Her Premarital Ex (The Alexanders Book 3) Read Free Page B

a
career, Gabrielle?”
    “I’ve always wanted a
career. I don’t just want to live off of you.”
    “You’re my
wife.”
    “I realize that
and—”
    “Do you realize that,
because I don’t think you do? And to be quite frank with you, I’m
not sure if I want you to work. It’s completely
unnecessary.”
Gabrielle frowned. “Maybe
to you it is, but it means something to me to make something of
myself.”
    “You are something. You’re
my wife...the future mother of my children. I don’t want a wife
that’s embedded into a job. I want a family woman.”
Gabrielle felt her sudden
elation of the day slowly began to dissipate into the humid air.
She hadn’t expected this conversation about her dreams and goals
going south. Tyson was always quick to support her, but on this
issue, he remained firm.
    “Tell me, Gabrielle...tell
me what you want that you don’t already have. All you have to do is
ask me and it’s yours...you know that.”
    “I want to go with Padma
and Lalita to Chicago.”
Tyson was already shaking
his head before she could get the words out. “No.”
Gabrielle leaned back in
her chair, thinking about it. What would she do? Defy her husband
and go anyway, or respect his wishes?
    “Now that I’ve said no,”
Tyson said, “You have to make your own choice. You’re grown, I
cannot tell you what to do. I’m not a tyrant, holding you hostage
in our home and expecting you to do everything I want. All I can do
is express my opinion to you and my opinion is, you do not need to
do this. Once you get wrapped up in a career, it’s only going to
put a strain on our marriage and—”
    “I’m not Desiree, Tyson,”
Gabrielle blurted out. She’d been thinking it, but his rant pushed
her to actually say it out loud.
    “I didn’t say you
were.”
    “But that’s basically the
reason you don’t like my idea...you think I’m going to do what she
did to you, right?”
Tyson glared at her. He
could admit to himself that he was afraid of what a career would do
to his wife. If she was busy making her own money, she would begin
to lose interest in their family life and be more concerned with
making a name for herself instead of being a wife to him and mother
to their future children. So trying to calm things down, he said,
“You working is simply not my vision for us.”
    “Then what is your vision for us. Can
you share that with me?”
    “I want us to raise our children.”
Brows furrowed, she said,
“We don’t even have children yet.”
    “Not yet, but it’s bound
to happen sooner or later, right, unless you’re on some type of
birth control and didn’t tell me about it. Are you?”
    “No.”
    “Then you could be
pregnant right now, right?”
Gabrielle closed her
eyes. Then inhaling a deep breath, she released it slowly like a
smoker would who’d just taken a puff.
    “All I want is what’s good
for our family,” Tyson said, “And what’s good for the family is
when the wife stays at home with the kids. Heck, I work from home,
so we’ll both be here.”
    “Yeah, okay,” Gabrielle
said, realizing she was on the losing end of this battle. “Excuse
me.” She got up from the table, and rushed off to the bathroom,
pacing back and forth. She was too angry to cry and now, she had to
tell Padma that she wasn’t going to Chicago.
    Gosh, why does he have to
be so cut and dry? Gabrielle loved her
husband, but it seemed his plans for the family were just that
– his plans. For
a man so loving and caring, why hadn’t he taken her wants, goals
and desires into consideration?

Chapter 4
     
~ * ~
     
     
    Dilvan sat at a small café, waiting for his father to arrive. While
he waited, he flagged a waitress to his table, watching her smile
as she strutted his way in a black, knee-length skirt and white
top.
    “Good morning,” she said,
all smiles.
    “Good morning,” he
replied.
    “What can I get for
ya?”
    “Just a cup of decaf,
please.”
    “Not eating breakfast, or
shall I say brunch