Chapter Sixteen – Liam
Liam
I’d gone up thirty minutes ago, and Winnie had begged for one more book. I knew Aurora was giving in to her because she was stalling. This quiet dance we were playing needed to stop and I got that she was nervous. I was nervous as well.
But now it was so quiet I was beginning to wonder if Aurora had snuck out of the house.
Heading upstairs, I tried repeating what I was going to say to her. It was going to be upfront and direct because we’ve danced around this for longer than I cared to admit.
I turned the corner and stopped at Winnie’s door.
My heart slammed against my chest when I saw Winnie lying across Aurora’s lap.
Both of them were sound asleep, and lying at the bottom of the bed was the kitten.
Aurora’s head was leaning back against Winnie’s headboard, one hand holding the book still and the other on Winnie’s back, where I knew she had been rubbing it.
It was Winnie’s favorite thing and usually helped her fall asleep quickly.
The sight before me was something I hadn’t been prepared for.
I knew I had feelings for Aurora, that wasn’t new to me, but seeing her with Winnie like this made my chest ache with a want I had never experienced before in my entire life.
A need to make Aurora mine for once and for all swept over me and latched on.
I wasn’t letting her leave this house until we had told each other exactly how we felt.
“Holy shit,” I whispered. “This woman is going to kill me.”
Seeing Aurora like that with my daughter made me instantly want to take her into my arms and kiss her. She not only loved my daughter, but she also cared about her happiness and safety, and that was the most endearing thing I had ever seen.
I walked into the room and gently touched Aurora on the shoulder to wake her. She opened her eyes and smiled when she saw me. I swore that smile lit up the entire room.
Lifting Winnie, I rolled her off Aurora and covered her up. The kitten got up, stretched and curled up next to Winnie.
“You both fell asleep.”
Slipping carefully out of bed, Aurora stretched and then placed the book she had been reading to Winnie back on the shelf.
She walked over, kissed Winnie on the forehead, swept up the kitten, and quickly turned to head out the door. I followed her and closed Winnie’s door halfway.
Aurora was already nearly down the steps. Once she was at the bottom, she set the kitten down. “I should go now.”
Reaching for her hand, I whispered her name. “Aurora, please wait.”
She smiled. “Okay. Thank you for dinner. The meatloaf was amazing, and I think the kitten really likes her setup.”
Sighing, I drew her to me, cupped her face in my hands and said, “For the love of everything good, stop talking.”
Her eyes went wide, and I couldn’t resist it any longer.
I leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips.
When she let out a little moan, I ran my tongue along her lower lip, causing her to gasp.
Our tongues moved lightly together until I deepened the kiss.
The feel of Aurora’s hands sliding up my chest nearly had me coming undone.
The countless times I had dreamed of kissing her were nothing like the real thing.
She tasted like honey and licorice, which was crazy because she hadn’t eaten either of them.
But that’s what she tasted like. Just like she smelled like licorice all the time. It was fucking intoxicating.
She slowly broke away from the kiss, and I leaned my forehead against hers.
“I’ve waited so long to kiss you.”
Drawing back to look at me, I saw the confusion in her eyes.
I smiled. “We need to talk.”
Her mouth opened to say something, and I placed my finger on her lips. “What I meant to say is I need to talk to you, and I need you to listen.”
She nodded. Taking her hand in mine, I led her over to the sofa. We both sat, and I drew in a deep breath.
“I don’t know how to start, so I’m going to start at the beginning.”
“Okay.”
“Shortly before Hope found out she had cancer, I asked her for a divorce.”
Her mouth dropped open, and she stared at me. Slowly shaking her head, she asked, “What do you mean you asked for a divorce?”
“Let me back up some. Before Hope found out she was pregnant, we had separated briefly in New York. It was pretty apparent after we married that we both wanted two totally different things in life. Hope wanted to travel the world, and I wanted…well, I wanted The Muddled Moose someday. So, we decided to end things. During our separation, she showed up one day and told me she was pregnant. We decided, for the sake of the baby, we would give it another try. Hope’s whole way of thinking had been turned around after she found out she was pregnant.
She was hell-bent on raising Winnie in Moose Village.
I had already started the process of looking into making The Muddled Moose a reality, so I made it happen.
It had always been a dream to open up a rooftop bar over the historical Moose Village Hotel.
My father is a contractor, so with his help, we got things going.
Once we moved here, I don’t know what I thought would happen.
I guess I was hoping Hope would be happy, especially since she was the one who insisted that Winnie should be raised in a smaller town and not New York City. ”
“She wasn’t? She seemed to be happy when I first met her. Although she did seem tired a lot.”
“Hope was far from happy, and I’m sure part of it was that she wasn’t feeling well from the cancer before she even knew she had it.
Anyway, we had drifted so far apart and my mother treated Hope like shit, and Hope was growing tired of it.
We argued a lot, and it became increasingly clear that things wouldn’t work out between us.
Then something happened that ended our marriage.
At least it did for me. I asked her for a divorce.
She agreed, and we decided we’d share custody of Winnie.
Hope was even making plans to go to Italy for a few weeks to see a lake she had always dreamed of.
It wasn’t long after that we found out about the cancer. ”
“Oh my God,” Aurora whispered.
I nodded. “I couldn’t leave her, at least not until she fought it and got healthy again.
I know everyone thought we had a perfect marriage and that I was madly I love with Hope, but I wasn’t, Aurora.
Hope had been lying to me, and I had been so angry with her that I wanted her to leave and go to Italy.
Part of me wanted her to stay there and never come back.
I haven’t told anyone that or even admitted it to myself, but that’s what I wanted. Her to leave and never come back.”
Aurora’s brows drew together in confusion, but I went on.
“After finding out how sick she was, I was filled with guilt for having the thoughts I had, and the only thing I knew to do was stay with her and help her through the cancer. Toward the end, Hope accused me of having feelings for you. I didn’t deny it.”
Aurora closed her eyes and did a slight shake of her head, then looked at me and asked, “Wait. What do you mean? Please tell me you didn’t have feelings for me, and that’s why you asked for the divorce.”
“No, you’re not the reason I asked her for the divorce. I honestly wanted to make the marriage work, but I found out that…”
My voice trailed off, and I closed my eyes. Aurora took my hand, and my heart jumped in my chest. Her touch was so soothing, and I could see the concern in her eyes. That was one of the things that attracted me to this woman. Her caring heart. There wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do for anyone.
“I was going through some paperwork looking for something, and I found some legal documents that involved a former coworker of mine.”
“What were they?” she asked with curiosity.
“A restraining order for Hope to stay away from him and documents saying that Winnie’s biological father was giving her up.”
With a quick shake of her head, Aurora let out a disbelieving laugh. “I’m sorry, you said Winnie’s biological father gave up his rights to her, but you’re…”
It was her turn to let her voice trail off before she asked, “Oh my God. You’re not Winnie’s biological father?”
I shook my head. “No, I’m not.”
“Did you know?”
“I had no idea. At the time, Hope and I had been separated, so was this guy. They’d met through work events, so Hope knew him.
They had a short love affair, and that’s when she got pregnant.
By the time she found out and told him, he had worked things out with his wife and told Hope to stay away from him.
He had no desire to raise the baby or even have her in his life.
They did a paternity test, and when it came back, he was the father and he made it abundantly clear that he wanted nothing to do with the baby or Hope. So she moved on to plan B.”
Aurora’s hand came up to her mouth as she sucked in a breath. “You were plan B?”
I nodded.
“She lied and told you the baby was yours?”