Among All The Stars I Found You Chapter 25
The first time Preston brought me to a formal event as his wife was a few months before the baby was born.
I stood at the entrance, so nervous I wanted to turn and run.
He didn’t rush me.
He just held out his hand.
“Mrs. Rhodes?”
I placed my hand in his.
There were a lot of people in the ballroom I recognized.
There were also quite a few who had laughed at me in the alumni group.
When they saw me, their expressions turned awkward.
Preston acted as if he didn’t notice.
He led me to the center of the room.
“This is my wife, Selena.”
No Patrick.
No Juliette.
And no mysterious, hidden wife.
Only my name.
Someone came over and apologized in a low voice.
“What we said in the group before—we were just joking.”
“I didn’t think it was funny.”
The smile on her face froze.
The old me would have rushed to say it was fine.
But this time, I didn’t feel the need to make the people who hurt me feel better.
On the drive home, Preston kept smiling.
“What are you smiling at?”
“You looked beautiful tonight.”
“Wasn’t I beautiful before?”
He instantly stopped smiling.
“You were beautiful before, too.”
I deliberately ignored him.
After a moment, he took my hand and lifted it to his lips.
“Selena, I was a coward.”
“I was afraid people would call you Patrick’s wife, and I was afraid you’d leave after finding out the truth.”
“But the more I tried to hide you, the more I made you feel like you had to be hidden.”
I looked out the window and didn’t answer right away.
Some wounds don’t vanish with a single apology.
But he was finally willing to admit that those wounds were real.
And that was the first step toward our new beginning.Â