CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Kiara took a long shower, then dressed in a pair of white shorts and a loose-fitting floral blouse with small cap sleeves. Both items were maternity. She’d finally caved and bought several outfits that would hopefully get her through the last part of the pregnancy.
She applied a light layer of makeup, then scrunched her curls, leaving her hair loose for a change, held back only by a headband.
That afternoon, Angie and Jude were due back. And on the same private flight, coming in from New York, would be Julian. Kiara was excited about Angie coming home, but her feelings about Julian’s return were a bit more mixed.
He’d stayed in contact with her while he’d been away, though they’d mainly just exchanged brief text messages.
This time when he came to the estate, he’d be moving into the house with her, and the trial month would begin.
She was nervous about it. Mainly because she was worried about how she would feel with him in such close proximity.
If she’d found the previous version of Julian attractive, this new version of him was even more appealing. He treated her with a care and concern now that hadn’t been as apparent when they’d first hung out together.
She knew it had more to do with her pregnancy than with her personally, but it would be hard not to want to read more into it.
The past couple of weeks had flown by. Most of it had been tied up with the house, as the designer had been there to complete the interior, moving in all the furniture and décor they’d agreed on.
She’d apparently been more than happy to rework her plans to make the design for Angie’s rooms more suitable for Julian. Kiara was sure that money had once again greased the wheels of that particular situation.
Once she was ready, she grabbed her phone and water bottle and left her room. She’d been in the house for two nights, and it was still hard for her to believe that it was hers. Finally, a forever home.
She might not be sharing it with Angie the way she’d thought she would, but it was still her home. It might take some time to get used to sharing a space with Julian, but thankfully, it was large enough that they shouldn’t be in each other’s way.
Having her own space to retreat to was the only reason she’d agreed to him living in the other suite in the house. Time would tell if it was a good decision.
She stepped out onto the porch, taking a deep breath of the fresh summer air. The sky was clear, and everything looked vibrant and green after the rain they’d had a couple of days earlier.
Excited to see Angie again, Kiara walked down the steps and along the interlocking stone sidewalk to the road. They were working on the landscape surrounding the house now, but it still looked a little rough.
She didn’t have a car yet, since she had no license, but Duncan had suggested she start learning to drive one of the UTVs so she didn’t have to walk everywhere. For the moment, however, she was fine with walking.
As she walked, she could hear the distant sound of the helicopter approaching. When she reached the helipad, she spotted a couple of members of the security team standing next to two UTVs.
They greeted her with nods and smiles, then they all turned their attention to the approaching helicopter. As it slowly lowered to the helipad, Kiara waved, even though she couldn’t clearly see anyone. She doubted that Angie was seated by the window, though, since she really didn’t enjoy flying.
The rotors slowed, and soon, the door opened. Appearing first was Angie, who waved to Kiara, then ran toward her.
As they wrapped their arms around each other, Kiara felt relief fill her to have Angie back. “I missed you so much.”
“I missed you too,” Angie murmured. As they separated, Angie gripped Kiara’s arms and looked closely at her. “How are you? How’s the baby?”
They’d kept in contact via text, but Kiara hadn’t pushed for long conversations. The texts had been more for just quick check-ins to assure each other they were okay.
“I’m fine. The baby’s fine. How are you?”
“I’m great,” she said with a beaming smile.
Kiara was glad to see her so happy. She deserved it.
“I’m glad you’re home,” Kiara said.
“Me too. We had a wonderful time. The island… the beaches… the water… it was all so beautiful, but I’m ready to get back to life here.”
Hooking her arm through Kiara’s, Angie turned to watch the men as they unloaded the bags from the helicopter. Kiara spotted Julian standing with Jude, the two of them talking.
“I hear Julian is taking my suite in the house,” Angie said. “Are you okay with that?”
“Yes. We talked about it and agreed to a one-month trial.”
Angie’s brow furrowed in concern. “Are you sure about this?”
“About as sure as I am about anything these days,” Kiara said with a laugh. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
“I am a bit worried,” Angie told her. “It seems like Julian has changed since he went to the treatment center, but only time will tell.”
Kiara understood where Angie was coming from, but unlike everyone else, she’d maintained contact with Julian throughout his treatment. She thought she had a better handle on how he was doing than most of the others.
“Are you ready to head home, love?” Jude asked as he approached them.
“Yep.”
“We can catch up tomorrow,” Kiara told her. “You need some time to get settled at Jude’s.”
“Well, I want to see the house now that it’s all finished.”
“I think you’ll like it,” Kiara said. “It looks amazing.”
“I’ll be over first thing in the morning,” Angie promised as she hugged Kiara. “Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
When Jude and Angie headed toward one of the waiting UTVs, Kiara spotted Julian standing next to the other one, watching her. He wore sunglasses, so she couldn’t see his eyes, but he smiled as she walked to where he waited.
“Do you want a ride back to the house?” he asked, gesturing at the UTV.
“Which house?” she asked.
“Uh… our house?”
“Yep. I’ll take that ride.”
Julian waited as she climbed into the second row of seats, then settled in beside her. Anthony and another security team member drove them to the house.
“Wow,” Julian said a few minutes later, coming to a stop just inside the front door. He set his suitcase down and looked around. “This looks great. Are you happy with it?”
“I am. The designer did a great job with everything.”
“I’ll need to get the rest of my stuff from the big house,” Julian said, picking up his suitcase again. “I’m curious to see how my suite came together on such short notice.”
Kiara followed him through the door that led into his set of rooms, hoping he’d be happy with what he’d ended up with.
“Oh, very nice,” Julian said as he walked into his bedroom. “I ended up giving the designer a fair amount of leeway with decisions, and she didn’t disappoint.”
The designer had changed the paint color from the soft mauve Angie had wanted to a warm taupe that mixed well with the navy-blue accents of the room. It definitely had a masculine vibe when compared to what Angie had planned for the room.
Julian set his suitcase down by the dresser, then turned to face her. “Are you happy with your rooms?”
“I am,” Kiara said. “The nursery turned out really well too.”
“Would you mind showing it to me?” Julian asked.
“Not at all,” she said, then led him across the house to her suite.
Kiara was pleased that he was interested in seeing their son’s room. She didn’t know how involved he’d end up being once he was born, but she hoped Julian would be there for him as much as possible.
“I like the bears,” Julian said as he looked around the room. “Very cute.”
“I thought so. I had the option of zoo animals, but I liked the bears better.”
She made her way across the room and settled into the rocker next to the crib. Julian leaned against the doorjamb, his arms crossed.
“Did you pick out everything in here?” he asked.
“Essentially,” she said. “Megan would present me with two or three options, and I’d choose from them.
And for this chair, she actually had three delivered and told me to pick the one that I found most comfortable.
That ended up being this one. We ordered two of them.
One for in here, and one for my bedroom. ”
“Did you enjoy the process?”
“I did. Megan made it very easy. Maybe if she’d given me a ton of options, I would have gotten overwhelmed. Thankfully, I didn’t find it too difficult to select between two or three styles.”
“She didn’t really present me with any options.”
“Did she ask you if you wanted that?” Kiara asked as she set the chair into motion.
“Yes, but I told her to just go with what looked best.”
“I guess that explains why she asked me what I thought you might prefer for a few things.”
“And what did you tell her?”
Kiara shrugged. “Once again, I asked her for a couple of options based on what you’d told her, then I chose from those what I thought you might like.”
“Well, you did a good job,” Julian said. “It all looks great.”
Kiara was glad he was happy with the outcome. She’d tried to choose things that she thought created a homey and comfortable environment for him.
She had no idea how living together would go for them.
It would be different than when they’d both lived in the main house together.
In a way, that had kind of felt like living in a hotel.
Even though it was still more elaborate than any place she’d ever lived, moving to the house had felt like coming home.
She wondered if Julian had felt the same way. He probably wasn’t in the mindset of thinking of it as home just yet. Not when they still had the trial period to go.
The house was going to be her home, regardless. But at some point, he’d probably move out. Whether it was in a month or when they got divorced, it wasn’t his forever home like it was hers.
“Are you still eating at the main house?” he asked, straightening from the doorjamb.
“Yes. I usually join Benji and Annie since Duncan and Elizabeth are still gone,” she said.