An Illusion of Trust (Sequel to The Brevity of Roses) Read Free

show of shifting Adam to his right shoulder, away from me. "You are determined to corrupt this child."
    "Like I corrupted you?"
    "Yes, you evil bitch."
    "Excuse me?"
    The woman's voice startles Jalal. I smother a laugh as he apologizes to the offended flight attendant standing beside him. With Adam blocking his peripheral vision, he hadn't noticed her approach to take our drink orders. He orders a scotch for himself but only water for me.
    "I want a Coke," I tell him.
    "She will have a Perrier," he says to the attendant, who now looks confused but nods and moves on. He flashes me a triumphant grin.
    "Are you
kidding
me?"
    He cocks a brow. "Serves you right for not telling me she was there."
    "How was I supposed to know you were going to call me such a thing? Isn't that one of the words on your forbidden list?"
    "Whatever happened to wives who honor their husbands with silence?"
    "Misogynist judges sentenced them to prison for murdering their prick husbands."
    His other brow rises to join the first. "I love you," he says quickly.
    "Damn right you do."
    "Your language is hopeless."
    "Yeah, but you love me anyway." I take the baby, so Jalal can calm his flight jitters with his drink. Adam's eyelids flutter during the transfer. As I rock him back to sleep, I resume the conversation about the proposed renovation. "I think giving Aza and Kristen their own space is best. How much will that cost, do you think?"
    "That is not something you need to be concerned with. I will call tomorrow for new estimates."
    "Call who? And what do you mean
new
estimates?"
    "I already have a few for remodel—" He grimaces and then sighs. "Estimates for remodeling the master suite. It was going to be a surprise, a gift to you."
    A gift for me or so nothing in that room will remind him of Meredith? I hide my suspicion behind a smile. "Well then, thank you." I crook my arm through his and lean my head against his shoulder. "But you should start work on Aza's apartment first. We'll be fine in Bahía for a while longer."

Two

    A dam is overly tired when Jalal brings him back from their beach walk, so it takes me longer than usual to settle him down for his nap. When he finally falls asleep, I turn on the monitor and creep out of his room. Jalal, having already cleaned up from lunch, sits at the kitchen table with the blueprints to the Coelho house spread out before him. In the two weeks since we got back from Seattle, he's decided to do more than just remodel our bedroom and renovate the apartment for Aza and Kristen. I listen to his plans and try not to think about how much it will cost. That's a habit I can't break even though Jalal's inheritance and investments make money worries a thing of my past.
    I open the fridge and reach for a Coke before remembering I've already drunk my one-a-day allotment. "Crap." I glance at Jalal. He pretends he wasn't watching me, but the pursing of his mouth is a dead giveaway he's holding back a smile.
    "Problem?" he asks.
    I grab a bottle of water and slump down at the table. He's only reinforcing the obstetrician's restrictions. It pisses me off anyway. "Why is it I'm allowed to drink all the tea I want, but you limit my coffee and Coke? Tea has caffeine too."
    "My mother drank tea through seven pregnancies and we all turned out fine."
    "You think so?"
    "Well … true, some of us are superior to the others."
    "Yeah, it's unfortunate she didn't cut down when she was pregnant with you." I emphasize the last word with a kick to his shin, but as usual my feet are bare, so I'm sure it hurts me more than him.
    Jalal shakes his head wearily, but again he's trying not to smile. Good to know my sacrifice is a source of amusement to him. We sit in silence for a few minutes while I grumpily sip water and he looks at the plans. He pulls out another blueprint from the pile and studies it for a moment before he frowns. "Interesting," he says.
    "What is?"
    "According to these old blueprints, the house originally had a small, one-room