Chapter 113

Aria’s POV

Under the mistletoe, Liam moved in and I didn’t move away. Slowly, gently, his lips pressed against my own. I closed my eyes at once, enjoying the warm softness of him.

The kiss itself was soft and sweet, not demanding or insisting, more a quiet gift of consent and compromise. I sighed against him, and he swallowed the noise. Tilting our heads, we separated and then came back for a second, lingering sweet kiss.

“Cooties,” William scoffed with disgust, even as Joe cheered, “It worked!”

In his excitement, Joe accidentally dropped the mistletoe. It flopped right down onto my head. In my surprise, I pulled back, breaking the kiss.

Liam looked at me for a long moment, and I looked back. We might have stared at each other all night, if William didn’t call out, “Dad, Joe, come play cars with me!”

William struggled to open the tight plastic packaging around his new present. William went to help him at once, removing the plastic and freeing the cars. With the cars on the ground, William, Joe, and Liam all moved in to claim one. Then they began their play race.

“I want to win this time,” Joe said.

“No one knows who’s going to win until the end,” William told him.

Still holding my wedding dress, I watched the scene before me unfold.

This was my family. I felt that now even more than I had before.

How easily this life with the four of us could be our future. It wouldn’t be Christmas every day, of course, but we’d surely still have dinner together, with the occasional movie night or game night. Liam and I could take turns making dinners, while the other helped the kids with their homework.

Or we’d go out to eat, a table of four. How often I wanted to go out with Liam, only to be told the restaurants were too crowded and they would be spotted.

Liam wouldn’t care about that now, even if I insisted on staying private.

Those fantasies were nice, but I couldn’t shake the past. Six years ago, I’d had fantasies too, of a perfect life together with Liam and our potential future children. At every turn, we worked to shove those dreams to the side.

Maybe he was different now, but it was difficult to place my faith in him, knowing how he had treated me in the past.

Even in this room. Yes, it was filled with Christmas joy and cheer now. But six years ago, this had been the scene of one of our many arguments about Sophia.

Sophia, who was now still separating us, even while she was in jail, her words whispering in the back of my mind.

She didn’t have to win this time. I didn’t have to let her.

Yet still those words, the mirror of the past…

We didn’t have a wedding. Was that because our marriage was rushed? Did he need to marry someone, anyone just for the sake of it? And he never told me?

I believed he had feelings for me now, regardless of what the past looked like. I held onto that belief with both hands, holding it close to me like a shield against the hurt of the past.

Maybe I could forgive. Maybe I could just forget.

I didn’t know the right answer, or the right way to move forward. If our past was this hazy, wouldn’t Liam have told me about it himself?

I couldn’t trust Sophia to tell me the truth. The woman had tried to shoot me, and she threatened to kill my kids. If I started believing her over Liam, what did that say about me?

Liam deserved the benefit of the doubt, especially for the man he had become now.

Sophia, in jail, shouldn’t be able to hurt us anymore. I had to stop letting her.

I wouldn’t let her anymore.

Standing, I let the dress unfold and then held it against me. It was a style and fashion I would have picked for myself. Liam truly did know me better than anyone else.

“You lose, Dad!” Joe laughed from the floor.

Glancing down, I locked eyes with Liam as he stared up at me, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. He was truly and utterly speechless.

“Liam…”

At once, he snapped out of his gaze. Abandoning his car and the race, he pushed himself up to his feet and walked toward me.

“Aria, you… You look like a dream I’ve had before.”

“Oh?”

Color rose slightly in his cheeks. “I, uh, just mean… You’re beautiful.”

Some disappointment lifted in me. I really wanted to hear about that dream.

Looking down at myself, I dared to ask, “Did you mean anything with this dress?”

“Like, is it a proposal?” he asked.

Panic filled me in a flash flood. I hadn’t even thought of that, but perhaps I should have. I wasn’t ready to renew our vowels, and if that was what he meant by this gesture, then –

“No,” he said, finishing his thought. “Not a proposal. Not yet. But it is a sign of how serious I am about us and our future together. I made so many mistakes before, Aria, but not this time. This time, I’m going to do this right.”

I wanted to believe him so badly that my chest ached. I hated that a whisper of doubt lingered in my thoughts.

Yet through the fog, I recalled Isabella’s words.

Was I really sure I wasn’t just trying to sabotage a good thing?

Why would I do that? What was I afraid of?

I didn’t want to be alone. I wanted Joe to have his father, and I loved being William’s mother. For what purpose would I subconsciously sabotage my own budding relationship?

The only answer I could give myself was that I was afraid of being hurt again. I could have been pushing him away to protect my heart and myself. Logically, I knew this would only lead to me hurting myself instead.

No, I couldn’t let these mean, invasive thoughts win. I cared about Liam, and he clearly cared for me. Maybe I would get hurt, staying with him, but that was the choice that I made.

“Is the gift alright?” Liam asked. “You seemed to like it before… If you want a different one, or if you want something else… Sorry, maybe I shouldn’t have presumed.”

“It’s fine,” I told him. But then, I corrected, because it was such a nice gift, it deserved better than fine. “It’s good.” Clutching it tighter to me, I corrected again, as good didn’t feel adequate enough either. “I love it.”

There, that final one. That was enough.

Liam smiled. “Ah, alright, good.”

“Dad!” William called. “Joe and I are about to start another race.”

“You better get back to them,” I said. “I wouldn’t want you to lose as a no-show.”

“An embarrassing way to lose, for sure,” Liam said. “Though I wouldn’t mind, if it meant I could keep staring at you in that wedding dress.”

My cheeks heated up in a flash so fiercely that I was certain I was blushing all the way down my neck.

Liam was the one I wanted more than anyone else. That much was as clear to me now as it had been all those years ago.

For that reason, I needed to put my doubts about him behind me, and move forward together.

Even if it lead to heartbreak again.