he finally said, “Did you tell him?”
    “Are you crazy?” She hissed. “I made mistake, and I won’t do it again. I am sorry.”
    “Me too.” He was silent before she heard him say. “Look, the fight me and my wife got into the day she died was because she told me she had an affair.”
    Holly put her hand over her mouth, but said nothing.
    “I wished I hadn’t known. If I could go back - I wish she had never told me the truth.”
    His meaning came across the line loud and clear. “I am going to try and make this work. I love my husband and I don’t want to lose him.”
    “Good.” Seth hung up, and Holly threw the phone on the bed. Staring at the ceiling, she ran her hand down her neck, as if she could swipe away the guilt that was choking her. It was eating her alive, sitting across from Hunter, letting him hold her and kiss her, while she sat on the truth. But thinking of Seth’s story, she knew there could be nothing good that could come from telling Hunter the truth.
    If I confess to Hunter, it isn’t going to help him, it is just going to burden him with pain. It isn’t like I am going to do it again. Hunter is trying to be a new man, so I can be a new wife - a better wife for him. My stupid mistake could turn into something that can strengthen our marriage, if I keep it to myself. Like the sad notes in a song, each justification rang clear, but brought no relief from the wretched shame that filled her. Nevertheless, she kept up her litany of excuses all day - hoping that eventually her guilt would ebb.

    H olly sat in the waiting room next to Hunter. “You really didn’t have to come with me.”
    “I know.” He smiled at her, and her heart crumpled at the sweet love she saw in his eyes. She turned her attention back to the magazine, flipping through it violently. She had felt unworthy before her affair, but now she truly felt contemptible.
    She kept trying to justify her actions, rationalize her sin, and lower the ramification of her coupling with Seth. However, there was nothing she came up with that stopped this gnawing guilt. It chewed away at her smile, it nibbled on her patience, and it devoured any peace and happiness she ever had.
    She was sure the doctor was going to run a test today and say, “Mrs. Harrington, you don’t have a stomach bug, you have a toxic level of guilt brought on by your wanton behavior. It has made you sick, and now your husband is going to leave you. I hope you got what you wanted.”
    She tossed the magazine back down on the table and crossed her legs. She wouldn’t have even come today, but Hunter insisted when she threw up again this morning. “I really should be with Anya,” Holly reiterated her earlier complaints. “We have a bride coming in later today for a meeting.”
    “I am sure the doctor isn’t going to take all morning.” He brushed back her hair with his fingertip, running it down the side of her cheek. He smiled and his dimples showed through his stubble. On impulse, she reached up and touched his face. He was so handsome and he was such a blessing. She closed her eyes and turned from him, letting her hand fall to the armrest between them. What were you thinking!
    “Holly,” the nurse called from the open doorway. She stood, and to her chagrin, Hunter followed her.
    After the nurse took her vitals, she sat perched on the edge of the examination table. Hunter parked himself in the empty chair by her side, holding her purse in his lap. She shifted uncomfortably as he sat there staring at her; the paper underneath her crackled with her movements.
    “What?” She asked when he didn’t relent.
    “I was just thinking, for a woman who has been throwing up for four days straight, you look pretty amazing.”
    She wanted to take joy in those words, but instead they were like someone was raking her heart against a cheese grater. Unbidden, an image of the devil gleefully sprinkling shredded pieces of her heart over his