Page 96 of Remiss

“I’ll talk to her, Aunt Meggie,” Mattie said, glaring at Gypsy and hurrying behind Rebel.

“Meggie, I’m sorry,” Gypsy started around a gulp. “I didn’t mean–”

“Pack you things,” Meggie said coldly. “I want you gone in the next hour,” she declared and stormed away.

Gypsy burst into tears. “I didn’t mean it!”

“Shut the fuck up and get the fuck out,” Roxy said with annoyance, pouring the last of the wine into her glass.

“But–”

“As soon as we get home, I’m telling Diesel that you upset Reb,” Axel declared. “He might not be as mad if I can tell him you left like Mom ordered.” He got out of his seat and stomped away.

Sitting at the kitchen counter after she placed the last of their dinner plates in the dishwasher and turned it on, Meggie’s mind whirled. Before she left, Gypsy offered a tearful apology, though Meggie was still too angry to accept it.

Gypsyknewhow Meggie felt about her affair with Diesel,andshe’d hurt Rebel by blurting what had happened. Rebel wassuffering enough. She didn’t need a grown woman who didn’t have the sense God gave a bird, to poop on her feelings.

How dare Gypsy! Logically, Meggie knew Gypsy had been thinking out loud, her desperation to be number one in Derby’s life all-consuming.

But Meggie was tired of being logical. Where had that gotten her except overlooked and disrespected? As angry as she was with Gypsy, she understood what drove her. She’d gone to Rebel and found her outside in the garden with Mattie. Rebel didn’t want to talk to Meggie, so she’d left the girls alone, came to her room to calm herself, and then returned to the dinner table.

As for Diesel, he was a grown man by the time he slept with Gypsy. Had he been a grown man when hemetGypsy, Meggie still would’ve side-eyed the relationship. Gypsy was Derby’s, no matter what he put her through. And Diesel was big on aesthetics. Torie fit his type—a beautiful face and a beautiful figure. Gypsy didn’t. Even if there was no Derby, Diesel would’ve kept her hidden and just used her for sex. He would’ve completely destroyed what little self-esteem she had left.

But Diesel had beenfifteenwhen Gypsy met him. A point Meggie couldn’t get over and lived in her brain every time she was confronted with their affair. It was as gross as the idea of Diesel and Rebel.

Meggie hadn’t talked to CJ about much lately, but she was almost certain he still wanted whatever Rebel wanted. If that was Diesel, then…

Wrinkling her nose, Meggie sighed. Hopefully, once Tabitha was no longer his wife, the new woman would end the possibility…

She shoved that thought aside, since she’d considered it earlier and decided to take a wait-and-pray attitude.

“Hey, sugar.”

At the sound of Roxy’s voice, Meggie glanced in the direction of the door that connected to the sunken dining room.

“Hey.”

Without a word, Roxy walked to Meggie and took her in her arms. Meggie held onto her and sobbed. Roxy had been more of a mother figure than Dinah had ever been.

“Get it all out, baby,” Roxy soothed. “It’s okay.”

“It isn’t,” she cried. “I miss him so much, but I just can’t…”

Roxy tightened her arms around Meggie. “Do you want to divorce Outlaw?”

“No! I want him to remember what I mean to him. I want him to show me respect so the guys will too.”

“And if he doesn’t? If this is your new normal?”

“I don’t know.” But she did, and the thought almost broke her. She couldn’t imagine life without Christopher.

“You do, sugar,” Roxy said gently, then dropped her arms and took Meggie’s face between her hands. “You’re strong. You’re like your daddy in so many ways. Able to make tough decisions. However, Outlaw is smart. He’s going to remember this lesson. When you get back home, I think he’ll be willing to do anything you ask of him so you’ll never leave him again.”

“He doesn’t want me to have the surgery.”

Irritation crossed Roxy’s face and she stepped back, then folded her arms. “What doyouwant, baby? It’s your body. You have the final say.”

Meggie hung her head. “My entire life is wrapped around my husband and my children. Everyone blames me for all the babies and forget the times whenIdidn’t want more children, but Christopher did. Then Johnnie made me believe all that stuff about what Christopher did and didn’t want. CJ was furious with me. I told Jordan I wanted my last pregnancy to be filled with good memories. We had an entire plan.”