Chapter 201

Liam’s POV

I fretted so much about what Isabelle could be telling Aria, that even the kids noticed me acting strangely. William asked me to help him with his math homework, but decimals and fractions all seemed out of reach for my breaking concentration.

In the end, William had to correct me a few times. “That’s not how you do that, Dad. Try it this way.”

We eventually finished the homework, but I could only hope it was passable. William seemed to have fun being the teacher for once though, so maybe he did learn something when he had to show me the right ways.

After, back in the kitchen, I work on some quick meals for the kids, who were getting hungry. I’d make a fancier dinner for Aria if she wanted, when she’d come home. I was too nervous to eat anything myself, worried I might lose anything I tried to put into my stomach.

Suddenly, I heard the front door open. As I sliced through the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before me, I tried to brace myself for the inevitable fallout.

Aria, like she had a tractor beam to my exact location, walked into the kitchen.

Just as I set the knife down, I felt two arms wrap around me from behind.

Aria closed her arms around my waist as she pressed her cheek into my back.

I went entirely still. Even my thoughts went quiet, frozen with shock.

With everything that happened, with all the scenarios that played out in my mind for how this moment would go down – Aria hugging me was not in wildest dreams. At all. Not even close.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I haven’t been very understanding of everything you’ve been going through for this family. Sometimes I even let myself believe that you wanted out.”

The words jolted me into action and I placed my hands over top of hers. “Never.”

“I haven’t been fair to you,” she said. “I let myself believe or at least be suspicious of some pretty terrible things. Lies. I should have known better, Liam. I should have believed in you without any hesitation.”

“It’s okay, Aria,” I said, unsure what was prompting all of this. As this reaction was so far from the mark of how I assumed she’d be tonight, I was equal parts relieved and filled with guilt.

Maybe Isabelle hadn’t really seen what I thought she had. I had no real idea what could have triggered this reaction from Aria.

But honestly, I was glad to have it. Carrying the weight of everything alone these past few weeks had been a terrible burden, wearing away at me like water eroding over stone. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could have endured the weight alone. If I even would have made it Sunday, I wasn’t sure.

I gently loosened Aria’s hold from me, then turned around to hold her in my arms instead. She folded perfectly into the space against my chest, as if she had been made just for me, to fit into this space. Or maybe I had been made to hold her.

The exact semantics mattered very little to me, not with her in my arms.

Yet still, even in the perfect serenity of this moment, guilt chipped away at me. I didn’t know what Isabelle saw, or Aria believed, and I was still too cowardly to ask. That meant I had to continue to keep this secret, as I would until Sunday.

I was so ready for the truth to be revealed that it ached within me, a dull pulsing throb in my ribcage.

My only solace was that once Aria knew the full truth, we could rebuild our relationship at last and be how we were always supposed to be. The two of us, and our kids, against the rest of the world.

If we could only make it until Sunday.

“I have an idea,” Aria said, leaning back. “Let’s get a babysitter and go out tonight for dinner. Just you and me.”

She so rarely suggested outings for us, especially just the two of us. This sounded suspiciously like a date. There wasn’t a chance in hell I would turn that down, guilt or no guilt.

“Okay,” I said. “I’d love that.”

She smiled, and it stole my breath away.

Aria’s POV

This felt like a special occasion, so I requested that we go to a nice restaurant where I could wear a dress and Liam a suit jacket. To me, we were celebrating, even if Liam didn’t fully know it. Even if I couldn’t explain why.

On the drive home from work, I had decided to keep what I knew a secret for now, not wanting to ruin the surprise Liam had been working on for so long. It would be too cruel to steal his thunder away.

He had been so tense when I first hugged him, but he was much more relaxed now.

In the nice restaurant, he sat across from me at a two person table covered in a white tablecloth. Some of the items in the menu were fully written in French. The menu also didn’t have prices.

This wasn’t somewhere we could have taken the kids.

While I didn’t always like restaurants like these – they seemed a bit stuffy with the crystal chandeliers and servers in tuxedos – this was the kind of place people came to celebrate. It was also the kind of place couples came to, to propose.

I couldn’t really think of anywhere better to celebrate a secret almost second-engagement.

After ordering, we talked idly for a while. Liam told me about a few work-related things, but I had other topics on my mind.

“What kind of future do you want?” I asked him.

He blinked, seemingly surprised by my change of topic. With that engagement ring presumably still in his pocket, even right now, I would have thought he’d anticipate some topics like these.

“I like things how they are,” Liam said. “Though without my working so much. You, me, and the kids. That’s all I need.”

“You wouldn’t change anything?” I asked.

“Well…” Liam cleared his throat. “Not until you are comfortable with changing things.”

I blushed a little, knowing he meant how much affection we showed each other, as well as our bedroom situation.

“I want to be beside you, Aria. Whatever that looks like.” Liam paused a moment, as if to really consider his words. “Maybe I wouldn’t mind having another kid or two.”

My blush burned my face more forcefully. The thought embarrassed me, but also pleased me. I wouldn’t mind another child or two as well.

I opened my mouth to ask more questions. “Liam, I –”

Before I could finish, a well-dressed man I had never seen before approached our table. He wasn’t wearing the tuxedo of the servers. His suit jacket looked far too expensive, and he was wearing leather loafer shoes.

“Liam, you dog,” the man said, laughing. He roughly patted Liam on the shoulder, jostling him hard. “I see know why you wanted to keep everything such a secret.”

Liam’s wild gaze shifted from the man to me, as his face paled.