Free The Saint's Wife by Lauren Gallagher Page B

Stopped her periods for like two years. And it took almost a year after she got out of the hospital for them to start again.”
    David winced. “Which was about the time he got sick.”
    Alexandra nodded slowly. “Chris is absolutely convinced that if she hadn’t done that to herself, they would’ve been able to start a family. He just can’t see that he’s the reason she developed that disorder in the first place.”
    “She told you that?”
    “No!” Alexandra exhaled hard. “Simple observation. He’s been harping on her about her weight for as long as I’ve known them.”
    “Yeah. No shit.” David shook his head. “I can’t stand that.”
    She narrowed her eyes at him, her lips pulling tight, but he couldn’t quite read her. Then her expression softened as she watched Tiffany instead of him. “They both wanted kids, but between her weight issues and his cancer, that ship sailed.” She turned back toward David, and the simmering fury in her eyes almost sent him back a step. “And if I know Chris, he’ll go to his grave believing she cost him the chance to be a father.”
    David swallowed. No wonder things between the McQuaids had gone from sour to downright venomous in the last few years. Chris had always dreamed of having a family. In the early days of their marriage, he and Joanna had talked about how many kids they wanted and what they’d be named. And somewhere along the line, that had stopped. David had just assumed Chris was too caught up in Berserker Tech to even think about kids. Or that things between him and Joanna had deteriorated enough that they didn’t even want a family.
    “Daddy, I’m ready to go.”
    David shook himself, and when he looked down, Tiffany stood in front of him, her backpack on her shoulders. He smiled. “Okay. Say good-bye to Mom.”
    Alexandra knelt and hugged Tiffany warmly. As mother and daughter exchanged a few words, David actually had to fight the urge to put a hand on his ex-wife’s shoulder. Whatever shit they might’ve gone through together, however they might’ve destroyed their marriage from the inside out, she was a damned good mother, and he would never, ever say otherwise. Their shared custody agreement was probably the toughest part of their divorce—they both trusted the other completely with the care of their daughter, but being separated from her drove them both insane. If there was one reason he wished they could’ve worked out their marriage…
    But like the McQuaids’ shot at parenthood, that ship had sailed.
    And for the next couple of days, it was just him and Tiffany.
    “Daddy! The tigers are that way!”
    “Okay, okay.” David laughed and let Tiffany pull him along the concrete path toward the tiger exhibit. She was going through a “big cats” phase, and they’d already been to see the lions and snow leopards. Not to mention the ocelot. He wondered how long it was going to take to convince her that, no, they couldn’t actually get one of those even though they were smaller. Maybe a housecat eventually. One that looked like it could chew his arm off? Maybe not.
    On the way to the tiger exhibit, a couple of teenagers holding hands caught David’s eye. They couldn’t have been more than sixteen. Maybe seventeen. He remembered dating at that age, and man, he could’ve sworn he’d felt a lot more grownup than these kids looked.
    There must have been a group of high school students here today or something—there were teenagers everywhere, and a lot of them were couples. Far too young, by the looks of it, but definitely paired off. Holding hands. Arms around each other. Occasionally being a little too affectionate for a public place.
    “Eww.” Tiffany wrinkled her nose as they walked past a bench where a couple of teenagers were making out.
    They must’ve heard her, because they both looked up, and their eyes darted straight to David. Immediately, they sat up, straightening their clothes and putting some space between them. He