Chapter 52

Renee’s POV

I finally build up the courage and step outside the car. “Mom look! There’s a fountain,” Debbie shoots from the top of the driveway. She poises her body like the fish spouting water. I turn towards the trunk to get the luggage and see Eric already bent over shoveling out the suitcases.

He plops them on the group and closes the trunk. “What are you doing?” He asks me. I shift on my feet realizing it looks like I’m just staring at him.

“I was going to get the suitcases,” I explain to him and move to grab mine off the driveway. Eric yanks it back and shoots me a pointed look.

“They’re heavy,” he says as though that would be new information to me. I give him a puzzled look.

“And?”

“So, you can’t carry them,” he says like it’s obvious. I stand taken aback.

“What do you mean I can’t? I carried them all over the airport, almost all the way to another state,” I add the last part bitterly. Eric mumbles something under his breath. “What was that?” I challenge him.

Eric looks me in the eye. “You shouldn’t have had to carry them,” he says angrily. Before I can respond he straps all the luggage to him and walks towards the house. Unbelievable.

“Debbie let’s go,” I call after her and make my way to the front door.

Eric unlocks the door and Debbie wiggles past us in anticipation and is the first to enter. “Whoa!” She calls out in breathless amazement. She spins in the hallway taking in the expansive room and tall ceilings. She appears to have shrunk in size.

“We’re going to live here?” She asks, her eyes filled with awe.

“No,” I say automatically. Eric laughs.

“Yes,” he says. Debbie takes a liking to his answer. Her smile grows wider and she runs throughout the house disappearing from my sight.

“I’ll take these to our room,” Eric says and I freeze. I didn’t even think about that. Not only are we going to have to share a house, we’re likely going to have to share a bedroom. This is where I draw the line.

I just spent the last five years living independently, I can’t be expected to fall back into a wife’s place. Especially not to Eric who never even treated me like a wife.

“And where is that?” I ask stepping out in front of him.

Eric doesn’t hide the annoyance on his face. “You know where the master bedroom is,” I shake my head.

“We are not sharing a room,” I protest. Eric drops the luggage.

“We’re married. Married couples share a room,” he says.

“I’m here by force,” I point out.

“Fate,” he says as though to correct me.

“What?” I ask, not sure if I heard him correctly. Eric doesn’t believe in the idea of fated-mates, or at least he didn’t.

“Debbie will have her own room and we’ll be sleeping in the same room like a true family, for Debbie’s sake,” he says and a range of emotions twist inside me.

On one hand he’s saying all the things I’ve always wanted him to say, but it’s just about five years too late. My emotions are quickly replaced by an overpowering sense of anger as I realize where Debbie’s room is.

I snort. “You mean the nursery that was built for Nilo? Your son.”

Eric picks the luggage back up and walks past me. “That’s what you think,” he says like he’s just figured something out.

I march behind him up the grand staircase that sweeps into a half circle up to the second floor.

As I embark on each step my vision becomes clouded with the memory of me descending down these stairs two at a time only to open the front door and run smack into Mia.

Thinking of her now I realize she would have a fit if she knew I was here. In fact, she must know that I’m here because I imagine Eric wouldn’t let her live here anymore now that my true identity has been discovered.

She’s probably plotting her revenge as we speak.

We reach the top of the stairs and I stop to look around. The walls are barren except for the decorated paint molded into the wall. Theres no pictures or anything personal.

Just like when I lived here there was nothing of mine hanging up and now I notice there is nothing of Mia or Nilo. I find this strange as Mia seems like the type to certainly make her territory, then again she has a taste for the finer things in life and would more quickly take to a house that oozes elegance than homeliness.

Eric turns left towards Nilos room. I only feel slightly bad for him that he was kicked out because he’s just a child.

Eric kicks the door open because he has no free arm as he still pulls all the luggage to his side. With the door open he drops Debbie’s bags to the ground.

“We can unpack her things together,” he says. I look at him like he’s crazy.

“Debbie is not staying in Niko’s old bedroom,” I protest. Eric grunts. His apathy towards his own son aggravates me. I know Mia isn’t his fated mate, but Nilo is still his own child and isn’t worth any less just because he’s not Debbie. “And where is your second family by the way? Do you have any care for them?”

At this, Eric spins around and grabs my shoulders. My heart leaps into my throat. Seeing my feet, Eric loosens his grip but his voice is still harsh and coarse.

“This isn’t Nikos old room, and they aren’t my family,” he growls. I open my mouth to argue back but Eric cuts me off.

“Niko is not my son. I let him call me dad out of pity. They never lived here, that would be a disservice and dishonorable to my dead wife,” he says and looks at me knowingly. I loo away from him and take in the baby-like room. It is a bit too young for someone of Nilos age and if he did live here surely Mia would demand it be redone to be more modern.

“Then, whose room is this?” I ask weakly, not sure if I really want to know the answer.

Eric picks up Debbie’s suitcase and opens it. He begins to take out her small pink sweaters and jean skirts. “I made this when I found out you were pregnant,” he says quietly. I’m stunned into silence. I think about what he just said.

I loo jar the room l, the green and cream colored walls, the lady bug rug. There isn’t any indication this room is for a boy or a girl which means Eric has this nursery made long before he ever met Debbie.

My silence stretches on for a beat too long. Eric clears his throat.

“I found the ultrasound picture in your purse. I thought if maybe the child could be revived, he or she would need a place to stay,” Eric says trying to keep his tone level, but it’s the most emotional I’ve ever heard him.

This room was always made for Debbie. This understanding paired with the revealed information that Mia never lived with Eric, never shared a bed with him, makes the idea of me sleeping in my old room with him much more bearable.

“I’ll go start to unpack my things,” I tell Eric and move to take my luggage but Eric intercepts me once more.

“I got it,” he says gruffly and takes the heavy bag and lugs it down the end of the hall.

I sink to the floor of the nursery. Something inside me stirs. An all too familiar old feeling, one I’ve worked very hard to suppress.