Aaron
I rolled over just in time to see Julia getting out of the bathroom. She didn’t have a towel wrapped around her as she dried her hair. The instant she saw me awake, her face lit up. I couldn’t suppress a smile from spreading across my own face. Immediately, the memories from the night before came flooding back and my desire for her renewed.
A light rapping came from the front door, ending the thought before I could really even get started. Julia smiled and pulled on a robe as I dashed to the bathroom and closed the door, still naked from the night before. I heard Amy’s chipper young voice just as I tugged on my jeans and shirt. She barely looked away from her mother when I came back out into the room.
“Amy was just telling me about another adventure she wanted to go on today. I told her we could talk to you and see what you thought.”
“All right, well, why don’t you tell me about that, and we can let your mom have a few minutes to get dressed?”
“Why were you naked, Mom?” she asked, looking past me to Julia.
Julia smiled. “I just got out of the shower, silly.”
She was so quick to answer that I was a little shocked.
“Okay,” Amy said carelessly. “Well, hurry up. Dad is going to love this!”
Amy dashed back out of the room before I could say anything else to her. I looked back at Julia and grinned. She took a step away from me before grinning. I knew that she was thinking about the night before just as much as I was.
“Damn, I was hoping for a replay,” I whispered to her.
She bit her lip and grinned. “Maybe later. We’ve got a very excited little girl down there.”
“Can I get that in writing?” I asked with a grin.
Julia rolled her eyes and playfully shoved me out of the bathroom. I laughed and grabbed my wallet before jogging down the steps that led to the beach to see what Amy had planned. She was bouncing on her barstool as my mother poured her some juice. A local man smiled when he saw me.
“You’ll have your hands full with that one, mate,” he said with a wink.
“Don’t I know it. She is just like her mother,” I said playfully. It felt good to make the comparison without anger or guilt over Julia’s absence.
“All right, kiddo, so what do we have planned for today?”
She leaned in very carefully, checking around to see if anyone was listening. I obliged and leaned in to hear what she was planning.
“We’re going to find out the secret,” she said.
My mouth felt dry. “What secret?”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t be silly, Dad. I know that something is going on, and today, I’m going to find out what.”
I looked around nervously. “And your mom said this was okay?”
“Of course she did. She even said we could get some disguises.”
I cocked my head. I was lost. “So, who are we following then?”
“Grandma,” she huffed out, exasperated that I hadn’t yet grasped the entire plan. “I want to find out if she is meeting a spy today. She said it was a secret!”
“Ah,” I said with a genuine sigh of relief. “Well, then, we have to do what we must. I can’t believe she might be a spy! Right here in our own back yard. Who would have thought?”
Amy gave me a sideways glance. “Dad?” she huffed. “Really? This isn’t our backyard. This is a boat. Get your head in the game, man.”
I couldn’t hold it in any longer as I burst out in laughter. My eyes started to tear over from laughing so hard. When I could finally breathe again, I patted my little tomboy on the head as she swatted away my hand.
“We’ve got to stop letting you watch CSI, kiddo,” I managed to say.
Julia appeared from the house and waved to us as she started to walk across the beach. I couldn’t help but grin.
“Do you think Mom is going to leave us again?” asked Amy in a much more somber tone.
I looked back at her and saw the little girl who needed my protection. “I don’t know yet, honey. Why don’t we just enjoy this week? You know she talks about you all the time when you aren’t around? Super annoying,” I joked.
Amy grinned up at me. “I like her, and I know you do too. Maybe we can talk to her and see if she’ll stay this time.”
“Let’s just give her a little time. I promise we’ll figure it all out. You shouldn’t be worried about stuff like that. Especially when we have a mission to complete, or are you so easily scared away?”
Amy shook her head vigorously. “I’m gonna go grab my spy kit! Then we can get started! Hi, Mom,” she called as she dashed back toward the cabins.
Julia laughed as the whirlwind little girl blew by her. “Whoa! She sure was in a hurry.”
She sat down at the bar. “Did you find out about our mission?”
I nodded. “I did find out about it, and I have to say, I think it’s a great idea.”
“Really?” she said in surprise. “I thought you’d be telling us to give an old lady her peace.”
“That was before her work really started to sell. Now she’s something of a celebrity. It’s made her a bit of a target for conmen looking to take advantage of her. A few years ago, I practically had to run a guy off with a pitchfork.”
Her eyes grew wide. “Wow! That’s terrible! Well, I’m sure your mother is still flattered though. She is a unique character. So, what do we know about this guy?”
“Not much, just that she keeps referring to him as her ‘hot young thing’.” I frowned. “Even around Amy. That’s a fun one to explain. So, I planned on snooping around today anyway. Now it’s a fun family outing.”
She laughed, her face lighting up in the moment of abandonment. “What a strange little family we’re. At least it’s making Amy happy, right?”
“Yeah,” I said, my tone slightly more somber. “She was asking questions about you.”
Julia shifted uneasily. “Oh?”
“Yeah, she wanted to know if you were leaving again after vacation. That wasn’t something we really talked about.”
“Wow, that’s a loaded question first thing in the morning,” she said. “How did you reply?”
“I told her to enjoy her time here, then I distracted her with spy stuff. It won’t last. She’s a smart girl and she’ll keep pressing for answers. It’s not that I don’t love having you here, but Julia, you’re going to need to make a decision, a plan for what happens when this boat docks in a few days.”
“I know,” she whispered as she looked at her hands. “I just don’t know what to do right now.”
“It’s simple. Come back with us,” I said softly. Amy came running back down to where we were.
“Are we ready?” she asked.
Julia nodded and followed after her, holding out her hand for me to take. It didn’t take us long to track down my mother on the small island. She was sitting alone at the bar, talking to the young man behind the counter. When she leaned in to whisper something to him, I quickly turned away and covered Amy’s eyes with my hand.
“You know what? I’m starting to think this wasn’t a very good idea,” I quickly said. “Julia?”
“Right,” she said, catching on at once. “Amy, I think your dad has it under control here, and I heard that there is a special afternoon buffet back on the ship. They said something about all-you-can-eat pizzas.”
She looked quizzically at her mother. “Pizzas? As in more than one?”
Julia nodded. “More toppings than you’ve ever seen, custom-made just for you.”
Amy abruptly turned around and looked me over. “Dad, I’m afraid you’re going to have to carry on this mission alone. Mom and I have to do something else that’s important.”
“Pizza?”
She leaned in closer to me, using the now familiar spy voice. “Pizzas, Dad—more than one.”
“All right, you two, go live the good life and I’ll be the working man,” I said playfully. I gave Amy a quick hug and kissed Julia on the cheek before watching them go.
A few minutes later, I was walking up to the bar and taking the seat next to my mother. Her attitude dropped in a matter of seconds when she saw me. The familiar eye roll that Amy had inherited showed up as I sat down. She was less than thrilled to see me, which told me one thing already—she knew I wouldn’t approve of her new boyfriend.
“Are you having a good time, Mother?” I asked, barely hiding a grin.
“You know,” she hissed, “You’re starting to act like one of those sons who’s only after their mother’s money.”
“Mom,” I groaned. “You know it’s not like that, but remember what happened last time? I just want to make sure that you aren’t getting taken advantage of.”
“Well I’m not, honey. I’m just having a little bit of vacation fun.”
I sighed and leaned over. “With the bartender? Really? I mean come on, Mom. These guys get paid to spice things up.”
“Aaron!” she hissed. “Don’t be ridiculous! My date was running late. His sister slipped in the pool this morning.”
“Oh,” I said, drawing back a little.
“For heaven’s sake! He should be here any minute, and I would appreciate it if my loving, yet overprotective son wasn’t here playing detective. I am an adult, you know.”
“Mom,” I said quickly, trying to make amends.
She turned up her nose but let a smile slip past the stern exterior. I knew she wasn’t really mad. Raising my hands in defeat, I stood up and kissed her cheek. “I don’t want to stick around and ruin things. So, when do we get to meet this mystery man?”
“Tonight, actually. I invited him to have dinner with us,” she said defiantly. “That is, unless you scare him away before that.”
“All right, I get the point. I guess I’ll go find the girls.”
“Well now, just hold on. Why don’t you spend a little time on your own? You never really get that, and I think it’s great for Amy and Julia to get some time together. You’re always acting like you’re chaperoning them.” She gave me a suspicious gaze. “It’s almost like you’re scared she’s going to run off with Amy or something. Is everything okay between you two?”
“Everything is fine, Mom,” I said quickly. “We just don’t get a lot of time together as a family. I want to get in as much as possible.”
“I understand,” she said as she patted my hand. “But they need time to heal and grow together too. Let yourself take a little break, honey. It’s my vacation, after all, so I demand it.”
“Man,” I muttered playfully. “You’re getting pushy in your old age.”
“So, send me to a home already,” she shot back.
I laughed and disappeared, leaving her to the mystery date she was so excited about. It was strange to have free time. In five years, there wasn’t a second that I wasn’t with Amy or worried about her. My mother had gotten it completely wrong. I wasn’t worried that Julia would take Amy. I just didn’t know how to live a life with a co-parent anymore. What was I giving up?
Julia
“What about sardines?”
Amy crunched up her face and shook her head vigorously. “No way, those are disgusting!”
I laughed. “You know your dad absolutely loves them. He even eats them out of a can.”
“I know, and they stink up the entire house. He has to take out the trash or I can still smell them everywhere.”
“Boys. They never grow out of being gross. Remember that,” I said playfully.
The waiter brought over two small pizzas, slightly bigger than the size of a Lunchables one but freshly baked with different toppings. It was our third serving, and the combinations were endless. I would run out of stomach space before noon. It was amazing to spend time with Amy. She was so much like her father it continued to stun me. The same cheerful personality and easygoing nature were inside her. It felt good to know that she’d landed his outgoing nature and not my own reclusiveness.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure, honey, anything you want,” I said absentmindedly. It felt so natural to be talking with her.
“What kind of stuff did you really do while you were gone? I know that you weren’t doing the doctor thing like Dad says.”
“What makes you think that?”
She shrugged. “You’re too interesting for that. I think you’re a spy.”
“Oh? So a spy would be more interesting?”
“At least that story makes you the hero, right? I mean, you would never work for the bad guy.”
I smiled at her, the words carrying more weight than she knew. “Do you want to hear a story? You might be too old.”
“Is it about your job?”
I nodded. “In a way. What do you think?”
“Sure,” she said with a shrug.
“Years ago, there was a young queen who loved her king and their princess very much.”
Amy stopped at the prospect of a child and turned her full attention back to me. I continued with a smile. “The princess only ever wanted to be with her family. Her daughter was one of the people she loved most in the world. But the queen had a dark secret. There was an evil witch in her past, one that she tried very hard to keep hidden away from her little princess and the king.”
“Yuck. What did the bad witch want with them?” Amy asked, engaged.
“She wanted to lock them away so they could never see each other anymore. It wasn’t the first time that the evil witch had gotten ahold of someone. She’d done the same thing to the queen’s father years before.”
“Why didn’t the king stop the evil witch? Isn’t that what they’re supposed to do?”
I laughed a little. “Well, the queen never told the king just how evil the witch really was. She wanted to keep him and their daughter safe. But the evil witch had her ways, and before long, the queen was running to see her.”
“Didn’t she know that it was a trap though?” asked Amy.
The smiled faded away as I thought about seeing my mother for the first time after being gone for so long. I couldn’t suppress the shudder that rocked my shoulders. She was nothing but darkness. Her fake smile and lies now seemed so obvious. Like a good daughter, though, I’d let myself be blind to her evilness.
“She had no idea it was a trap. The evil witch made herself appear helpless, like she needed the kindhearted queen’s help. By the time the queen realized it was a trap, she was already locked away from everyone else.”
Amy was enchanted. “What happened to her? The story can’t end there. It has to have a happy ending. Did she get away from the evil witch?”
I nodded. “She did! She called on the magical powers she kept hidden within and was able to defeat the witch.”
“Wow,” Amy whispered. “She had powers too? How come she didn’t use them at the very beginning?”
“Because she didn’t know that she had the power. It came from the love she had for her daughter. And even though it took the queen a long time to realize it, when she did, she defeated the evil witch and found her daughter and the king again.”
“And they lived happily ever after?” asked Amy, her voice barely a whisper. “Together like a family again.”
I swallowed back the lump in my throat. It was stunning to see just how smart Amy really was. She knew the story wasn’t all fiction, but she didn’t ask me about it. Instead, she wanted to know the same thing as her father—what happens at the end of the story? I plastered a smile on my face and took her hands in mine as I nodded my head.
“Of course they lived happily ever after, honey,” I whispered. “She never left her daughter again.”
“Good, I like that ending,” she whispered as another round of pizzas was delivered.
“I have an idea. Let’s go see if we can find your dad and maybe talk him into camping out on the beach later. What do you think of that?”
“Really?” she asked in wonderment. “I didn’t even know that we could do that.”
“Neither did I until last night, but apparently, you can rent tents and camp out all night. We can roast marshmallows too.”
“I would love that,” she whispered.
I felt like there was more that she wanted to ask me and talk about, but I saw Aaron walk into the café and smiled at him. I could wait until later to tell him what Amy knew. For the moment, the only thing I felt like doing was enjoying our time together as a family.
* * *
“I can’t believe she fell asleep after all the marshmallows she ate,” I said. “I thought she was going to go into a sugar coma.”
Aaron collapsed on the air mattress next to me, the curtain separating Amy’s room from our own tightly drawn for the night. The sand felt cool on my bare feet as I tugged off the shift I was wearing and climbed under the cool sheet. There was a peace to sleeping on the beach that I hadn’t expected.
“She’s always tolerated sugar really well. I have to watch giving it to her, though. It’s terrible for the teeth.”
I grinned at him as he climbed onto the mattress. “You know so much about her. How is she doing in school? Is she social like you?”
He nodded. “She tries to make friends, and I know she has a few on the softball team but it’s hard for her. Kids can be mean sometimes, and they don’t understand why she doesn’t live with you. Most of the single parents in the area are all moms.”
“So they know we’re divorced then?” I asked, surprised at how guilty I felt.
“No,” he replied quickly. “Not really. I kept the divorce quiet. You didn’t want anything to do with us, so I didn’t want to drag that into the public light. I just told the school the same thing that I told Amy, that you were gone but came back for brief periods of time.”
“I’m so sorry I left you alone to deal with all of this. I knew that I was missing out on so much by not being with the two of you, but I never could have imagined what an amazing little girl we created. You’ve done a great job.”
“Does this mean you’re planning on sticking around to see what happens next?”
I sighed and lay back on the mattress. “Aaron.”
He shook his head quickly. “No. Never mind. I’m sorry.”
It wasn’t something that I wanted to get into again. “How did the hunt for your mom’s new boyfriend go? Are you going to have a stepfather half your age?”
Aaron rolled his eyes. “I didn’t get to meet the guy but I was wasting my time anyway. Mom was already planning on inviting him to dinner. Apparently, they made last-minute plans for tonight, but everyone should meet him tomorrow.”
“Are you really worried that it’s another conman? I don’t mean to second-guess you, but I thought that kind of thing only happened in the movies or maybe in some upscale area where rich women are everywhere. It seems like a long shot to meet a woman on a cruise. Plus, your mother isn’t really the kind of woman who will let a man in a second time. I’m sure that she is being careful.”
“I don’t know what to think anymore.” He grinned. “You know, I accused her of hooking up with the bartender?”
“You didn’t!” I giggled. “Wow, I bet she was flattered. I think she likes the attention. Plus, it’s good for her. I looked through a catalogue that she brought with us, and I have to say, she has a great eye for art, which is something I never would have expected.”
“It was shocking, but it’s a problem too. She’s never had this kind of money before so she doesn’t know how to be careful with it.”
“And what about you? I know that I was never around to offer financial help. I just assumed that if you needed it, you would come to me.” I swallowed hard. “That call never came.”
“No, and it never would have. My father set up a small trust for me that I didn’t know about. It didn’t kick in until I was thirty. My mother said he set it at that age to make sure I wouldn’t just ‘piss it all away’, in his words.”
“You never should have dealt with that on your own though.” I shifted uneasily. It wasn’t something that I wanted to ask, but it needed to be addressed. “What about now? How will this work if I come back to Arizona with you? I don’t want to step in, but I want to be with Amy. I’ve lost too much time with her already.”
Aaron paused and cleared his throat. I could tell that he was struggling with what to say. “I don’t know, Julia. I wish that things could go back to normal, but you and I both know that’s a small chance. She is a person in her own right. I think a big part of who makes that decision needs to be her. Julia, she isn’t the little girl you left behind. Amy has been with me for the past five years. Are you suggesting I give that up?”
“Never!” I said in shock. “I was just wondering if she could stay with me every once in a while.”
“Julia,” he said, his tone warm and loving. “You’re her mother. I would never keep you away from her. I don’t know what our relationship is going to do, but that fact will never change. I never wanted for her to be without you.” He paused again. “Does this mean that you’re thinking that you will come back with us?”
I shot him another cold glance for bringing it up again, but before I could say something to him, he interrupted. “I know that you need time. I just hate walking on eggshells right now. So much has happened in such a short span of time. It’s still a little tricky to navigate around everything. Please, continue.”
Shrugging, I smiled at him. “I don’t really have anything else to say.”
“You can go back to telling me just how amazing I am as a parent,” he joked.
I pulled him down on top of me. “I have a better idea. Why don’t I show you just how hot I think it is that you’re a good dad?”
He glanced at the thin but impenetrable fabric separating us from Amy. “We’ll have to be quiet. I swear that kid either sleeps like the dead or wakes up at a raindrop. I can never tell which it’s going to be.”
“I can be quiet if you can go slowly. Last night, you nearly snapped me in half,” I whispered.
Aaron’s finger ran up my leg. “I can’t be held responsible for that. It’s been too long.”
Aaron
“What do we know about this guy?” Julia leaned over and asked me as we waited for my mother at dinner.
“Not much,” I muttered. “She waved me off before I had a chance to meet him. If I had to guess, I would say young, pretty, and willing to give her everything she wants—for a price, of course.”
“Wow,” she said. “You make everything seem so somber. You don’t think she would expose Amy to something like that, though, do you?”
“Normally, I would say ‘no’, but she was really into this guy. You should have heard the way she talked about him. I wouldn’t be surprised if they announced their plans to get married tonight.”
“Gross,” whispered Amy from across the table.
I’d forgotten what good hearing she had. She was sitting at the far end of the large table, pouting with her arms crossed as her eyes darted between me and Julia. So far, everything for Amy had been pretty fun and easygoing, but after an argument earlier about leaving the suite without an adult, she was busy sulking in the corner. I’d been impressed with the way Julia had handled the situation. She never once stepped in but gave us the space we needed to work through the problem.
A stronger woman would have struggled to stay out of the situation, especially when Amy started to cry rather dramatically. We couldn’t let ourselves forget that despite her upbeat attitude, she was still just a nine-year-old girl going through a huge adjustment. It was decided that we would be calling it an early night after dinner. I didn’t want her to think that her behavior didn’t have consequences, even while on vacation.
“What if it’s the real deal and he does care about her? Won’t she be heartbroken when they separate?”
“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “I didn’t think that far ahead. My mom is many things, including a hopeless romantic. If she does end up caring about this guy, then we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”
“Well, it looks like we’re going to find out soon,” she whispered.
I saw my mother heading our way, the broad smile an indication of how the night was going to go. Her new friend wasn’t in tow, at least not yet, as she sat down. We waited and watched as she took her time getting settling in. Julia and I were sitting on the edges of our seats, but Amy didn’t let the mood affect her any. She was just thrilled to see her grandmother, the only sane one out of all the adults, as far as she was concerned.
“Mom,” I whispered through clenched teeth. “Do we get any details before this song and dance? Poor guy is going to walk into a dozen questions.”
“It’s okay,” said Julia soothingly. “She just wants to keep it a surprise. Let her have that.”
“Or she doesn’t want me to make a scene when he does show up,” I grumbled. I muttered under my breath, “I’ll still make a scene though. No kid is going to rip my mother off.”
“I assure you,” a deep, masculine voice came from behind us. “I have nothing but good intentions.”
Julia and I both spun around as my mother’s face beamed. The greying African-American behind me smiled down at us and held out his hand. I took it in my own, though I felt like a dwarf in doing so. My mother’s idea of a ‘young man’ had to be past fifty. His smile was captivating and I instantly felt at ease.
“Marcel,” he offered.
“I’m Aaron,” I said. “This is my wife, Julia, and my daughter, Amy.”
“Wow. You’re super tall!” said Amy.
My mother laughed. “He is a big man. Come, darling,” she invited, tapping the empty chair between herself and Amy. “Why don’t you sit down?”
“As you wish,” he said playfully, shooting me a wink as he wedged his way past the tightly packed tables.
“I’m so happy that you finally get to meet each other,” my mother cooed.
Marcel took her hand in his. He was enamored of her. “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. So,” he said as his attention turned back to me. “I understand you’ve had some trouble with rapscallions going after your mother in the past?”
I nodded my head. “Yes. Given how her art has taken off, men seem to think that she’s easy prey.”
“Well I, for one, think it’s great that you’re so protective. She is a wonderful woman.”
“I think so too, so you understand if I’m a little skittish around new friends of hers,” I said.
Marcel smiled at me again. “Son, I think it’s great that you care. Not many kids make sure that their parents are safe nowadays.”
“Do you have any kids of your own?”
He nodded. “I’ve got six of them. Five of them, though, are the four-legged kind. You don’t know how excited I was when I recognized your mother at the bar.” He laughed at the memory. “I thought I was going to faint!”
Julie laughed as Amy’s eyes lit up. “You like dogs? Nana loves dogs too! She paints them!”
Marcel instantly transformed into a doting grandfather when he turned to her. “I know she does. I have two of her paintings hanging up at home. Of course, I can’t buy them now, but she sure is talented. Don’t you think?”
Amy nodded. “Why don’t you want any more?”
“Oh, Cher. I will have more, but since she’s so popular now, I have to share them with others. That’s always hard, isn’t it?”
“Yes sir. I hate sharing,” she said, reverting to her pout. “So is waiting around for adults.”
“Amy,” warned Julia.
Marcel didn’t miss a step. “Rules are important, though. It’s how us old people keep you safe.”
“Well, I don’t like it today,” she huffed.
Marcel smiled. “It can get hard to follow the rules. I bet you’re better at it than you think.”
“She really is,” gushed Julia. “I’ve never seen such a smart girl.”
“I guess you have a hand in that too,” said Marcel.
I didn’t want him to start poking Julia with questions. She had enough on her plate. I cleared my attention and turned the conversation back to Marcel whom, so far, I had no qualms with. His clothing was well kept but not overly expensive. He used good manners and wasn’t fawning all over my mother. He seemed to genuinely care about her too. I watched his fingers slowly move over hers and knew that no matter the conversation, his mind was with her.
“So you said you had a child? How old?”
Marcel’s face fell a little. “Oh, he would have been about thirty by now.”
My heart sank. “I’m sorry.”
He shook his head and smiled, if not with a touch of sadness. “It’s okay. It happened about ten years ago when he was stationed overseas. I’ve had a good bit of time to grieve, and I know I’ll see him again when the time is right.”
Julia’s eyes started to tear over a little and I took her hand. “You’re a fan of my mother’s work then?”
Marcel lit up again. “I’ve been a fan ever since I first saw it about four years ago.”
“She was just getting started then,” I said.
“I know. I was passing through Glenmont to see my sister and couldn’t resist stopping at a little flea market. Saw it hanging in the window and bought it straight away.”
“I remember that market,” I said. “They sold her work for the first six months or so.”
“He bought the painting of the two boxers,” offered my mother. “Do you remember that one, Aaron?”
I nodded my head vigorously. “That was the first one you ever painted! I remember you calling me the day you sold it. You were so excited.”
“Marcel was the one who bought it.” She beamed.
“Well, isn’t that something? Do you live near Glenmont then?”
“No sir,” said Marcel. “I wish I did now though. My sister lives about an hour north of there. I make the drive every once in a while to go see her, but I’m happy in New Orleans. Got myself a little hotel in the French Quarter. Up until I met this beauty here, I didn’t know I was missing anything.”
“You own a hotel?” asked Julia.
Marcel smiled and shook his head. “I don’t know that I’d call it a hotel, more like a motel and a few bungalows.”
“Oh, come now,” said my mother. “He’s being modest. It’s the quaintest little hotel I’ve ever seen. The pictures make it look absolutely breathtaking. Julia, you would love it. Nothing but protected land all around and it’s nestled back in the woods.”
“It sounds amazing. Maybe we should make a plan to visit sometime,” Julia said as she looked at me hopefully.
My heart started to race. “That sounds wonderful.”
“What about you two?” Marcel asked. “I hear you lead a pretty interesting life.”
“Oh, we manage. It’s nice to get a little vacation though together as a family,” Julia said, to my surprise. “I feel like I’ve missed out on so much by working.”
“Yeah,” Marcel agreed with a twinge of sadness again. “You never get those years back either. I can sympathize with that bottom dollar, but sometimes, family is just more important. I wish I’d had more time with my boy. You never know what you’re missing until it’s gone.”
“Well,” I said, trying to break the silence or stop Julia from breaking down. “I don’t think we need to worry about that anymore. We both know it’s time for a change, so Amy is going to have some changes to get used to.”
Amy wasn’t listening to the conversation until all eyes turned to her. She shrugged. “I like change. It’s new and interesting.”
“You’ve got a wild streak inside you, Cher?” asked Marcel.
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but Dad won’t ever let me go exploring.”
“Well, of course not!” Marcel said, much to our surprise. “Everyone knows that to be a spy, you have to have backup. Even the newbies know that. You always need to have a partner.”
“Wow,” she said, truly enamored. “I never thought about it like that. But who would make a good partner? I don’t want to leave anyone out of it, and there’s five of us.”
It was my turn. “Well, I think that I need a break, so why don’t we name your mother your official spy partner? Just until I get headquarters under control.”
She eyed me suspiciously before nodding her head. “I can agree to that.”
Everyone around the table laughed at her unique personality. The food started to roll out and the conversation died down some. Between courses, I asked Marcel more questions, but by all accounts, he was perfect for my mother. I could tell that they’d grown to care for each other in the short time they’d had. It made me hopeful for the future as I looked at Julia. She saw the loving glances that passed between them too.
When dessert finally came around, Amy was barely able to hold her head up. I wasn’t worried about my mother’s boyfriend anymore.
Taking Julia’s hand, I whispered to her, “I think it’s time to get her to bed. Are you going to stay here?”
She shook her head and smiled. “I think it’s time for us to talk about things, maybe talk about what happens after this.”
My eyes lit up. “Really? Are you sure you’re ready for that?”
Julia let out an unsure breath. “No, but I won’t know until I try.”
Julia
I counted the drops of water. I was up to sixteen but my mother was coming closer. She sat down at the table across from me. She was smiling, but I’d learned to tell the difference between a smile of satisfaction and a smile with an ulterior motive. I shifted uneasily in my seat. The glitter on my brand-new church shoes sparkled and caught my attention for just a few seconds before her gaze penetrated my concentration.
“I don’t like it, Mommy,” I whispered to her.
She reached across the table and took my hand, her fingers running over the golden medical bracelet she’d bought me the week before. I didn’t like it. It was a constant reminder that I was different from the other kids. I always had to have an adult with me, even when I went to the restroom. For an already awkward seven-year-old, the difference was the world. She sighed and I looked up from my hands.
“Honey, you heard what the doctor said. The seizures are getting worse. We need to get you healthy again and the shakes will help.”
“They make my stomach hurt though,” I argued.
“That just means they’re fighting off the bad germs. If you weren’t in school, maybe we could cut them down in half?”
I shook my head vigorously and started gulping down the drink. It was salty, like tears. As soon as it passed my chest, the aching pain started. I hated the daily drinks. If it hadn’t been for my father’s insistence, I would still be drinking them in the mornings and missing school. Thankfully, he’d put his foot down and left the decision of public school up to me. I loved the break from my mother, who always seemed to be watching me.
“There, now,” she said as I crumpled up on the floor. “You will feel better soon, honey. Don’t be so dramatic.”
I stayed like that for a few minutes when the sound of heavy footsteps approaching struck fear into my mother’s face. She grabbed ahold of my arm and jerked me toward the steps.
“You know how much it hurts your father to see you like this. Get upstairs, now,” she hissed.
I groaned and slowly started to crawl up the steps. When I was near the top, I stopped because the pain was so intense. In the seventies-style home, I could see down into the kitchen. My dad hugged my mom before calling out for me.
“Oh, honey, she wasn’t feeling well so I sent her to bed. Why don’t you get a shower and I’ll start dinner?”
He nodded his head before glancing down at the table. I didn’t need to see his face to know he wasn’t going to be happy. He picked up the almost empty shake and glanced up the steps to me. I smiled at him, and within seconds, he was at my side.
“Hey, honey, are you okay?” he whispered.
I nodded. “Yeah, Dad, stomach is just feeling a little funny.”
I hated it when they fought. I would do anything to keep them from being upset with each other. Everything was easier that way. He looked down the steps to my mother, who appeared very regal from where I was standing. It didn’t take long before he was back down the steps and the argument had started. I didn’t want to listen in but it was so hard to ignore them as they started to shout at each other. My father didn’t understand that I was sick. It was too hard for him to come to terms with.
“They help her!” she screamed.
The glass fell to the ground, and I jumped as my father yelled, “They are making her worse! Anyone can see that! If I didn’t know any better, I would say you wanted her to be sick!”
“How dare you?” she hissed. “I have done everything I can to keep her healthy! You were the one who was sickly as a child, not me!”
“I won’t have you giving her any more of your crazy concoctions, do you understand me?”
He spun around and went for the door, slamming it behind him. She stormed up the steps and grabbed ahold of my arm. “I told you to get in your room. Do you like to see your father hurt? Is that what you want?”
She shoved me through and I heard the door’s bolt close. It didn’t matter, though. I was too weak to move to try and get out. “You can come out when you’ve decided to be a joyful member of this family!”
* * *
I started to shake, but something felt different inside me. Fear was still there, but I wanted to fight her off. Something inside me was resisting the bullshit that she was feeding me.
Mustering the last of my strength, I screamed, “You will not hurt me anymore!”
“Julia!” Came a familiar but distant voice. “Come back to me, Julia!”
The shaking continued as I was pulled away from the dream by Aaron. I was covered in sweat, our naked bodies sizzling from the tropical night. Aaron gazed down at me, the concern still evident on his face. All I could do was smile up at him. He’d taken all the worry away from me as soon as I realized that he was with me and I wasn’t back in my mother’s house. I curled up in his arms, unwilling and afraid to let go of the moment. Aaron had become the rock that I didn’t know I needed in my life.
Even now, I thought about losing him. If he knew what I really was, how I had let my mother get away with so much, he wouldn’t love me as unconditionally as he did. It was a scary thought to try and process, but I knew the time was coming when it would need to be done. The only card I had left up my sleeve was to try honesty. Then, at the very least, I would know that I had tried to win him back despite my jaded past.
“You scared me there for a minute. I thought I wasn’t going to be able to wake you up.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“Don’t be sorry, honey. I was just worried. This isn’t the first dream you’ve had like this either.”
“It’s not?” I asked.
Aaron shook his head. “No, it’s happened a few times now. I hate seeing you like this. Do you want to talk about it?”
“I don’t want to, but I know if I don’t, it will never get any better. There is so much you don’t know about the past few years. The secrets I kept will haunt me for the rest of my life.”
“There is nothing that you could say that would make me think any less of you. I know you’ve talked a little bit about what happened, but I would love to know the whole story.”
I shuddered. “No one wants to know about that. I was such a fool, thinking that she was a decent person.”
“Shh,” he cooed as he held me tightly. “You’ve always seen the good in people. It’s one of the first things that made me fall in love with you. Just because something bad happened this time, it doesn’t mean that you should change who you are.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You have a golden record in life. You love your daughter, you work hard, and you protect your mother. You’re too good for me. I don’t deserve someone as kind as you.”
“Well,” he said quickly, “I guess it’s a good thing you don’t pick who I love then. My feelings aren’t going to change, and I’m not going anywhere. Do you understand that?”
“I do,” I whispered softly. “Can we just stay like this forever?”
“I wish we could, but I think a certain little girl would have a big problem with parents who never left the bed.”
“Yeah,” I replied. “She really is an amazing kid. I can’t wait to be a part of her life again.”
“Does this mean you’re coming back?” he asked.
“I don’t think that I was ever wondering about that. I just don’t know if I’ll be going back with you.”
“Right,” he muttered. “Because you don’t think I’ll want you after you tell me about your life? How is that fair at all, to me or to Amy? Should we have a say in that decision?”
“I don’t know,” I muttered.
“Well, I do, and we’re a family. I don’t want to lose you again because you think that you don’t belong, because you do. You have always been a part of our family, and you always will be.”
“How did I get so lucky?” I whispered to him as I pressed my body against his.
He chuckled softly. “You can’t keep distracting me with sex, you know that? Eventually, you’re going to need to talk to someone, and I hope that’s me.”
I pulled away from him a little. “I just don’t want to ruin the time that we have together.”
“Jesus, Julie.” He huffed in frustration. “I can’t keep playing this game with you! I know that I told you I would be patient, but it’s just too hard. One second, you’re climbing all over me, holding my hand, and whispering about how much you care, and the next, you’re pushing me away! I need a straight answer from you.”
“About what?” I shot back. “You want to know if I can just move back home with you and pretend like the last five years haven’t happened? Do you know what kind of question that is for a person to answer?”
“You had no problem leaving!” he yelled.
I jumped out of bed and glared at him. “There it is! I knew that it was coming! You still resent me for leaving, just like you always have.”
“Of course I resent you! You won’t tell me why, in God’s name, you left and never came back at all!”
I growled under my breath. It was the same circle I had been running through my mind. There was no way out. “Fine, you want to talk about everything that’s happened? Then we will. Then, when you realize you don’t want the damaged goods, you’re the one who can explain to our daughter why I left.”
“Fine,” he hissed. “I’m the one who did it before, so why should this time be any different?”
I gasped and stumbled backward, his words cutting into me like a burning knife. I didn’t know what to tell him. Even now, I wanted to open up to him, but his words hurt. I couldn’t take any more rejection. I knew that she was insane, but my mother had stopped calling and leaving messages. She was cutting herself off from me, and now the only family I had was getting pushed away.
He closed the distance between us and pulled me into his arms. My body was shaking just like his was. The heated moment was more than we’d fought since I left him before. He was never the type to fight or argue. Aaron didn’t like to raise his voice unless it was the only other option, but now we were getting the fight and the conversation that I’d skipped out on years before.
“We can’t keep doing this, Julia. I know that you need time, but I don’t have any more to give you. Please, just talk to me,” Aaron whispered.
“Okay,” I said.
He pulled away and looked me in the eyes. “You’re ready to tell me everything? To share what happened to you when you went back to your mother’s?”
“I am, but you have to make me a promise,” I said carefully.
“Anything.”
“You have to forgive me,” I said softly.
Aaron
“Come on,” I said, gently taking her hand.
We snuck out of the suite, knowing my mother wasn’t far away if Amy needed anything. Our balcony had a small hot tub that hadn’t yet been used.
She flushed a deep red. “I didn’t bring my suit.”
I grinned. “I didn’t either. But the door is locked, I have the key, and Amy is fast asleep. Judging from the snoring, she isn’t going to wake up anytime soon.”
Julia still looked unsure but she took off her robe anyway. Her pale skin glistened in the heat as I started to strip. I had no intentions of making a move on her, but I couldn’t stop my shaft from growing. She looked down and grinned.
“And here I thought you brought me out here to talk,” she said playfully.
“I did,” I reassured her. “I can’t help it though. Whenever I see you I get turned on.”
“Wanna do something about it?”
I nodded. “You bet I do. But sometimes, talking is more important than sex.”
“Wow,” she said as she slipped into the warm water. “Can I get that in writing?”
“I’m serious, Julia. What happened to you when you went to live with your mother? You said we would talk about it, and yes, it’s more important than sex to me right now.”
Julia shuddered. “I hope you know how difficult this is for me. I haven’t shared the truth of what happened with anyone.”
“This is what family does, Julia. We take care of each other and help each other through the hard times.”
“I never should have left you,” she said. “It was a terrible mistake. I should have seen that something was wrong with her from the very beginning, but I was being so stubborn. I didn’t want to admit that I was wrong and come crawling back to you. Especially after everything that happened between us.”
“Why do you say that?”
She shook her head. “I went there to take care of her, but she had other plans. As soon as I walked through the door, she started in on me. My skin looked pale, I was depressed and unhappy . . . anything she could say to wear me down, she said. At first, I just thought it was the shock of losing my father, but it didn’t stop.”
“Why didn’t you confront her about it?”
“I don’t know. I think after a while, I just started to believe her. She said you’d never take me back. She . . .” Julia sobbed. “She said my father’s death was my fault. If I hadn’t left, he would still be there with her! I didn’t know what she meant for the longest time. Then, the phone call came that changed everything.”
“I told you that my mother had gone to counseling. At first, it was just as a precaution. A doctor my father knew approached me at the funeral and suggested it. Honestly, it gave me two hours a week without her around, so I didn’t have a problem with it. About a year ago, her doctor called me out of the blue and asked to meet. I thought that he wanted to do some sort of joint therapy at my mother’s request, but when I got there, she wasn’t around.”
“Did he want to meet to talk about your mother?” I asked.
“Yes,” she whispered at the memory. “He wanted to talk to me about her but he couldn’t. It was all very evasive, but he did ask me to do one thing—he wanted me to petition the courts for the power of attorney over my mother. At first I refused, but he kept pressing, telling me that there was something wrong with her but that he couldn’t say anything more because of his oath. Finally, I agreed and signed the paperwork.”
“What did your mom think of that?”
“Nothing. Somehow, her doctor managed to get everything done without her knowing. It was terrifying for weeks. I would check the mail and wait for it to be delivered, perpetually afraid that she would find out what I was doing and kick me to the curb.”
“You had a home here, though, Julia.”
“A home that I thought was gone forever? Don’t forget that we hadn’t spoken in years. The only time we ever communicated was when Amy needed it. How could I know that you would still be here for me?”
I shook my head. I had nothing to say. I was as much at fault as she was. If I had reached out more, maybe things would have been different. “Julia, it wasn’t entirely your fault.”
She vigorously shook her head. “No. I was the one who left. Do you want to know everything or not? Because we could go off on a dozen different tangents right now.”
“Sorry,” I said as I gently rubbed her shoulder. “Please keep talking.”
“Once the paperwork went through, I had a few meetings with her doctor. It wasn’t pretty. She’d told him things I never would have imagined. He had the sneaking suspicion that she had been poisoning me for years. That’s why the seizures stopped when I moved away. All I could think about was what she’d said before, that my father’s death was my fault.”
“Oh, no,” I whispered.
“The doctor pressed her about it, but he could never get her to admit to poisoning him. But the question still lingered. My father was sick for weeks before he slipped into that coma and died. The doctors always assumed my medical condition was genetic but unidentifiable.”
“I see now why you didn’t want to come back,” I muttered.
“When I left, the possibility of a murder trial was still very real. How could I drag you into that? If what the doctor thinks is true, and I do believe it is, my mother slowly murdered my father to get me to come back home. I ignored it. I refused to go back there for so long. His death was my fault.”
“Julia,” I whispered.
She pulled away from me. “I told you I was a monster.”
“Are you kidding me? You can’t be held accountable for her actions. That wasn’t you! You’re one of the sweetest people I know. You couldn’t hurt a fly.”
“I could!” she screamed at me. “I did hurt people! I hurt everyone that I cared about, all because of one little lie!”
“Jenny,” I said. “You know that I never did anything with her. She was just a kid!”
“It doesn’t matter now,” she said softly.
“Obviously, it does still matter if you’re bringing it up now,” I hissed. “Of course you left after the way I talked to you. I lied to you, and the size of the lie didn’t matter. I pushed you away and into her house. This is on me.”
“Aaron,” she said. “You understand why I can’t give you an answer now, don’t you?”
“I want to be there for you. I don’t care what that entails. If it means we’re going to trial, so be it.”
“I don’t want you to do that though. I don’t even know if it’s going to reach that point, but if it does, I must leave again. It might just be for a few days, but it could be months.”
“So you would leave us again? Just like last time?”
“I came back when you needed me, didn’t I?” she said softly.
“Yes, you came back to help me carry on a lie that I’ve been holding onto for the last five years. A lie that I wouldn’t have to tell if you would have trusted me the first time.”
Julia rolled her eyes and climbed out of the hot tub. Instantly, I regretted my harsh words. She was so unwilling to accept that things weren’t her fault. After the childhood that she’d had growing up, I could understand the fear, but this was different. She claimed to love me, but still, she pushed me again. It wasn’t protecting me. It was hurting me even more. I didn’t want things to end this way.
“Julia,” I said carefully.
She stopped. “What?”
“I didn’t mean for it to come out that way. You know how much I appreciate your coming down here so my mother wouldn’t find out about the divorce. I don’t know what I thought was going to happen, but the second I saw you, that old feeling of hope popped back up.”
“Aaron,” she said with tears in her eyes. “I am damaged goods. Ones with a terrible past that is going to jump up at any second and show its ugly face. Being with me isn’t a good idea.”
“You didn’t always think that way,” I reminded her. “There was a time when my love was all you needed to feel safe.”
“Love and trust,” she whispered. “That was all I needed until the harsh reality of being an adult showed up. Not everyone gets their happily ever after.”
“Why not? Why should everyone else get to spend their lives with someone they love but you get the short end of the stick? I think that’s bullshit. I think you’re scared to let others in.”
“I did let you in!” she hissed. “And you know what I got? A reporter showing up at work and asking me about my husband and a sixteen-year-old girl.”
“Are you ever going to forgive me for that?” I asked, the anger starting to build up inside me. It was beating a dead horse. I knew that she was tossing Jenny back in my face as a form of self-defense but it was still driving me insane.
“I don’t know if I can forgive you! It was just one silly little lie, yes, but it started so much more.”
I laughed. It was cold and harsh. “So that’s the truth of it then, isn’t it? You don’t blame yourself for what happened. You blame me for getting tangled up with that girl.”
“No,” she said. She straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin. I had never seen her look so stubborn and sure of herself. It was a huge turn-on. “I don’t put all the blame on you. I put it on both of us. Yes, Jenny was the drink that pushed me over the edge, but I went down that path without hesitation too. It’s not the past. It’s the future that has me worried. I don’t know if we can ever go back to who we were before.”
“I don’t want to be those people again. We were young and passionate, yes, but we fought and struggled to get by in our relationship. You’re an amazing woman, and I want to get to know you all over again. I think our daughter deserves that much.”
“She does, and so much more. You need to think about this too, because you’re asking for a life just like before. I can’t promise that I’ll always be around when you need me, and I can never let you into that dark chapter of my life. Is that really a relationship you want?”
I swallowed hard. My instinct was to nod my head and tell her yes, that I wanted everything she had to offer. I didn’t care about the rest of it. We could find a way to make it work. I was madly in love with her and I’d move heaven and earth to keep her with me. I couldn’t open my mouth to say the words though. I needed time to show her just how much I cared. She let out a sigh and held out her hand.
“Why don’t we call it a night?” she asked with her easy smile.
I nodded. “Yeah, let’s go to bed.”
Julia
I stripped down, letting the robe fall to the floor. Instantly, his hands found their way to my body. I was dripping water all over the floor as I grinned at him. No matter what happened between us, one thing would never change. We’d found the perfect sexual match-up the very first night we were together. His likes and dislikes perfectly aligned with my own.
“You’re so attractive,” he whispered to me. “I’ve never seen a woman as beautiful as you.”
I laughed. “You always did know how to charm a girl.”
“Come here,” he said as he pulled me closer to him. “I just want to kiss you.”
I let my mouth fall open as he captured my bottom lip between his teeth and gently sucked on my lip. I closed my eyes involuntarily as they rolled back in my head. My hands found the soft, naked flesh of his hips and dug in. He covered my lips with his own, the passion building quickly between us.
He gently pushed me back against the bed, but I broke away from him and shook my head. “Nope, we both smell like chlorine. Let’s take a shower instead.”
“I’m all yours,” he whispered.
I knew that he was all mine. The power that comes with sex filled my body and gave me courage. I turned on the shower and stepped into the glass enclosure. Instantly, steam began to fill the room as he followed in behind me. His cock was already rigid and glistening with moisture. I wanted to drop to my knees and take him in my mouth, but I could tell from the way he licked his lips that he had another plan.
I backed away from him until I felt the warm tile at my back. He growled a little as he pinned my arms against the tiles, kissing my wet neck and playfully biting at me. I didn’t resist. Everything he did turned me on in some new and exciting way. As his head passed between my breasts, he paused and took one into his mouth, once again biting down before moving to the other one.
His hand drifted between my legs and gently forced them apart. My nectar mixed with the water, slickening my body for him.
His fingers probed at my body as he slipped one and then a second into me. They spread me apart as his tongue found my swollen bud. He flicked at me with his tongue. Every time it made contact, I sucked in a sharp breath, trying to steady myself but losing the battle. He worked my body, wiggling his fingers and sucking on my clit until I couldn’t take it anymore. The pressure inside me let loose, the orgasm exploding out of me.
It was more than I could take as I grabbed ahold of his head and crushed him against me. The sensation of his mouth shot through my body and made me scream. I quickly shoved my arm in my mouth to muffle the sound. My knees started to feel weak, but Aaron’s strong shoulders supported me through it. It felt like it carried on for hours before I was strong enough to stand on my own again, and when I did, I only wanted one thing—to return the favor.
I shoved him against the wall, the water dripping down over his body and falling on my face. I didn’t pay any attention to it as I grabbed ahold of his cock. It was rigid and he was already on the brink of coming simply from tasting my own sweet nectar. I plunged his dick into my mouth and started to suck on him, giving him long strokes between flicking the head of his cock with my tongue and playing with his balls.
He wrapped his hands around my hair, pulling me closer then shoving me away. I loved it when he took control of the romance. It lit my fire. Gently squeezing his balls, I felt his cock as it became an iron rod. He thrust my head forward with one final grunt and shot his salty juice into my mouth. I swallowed the warm nectar, licking the head of his cock clean as I fell away from him. Breathlessly, he gazed down at me from where he towered over me before getting down on his knees.
“Get on your knees,” he said in a gruff tone.
I loved that position and he knew it. My body was still throbbing from earlier, begging for his shaft. I spread my legs apart for him, showing him my body and wiggling my ass a little. When the sharp sting of his hand making contact with my flesh hit me, I shuddered with pleasure. He knew everything that I liked. I had no complaints. I felt the tip of his shaft at my entrance and pushed back against him.
He responded by burying his cock deep inside my body in one swift thrust. The pleasure bounded over as I shook. He thrust into me again, and I found myself on the verge of another orgasm. His large organ stretched open my already sore body and made every nerve ending stand at attention. As his fingers dug into my hips and he used my own weight to gain more power for thrusting, the sensations overpowered me.
Giving myself over to the earth-shattering joy, I called out his name. He fell forward onto me, thrusting like a wild man until once again, his seed spilled into my body. My core clenched down onto him, milking every last drop. We stayed locked together like a pair of wild animals as he gently caressed my breasts, bringing me down slowly and delicately from the crippling roller-coaster ride.
* * *
“Wow,” I said as Aaron climbed into bed.
He smiled. “Yeah, I think that was one of my favorites.”
“Oh yeah?” I asked playfully. “Any others you want to tell me about?”
He shook his head and leaned down onto one arm, his eyes meeting mine. “You were there for every single one of them, so there is no need. However, I would be happy to give you a visual reenactment to jog your memory.”
“I bet you would!” I said playfully.
“Sorry,” he whispered as he kissed my collar bone. “I just can’t help myself. I like that we have all the time in the world to keep exploring each other’s body. It’s like no time has passed at all between us.”
“Really? I feel like so much has changed. Amy has changed the most.”
“Little kids will do that,” he muttered.
“I know. I don’t want to miss out on any more of her milestones,” I said softly. “I want to be there for her. I just hope that’s going to be a possibility.”
“Well, you know where I stand on the matter. I want you back in her life, no matter what happens between us.”
“Thank you,” I whispered to him.
I pulled him closer to me, our bodies dry now but smooth from the water. He smiled down and kissed me. My lips still felt tender from the kissing before, but I wanted his skin to brush against mine in that tender way it did. He always calmed me down, or at least his body did. When I brushed my hands down his stomach to the soft patch of curls below, I was greeted with his hard organ.
“Again?” he whispered in surprise.
I nodded my head as he propped himself up on his elbows and climbed between my legs. I loved the wild and uninhibited passion we had for each other, but it was nice to be at peace with Aaron too. As his shaft found its way into my still damp body, I let out a sigh of relief. Making love to him was like a sedative for the soul. Everything else slipped away except for the way his body made me feel.
The soft curls of hair on his chest brushed against my nipples, and they stood erect for his gentle lips. He suckled on me gently, taking his time and making every lick count as he slowly pushed himself deeper into my body. I stretched to accommodate him, knowing that he would hit bottom eventually and again send me shuddering into the light.
Every thrust was taken with great care, this time different from before. Our eyes locked onto each other, and without words, we shared a bond. He knew every depth of my fear and I felt the pain that he’d gone through over the years without me. The passion slowly started to burn until I couldn’t take anymore, and I arched my back as my body clamped down on his, making him spill his seed into my waiting womb.
He held me there in that place with him for a few more minutes before slipping off to the side. His arm, draped so easily around me, never left my waist. He didn’t want to let me go. He leaned forward and kissed my shoulder as I felt his body pressing against mine. I could have laid with him all night, slowly making love and talking for hours. Still the weight of the day was catching up with me. The emotional turmoil from before started to ebb its way into the fantasy of Aaron’s arms.
“Aaron?” I asked carefully.
“Hmm?”
“What would you have done if I’d said ‘no’ to your little plan? Would you just keep lying?”
“No,” he said as he cleared his throat. “But I wanted to give you the opportunity to come back first. I was going to call you, but you called me first.”
“What made you decide to stop lying to them after all this time?” I asked. “It just seems a little strange.”
“I don’t know. I figured it was time. Did you know next month will mark five years since you left? It was a wakeup call for me when I realized that.”
“So, you were done fighting for me after that?”
He leaned up and tilted my chin to see my eyes. “No. I would never stop fighting for you. But I decided that after five years, the rest of the world had a right to know. I was going to come to your mother’s house to find you, actually.”
“You were?” I asked, stunned.
Aaron nodded. “I was planning on going right after the school year started. I knew that it was time for me to do something about us. I never wanted ‘us’ to end, and I was going to make sure that you knew that.”
“Wow,” I said.
“So, what would you have said?” he pressed. “If I’d shown up on your doorstep with a dozen roses and asked you to come home?”
My mouth fell open. It was a loaded question. “I don’t know. I would have to think about it, I suppose.”
“All right, so what is your first thought?”
There was no way to answer that wouldn’t hurt him. I would have stayed with my mother to make sure she was dealt with, but then I would have come back for Amy. I didn’t know yet where Aaron and I stood as a couple. Swallowing hard, I came up with an answer that wasn’t a lie but didn’t really feed into the conversation. It was a lousy scapegoat.
I shrugged. “That I shouldn’t say yes to a man who doesn’t know how I feel about roses.”
He grinned at me and kissed my neck. The passion was an ember that refused to stay cool. It wouldn’t be long before I was craving the touch of his skin once again.
“You’re right, I should have brought daises. How could you ever forgive me?”
Smiling, I pulled the covers over us a little further. “Oh, I think we can work something out.
Aaron
The familiar feeling of Julia snuggled next to me was intoxicating as the sunlight peeked through the window. I ran my fingers along her body, gently tugging on her hips as she pressed against me. Before I could think about plunging my cock into her, a frantic knock came from the door. With a disappointed groan, my boner went down and I pulled on my shorts as Julia dashed into the bathroom. Amy bounced into the room.
“Hi, Daddy!” she said cheerfully. “So, what are we going to do today?”
“I’m not sure yet, honey. I need to talk to your grandma and see what she wants to do.”
Amy shook her head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. She was super cranky this morning and said to leave her alone.” A frown pursed her lips. “I don’t like it when she pouts.”
“Hmm,” I muttered.
My mother didn’t often pout, as Amy called it. She was pretty independent, and any problems she had, she always shared with us. My mind instantly went to Marcel, and I wondered if something happened that I didn’t know about. I knocked on the bathroom door and Julia opened it. Amy smiled and ran to her mother.
“I’m going to go see if my mom is okay,” I told her.
She looked at me questioningly but nodded her head. I made my way around the suite until I got to the almost hidden door that led to the adjoining room and suite. She, too, had her own balcony and bathroom, with the common area bringing the separate rooms together. I knocked on the door but she didn’t answer. After a few minutes, I made my way inside. If Marcel was there, she would have told me right away.
“Mom?” I asked as I entered the darkened room. “Hey, I just wanted to make sure everything was okay.”
“Why wouldn’t it be?” she grumbled from the sofa. “I thought I told Amy I didn’t want any visitors today.”
“You did, and that’s why I’m here. She’s worried about you. Did something happen with Marcel?” I grinned. “Do I need to start breaking bones?”
She glared at me. “Marcel and I are doing just fine. Tell me, how are you and Julia?”
“Fine,” I muttered. “It’s taking some time to adjust because she travels so much, but otherwise, we’re doing okay. Why, did Amy say something different?”
Theresa shook her head. “No. She didn’t need to say anything different. I know what you did, Aaron. I know how you pushed Julia away.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked with a dry mouth.
She stood up and spun around, her eyes beating into my soul. “I was outside on the patio last night when the two of you were talking. You lied to me! You made that poor woman be part of this charade just to save face! That is not the man I raised! What the hell were you thinking?”
I stumbled backward. “Mom, it’s not like that. You don’t understand what’s going on.”
I regretted the words as soon as they were out of my mouth. My mother’s eyes grew wide before she calmed herself down. I needed to think fast or else this was going to blow up in my face. She didn’t have all the details, but judging by how angry she looked, I don’t think that she cared about them. It was understandable. The whole reason I didn’t want her to know that we’d gotten divorced was because I knew that I was in the wrong. She would blame me for what had happened, and with good reason. It was scary how much Julia and my mother were alike.
“You need to fix this,” she said.
“I know, I just don’t know how. I thought that she would want to come back with us once we were together. I never knew how hard things were for her.”
“You should have gone to her mother’s and brought her back. The last thing that poor girl needed was to be trapped in a house with that psycho. Now, what are you doing to fix things?”
I sighed and sat down on the couch. “I don’t know what I can do besides give her space to figure out what she wants.”
“And if she has to go back there, to deal with her mother and all the legalities? What are you going to do then?”
“There isn’t anything that I can do other than support her. I can’t force her to stay with us, Mom. You know that.”
“I do know that. I also know that you never should have let her go. Anything that’s happened over the past five years is partly your fault. You knew when you got into a relationship with her and eventually married her that she would need your support. You were just too busy taking care of other options.”
“Jesus, tell me you aren’t bringing up Jenny. For the last time, nothing happened!”
“Nothing but the downfall of your marriage, you mean? You and I both know that little tart was trying to break you up, and she succeeded. You know, I used to think that you were so strong, carrying on the house while Julia worked, but I see now that you didn’t even respect me enough to tell me the truth.”
“Mom, please don’t be like this. Julia and I are working through things. Can’t you see that?”
“The only thing that I see is a man losing his family because he won’t bend. When she leaves, and she will, you’re going to be the one to blame for that. You should have followed her then, and you need to follow her now. Do you understand me?”
“I do, I just don’t know if she’s going to let me follow her. She was so scared of Amy getting hurt or knowing something wasn’t right.”
“Things aren’t right now. All you’re doing is lying to yourself and that little girl.”
“Then tell me what to do, Mother!” I yelled, a little louder than intended.
“You fix this! I’ve seen the way that you guys look at each other. You love her and she loves you. I’ve seen the looks. I don’t know what to tell you, but you need to fix the situation and I need some space.”
“What do you mean? This is supposed to be a family trip.”
She turned away from me. “I know, but I don’t feel much like a family right now. I taught you better than this, Aaron. I didn’t raise a liar.”
“Mom, please don’t be like this. Amy won’t understand why you don’t want to spend time with us.”
“Then make up another lie. You’re getting good at that,” she said with a tone of finality.
I walked somberly out of her space and slammed the door behind me. While it wasn’t intentional, it made me feel a little better. Everything had gone to hell, and now my mother knew the truth. She would never trust me again and it was a heartbreaking realization. Amy and Julia were waiting for me in the small kitchenette. They both looked at me expectantly, but it was Amy who was looking around for her beloved grandma.
“Daddy?” she asked. “Why isn’t Grandma with you? Is she sick?”
I started to tell her the lie I’d formulated, but my mother’s words rang in my ears still. “Honey, Grandma wants a little bit of time by herself, and that’s okay. We’re going to explore the new island today, just the three of us. How does that sound?”
She crossed her arms and started to pout. “I don’t like that idea. Maybe if I could talk to her, she would want to come with us.”
“Not this time, kiddo. Why don’t you go get your bag ready, and we can head out?”
Amy looked like she was going to have a meltdown, but Julia reached across the island and took her hand with a smile. “Don’t worry, we’ll still have lots of fun. I heard there is a giant fort that we can explore here too. Won’t that be fun?”
“I guess,” she muttered before her eyes lit up. “Can we play spy?”
“Of course we can! That’s my favorite game, you know. Go do what your dad asked, and I’ll get ready too.”
“Okay,” she said, slightly more chipper at the prospect of playing with her mother.
I slid into the seat that she vacated and felt Julia’s eyes on me, waiting to know what was really going on. If I told her everything, she would blame herself, but I couldn’t lie anymore. She was going to have to know the truth.
“She knows,” I whispered. “My mother knows that we aren’t really still married. Last night, she heard everything while we were out on the patio. I’m so sorry, Julia. I never meant to share your secrets like that.”
She turned away from me. “I can’t say that I’m surprised. She always was a sly old woman. I guess this explains why she doesn’t want to spend the day with us. Is there anything that I can do? Maybe if I went and talked to her?”
“No,” I said with a bit more bite in my tone than intended.
Julia shrank away from me at once. “Okay.”
“I didn’t mean it like that, Julia. I just think that she needs some time and we should give it to her. It’s a lot for anyone to process, even my eccentric mother.”
“She is never going to forgive me for leaving, is she?”
“That isn’t the problem,” I muttered.
I wanted to tell her all the details of the conversation but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. If she knew how I had failed her, she would leave and never come back. All I could think about was keeping her close to me and making sure that she understood how much I cared. My mother needed me to fix the relationship for Amy’s sake, but I needed to fix it for my own. I loved her. I’d never stopped loving her, and I wouldn’t lose her again.
“Tell me what is, then,” she whispered as she took my hand.
“I can’t,” I said. “I just can’t right now, okay? Can we please just take Amy to the island? All I wanted was one family trip where we could at least pretend like everything was okay, but I can’t even have that. Now I’m going to have to tell my baby girl that her mother isn’t really my wife.”
“Aaron,” she whispered. “I don’t think that’s the best idea right now. She’s just getting use to my being around. If you tell her we aren’t married, she’ll have more questions that I don’t know if I can answer.”
“So it should all be on me?” I asked sharply. “My mother was right.”
I slammed my fist against the table and stood up just as Amy came bouncing back into the room. Julia looked shocked at the sudden outburst of anger but she said nothing. I could see the wheels in her head turning, but with Amy around, there was no more time to talk things through. We had a daughter and she needed us.
“Are you all ready?” asked Julia, a smile plastered on her face.
Amy didn’t look as sure as she did. “I guess. Is everything okay? You old people are acting really strange,” she muttered.
“Everything is fine, sweetie,” Julia said as she walked over to her. “Let’s go.”
She reached around to grab her purse and our eyes met. Julia was pissed. I could tell by the glare that she shot back at me for a split second before heading out the door. It was going to be a long day.
Julia
I was fuming by the time that we left. I stormed up the ship’s steps and followed Amy out to the ramp and waited for Aaron to follow behind us. The cruise had set up to have a large outdoor breakfast buffet for guests, and I could quickly see that was where Amy was leading me. She didn’t stop to talk until we’d found a table and she sank down in her seat. Even though she was just a kid, she could still sense the tension between everyone.
I tried to take her hand but she pulled away as I spoke. “Honey, everything is going to be okay. Sometimes, adults have bad moods just like kids do. Grandma just needed a little bit of time. When was the last time you saw her?”
She shrugged. “Last year, I guess.”
“And don’t you think that this is a lot for someone her age to be doing? She’s probably having just as much fun as you, but she needs some down time.”
“You don’t know Grandma,” she muttered. “You don’t ever see her. She never gets in a bad mood like this.”
“Okay,” I said. “My bad then.”
Aaron sat down and tried to smile. The tensions around the table were so high that Amy sat back and looked from one parent to the other and back several times before clearing her throat. She was too young to be taking on the burden of a parental argument. I had to do something or else the entire day was going to be ruined. I stood up and smiled at Amy.
“Wanna go get some food?” I asked cheerfully.
She shrugged. “I guess.”
“Hey,” Aaron said, picking up on the tone. “You need to show your mother some respect, okay? I know you’re disappointed, but I’m not going to take you out to have a fun day if you’re going to act like a spoiled brat.”
“This isn’t fair!” she said.
Aaron didn’t give in to her. “Life isn’t fair, kiddo. So, what is it going to be? We can go back to the boat now and spend the afternoon in the room while everyone else has fun. I’m sure your mother wouldn’t mind some time to shop.”
She huffed but said nothing else. I got up and went to the buffet, picking and choosing foods that I knew Amy liked. I wasn’t part of the fight between the two of them but it was easy enough for me to see what was going on between them. I was her mother, yes. But I also wasn’t an active parent in her life. Her actions were going to have consequences, but they weren’t for me to decide. It was her father who ruled their house, not me. I needed to have time to know his rules for her.
“So, I got a little bit of everything,” I said to her.
She perked up a little as she started to pick at the berries on the plate. We ate in silence as Aaron sipped his coffee and watched the crowd mulling around. I couldn’t think about what to say to him. It was obvious what his mother had told him. I just wanted to hear it from him first. It was starting to look like we wouldn’t get our happily ever after, not if his mother had anything to say about it.
“Are we ready?” asked Amy, the pep in her step revitalized a little bit.
I nodded. “Absolutely. Let’s roast this chicken stand. So, where are we going first? I think we should go to the fort. It’s big and perfect for running around.”
“Okay,” she said weakly, but a little cheer returned to her as she ran ahead of us to wait on the trolley that was going to take us downtown.
“I’m sorry about earlier,” he muttered. “My mother just has a way of getting under my skin.”
“Are you going to tell me what the fight was about?” I asked him.
He shrugged. “There was no fight. She told me that she knew I was lying and said that she didn’t want to spend any time with us today.”
“I feel like she is saying she doesn’t want to spend time with me. I ruined your family vacation just by being here.”
“You didn’t ruin anything,” he hissed. “Can we please not talk about this right now? I just want us to have a good day with Amy.”
“No,” I snarled at him. “You want me to be part of this family? Then I have a right to know what’s going on in it, okay? This isn’t a game to me or just a ploy to make everything seem happy.”
“You think I’m playing some kind of game?” he shot back. “I did everything I could to get you back here, even after five years of hearing nothing from you. Don’t you think you owe me a little bit of trust because of that?”
“Mom?” asked Amy.
I spun around. Neither of us had seen her standing behind me. Her eyes grew wide, tears threatening to spill out of them as she looked between her father and me. I didn’t know how much of the conversation she had heard, but it was enough to put her off balance. She had never seen us fight before. Even when she was a younger child, we’d made sure that any arguments we had were kept between us and never in front of her.
“Amy, honey,” said Aaron. “Mom and I were just talking.”
She shook her head vigorously. “No, you were fighting. You haven’t seen each other in a long time, and all you want to do is fight! This wouldn’t happen if Grandma were with us!”
Before either of us could say anything to her, she bolted. Aaron yelled after her but it didn’t do any good. She took off into the crowd. A feeling of panic stronger than any I’d ever known set in as we chased after her. She dodged and ran around people, making her way back to the cruise ship. It was evident that she was going back to Theresa, and I wondered if I should even go after her. With everything that had happened, I didn’t think that Theresa would want to see me.
Still, my daughter was in a strange country, running to a boat that was too big for her to find her way around. Aaron ran past me, hot on Amy’s trail. I skidded to a stop at the check-in point and breathlessly got the attention of the tanned man in a crew uniform that held the device to scan passenger wristbands.
“My daughter,” I huffed out. “She just ran on the boat. We’re passengers, but I don’t know if she is going to be able to find her way to our cabin or not.”
“Not a problem,” he said, quickly picking up his intercom. “We have a little girl,” he scanned my bracelet. “Passenger number seven-three-two-six. She is approximately nine years old, brown hair and brown eyes. If she is found, please keep her at the information desk.”
“What if she tries to get off the boat again?” I asked.
He looked slightly annoyed, and I knew what he was thinking as he requested extra staff to watch the other exits. He thought that we were bad parents for letting our child run around unattended. I wanted to slap him across the face for the subtle implication. We weren’t bad parents, or at least Aaron wasn’t a bad parent. I had let her run away, so I was still not the best role model. I wondered if he knew how hard it was to control a temperamental nine-year-old.
“Anything?” I asked Aaron breathlessly as I found him.
He shook his head. “No. What are we going to do if she gets off the boat?”
I told him what I did at the front and he closed his eyes in relief. “That was a great idea. I never would have thought about that. One of us should go down to the cabin and wait for her in case she makes it back while the other person searches for her.”
“I will look for her,” I said quickly. “No offense, but I don’t really want to be stuck in a room with your mother.”
“Not this time,” he muttered, to my shock. “Sorry, Julia, but I know Amy better than anyone else. If anyone knows where she is or what path she will take to get back to the room, it’s me. Plus, she might not even be there anymore. I know she wanted to spend some time with Marcel.”
“Are you joking? You’re really going to put me in that position?”
“Are you joking?” he shot back, his voice growing louder. “I’m worried about our daughter more than anything else, not how you feel about having alone time with my mother, dammit.”
I shrank away from him but knew that he was right. “Fine.”
He reached for my arm, instantly regretting raising his voice, but I jerked my arm away from him and stormed off. I didn’t want to hear him apologize or anything else. I knew that he was right, but I didn’t want to admit it. Storming in the direction of the room, I fumed at him and my heart raced for Amy. She was the most important person in the world to me. I carefully unlocked the door and slipped inside. All hope of having the room to myself vanished when Theresa turned around and saw me.
“Well, I guess that little excursion didn’t last long.”
“I’m sorry,” I muttered. “It’s Amy. She got so upset when she found out that you weren’t coming with us that she ran back onto the ship. We were hoping that she found her way here.”
At once, Theresa was worried, everything else getting tucked away for another time. “She isn’t here. Do we need to go look for her?”
I shook my head. “Aaron has it under control. He wanted me to wait here in case she came back.”
“Well, then, I guess we have a little time to talk, don’t we?”
I swallowed back the panic. “I guess. Was there something you wanted to talk about, particularly?”
She smiled knowingly. “Julia. I know that Aaron told you. I heard your conversation last night. Why didn’t you reach out to him for help?”
“I don’t know. Things were different back then than they are now. We’re just trying to get through the next week before making any decisions.”
“I think that decision has already been made, though, don’t you?”
“What are you talking about?” I muttered.
She laughed and patted the spot on the couch next to me. “Julia, I always did like you. When you left and I started to see more of Aaron and Amy, I knew that something wasn’t right. I thought about saying something to both of you, but it wasn’t my place. I have a good life in Arizona and you had a good one in California too.”
“Then I left and ruined everything to help that woman,” I muttered.
“You left with good intentions. I know that you still love my son. I just hope that he can figure out a way to keep you.”
I laughed. “There is no reason to figure that out. I just want to make sure my past doesn’t follow me back home with them. You don’t know what that woman is capable of.”
“Honey, those are things that you face as a family, not as a single person. Won’t you let us support you?”
“I—” I said. “I thought that you wouldn’t want me after knowing what you know.”
She grinned at me just as Aaron’s familiar voice came down the hallway. “You’re wrong. We all love you and want you to come home.”
Aaron
“Amy?” I called out over the ship’s deck. There was no response.
The frantic feeling in my chest was growing stronger by the second. She had now been missing for over fifteen minutes, and I couldn’t seem to locate her. My mother had petitioned for her to get a cellphone, but it never happened. I wasn’t ready for her to grow up just yet. Now, though, I was kicking myself for not agreeing to it.
I was just about to start searching the next deck when I heard her name and mine come over intercoms, directing me to the information desk. My heart leapt. They would only call if they had information. I quickly ran through the passengers, down a flight of steps, and into the small office area. Amy was sitting in a seat, her arms crossed and her face in a strong pout.
“Oh, thank God,” I said as I wrapped her into my arms.
She hugged me back. “I’m so sorry, Daddy. I don’t know what I was thinking. I just got so upset that you and Mom were fighting and Grandma wasn’t there. I just ran away. I know that wasn’t the right thing to do. Please don’t be mad at me.”
“I’m just happy you’re okay. Don’t you ever do that again.” I said. “I was so worried about you! You can’t run away from me, ever. When you get older, you can’t just run away from your problems either.”
“Why not?” she asked, innocence in her tone. “Isn’t that what Mom did?”
Her words caught me off guard. I had no idea she’d heard that much. “Honey, that was a different situation. Your mother and I had problems before that happened. Then things just kind of escalated.”
“But she’s here now. Does that mean she’s staying?”
“I wish I had answers for you, but I don’t know that I’m the best person to answer those questions. Your mother wanted to talk to you about all of this but I wouldn’t let her. I didn’t think that you were ready to know everything that had happened.”
“Dad,” she said sternly. “I am nine years old, and I see a lot more than you think I do. I know that Mom hasn’t been around for a long time. I just didn’t want to say anything and make you sad.”
“Oh, baby,” I said as I wrapped her into my arms again. “It was never your job to protect my feelings, honey, but thank you for doing that. Your mother and I haven’t been together for a long time now, but we never wanted you to suffer because of it.”
“Is that why she stayed away and never came back? I hope it wasn’t because of me.”
“It was never because of you, honey. There are things going on in her life that aren’t my place to tell you about. If you’re ready to go, I know that she would love to know that you’re okay. She and Grandma are waiting for us down in the cabin.”
“Do you think that she’s going to stay here with us? I mean, after the cruise? I don’t want her to leave again.”
“I don’t want her to leave either, honey, but like I said, she has a lot going on so we can’t make her stay. But I do want her to.”
“Does she know that? Because sometimes people don’t always know how you feel about them unless you tell them a lot.”
“Like how much I love you?” I asked.
She nodded. “I really am sorry that I ran away, Dad. I don’t know what got into me.”
I laughed. “I do. You’re a little girl who is dealing with a lot right now. You can’t try to be an adult all the time, honey.”
She started to cry and it broke my heart. For so long, she had been strong even though I hadn’t noticed. I was so wrapped up in trying to keep a roof over her head and making sure that she had everything a kid with two parents would have had. I’d let my own doubts and self-destruction flow over to her and it was crippling to see. She wasn’t just a kid. She was a human who needed to know that everything was going to be okay.
“We’ll go talk to your mother right now. How does that sound?” I asked again.
Amy nodded her head, wiping away her tears as I stood up. “I’m just going to talk to these guys for a second, okay?”
“Okay, Daddy, I’ll wait right here. I promise.” A smiled danced across her face and I laughed.
“Sounds good,” I said as I turned to the two men behind the desk. “Thank you all so much for your help. I can’t imagine how this must look.”
“Actually,” one of them said, “This happens more than you might think. Kids get over-stimulated and take off. We have protocols in place for this sort of thing. She is much better behaved than some of them that we’ve seen. We gave her the safe word that your wife told us and she came right along. That safe word was a good idea.”
“Safe word?” I asked.
“Yeah, a darn clever idea, that was,” said the second with a Scottish accent.
“Me and Mom made it up, Dad,” interjected Amy. “It was my idea. Spies do it all the time, and Mom said it was a good plan too.”
I knelt down to her. “So what is this safe word? Do I get to know it too? It sounds a lot cooler than just matching up our fingerprints.”
She leaned in closer and cupped her hands around my ear as she whispered, “Family.”
I smiled. “I like that safe word. What do you say we go find Mom now?”
“I like that,” she said cheerfully. “And Grandma too?”
“And Grandma too,” I echoed. “I think they have a lot to talk about. We all do.”
“Um, sir?” one of the men said. “We have a phone call on hold for you.”
Confused, I asked, “Is it coming from our room? We’re headed there now.”
He shook his head, “No sir, its coming from somewhere in the states. Can’t say where, but they are asking for you. Sounds like a woman.”
“Huh,” I muttered.
It could be anyone but it was probably Sarah. She was the only person that I’d given the contact information too. An elderly woman, Sarah was the principal for Amy’s school where I taught. She wouldn’t be calling unless it was an emergency. I reached around and grabbed the phone from the host.
“Hello?” I asked.
“Hello, Aaron, honey. It’s been so long since I’ve heard your voice. I was starting to think that you were avoiding me.”
“How did you get this number?” I fumed. My face had gone pale as I turned away from Amy. I didn’t want her to see the rage I was feeling.
Jenny laughed. “Oh, Aaron, don’t you see that the fates want us to be together?”
“Start talking or I’m going to call the police. I still have a restraining order against you.”
“Oh, I know, and I promise that I’m not breaking that. You see, I found a loophole in the law. Or rather, someone who knows that we belong together found one. She really is a wonderful woman. I bet you would love her but she doesn’t like you. She said that I could have you. All I had to do was make sure that I made this call and let you know that I’m still here.”
“Who told you that?” I asked. “What do you want?”
“For us to be together, silly,” she said in a shrill voice. “That can’t happen, though, if you take back that stupid bitch. She needs to go back to Margarete.”
“Margarete,” I hissed. “She was your contact, wasn’t she? She’s the one who made this mess. Well, you know what? I have a message for her. Tell her that she has lost. I’m going to make sure that Julia stays right with me where she is safe and won’t ever be under that crazy bitch’s control again. Do you hear me? If you ever contact me again, I will use every resource I know to bring you down. You’re sick. You need help.”
“I don’t need help, baby. I just need you to understand that I won’t go away. Margarete even said that we’re soulmates, but Julia keeps sucking you into her web of lies. You know she had that poor woman locked up for no reason?”
“I am done with this conversation. If you contact either of us again—” I started to say but she hung up the phone.
I looked back at Amy, who looked ever more terrified than before but also a little curious. Before I did anything, I needed to make sure the conversation didn’t go beyond that point.
“If that number calls again, or any other call from people who aren’t named Sarah, you need to end the call and contact me. Do you understand?”
They both nodded as one of them wrote down the information I gave them. Turning back to Amy, I smiled. “Are we ready to go?”
“Who was that, Daddy?” she asked.
I shook my head as we went down the hallway to the elevator that would take us to our floor. “It was no one important, just a missing link to a puzzle.”
“I love puzzles,” she whispered.
“I know you do. This puzzle, though, isn’t for little kids. I promise that we’ll have more fun after today.”
“I like having fun, but that’s not all that matters. I want you and Mom to be okay too. Plus, me and Grandma have lots of fun together. Maybe she is feeling better, too, and we can go and do something.”
“I don’t know. I wish I had more answers for you, but the only people who can tell you what’s going to happen are already in our suite. So, what do you think? Should we go for it or just run away to the island and never look back?”
“What?” she hissed. “We can’t run away! That’s what people do when they are afraid, and I’m not afraid!”
“No,” I said with a grin. “You’re not afraid. None of us will ever have to be afraid again.”
I pushed open the door to the suite and looked inside. Before I even saw the two of them, I heard the familiar and heartwarming laughter of my ex-wife and mother as they talked to each other. It had been a good move to send her down to the suite without me. Now I could finally fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle and we could decide where to go from there as a family. Both women looked up from the couch as we came in.
Julia called out for Amy, and in an instant, the girl was running into her arms. It was almost more than I could take to see them wrapped up in each other’s arms. The tears started to prickle my eyes as I saw my mother smile. Whatever had been said, whatever had happened between the two of us, was gone now. The love and happiness had been restored. She walked over to where I was frozen and wrapped me in her arms.
“Everything is going to be okay, honey. I’m glad to see you found Amy.”
I shook my head. “I didn’t do anything at all. It was all Julia. She gave her a safe word and told the cruise director about it. I was just following the dotted lines.”
“It looks like you have a couple of spies on your hands then,” she said with a grin.
“I think we’re going to need them now,” I said, my face falling as I faced the realization that Jenny was back in the picture.
Julia
When she ran to my arms, my heart melted at once. All the fear I’d been harboring slipped away as I held her tightly. I wanted to shake her and ask just what the hell she was thinking, but seeing her safe pushed it all away from me.
“We were so worried about you,” I whispered to her. “Don’t ever do that again.”
“I won’t, Mom. I’m sorry,” she whispered as she turned to Theresa. “Can you help me get something to eat? I think that Mom and Dad need to talk.”
Theresa smiled. “I think so too. You know, they still have that buffet set up. Would you like to join me?”
Amy nodded and took her hand, pulling her out the front door and gently closing it behind them. It was just me and Aaron now, and it was time to clear the air once and for all. He sat down next to me on the couch, folding his hands back and forth the way I normally did.
“I don’t even know where to begin,” I whispered to him.
“Then let me start. I got a phone call while I was picking up Amy from the ship’s office. It was Jenny.”
Instinctively, I pulled my hand back to my body from where it had been sitting between us. “I didn’t know that you two had kept in touch. That changes things a little.”
“I haven’t kept in touch with her. The only time I see her is when I renew my restraining order, and the judge has always taken one look at her and granted it to me. This was different. This changes everything, actually. Julia, she told me she was working with a woman named Margarete.”
I gasped. “What?”
He nodded. “I couldn’t believe it at first either, but what she said . . .” He shuddered. “Julia, Margarete was manipulating Jenny the whole time. She is the one who planted the ideas of getting with me all those years ago to try and drive us apart.”
“And it worked. So why is she calling you now? How did she even know where to find you?”
“I have no idea, but I plan to find out. Didn’t you say that your mother was calling a woman from her room at the hospital?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I just didn’t know who. I can call her doctor and see if it was Jenny. He won’t let her make any more phone calls after that.”
“I think that’s a good idea, but maybe we should use it to our advantage. If the judge knew what the two of them were planning, that they had been in cahoots, then we might be able to eliminate both of our problems at once. What do you think?”
“I like that idea,” I said softly. “Where does this leave us?”
“I don’t know, but I would like it if we could figure it out now. Do you see that my mother was never trying to push you away?”
“Yes,” I whispered. “She and I had a very long talk about everything. She made me realize a few things that I didn’t see before. Aaron, I’m so sorry for the way that I treated the situation before. You didn’t deserve to have me leave you.”
“I don’t care about that anymore. I just want us to move forward with our lives, but the question is still there—what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to stay with you and Amy. I don’t know that I’m the same person I was five years ago, but I would like to try and rebuild our life together.”
“What about your mother? What if she gets out or you must go through a trial? Are you sure you can keep us in the loop with that?”
“I’m going to keep you involved in everything I do from now on. We’re a family. At least, I hope that we still are. I know that I want to be a family again.”
“I want nothing more than that,” he whispered as he scooted closer to me. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted for us. When you left, my world fell apart. It didn’t matter that Jenny was making my life a living hell or that my mother was sick. All I could think about was your coming back home.”
“And I never did,” I whispered. “I know how much I screwed everything up, but we have to get past it if we’re going to make this work.”
“I am past it,” he said. “I just wanted you to see how much you meant to me. It wasn’t just for Amy. I wanted you back for me too.”
“I’m going to come back with you.”
“Is that just for Amy though? I know that I have no right to ask after all these years. But do you think there’s any hope for us?”
It was the question I’d been asking myself the entire time. Was I ready for a relationship with my husband again or would my ghosts just keep popping up? He’d just taken a call from the woman who’d helped to end our relationship, and he told me all about it. How could I wonder if he really cared when he’d been upfront and honest with me? It was a new adventure for us, starting over with something old, our relationship. What had started as a foundation of friendship had blossomed into so much more, and now God was giving me a second chance at happiness. All I needed to do was take the leap.
“Aaron,” I said carefully. “Are you sure this is what you want? You know that I’m damaged goods.”
“And I come with baggage, but that isn’t stopping me.”
I laughed. “Amy isn’t baggage. She’s a total chick magnet.”
“I meant my slightly insane mother,” he muttered. “Of course, I guess by that respect, you’ve got a little baggage too. See? It’s a match made in heaven!”
“Ha! I don’t know about that, but I do know one thing. I want to be with you and Amy both. I want the fresh start and the happily ever after. And if my mother comes calling or the courts need me, then we’ll face that as a family.”
“That’s all I’ve ever wanted to hear,” he whispered. “I love you, Julia, and I always have.”
“And I love you.”
He leaned forward and I kissed him. It was different from all the kissing before that moment. This was love, pure and true, with a touch of passion. Aaron slid closer to me and pulled me to him. His face bristled against me, unshaven in the rush of the morning. He slid down my body, kissing my neck and tickling the skin of my breasts. The passion was bursting at the seams as the love between us grew. I wanted to rip his shirt off and feel his chest pressed against mine. I groaned with pleasure as he traveled lower on my body.
“Julia,” he whispered. “We should go upstairs.”
I shuddered beneath him. “Okay.”
He stood up and took my hand, leading me to the steps right as the front door opened and Amy ran through with Theresa close behind. She had an apologetic look on her face. I smiled knowingly and opened my arms for Amy to run to. She didn’t waste any time as she wedged herself between her father and me.
“You guys are back early,” muttered Aaron.
“Sorry, Son,” said Theresa. “She wanted to know what was going on. I tried to keep her under control but she was so excited to find out.”
“Find out what?” I asked.
Aaron smiled. “Well, I told her that we had to talk first, but she was really excited to know if you’d be coming back with us.”
I took her hand and led her to the couch where we sat down. “What all did your dad tell you?”
She shrugged. “I knew that you never came back before. I just didn’t want to make him sad. He said he didn’t know if you were coming back this time and that I had to wait to ask you, but Mom? I can’t wait any longer. I don’t like not knowing what’s going to happen.”
“I know you don’t, and I’m going to tell you everything that happened. Do you remember the story I told you?”
Amy nodded.
“That story had a lot of truth in it. See, my mother is a very sick woman. She hurts people because she doesn’t have that voice in her head telling her not to. I had to go and take care of her for a long time. I didn’t know that your father missed me so much.”
“I missed you too, Mom,” she muttered. “Why didn’t you ask us to help you?”
“I didn’t want you to be anywhere near her. I didn’t want either of you to get hurt.”
“What about now, though? If she is bad, won’t she come after us?”
I hid the shudder as I smiled. “Honey, that is never going to happen. Where they put her, she won’t ever get out, and if she did, by some chance, your father and I would watch over you and keep you safe, just like always.”
“Does this mean that you’re going to come live with us again?”
“I would like to, if it’s okay with you?” I asked.
She paused. I knew it was a lot for a little girl to take in. There was no way I could know what was going on in that precious head of hers. Amy was the perfect blend of her father and me. She had his passion and fire but was smart enough to think before she spoke. It was the speaking part that shocked me every time. She didn’t let the people around her govern when or whom she spoke to. As a young woman, she was always willing to stand up for others, even me when I needed it.
After a few more seconds, she nodded her head. “I want you to come back with us, but I want you to be sure about it. I don’t want you to ever leave again, and if you think you will, then I don’t know.”
I could hear the hurt in her voice as I pulled her into another hug. “I won’t ever leave you again, honey, and if I do, it will only be for a few days to deal with my mother. Is that okay?”
“Promise you will always come back?” she asked as she squeezed me tighter.
“I promise,” I whispered.
She lingered in my arms for a few more minutes before Aaron cleared his throat and we both turned to him. Theresa was standing at his side, tears streaming down her face. Amy saw this and ran to her as I walked over and took Aaron’s hand. I would never let it go if I could help it.
“Grandma?” she asked, her tone full of concern. “Why are you crying? Doesn’t this make you happy?”
Theresa laughed and scooped up the girl in her arms. “Oh, honey, this makes me so happy that I can’t help but cry!”
“I only cry when something is wrong,” she said with a frown.
“Not us,” I said for Theresa. “We adults cry a lot when we’re happy.”
“Then I feel like I should be crying too,” said Aaron playfully. “Because you three women have completed my dream. I’m now the happiest man in the entire world. I love you all.”
Amy leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder. “We love you too, Daddy.”
I tilted my head up and kissed his other cheek. “She’s right, you know. We love you too. So very much.”
Aaron
“It will be fine,” I promised her once again. “You just have to go in there and act like you own the place. It always works for me.”
She rolled her eyes and shoved her elbow playfully into my naked chest. “Of course you would say that. You can charm the socks off a snake.”
“Since when do snakes wear socks?” I asked.
Julia rolled her eyes at me again and I laughed. It was a common thing for us now. Our relationship had become so much more than it was five years ago. Now our house was filled with an equality that had been lacking. In the four months since the cruise ended, things had finally started to die down and we were slipping into a familiar routine, all of us back together in the same house where Amy had been created.
“Have you heard anything?” I asked carefully.
Her body stiffened. She knew exactly what I was talking about. The trial was two days ago. Margarete had been convicted of murder, along with a slew of other offenses that were brought to light when Jenny had been put under pressure. The depth of their strange relationship was still disturbing. It wasn’t the verdict, which we knew we had in the bag, that was worrying her. The judge was going to give his recommendation at any point for Margaret’s care.
Between him and the doctor, they would decide her fate and likewise, ours. We didn’t want anything to do with her, but if she was going to be set free at any point, I wanted to make sure that my family was prepared to deal with it. After all, she’d played a heavy hand in ripping us apart. Jenny was her secret weapon that Margaret had hidden for years to keep us apart. Any time Julia would think about leaving her and coming back, Margarete would call up Jenny to make sure she was ready to jump into the center of our lives again.
“No,” she whispered. “The doctor still hasn’t called and the suspense is killing me.”
“It’s okay. We knew it could take up to two weeks to find out anything. At least we know she’ll be locked up for a while longer, right?”
“Yeah,” Julia muttered, still sounding unsure. “I just wish they would hurry up. I hate having that unknown dangling above my head, especially on my first day of work.”
“Orientation is at two, right?”
“Yep. I must say, I didn’t think that I would get the job since I don’t have much experience, but I’m happy that I did. It will give me something to do while Amy’s in school.”
I cocked my head. “You’re working at an assisted living facility. I have to say that I couldn’t think of a more fitting job for you. You love people and you’re good with them. I think they’re lucky to get you, and they knew that too.”
“But I haven’t worked in so long.”
“That doesn’t matter. What matters is that you care. That’s hard to find anymore in employees. Are you sure you’re ready to go back to work? You know we don’t need the money.”
“I know,” she said. “But I want to do something with my time. I was never cut out to just be a housewife and you know that. This will give me a reason and a purpose.”
“Then why are you so nervous?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“You’re right—it’s because of the judge. I just hate waiting around. Amy knows that something is going on too.”
I smiled as I thought about our daughter. Right after the cruise, the second we came into the house, she’d disappeared upstairs and come barreling back down a few minutes later with a small box. I recognized it at once as the one sitting on my nightstand. It was a reminder of what I had been fighting for over the years, one that I’d planned on putting away for good if the cruise didn’t go as planned.
Amy handed the box to Julia after I nodded my approval, and she opened it. Inside was the same engagement ring she’d worn before leaving. The same one that she’d left behind years ago. Her eyes started to tear up when she saw it and she looked back to me.
“You kept it? After all these years?” she whispered.
I nodded and took the simple band from the bag. “I did, and I would have hung onto it for the rest of my life, but I think it belongs to you.”
I slid it on her finger and smiled. “Perfect.”
“Thank you,” she said through the tears. “Thank you both for giving me the life that I never thought I deserved.”
Amy had been ecstatic, a new child since her mother came home. It was summer break, but somehow, the entire school still knew that Julia had finally come home. I didn’t stop her from telling everyone. She had a right to have some pure joy in her young life. Julia, for her part, took everything in surprising stride as she was bombarded with questions at the very first soccer game of the season.
I had tried to keep her shielded from everything but it was pointless. Just like she did with the job interview, she breezed through the social interactions with grace, caring, and understanding. It was amazing to watch her grow into a new woman, one whom I somehow loved even more than before, though, I didn’t think it was possible. She nuzzled my neck as her fingers moved down my body, and I knew what she wanted.
Glancing at the clock, I saw it was only ten in the morning. As a teacher, I didn’t work much during the summer, and Amy was staying the week with Theresa and helping her pack. I glanced at my phone to make sure there were no missed calls from them.
“Everything okay?” Julia asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, I just wanted to make sure my mother was doing okay. She had a lot to do in a week.”
Julia chuckled. “She was the one who asked for Amy to come down for the week. She’s a brave woman. I can’t imagine packing up fifty years of my life with a nine-year-old in tow.”
“True, but she had Marcel there to help her,” I said.
“And all five of his dogs,” she agreed. “However, I bet Amy is going crazy with all the dogs there. She’s probably having a blast.”
“And keeping those spoiled pooches out of the adults’ hair while they move everything.”
“It will be okay. We’ll be down there in a few days to help your mom move in with Marcel and get Amy back. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kid so excited to start a new school year.”
I thought about Amy’s love for education. Even in the summer, she could be found stashed away in my office among the books. In the past year, she’d become very proficient at reading and now it was all she wanted to do. The Odyssey, Anne Rice, Stephen King—it didn’t matter. If it was the written word and I approved, she would read it.
It was nice to see that she was finally coming out of the stage of being a spy. One morning, not long after we had returned, she’d decided that being a spy wasn’t cool anymore. She changed her profession and became an artist. It was messy most of the time, but the girl had some skills, to my surprise. Patience was never a skill either of us had mastered. Julia and I agreed that she could be whatever she wanted as long as she was safe in exploring those goals.
“She’s always had a knack for it. Of course, this is her first year at the new elementary school too. We’ll be in different parts of the building, so I think that has something to do with the joy. Before, she had to deal with me every day, but now, she’s got a mom around to bail her out of awkward situations.”
Julia laughed. “Well, I’m happy that I can be of some use.”
“Have you thought any more about what we talked about?” I asked her carefully.
She blushed. “I don’t know. It’s a lot. Don’t you think that we should wait a little while? I mean, with the trial and now waiting on the judge, it’s a busy time. Plus, I’m starting work and the house is small. You know we would have to move, right?”
“I will move anywhere you want if that’s what it takes, but I want it to be a decision that we make together.”
“It’s something I want. I know that much. I’ve wanted it ever since we came back from the cruise, but . . .” She paused.
“Julia, you have to see that we aren’t going anywhere, right?” I asked her. “I don’t want to lose you again. I thought that we were ready for the next step, but if not, I can wait as long as it takes or take it off the table altogether.”
She shook her head. “No. I do want it.” She took a deep breath. “I think we’re ready, if you do.”
“I do,” I said quickly. “I want us to have another child together, and I think this is the perfect time for that.”
A blush fell over her perfect cheeks again. “So, what do you want to do with the rest of the afternoon? I still have a few hours before I have to be at work, and I could use a distraction from all the waiting around for that damn judge.”
I shrugged, knowing full well what I wanted to do. I wanted to ravage her like I had almost every night since we had come back from the cruise. Our love life was nothing to scoff at. I slid a hand down to her nipple and pinched it gently as she moaned and closed her eyes. I would never get tired of seeing her face like that or the way that she arched her back. The temptation to move lower on her body was overpowering as I ran my hand along her ribs and down to her hips.
Her eyes opened and she smiled. “You know, you’ve made me the happiest woman in the world. How did I ever get so lucky to have you in my life?”
I shrugged. “I ask myself that all the time about you. I waited so long to get you back and I won’t ever let you go again. You’ve turned our house into a home and filled a gap in my heart that was missing something. I know now that it was you. You were always the glue that held us together.”
“I love you,” she whispered once more before my fingers slipped into her body.
“And I love you,” I promised her.
We stopped talking. There was no more need for words as I brought her to the edge of a climax before pulling away and climbing between her legs. Her sweet body was all I needed to be at peace. She was mine, and we would be together for the rest of our lives as one big, happy family. It was a gift that I would forever thank her for.
* * *
Check out the rest of the One More series!