7
" I want you, Charlie. I choose you today just the same as I chose you on our wedding day eight years ago. You are mine,” he said. “And so is this child — regardless of its DNA.” There he was. It was Cameron — my Cameron — who knelt before me with his hands on my stomach, welcoming the child within it as his own, whether it was or not. It was my husband, taking me for who I was — flaws and all. It was the man I chose, the man I would choose time and time again, in any lifetime, in any situation, reminding me before I even had the chance to forget why I really had no choice at all. "
― Kandi Steiner , What He Always Knew (What He Doesn't Know, #2)
10
" Cameron The night that fell after Charlie cut her hand, I dreamed about my father. He was standing over my mom’s lifeless body, a snarl in his lip as he shook his head at me. “I told you you were worthless,” he sneered. “She will move on. She will be fine without you — happier, even. She doesn’t want you. Just like we didn’t.” That same scene, those same words, played on repeat. Over and over he said them, and over and over I tried to shake myself from the nightmare. I couldn’t wake up, though I knew I was dreaming. I was aware of my body, of where I laid in the bed next to Charlie, of where her body touched mine. But I couldn’t wake up. Not until hours into the night, when the nightmare faded with the sound of our heat kicking on, and I bolted upright in bed. Sweat poured off every inch of me, and my breaths were erratic, like I’d just sprinted up and down our stairs for hours. I glanced at Charlie, but she was unfazed, a soft smile on her face as she slept peacefully. And though I saw her, I saw him, too. I heard him. I heard the words I always knew to be true. The next day, I cancelled the rest of my week’s sessions with Patrick. I had nothing else left to say. "
― Kandi Steiner , What He Always Knew (What He Doesn't Know, #2)
16
" I was at the fork I knew I’d eventually get to all along, the decision I never wanted to make between two choices I never knew I had before two months ago. The truth was simple. I loved them both. My heart was forever severed, destined to exist in two equal halves — one with each man. One half of me would forever be with Cameron, with the man I’d vowed to let hold me as his own until our last breaths. One half of my heart belonged to his quiet, loving heart, to the home we’d built together, to the promises we’d made in our youth — the ones we’d solidified as we grew together. The other half would always be with Reese, with the man who was never supposed to come back, the one who shook up my entire life when he did. One half of my heart belonged to his loud, passionate love, to the music we’d made, to the sins we’d committed knowing in our hearts they were right even when they felt wrong. Yes, my heart was severed, and I accepted that as my new truth. But one half beat stronger. One half had the vein that ran deepest, the love that spoke loudest, and one half held my choice in silence well before I ever admitted it out loud. The other half would always be a part of me, but in a softer way — a more subdued beating, a quieter presence, a different kind of life support. A different kind of love. "
― Kandi Steiner , What He Always Knew (What He Doesn't Know, #2)
