Mark came from money and a different set of circumstances from anything she’d ever known. Of course, he had an amazing house and cars that she was certain cost a lot of money. But he’d never made her feel as if he was better than her because of it. She had found him to be very levelheaded and . . . normal. He cooked when the situation called for it, he cleaned up after himself, and yes, he had a driver, but in his defense, he spent a lot of his travel time working. She’d also heard Denny mention the company plane, but again, that was to be expected of a man in his position. He owned a company and had to travel sometimes at the last minute. He didn’t lord it over her and brag about the riches that were available to him. He was just Mark, the man who made her feel better than she ever had about herself. The man who called her “Angel” and treated her like one.
His parents, though—that was a different story. He’d told her that his father would make her mother look nice, but she hadn’t actually believed it until today. Marcus DeSanto was a nasty piece of business. She wasn’t as certain about his wife. Celine DeSanto had tried to defuse the situation and had apologized for her husband. Then she’d literally hauled him away. From the conversations Crystal had had with Mark, she didn’t think that was a usual occurrence. Maybe Marcus had even gone so far this time as to have embarrassed his wife.
She’d always thought that the disdain her mother showed her was an isolated incident. Bill’s parents, while being aloof and rather cold, had never been ugly. She didn’t get the sense from them that they were disappointed that he’d married her. She didn’t think it really mattered much to them either way. And they’d never been insulting over anything—even the divorce.
Looking back, Crystal realized now that she had loved the idea of escaping her mother more than she’d actually loved Bill when she got married. For years, that had been enough for her. She’d been content to take the scraps of affection he’d tossed her way because it was preferable to being at home and constantly criticized by her mother. It had also been one of the first times in her life that her mother had seemed almost proud of her. Or at the very least, she hadn’t been as disappointed. But when Ella and Declan had shown her what true love actually looked like, that had been the end of that happy bubble. She’d wanted Bill to be more like Declan—which hadn’t worked at all. And in truth, it wasn’t really his place to change. He had stayed exactly the man she’d married. If anything, he had more right to argue that she wasn’t the woman he’d married.
Poor Bill. Even though she was a bit pissed that he’d run straight to her mother over her quitting the counseling sessions, she couldn’t really hate him for it. He’d been reeling since she’d asked for a divorce, and he had yet to recover. She didn’t think it was because he was heartbroken as much as he was struggling to adjust to the change in his life. He couldn’t fathom why she was suddenly not content to be his wife. She’d been truthful when she’d told him the day she left him that they both needed to be free to find what they were looking for. When he did finally move on, she sincerely hoped he would meet the one for him—because it wasn’t her. That had never been clearer to her than it was now. After being with Mark, she couldn’t go back to settling again for less than what she needed. She knew what true passion, desire, and—God help her—love felt like. It was a fire that consumed you. It took your very worst parts and made them into something new—better than you had ever been before. The fire burned so brightly, you wondered if you’d survive the flames. And rolled up within all of those exhilarating feelings was the counterbalance of peace. Just a feeling of knowing that you’d found the ultimate connection. The one that would spin you higher than you’d ever been before and then be waiting to catch you as you came down.
With these thoughts racing through her head, Crystal pushed the cover back and slid from Mark’s bed. Even at her worst moments, she’d never been the type to hide away from the world, and this wasn’t the time to start. She quickly splashed some water on her face in the bathroom before running a brush through her hair. Then she went in search of Mark.
She had almost given up and was going to get her phone to call him when she noticed someone sitting on the back deck facing the beach. She halted and turned that way, silently opening the door and walking barefoot across the warm wood to where he was seated. She ran a hand over his shoulder, letting him know she was there, before saying softly, “I was wondering where you were. I couldn’t find you.”