Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 116046 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 580(@200wpm)___ 464(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116046 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 580(@200wpm)___ 464(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
“Ramón,” Joy said with exasperation heavy in her voice. “Are you even listening to me?”
“I am.”
“Are you going to be nice to your mom?”
Ever since my mom’s revelation, things had been tense between us. While I wasn’t a big enough of a bastard to try to cut her out of my family’s life—the girls and Joy adored her—that didn’t mean I had to be welcoming. While I was civil to her, Joy had picked up on the underlying hostility, but she didn’t press me on why I was upset with my mom. She was used to there being things I couldn’t talk about with her. While she didn’t like it, she accepted it. At least, she used to accept it.
“I am nice to her.”
Joy rolled her eyes, then handed me Alexa so she could pack up the diaper bag, her pale pink dress swishing attractively around her full hips. “Seriously? You wouldn’t even speak to her at Christmas other than hello and goodbye.”
I focused on the baby in my arms, not wanting to meet my wife’s overly astute gaze. “I wished her a merry Christmas.”
Joy snorted. “And at Easter, she tried to hug you and you dodged her like a quarterback evading the opposing team’s lineman.”
“Did not.” I sounded petulant even to myself, so I sighed and shook my head. “Sorry, you’re right.”
“So, what happened? Why are you so mad at her?”
In my arms, Alexa began to wiggle, so I started rocking. She settled right down, her gentle weight in my arms easing the bitterness in my heart. “She did something that pissed me off.”
“Will you tell me what she did that made you so mad you’d give her the silent treatment for almost a whole year?”
“It happened a long time ago…something she did without my permission. Something that could have hurt you.”
She went quiet as she grabbed a stack of diapers from the changing table. “Did she finally tell you about the programming?”
I stared at Joy while she continued to straighten the room like she didn’t have a care in the world. “What?”
“Ramón, I know all about it. She told me years ago, after I had Lillian.”
Stunned, I began to rock so fast Alexa grumbled a complaint, so I slowed down while soothing her. “You knew? She told you?”
When Joy looked at me, the expression on her face wasn’t one of anger or betrayal, but compassion with a hint of exasperation. “Yes, and while I was plenty mad, I understood why she did it.”
“What did she tell you she did?”
Joy crouched down in front of me, placing one hand on my knee, and the other over my arm holding a now sleeping Alexa. “She didn’t tell me, she showed me the recording she made while programming me…and she showed me the recording of when you programmed me, as well.”
Making a little unhappy sound, Alexa shifted in my arms as I tensed, waiting for Joy’s well-earned wrath. “I…I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. I heard what you said, what you tried to do. You never cared about my loyalty, you only mentioned it once. Instead you tried to heal me, to make me believe that I was brave, strong, wonderful, that I could do anything. You weren’t trying to make me into a robot or rob me of my freewill, you were trying to build me up the best way you knew how. Everything you said to me that day, you said out of love and a desire to protect me and make me happy.” She gave my knee a reassuring squeeze. “That doesn’t mean I’m not pissed that you hid it from me all this time, that you didn’t trust me with the truth. You should have told me.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I wanted to give you a chance to tell me yourself.”
I groaned and reached out with my free hand, cupping her cheek and stroking her skin with my thumb. “I was going to.”
“When?”
“Um, after the girls got married?”
Laughing softly, Joy rolled her eyes. “Ramón.”
“I didn’t want to lose you. I thought if I waited that long, you’d know in your heart that we were meant to be, that our family was meant to be. That I didn’t brainwash you into loving me.”
“I already know that, silly. And you can’t brainwash someone into loving you. Hannah said that’s not how it works. Considering Leo is the one who came up with the whole crazy idea, she would know.”
“You’ve talked to Hannah about this?”
“Of course, but she’s the only one. I haven’t mentioned it to the other wives.” She cocked her head to the side. “Were they programmed, as well?”
I nodded. “They were.”
She stroked her finger along my leg, my cock twitching at the touch. “The same way Hannah and I were?”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t part of their programming.”
She sucked in her lips and began to fidget. “I have something I need to tell you, as well.”