Chapter 110

Aria’s POV

Before I could get lost in my thoughts overmuch, Liam’s voice sounded out from the living room.

“Aria! Come take a look at this.”

I looked at Isabella again.

“Go on,” she said with a grin. “Have fun. I’ll finish up here and join you guys when I’m done.”

“You sure?” We always made the eggnog together.

Isabella rolled her eyes. “Go on! I won’t mess this up.”

I believed that, trusting her, so with her consent, I left her to finish up while I ducked into the living room.

Liam, Joe, and William were circled around an opened box on the couch. As I came closer, and saw what was inside, I stopped.

I recognized those ornaments…

“You kept these…” I said, my voice an awed whisper, as I stepped closer to the couch and those precious ornaments set in a box on top of it. Some of them were from the year we were married. The rest came from the years after.

“Why would I get rid of them?” he asked. “They were only half mine, and they were special. It didn’t feel right to throw them away.”

“So you kept them in the attic?” Some were looking a bit dusty, but they were all mostly preserved, like a time capsule from six years past.

“Yeah. If we hadn’t reconnected, they’d still be there. I was never going to get rid of them.”

My heart ached, hearing the quiet acceptance in Liam’s voice. He had resolved with himself to never discard those ornaments.

Sophia must have been messing with me. A man who would keep his ex-wife’s ornaments for six years with no intention of disregarding them didn’t seem like the kind of man who had only married that wife for convenience. There had to have been love between us, just as the love between us now could be real.

“What’s this one?” Joe asked, holding up a clear ornament with a small house inside. Shaking the ball made glitter fall like snow down onto the roof of the house. Near the bottom of the ball, a date was written in silver pen. The year was different, but the month and day matched today.

“That was from when your mom and I first got together,” Liam said. “Our first Christmas as a legitimate family.”

Our marriage ceremony had been as secretive as the rest of our relationship, but in that case, I hadn’t totally minded. Instead of paparazzi flashes and strangers shouting what I hoped would be well-wishes, we were surrounded by our closest friends.

It had felt special to me then, even if it had been rushed and in a courthouse.

It should still feel special to me now. Damn Sophia for tarnish an otherwise perfect memory.

“What do you say, Aria?” Liam asked. “Want to hang it up together, like we did that first year?”

Joe handed the ornament to Liam who added the hook to the string then gestured for me to join him at the tree.

Pushing my doubts to the side, I moved to his side. He held the ornament out toward the tree, halfway toward me. I placed my hand over his and moving together, we pushed it forward, attaching the hook over one of the branches. As we stepped back, we watched it sparkle, with the lights on the tree sitting behind it, flashing.

Liam didn’t hurry to move his hand away from mine, nor mine from his. Subtly, he turned his hand around so that his fingers slipped between mine and our hands clasped together. I held his hand too.

I glanced sideways at Liam, watching the lights from the tree reflect in his eyes. God, he was still handsome, even after all these years. In fact, the age looked good on him. He seemed more relaxed and happier than he ever did back then. Even when he laughed and smiled then, he still seemed on edge.

Now, when he smiled, it felt more genuine.

“Do you remember that day?” I heard myself asking.

He turned his head to look at me. “Yes,” he said.

I wanted to ask more, like how he felt that day, if there was more to it than I knew. But at the same time, I would have thrown myself off of something before ruining this moment.

The tree and the lights and Liam… so perfect…

I glanced down at his lips without meaning to. As if on reflex, he did the same to me.

“What’s this?” Joe asked, suddenly claiming both of our attentions.

We turned to look at him. He had continued to dig through the decorations apparently, and had dug up an old fake sprig of mistletoe.

“Isn’t that the stuff people hang up and then kiss under?” William asked.

“Dad? Should we hang it up?” Joe asked, mischief sparkling in his eyes. It matched the mischief shining now in Liam’s.

Apparently, they were both up to some shenanigans here. I wasn’t going to have that, not tonight, not when I almost kissed Liam twice already. So I stepped forward and held out my hand for the mistletoe.

Joe shrunk a little, like he’d been caught doing something bad, and handed it over.

“This,” I said, waving it around more to Liam than to Joe. “Does not come out until Christmas Eve, alright?”

“Yes, dear,” Liam said, like he was being punished too.

“Yes, Mom,” Joe said, parroting Liam’s lilting tone.

Mostly joking now, I wave it around some more, looking sternly at Joe and at Liam. Then I set the mistletoe back in the box.

I grabbed another ornament while I was there, and took it to the tree. While I was placing it, I noticed movement behind me.

When I returned to the box to get another ornament, I noticed the mistletoe was missing and Joe was looking everywhere but at my face.

Maybe I should have called him out. After all, I did say not until Christmas Eve and he was directly disobeying me. But, on the other hand, I couldn’t deny the kid some harmless fun.

I just hoped I spotted it before I wound up under any doorframes with Liam. I’d have to be careful moving forward.

Joe, believing he got away with something, started helping more enthusiastically, with a bounce in his step.

“I’ll take the kids Christmas shopping this weekend,” Liam said.

“I don’t mind going,” I said. The stores were always more crowded during the holidays but, other than the basic annoyances, I never had a problem with that.

“I’m not trying to make you feel excluded, but you can’t come,” Liam said.

Hurt started to set in. “Why not?”

Seeing my hurt, he spoke quickly, “Because we’re going to buy presents for you, Aria.”

“Oh.” Just like that, the hurt vanished.

I’d been on my own for so long that I had never really known what it felt like to let someone else take my kid shopping for a present for me. Usually, we had to buy my present together.

How sad, that I hadn’t even considered it a possibility before.

“Okay,” I said, “But only if I can take them on Sunday then for a present for you.”

“Agreed,” Liam said, smiling again.

“Presents! Presents!” the kids started to cheer.

Watching Liam and the kids, I hoped these good feelings could last forever.