Free Betrayed by M Dauphin Page B

really on the best of terms. Seriously, I know it all was part of his plan. I’m not stupid. There is a higher power that rules over all of our lives, but I’m not happy about it.
    Tatum mentioned last night that this will be the first year ever he wasn’t home with his family for Easter. It is hard for me to believe a family like the Savage family is a religious family but apparently this is one holiday that his mom expects everyone to be home. I feel bad that he won’t be there, but he never mentioned anything about wanting to be. He told me not to feel guilty and that he was right where he wanted to be. Wanted. He chose that word instead of ‘needed’. I really am starting to think he means it when he says he’s here with me for good.
    Though we don’t have an Easter dinner planned, he did go through the trouble of grabbing some of the best pastries in town from the bakery downtown. I ate about five too many for breakfast, but I can’t stay away. I have gained at least 5 pounds since Tatum and I have been together. Unfortunately the recent revelation that my shorts were getting too snug wasn’t baby weight, but ‘Molly eats too much’ weight. Tatum says he loves my curves, but the more I get the worse I feel about myself.
    Today is one of my good days. I have had good and bad since the incident in Washington, most bad for the last couple of days considering everything I’ve been through, but today I have hope. Today I feel things getting better between us. We are spending the day in our sweats, not leaving the house. I’m still sore, but the doctor said it may take a while before I feel back to normal. Snuggled on the couch with our coffee and one of my favorite movies, I look over and notice him asleep. Now, some girls would get mad that their boyfriend fell asleep during their favorite movie but not me. I love this. I love being able to add to my memory each line on his face, each hair, each scar. He has a rough one right above his eyebrow and another on his chin. I know he used to be in the business of roughing people up so I’m sure those scars were par for the course in his job. I still can’t believe this beautiful man is all mine. The strong jaw, the full head of hair. To be a thirty year old man with a full, thick head of hair is something that isn’t seen much these days. At least in Illinois. Add in the insane body and he is a package straight out of heaven. He stirs while I’m watching him and before I can turn away he catches me staring.
    “Are you eyeballing me?” he says sleepily. I laugh. Eyeballing? Who talks like that?
    “Nope. Not me. Never.” I answer as I continue to watch the movie that I suddenly have no interest in.
    “Good. Nothin to look at anyway.” He closes his eyes again and wraps his arm around me tighter. God this man is everything I thought I ever wanted. Everything I thought I’d never have. Even after all the bad that has happened to us, I feel like the luckiest woman alive to have him by my side. We are a team, now, and I feel like superwoman. Nothing can break us.

25-           Tatum
    If someone would have asked me a year ago what I’d be doing on Easter Sunday the answer would have been the same as always. Spend the entire fucking day at my parent’s house, listening to my dad and uncles fight about something, then finding a chick at a bar to fuck-n-dump, preferably at her place so I didn’t have to kick her out of mine. Had someone told me I’d spend this Easter cuddled on the couch with the woman of my dreams, not letting any of the outside world drama into our perfect bubble I probably would have thought they were drunk. Nate Savage didn’t do…this. Cuddles, sweat pants, chick flicks? Nope, he definitely did not. Yet, today has been one of the best days of my life.
                  We need this. We need to be able to sit on the couch and not worry about anything. The boxes aren’t going to unpack themselves, the dishes and laundry