Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 77398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
“Through the years I thought about you often, but life got in the way. Don’t think for one second I ever forgot about you or your parents. You and your family are a part of me. You always have been, you always will be. Do you understand me?”
I nodded. “I do. This all explains so much. I just don’t understand why Bailey would want me in your home.”
“She knew I loved you.”
“What are you saying?”
“You heard me.”
“But you said… I mean… this morning, you said you’d always love your wife.”
“I will, Cami, but you took what I said in the wrong context and instead of talking to me about it, you ran from me.”
“I honestly don’t know what you want me to say, Aiden. I just feel in my heart that I’ll never be good enough for you. And I refuse to be second place in anyone’s life. I deserve someone who can love me wholeheartedly and someone whose wife won’t be a shadow in our relationship. Bailey will always be an obstacle between us. You know it as much as I do… and as much as it kills me to have to say this to you,” I halted, taking a deep breath. Needing the strength and willpower for what I was going to divulge next.
With tears in my eyes, I declared, “I quit, Aiden.”
<>Aiden<>
“Like fucking hell you do.”
“Please, just hear me out.” She put her shaking hands on my chest. “I will always be a part of your kids’ lives, always. I’ll visit, go to some of their functions, be an active family friend, but I can’t work for you anymore. It’s what I’ve been thinking about all morning, and now to learn that Bailey is the reason I even work for you in the first place. It finally all makes sense. She knew my family, our dynamic, our unity, where family is over everything. She brought me into your home to fix it. And I did. You’re back. You’re the father they always had. The man you always wanted to be. You’re a family again. You don’t need me anymore.”
“You’re so fuckin’ wrong.”
“I can’t do it any longer, Aiden. I can’t compete with your once-in-a-lifetime love. It’s not fair to me and I still don’t know what happened to Bailey.”
I stood and grabbed her hand. “Come on.”
“What? Where are we going?”
“It’s time.”
“Time for what?”
There was no hesitation in my mind.
In my soul.
In my heart.
When I replied,
“For you to know our love story.”
Chapter 26
<>Aiden<>
Then
I made my way into her home like a man on death row with my two sons and daughter beside me. Jackson held our one-month-old baby girl in his arms as we silently proceeded down the narrow hallway.
I couldn’t breathe.
I couldn’t fucking breathe.
Every last part of me hurt with agonizing pain, but I stayed strong for our kids. Not showing any emotion, although I was physically dying inside. No husband should outlive their wife, no child should live without a mother.
I was at a loss.
Silently cursing God, hoping this was a nightmare I would soon wake up from. A God-awful fucking dream.
Something…
Anything…
Other than what was actually happening right now.
In that moment.
In that second.
In that instant.
I would have sold my soul to the devil. I would have traded places with her. I would have done anything to keep her heart beating.
Her mind clear.
Her organs intact.
Breathing.
Living.
Alive.
Through my tunneled vision, I took in my surroundings. Knowing deep in my heart I failed my kids, myself, and her…
My soulmate.
The closer we got to her room, the more I felt like I was going to detonate, to shatter right then and there.
I was there, but I wasn’t.
Holding on for dear life.
Each step that brought us closer to her, felt like each step to my own demise.
My stomach dropped.
My heart was now in my throat.
Bile rose, but I swallowed it back down.
I just kept moving like I was on autopilot.
Seeing her face, hearing her voice, feeling her love in the back of my mind, was a fate far worse than death itself. I couldn’t stop it. I didn’t want to because it kept her there with me.
Image after image.
“I’ll share my dinner with you.”
Memory after memory.
“I don’t like to be by myself either. It really sucks, but I can come under there with you, and then we can hide from the mean boy together.”
Our love story flashed before my eyes.
“I hate my name. It’s so stupid. It sounds like I’m a belly button, but I’m not. I’m a girl, see?” Tugging on her hair that was in pigtails, she blinked her long, big eyelashes at me. “I don’t look like a belly button, right?”
She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
“No one has ever called me beautiful, Aiden Pierce! Now we’re going to have to get married.”
Each memory was worse than the last.