Chapter 28
AURELIA
Harrison and I walked into the hospital clutching a bouquet of pale pink roses we’d picked up along the way, a handful of balloons, and a few shopping bags overflowing with the cutest things I’d ever purchased in my life.
Laney owned a baby supply store, so we’d tried to buy things he thought she didn’t stock.
We’d bought a lot of things for Laney, too, not only for Claire, but we’d also bought the most beautiful tiny designer outfits, the sweetest stuffed animals, and loads of baby scented bath products.
The air inside the hospital buzzed with anxiety and relief, hope and heartbreak.
Personally, I hated hospitals, but at least we were here for a happy occasion this time.
Harrison went straight down the hall with Jameson and Sadie when we arrived, but I hung back, not quite ready to intrude on the very first moment they saw their niece.
Doubling back to the waiting room where we’d been last night, I slammed to a stop in the doorway when I saw her sitting there, CC Westwood.
She was perched elegantly in one of the sterile, uncomfortable waiting room chairs like a queen on a throne, her legs crossed, her coat draped over the arm, and her posture painfully regal.
The matriarch. I’d never really been face to face with her like this, but before I could decide between staying and escaping, her gaze landed on me, her expression cool but not unfriendly.
Assessing.
“Aurelia,” she said, her voice smooth and warm enough to be polite, but with an undercurrent that told me she was still skeptical. “Good morning. Harrison is finally here, then?”
“Mrs. Westwood,” I returned softly, moving into the room with the roses still clutched in my hands like a shield. “Yes, he is. He’s gone to meet her already.”
She glanced toward the hallway Harrison had disappeared into, then back at me. “You didn’t go with him.”
“No, ma’am. I thought I’d give him a moment,” I explained politely. “This is his first niece. It felt like a big moment for both him and Jameson, who arrived at the same time we did. I don’t know Laney very well yet, so it felt right to let them all have some time alone.”
Her lips curved faintly, almost forming an approving smile, but not quite. People like her and my mother had perfected that expression. Just like they’d perfected the deceptively casual tone in which she asked the question that came next.
“Well, at least this gives you and I a chance to get to know each other a little bit. Tell me, darling, have you and Harrison started planning the wedding yet?”
The words made my pulse skitter. “No, ma’am. We haven’t. Not yet. My mother knows about our engagement now though, so yes. It’s highly likely that a wedding is being planned. Against my will and without my input.”
Something flickered in CC’s eyes, a smile she tried, and failed, to bite back. It softened her features, relaxing the sharp line of her jaw. For just a moment, she looked at me the way I’d seen her look at the others, and a tiny spark of warmth filled my chest.
“Regina never could resist,” she murmured, almost like she was speaking to herself more than to me.
I exhaled, a little of my own tension releasing, but I was still on edge, a heavy knot still sitting tight under my ribs. There was something here. Something unspoken.
CC wasn’t being unkind, but it was pretty clear that she didn’t trust me either. She was watching me closely, looking at me like she knew more than she was letting on.
Before I could press her about what had happened between her and my mother or assure her that I was with Harrison for the right reasons, a familiar voice cut through the tension.
“Aurelia?” Harrison stood at the glass door, his hair a little mussed from having run his hands through it, but those hazel eyes bright with something warm. “Do you want to come meet her? She’s the cutest little person you’ve ever seen. I guarantee it.”
I turned back to CC. For a fraction of a second, I thought she might stop me, but she only gave a small, almost imperceptible nod. So I followed Harrison down the hall, trying to quiet the worry knotting my insides.
Harrison took my hand, his grin wide and boyish, and we entered a room at the end of the hall. “You’re going to fall in love with her, but don’t worry. I’ve been told that it’s completely normal.”
I giggled softly, looking over to wave at Laney and Sterling while Harrison dragged me directly to Claire. I stepped closer to her and leaned over the bassinet she was sleeping in. Words failed me completely. Even my lungs failed me.
She was absolutely perfect. A little pink face with her tiny fists balled up under the soft blanket, long eyelashes lying like the faintest of brushstrokes across her cheeks.
She was the prettiest baby I’d ever seen—and the cutest, just like Harrison had promised—and I didn’t even like babies all that much.
At least, I hadn’t thought I did, but this little one was enough to make me rethink my position. Sterling strode over, looking impossibly proud and impossibly tired all at once, beaming at Harrison as he lifted Claire into her uncle’s arms.
I blinked hard, feeling like something inside me shifted as I watched him accept the little bundle from his older brother. There was no warning for the shift. No build up. Just a sudden, sharp jolt right in the center of my being.
Harrison wasn’t the baby of his family anymore. Right now, he didn’t even look like the youngest brother, the one his parents kept in their back pockets. To me, he suddenly looked like a man holding a future in his hands.
And as I realized it, I felt something I’d never once let myself imagine I would feel. A tug toward a future of my own. A husband. A family. A life that wasn’t just about proving myself, fighting for respect, and always trying to outpace my mother’s expectations.
The thought scared me as much as it thrilled me. Harrison glanced up, caught me staring, and smiled as though we were the only two people in the room. My chest squeezed so hard in that moment that my lungs failed me again.
Maybe I’m in deeper than I realized before.
I returned his smile and lingered a few more minutes, but eventually, I started feeling like I’d overstayed my welcome. After going over to quietly congratulate Laney and to hand over the flowers, I touched Harrison’s arm lightly.
“I’m going to head out, but I’ll see you at the ball tomorrow night. I’ve got a few things to wrap up before then.”
His brows drew together, a question in his eyes, but I gave him a reassuring smile before I slipped out of the room. He had his family, his niece, and this glowing, sacred moment. He didn’t need me hovering on the edges of it.
Outside, the December chill cut through my coat, but seeing that baby had filled me with a warmth that not even the freezing air could immediately expel.
Since Harrison was in there dealing with his family, I decided it was time to deal with own and pulled my phone from my bag, dialing my mother’s number, but there was no answer.
Figures.
I slipped the phone into my pocket and let out a dry laugh. Tomorrow, I would get the full force of Regina Van Alen, her disapproval, her lectures, and her critiques. I wasn’t na?ve. She wasn’t going to let this go.
Not when I’d rushed into an engagement and was planning a marriage without her permission. More importantly, without her orchestration, but at least it wasn’t like I was marrying a commoner.
Harrison Westwood was the farthest thing from it.
The thought was a small comfort, though. Tomorrow was going to be a battlefield, and I honestly wasn’t sure how to prepare myself for the Van Alen/Westwood war I knew was coming.