Marilyn
The boys had learned from Anabell that Calvin lived in a penthouse apartment in the city. Not in a house with a swimming pool, and they’d appeared to be disappointed by this news. She’d shaken her head but Anabell
had gone on to tell them that there was an indoor swimming pool inside the building, along with a proper
gym and a few other things the building featured.
That she thought Calvin lived in what she would call a man’s apartment, it was all tailored to him living there
alone. That it wasn’t set up to have a family live there with him. That he’d been living there for fore they had been born. Those words, though, had gained their undivided attention.
“But mum, didn’t you live in a house by the ocean?” Vin had frowned at her as he seemed to think it through.
“Yes,” she answered them simply.
“That house you’re talking about is Cliffside, and it’s an hour from the city,” Anabell told them. “Calvin lived in the apartment and your mother lived in the house.”
The two boys were back to frowning at her. “I don’t know.” She shrugged it off, as though she still didn’t have
any memories. She still wasn’t certain as to what to tell them about that contract marriage. She also didn’t
want them to be hounding her about meeting him because she recalled who he was.
No, that man had to be held accountable for his actions in Houston, so she was going to hold him to that restraining order, and even then she wasn’t going to tell him she knew that she recalled most of her life with. him. Was going to continue to play at being Marilyn while actually recalling being Marrin, who’d been married
to him.
She wanted to see what his intentions were, where she as Marilyn was concerned. Anabell was of the opinion
that Calvin was going to try and connect with her. Try to create a relationship with her new persona, and try
and get Marilyn to agree to date him. To have what he’d lost all those years ago, once more.
Marilyn was very curious about that. If he actually thought that he could do that, and just how was he going to do it? Considering what he’d done to her; scared and terrified her. Caused harm to come to her. Although she did know he’d not pushed her down the stairs, she’d fallen due to the circumstances of what he’d been
doing.
So, technically, though he’d not done that to her on purpose, it was still considered his fault. How did he think he could get around that or have her forgive him? He knew nothing about Marilyn, and she’d learned over the past few weeks from not only her own memories but from Anabell as well.
That Marrin and Marilyn had not only led two very different lives, that in that last year of their marriage, she as Marrin, had never denied Calvin ánything, something she thought was because she had loved him. A part
of her deep down had hoped he was in love with her as well. It was that part of her that craved to have a family of her own.
That contract marriage with him had given her a glimpse into what having a loving, caring family was like. She’d come to see by being around him and his family, his mother and father, his two sisters; at all those family dinners and birthdays. What having a family was supposed to be like.
Calvin had given her that and on some level Marilyn knew that was why Marrin had developed feelings for
III
O
<
CH 99
him. That was how they’d started to grow, spending time with him around his family. Where everyone treated her with respect, and she’d like thern, and they’d liked her, not something she’d ever had before, even he treated her differently, more affectionately around his own family.
Her feelings had gone from that of; he was a nice man, to liking him as a person, and then, in time, she’d just realised she was in love with him, and not just him, but his entire family. It had felt nice to fit in finally, and have that family life she’d craved.
That was the very trap she’d fallen into, the very thing that had seen her wanting a real family for the first
time, and then with Calvin himself, even though she knew it wasn’t going to happen. They had a contract marriage, and she shouldn’t want anything from him at all.
Marilyn sat and watched the boys run about all over the places as they were driven around the the next day, to get a good look around the area. It took half a day to do, as they stopped and got out and looked at many things. The boys were making lists of things they could see they could do here at the different towns
around the lake.
To which her usual response was “How do you think I earn money for you to do all those things you like doing?” It just made them pout at her and tell her they were bored was all.

Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Just One Kiss Before Divorcing Me (Martin and Calvin)