“But it’s not. Being with you is special and everything I want from life,” I assure her. “Our love is meant to become a tale that’ll last forever.”
She sighs and retrieves her legs hugging them. I wish I could take her in my arms, but I don’t want to cross the boundaries. I can still feel her heartbeat pulsing so slow it’s painful, just like mine. Since I’m not ready to leave, I tell her the story about Parrish.
“Maybe he was in love with your mom,” she suggests, intrigued by what I just told her.
“It doesn’t sound like he knew Mom,” I respond.
“Beacon can figure out a lot more with his private security guy,” she says.
“Do you know about him?”
She nods. “They told me the story yesterday. There is something more, but I don’t think finding out will give you the advantage. Parrish had years to prepare for this. You guys are going to have to be careful. I can’t believe your grandfather had an arrangement with William’s dad. You’re destined to be just a commodity.”
That might be what they originally wanted me to do, but it’s not what I’ll do. Not anymore. Instead, I say, “Cyril always called me Mom’s mistake, that I should learn from her and not repeat it.”
“I don’t think a kid is a mistake. We aren’t born by accident. We all come with a purpose. I was my parents, oops baby. What would you do if you had a surprise baby? Would you consider it a mistake?”
My heart beats fast, and I wonder if she’s about to give me some good news. “Who is the mom?”
“Unknown, a one-night-stand, I don’t know… It’s a hypothetical question.”
I can’t think of a stranger. I can only picture having babies with this woman and loving them. If she told me right now that she was expecting our baby, I would consider it the fruit of our love. Proof that we’re meant to be together. I’d be the happiest man in the world. Maybe I won’t be a great father like Mills, but I’d try to learn from my little brother and Sophia’s father.
“Love them, make sure they grow knowing I am proud of them, and teach them what little I know about life and everything I know about business, but give them a choice to follow their own path.”
“You’re already a different person from those men,” she assures me. “Maybe you came to change the destiny of the Merkels and be part of a new dynasty of Aldridges. You guys are going to create amazing things together. I can see it.”
“And our kids will be a part of it.”
She nods. Reaching for my arm, she says while giving it a light squeeze, “It meant a lot that you gave me your heart when you had never done that before. It’s okay to fall in love with someone else.”
“I have a theory,” I confess.
“What’s that?”
“We Aldridges only give our hearts once. I see it with Hayes and Pierce. You have mine, Take care of it while I’m away.”
I kiss her on the top of her head and leave.
Sophia
“You need to stop avoiding the house,” Blaire says.
It’s been a week since Martina moved into the mansion, and I’ve avoided visiting it because what’s the point of meeting her?
“She’s okay,” Leyla informs me. “You need to remind her this is Baker’s Creek and not fucking New York, but other than that, she’s not that bad.”
“I’m not avoiding the house,” I explain. “Aldry’s needs more attention than I thought. Also, I’ve been driving to Portland to take my cooking classes and check on the new building.”
“How’s that going?”
“The cooking…I’m not cut out for that,” I confess. “I burnt butter five times, but it’s all part of the process. At least, that’s what the instructor says each time I manage to burn the food.”
“What’s your excuse for not going to the house tonight?”
“I have a headache?” I lie.
Blaire growls. “I wish he hadn’t told you he loved you until he had gotten rid of his problem. This wouldn’t be a thing.”
“You could stay,” I offer, pulling out a tub of ice cream from the freezer. “Dessert?”
“My man is waiting for me,” she protests but grabs a spoon. Thankfully, her morning sickness has lessened, and she’s now craving sweets again. “What do you think, Leyla?”
“We’re staying. I’m not in the mood to deal with the Aldridges or Martina,” she concludes, going into the wine fridge and pulling a bottle of champagne for us then turns to Blaire and asks, “Water?”
Blaire nods and asks, “At what time do the strawberries arrive?”
I look at the clock. “They should be here soon. Are we just eating sweets?”
Henry keeps sending me a dozen chocolate covered strawberries every night. I hate him and I love him even more. I can’t seem to be able to think about anything else but him and how much I miss him.
“No, I’ll order us some food,” Leyla offers.
“Martina learned a new lesson today,” Blaire states while I’m looking at the menus.
I try not to grin because every story they tell me is better than the last one. The other day she went to the stable to feed the animals and Ally chased her all over the barn.
“Who was it this time?” I ask, taking a spoonful of the upcoming flavor peach melba and champagne. Maybe I can’t cook, but this flavor was my idea and so far, everyone has loved it. “You guys need to stop teasing her and be a little more understanding.”
“This time it was Arden,” Blaire answers. “No one does anything to her. If it were the guys, you’d be just laughing at whatever happened to them. They are also a bunch of spoiled brats learning how to live like the rest of us mortals.”
“True,” I agree.
“Anyway, Martina left her cosmetics all over the bathroom the night before. Mills was making breakfast. The guys and I were at the gym and little Arden got ahold of her stuff. He took it upon himself to apply the makeup on Martina.”
Blaire shows me a picture, and she looks like she got a bad face paint job from a carnival.
“I bet she wasn’t thrilled.”
“Nope, and she began to yell at my boy,” Leyla complains. “According to Mills, Buster put himself in front of Arden and began to bark at Martina. You know how my guy is pretty protective of Arden. It’s funny now, but it wasn’t great while it was happening. She was threatening to put my dog down and to teach Arden a lesson for being a stupid brat. I had a few words for her.”
“Her excuse is that she doesn’t know how to be around children,” Blaire explains.
“As I told her, she shouldn’t be talking like that to anyone. It was mean and just degrading,” Leyla says flustered. “Mills had a few words for her too. She’s not allowed to be close to Arden.”
“But she’s not bad,” I repeat what she said earlier.
“I’m trying to see the good in her as Blaire does. Because there’s always something good inside everyone, but that woman…she’s not great. We should start digging further to figure out how to get rid of her or one of these days I’m going to ask Ally to sit on her while she’s asleep,” she concludes.