Married by Proxy {18+}

39. The Switch

~Neveah~

Holding Belle's newly discovered niece, I endure her mom sticking close, keeping a tight eye on my movements. Every so often, I catch her peering at the kitchen door.

I can tell she's uneasy and I'm sure it's because our reputation is spread all across the globe. My behavior on the phone didn't help either.

Once I give Gabby back to her, I get up and pour us a glass of tea before filling two bowls with chicken soup. I grab a platter of crackers and put them all on a tray.

I dish it out, frowning. "Sorry, it's nothing fancy. I'm having a bit of trouble with my appetite lately. I think the meds I'm on are causing some of it."

"Don't apologize, " Cara tells me. "We're simple and easy to please. I'm just grateful for the kindness you two have shown today. I've been worried about the treatment Jer would get and though it wasn't perfect, it's not as bad as I imagined."

"I bet your imagination was going pretty wild after hearing me cuss like a crazy woman."

Grinning, my guest wobbles her head. "Maybe a bit, but I'm smart enough to know that I caught you at a terrible time. "

Taking a bite of my soup, I bounce my shoulders. "Not really, I was just dealing with my husband being cooed over by his crazy ex-fiancee. She's pretty awful and entirely too touchy."

"Oh, man, that makes so much sense now. I don't have an ex to exchange with, but I have had to deal with my sister cooing over Jer."

"Ugh," I groan, "I'm not sure which is worse."

Sucking in her clear painted lips, Cara hums, "Perhaps we shouldn't try to compare them. We'd be here all night."

"Probably," I giggle, forming folds in my forehead when I notice that she seems to be forcing her bite of food down. "Everything okay?"

She looks a bit surprised by my question, so I nudge my head toward her yellow bowl. "You don't appear to be interested in eating."

Affection lights up her crystal orbs as a hand falls to her belly. I don't know her, but I could read that signal as clear as day, and grin. "How far?"

"Still early enough to worry," She laughs softly.

"Well, at least you have a wonderful reason to feel like crap," I sigh, pushing my bowl away. "My wavering appetite and body pain are the downfall of being in this family and painkillers."

"It's that bad around here, huh?" Pausing as if she was embarrassed, maybe frightened, Cara pushes some of her cocoa hair around an ear, looking down at Michael. "My brother is a P.I, he's heard of you guys and Amelio verified the chatter."

"I figured so. It's not hard to learn about the Perez family when you're actually looking."

The kitchen door swings open and our men join us in rather high spirits. Seeing the smile on Belle's face makes my heart sing. He had gotten pretty peeved with me after his uproar with Enzo, and though it makes me feel a bit bad for doubting, I feel something disturbing is hiding behind his tantrum. As much as I want to believe the words I spoke to him were true, I can't be confident that I wouldn't be furious with him until I know what he's so scared to admit.

Zolia walks in and hurries to cater to the guys as they sit. Bellemy rubs my back, inspecting the red bowl containing my lunch. "You need to eat, Hermosa."