Chapter 170: Tough Love

That answer came too naturally.

She didn’t point it out. "Like your father said, it is for your own good."

Dorian scoffed.

"Lillian nearly destroyed you. You barely came up for air after that marriage ended. With Margot, you were a pain in the ass to everyone. You got divorced from Camille and then married someone you met in five minutes. We’re not trying to punish you."

"It certainly feels like punishment."

"We’re trying to stop you from falling apart when this ends. This is like teaching you how to live with the idea of being divorced again. You’ll survive it better this time if you’re not completely dependent on having her beside you every minute."

They thought they were preparing him to lose Naomi.

Meanwhile, only a few hours ago, Naomi had agreed not to leave at all.

"Yeah, yeah... I get it," Dorian said.

"We love you, and when you love someone, sometimes you have to make tough decisions."

"Right..."

"El!" Maurice’s voice carried from deeper inside the house.

"Coming!" Eleanor smiled, then got to her feet. "You need help?"

"No, Mum. I’m good."

"Sleep tight, love."

The second she walked away, he groaned.

He wanted his wife.

It was ridiculous how quickly that had become a problem.

He had gotten used to sleeping beside Naomi, used to reaching for her in the middle of the night, waking up and finding her hair somewhere near his face or one of her legs thrown over him.

Aside from the drive from the hospital, he had barely gotten any time alone with her all day. And they still hadn’t properly discussed what staying married actually meant.

Dorian carefully got to his feet.

Then he took the hallway leading toward Ginny’s room. Surely his baby sister would do the right thing.

Dorian knocked.

A few seconds later, Ginny opened the door just enough to stick her head through.

"Hey, bro..." She kept one hand firmly on the edge of the door, holding it nearly closed behind her.

Dorian looked at the narrow gap. "I just need Naomi for five minutes."

Ginny’s eyebrows rose. "With what?"

"I want to talk to my wife. Privately."

"You can talk tomorrow."

"Ginny. Come on. You know you love me."

"I do." Ginny gave him a bright, cheerful smile.

"And so far, I have been good to Oliver."

Ginny scoffed and rolled her eyes.

Dorian reconsidered his argument. "Okay, I haven’t punched him in the throat."

"True. And thank you."

"You’re welcome." Dorian gestured toward the door. "So, come on. Do me a solid. I’ll buy you anything."

Ginny narrowed her eyes. "Anything?"

"Within reason. I’m not your blank check."

She considered him for a moment before shifting her weight against the door. "You can talk here. I’ll leave the door open a crack."

"Ginny!"

"That’s the best I can do." Ginny smiled sweetly before disappearing back into the room.

Dorian stood in the hallway, wondering how exactly he had reached a point in his life where he needed his baby sister’s permission to speak privately to his own wife.

A few seconds later, Naomi stepped out.

She pulled the door mostly closed behind her, leaving precisely the tiny crack Ginny had demanded. "I thought this would be easy..." Naomi said immediately.

Dorian exhaled. "Yeah, me too."

She leaned against the wall beside him. "I mean, we’ve been apart for what? Twenty minutes?"

"Long enough. I’ve grown accustomed to your presence."

"Why don’t you just tell them?" she asked.

"I’d like to mess with them a little bit."

Naomi gave him an unimpressed look. "Of course you would."

Dorian held out his hand.

She placed hers in it, and he immediately pulled her toward him. She settled against his body, keeping her weight off his injured side.

"I’ve grown used to sleeping beside you," he murmured.

She lowered her head and pressed a soft kiss against his chest, just above where the bandaging began.

Then another.

Dorian rested his hand against her back.

"You’ve got twenty-four hours," Naomi said against him. "You tell them, or I will."

"Look at you putting your foot down."

"I’m serious. I can’t live like this." Naomi tilted her head back enough to look at him. "You’re next door and I can’t be with you?"

Dorian’s mouth curved. He liked that far too much. "Let’s wait until after Ginny’s wedding. I don’t want to take the attention off her."

Naomi groaned and buried her face against his chest again.

Of course he had to say something reasonable.

She hated when he did that.

It ruined perfectly good arguments.

Dorian chuckled and slid his fingers beneath her chin, gently pulling her face up until she was looking at him. "I didn’t know you were this addicted to me."

"I didn’t know either. But we can do this. We can power through, right?"

"Right," Dorian agreed reluctantly.

"We can spend time together tomorrow. But I have to go to Mass. Is there a church around here?"

"Yeah. St. Peter’s is quite close."

"Good." She nodded. "Alright... good night, then."

"Good night, babe."

Dorian pulled her back before she could move away and kissed her properly. His hand settled against the back of her neck as his mouth covered hers, deep and slow enough that Naomi immediately forgot the entire purpose of saying goodnight.

She leaned into him, completely willing to ignore the ridiculous family-imposed separation.

It didn’t even last ten seconds. The bedroom door flew open.

"I knew it!"

Dorian groaned against Naomi’s mouth.

Naomi immediately started laughing.

"Get in here, young lady. Not under my roof!" Ginny snapped her fingers like an eighty-year-old grandmother catching two teenagers behind the church hall.

Naomi laughed harder. "Ginny!"

"Nope. Come on."

"You’re going to hell," Dorian informed her.

Ginny grabbed Naomi by the wrist and pulled her toward the room. She stuck her tongue out at Dorian the second time that night before shutting the door directly in his face.

Dorian stood there staring at it.

Unbelievable.

His own sister.

Traitorous little menace.

He sighed and finally turned around. He headed to his room, undressed carefully and climbed into bed, immediately noticing how wrong everything felt.

The bed was too big. It was too quiet. Sleep refused to come.

His body was exhausted. His ribs hurt. The medication was supposed to knock him out eventually, and every doctor who had spoken to him had emphasized rest. His brain, unfortunately, had other plans. He kept thinking about the conversation in the Range Rover.

Naomi had said yes to staying married.

Though surprising, that should have settled everything. Except it hadn’t.

They still hadn’t talked about what staying married actually meant.

Were they simply removing the expiration date from what they already had? Would they actually build a life together?

Would she want children someday?

He had never seriously pictured children before. With Lilian, they were just finishing law school and had their whole lives ahead of them.

Would they live completely as husband and wife except for one inconvenient fact?

She didn’t love him.

He tossed and turned for what felt like hours, his brain refusing to receive the memo that his battered body needed sleep for the medication to actually do its job.

Eventually, Dorian reached for his phone.

He opened Naomi’s messages and stared at the screen for a moment before typing.

Asleep?

Her response came shortly after. Can’t seem to do it without you.

Dorian smiled at the screen. Is Ginny asleep?

Yeah.

Sneak out.

What if she wakes up and doesn’t find me in bed?

He stared at the message.

Then typed exactly what he felt.

I don’t care. I need you.

Coming.

Dorian dropped his phone onto the bedside table and settled back against the pillows.

A few minutes later, the bedroom door opened slowly.

Naomi slipped inside and shut it behind her as carefully as possible.

"Hey, Mrs. Heathcliffe..."