Page 50 of Daddy’s Fortitude

However, now it seemed like Kelly-Anne was making it her problem.

Aimee tried hard not to let the humiliation she felt show on her face. It wasn’t really the public announcement that Charlie had been cheating on her that made her feel queasy inside.

Everybody knew what Charlie had been doing to her. Everyone knew that he was waiting on his lover when he was found dead in that motel room.

No, it was the added injury of knowing she was carrying Charlie’s baby. Aimee had wanted a baby badly, but Charlie had always been filled with excuses.

It wasn’t the right time. They didn’t have enough money. They needed to get themselves sorted out.

After a while, she’d stopped asking. She realized now that it was probably out of a sense of self-preservation. Charlie wasn’t father material.

It wasn’t like they’d slept together in a long time. Things had become so bad that every time he touched her, it had made her skin crawl. There had been no way she would have sex with him.

“Fuck,” Honey said. “What a fucking bitch. Want me to get her?”

Aimee turned to stare at her in amazement. “What?”

“Want me to fucking teach her a lesson?” Honey’s face was fierce, and she seemed to be vibrating with a strong emotion.

Who was this woman who she’d only known for seconds, but had already attempted to defend her twice?

“I’ll help you,” Keira said. “It’s more fitting I go after her since I’m pregnant too.”

Aimee stared at them both. Then she did something that she really thought she wouldn’t do after an announcement like that. She smiled.

“Aimee,” Ammo asked. “You okay?”

“Yeah, babe, you good?” Kirsten asked.

“Why do you ask?” she said.

“Because you’ve kind of got a scary smile on your face right now,” Kirsten told her. “Because that bitch Kelly-Anne just announced she’s pregnant with your dead husband’s baby. Fuck, she’s got no class. You know what? I’m the one that’s going to teach her a lesson. I’ve owed her a beatdown since fourth grade when she told everyone that I kissed Billy-Bob Branson.”

Aimee reached over and grabbed Kirsten’s hand. “No, none of us are going to do anything to her. Any reaction only gives her power. She’s an attention hog. That’s all she wants, more attention and to hurt me. Well, she can’t hurt me.” She tossed her head back.

“That’s right, babe. Who gives a fuck what she and Charlie were up to, or if she’s pregnant with his baby? Still, I don’t know if we should bother to stay. Who wants to celebrate his life?”

That was true. She was very over Charlie and everything he’d done to her. Why should she stick around for the funeral of a man who’d treated her like dirt for the last few years? Sure, maybe she had memories of what things had been like in the beginning, but she wasn’t sure that was enough to sustain her through this.

But as she met Kelly-Anne’s gloating gaze, she also wondered if the other woman would see that as a sign that she’d hurt her. As a weakness.

Aimee stood. For a moment, she debated whether to leave or to carry on.

In the end, she decided to carry on. She wasn’t giving Kelly-Anne the satisfaction of leaving. So she stepped out past Kirsten and walked up to the podium, nodding at the funeral celebrant who was looking a little pale and sweaty. The poor guy didn’t actually live in Greasy Knob, so he had no idea about what was going on right now.

She cleared her throat, and everybody stopped talking. Kelly-Anne was still standing by the casket, her face full of superiority as she stared at Aimee.

Maybe she thought Aimee was going to address what she just said, but she wasn’t.

She glanced down at her speech but decided that there was no point in trying to read it. So she just talked.

“I first met Charlie in a bar in San Diego. He was charming. He made me laugh. He promised me the world. I believed him. I guess that’s on me. At the time, he was in the Navy, and I was on tour with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. We met up when we could and a romance developed. When he left the Navy, I decided to move to Greasy Knob with him. I thought this place was going to be amazing, a warm community where people knew each other, looked out for one another. Unfortunately, it hasn’t really been like that.”

Yep, she’d really decided to throw the baby out with the bathwater. She stared down at Kirsten, whose eyes were wide. Then to Ammo, who looked as stoic as ever. Honey had a wide smile on her face, and Keira had her hand over her mouth. She wasn’t sure if the other woman was in shock, feeling nauseous, or trying to hide a smile.

“What are you doing?” Kelly-Anne said.

“I’m giving my eulogy about Charlie. He was still my husband after all. I still have the ring. I was still married to him, lived in the same house with him. He might have slept with half the skanks in town, but I still have a right to get up here and talk about him. I’m paying for all of this, after all.”