Modern Arrangements: Complete Trilogy (Modern Arrangements #1-3) (62 page)

"Jay." I smiled. He winked and
pulled me into a large hug. Surprisingly, he whispered into my ear as well.

"He has been lost without
you." I pulled back with tears in my eyes. He nodded, smiled and then
walked away with the luggage. I cleared my throat and turned around to look at
Aidan. He did look lost, but he also looked torn.

"We should talk, but perhaps
tomorrow would be better since I just got home." He nodded and I walked
away, heading upstairs.

Once in our bedroom, I looked around. A
sickening feeling immediately settled into my stomach. I went to the closet, grabbed
some pajamas, and changed quickly. In my flannel pants and t-shirt, I headed to
the twins room.

They were both on their large play
carpet crawling around with their toys. Kimberly was sitting in the chair going
through their bags.

"I can do that." I walked
toward her.

"No, no, you just got home. Let me
do my job." She smiled warmly at me. I sat on the floor with the twins,
playing, tickling and laughing.

I soon felt a presence behind me and
turned. Aidan was standing in the doorway, disheveled and sullen, staring at us
as we played on the floor. I was holding Livy in a standing position as she
tried to take a step.

"Ded." She smiled and took a
step toward Aidan. I was about to shift myself to stand, but she let go and
took four solid steps toward Aidan. He knelt down and she stumbled to him.

I felt the tear slip down my cheek. She
was the last to walk. Walsh had started walking a few weeks ago.

"W-when did she...?"

"That was her first time." His
face was lit up at my answer and I couldn't bear to tell him that he had missed
Walsh's first steps.

"Good girl, Livy." Aidan cooed
to her as he hugged her tightly. "You are such a big girl. I've missed you
so much, baby girl." I had to blink away the tears, the guilt bubbling up
again.

Aidan edged into the room further and
started to play with the twins. I found myself drifting further away from them,
letting him catch up his time with them. I could see how badly being away from
the twins had affected him. It had been killing him slowly. The sullen look of
his face seemed to already improve with his interaction with them.

"Hey there, big man, have you been
taking care of your mom and sister?" Aidan ruffled Walsh's hair.

"Mumma." Walsh smiled with his
blurt.

Aidan looked at him and smiled.
"I'll take that as a yes." He chuckled and then laid down onto the
floor, both kids climbing on him. Kimberly broke up play time to give them a
bottle and get them into bed.

"We need to get your routine back,
don't we?" She playfully lectured them. I kissed them both and then left
the room.

I headed to the guest room that I had
Jay take some of my things to. I couldn't look back at him. It would kill me to
see him walk into our room alone or to see his broken face.

Once inside, I closed the door behind me
and let the tears flow. I was trying to stop them as I walked to the bed. Sitting
on the large, downy comforter were my wedding rings with a large envelop
underneath.

Picking up the rings, I held them in my
fist as I opened the envelope and pulled out the papers. Inside were medical
papers with Aidan's name on them. The papers stated that Aidan had been
drugged.

'After an extensive testing of blood,
urine and saliva; conclusions are that the following were found in Mr. Aidan
Walsh Iverson III's system: Alcohol level of .06, sildenafil citrate, and
flunitrazepam.’ I looked at the date of test and the lab where it was
conducted.

He had the tests done after I
found....them. I swallowed the lump that had found permanent placement in my
throat.

I took the papers and sat down on the
bed with my laptop. First, I looked up sildenafil citrate. Viagra. I gasped and
felt my heart rate increase. Second, I looked up flunitrazepam. Rohypnol, also
known as the date rape drug.

"Christ!" I cried out.
"Is that all this family is about?" I felt the tears pour down my
face.

Seriously, I had been drugged and now
someone had drugged Aidan. Was I going to have to have some else taste my food
for me? Do I need to worry about what is being given to my children? I feel so
violated, so paranoid, so...fuck! So burnt out with this. I really don't think
that I can take anymore.

Another night of restless sleep passed.
I woke and decided that I would take the kids swimming today.

I figured that Aidan had already left
for work, so I went to the bedroom to get my swimsuit. I opened the door and
found that the bed was made.

Maybe they already came in and made it.

I quickly changed and went down to the
kitchen to eat breakfast with the twins. Once they finished, we got them
changed and I took them to the pool.

Splashing seemed to be Walsh's favorite
thing and Livy preferred to float and stick her face in the water. Of course
she came up choking on the water and I had to laugh as I kept telling her not
to do that.

Grabbing the strings on their little
boat floating devices, I started to pull them around making engine noises. They
were giggling and Walsh was splashing like a mad man. I heard a chuckling and
turned quickly. Aidan was standing a few feet from the pool watching us with a
smile.

"I've missed you." He said.

I opened my mouth and then closed it
again.

"You don't have to say anything."
He said with a furrowed brow. "I just wanted you to know how much I've
missed you. All of you."

"I-I thought you had left for
work." Clearly he hadn't, he was still in the clothes he had on yesterday.
"The bed was made and..."

"I don't sleep in there." He
cut me off.

I swallowed. "Oh." It almost
came out breathlessly.

"I can't and I haven't." He
ran his hand through his hair. "Not without you."

"Aidan—."

"Don't say anything." He
turned and left the room.

Livy sneezed from all of her water
intake and then Walsh yawned. We got out of the pool, dried off, and I took the
twins to get changed.

Once dressed, Kimberly and I gave them
each a bottle and tucked them in for a nap.

I walked to Aidan's study and stood in
front of the closed door, my hand hesitating above the doorknob. As my internal
battle raged on, I started to pull my hand away.

"He’s waiting for you." I
jumped and turned to see Jay smirk. He put his arm on my shoulder. "He has
been waiting on you to take the first step toward him for the past month, not
wanting to rush you." He patted my shoulder and then lightly knocked on
the door, before walking away.

"Come in." Aidan yelled, his
voice muffled from the large oak door.

I closed my eyes and found my inner
strength. I can do this! I opened the door.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Aidan

When my contacts alerted me that Lilli
made arrangements to fly back to New York, I couldn't just sit around. I knew
it seemed stalker-like but I had to be there when they got back. I missed my
wife, my children, my Lilli. Seeing them, after so long, really made my heart
beat for the first time in weeks.

I spent the past weeks sleeping on the
couch in my study. I could barely step into our room to get clothes. The twin's
door had to be closed at all times; I didn't want to be reminded that they
weren't there either.

Seeing her playing with them in their
room, in our house, and my daughter walking to me, filled me with familiar
feelings that had been missing for what felt like forever.

Already aware that she had things taken
to another room, I simply stared after her as she retreated into the guest
room. I could only hope that she would look at the information I left for her,
pray that she would put her rings back on. The thought of her leaving again
scared me, especially since she was still so unsure of what she was going to
do. This feeling loomed over me now. I really didn't think that I could live
without her.

When I found her in the pool with the
twins, there was no stopping myself from watching. After she saw that I was
there, I couldn't help but tell her exactly what I felt at that moment. I
wanted her to run into my arms and hold me, but I knew that it was too soon.

Now, she stood before me in my study.
She looked nervous, sad, frustrated and confused.

"I..." She put her hand up to
stop me.

"I don't know what happened that
night, but...I realize that you, more than likely, weren't at fault." She
swallowed and closed her eyes. "I know that you provided me this."
She tossed the papers that I had left on my desk in front of me,
"but...Jesus, Aidan." I watched the tears pour over her cheeks and I
wanted to reach out to her. "First I'm drugged, now you. Do I need to fear
for our children's lives?" She was letting her anger take over.

"I doubt that..."

"How do you know? How do I know
that you didn't just have your doctor's write up this little report for you?
Huh?" She narrowed her eyes on me.

She was right, she couldn't be sure of
anything and she had every right to be scared.

"I don't know what the hell it is
with you and your life, but this is completely insane. I don't know what to
think or who to trust. I just need time."

I only nodded. "You can have all
the time you need." I knew it sounded pathetic and defeated, but that was
exactly what I was right now.

The next two weeks went by and it was
like having the shadow of Lilli in my life. She was here, but she wasn't with
me. I wasn't entirely sure what hurt worse, her being gone or her being here
but not with me.

Having dragged my ass into the office
today, just to get away from the tension in the house, I sat distracted and
distraught over my life. I couldn't determine whether I was looking forward to
going home or not. It was a tough call, all because I wanted Lilli but she
wasn't really there. She was just functioning in the outskirts of my life.

When I arrived home, I was surprised to
find Jay telling me that Lilli was waiting for me in the library. Upon entering,
I saw her in her normal reading position on the leather lounge chair. She
looked up at me.

"Um...Jay said you wanted to see
me."

She nodded with a very severe look on
her face. After sucking in a large breath and exhaling, she started.

"Before I say what I need to say, I
want you to promise that you won't fly off the handle and go ballistic."

I shrugged.

"That depends on what you are going
to say...are you leaving me?" I sucked in a breath and waited for an
answer that I wish I didn't have to hear.

She shook her head.

"This isn't about that, not
really." I exhaled and she continued. "James came to see me
today."

I furrowed my brow at her.

"Why would he...?"

"He found out who it was. The
person behind my birth control pills."

"Was it Loreley?" I spit out
and she grimaced at the sound of her name.

She shook her head.

"Stay calm..."

"Why would he tell you and not
me?" I eyed her and became frustrated. "Did he do it?!"

Shaking her head again, I could tell she
was getting irritated with me.

"No, but it was someone close to
you." Lilli put her hand up to stop me from speaking again. "He came
to me because he thinks that I am the only one that can keep you calm enough to
think clearly about...this."

"Okay...and...?" I braced myself.

"Aidan, it was your Uncle." My
head shot up and I looked at her, completely confused. "Henry." Then
confusion turned to anger, anger to fury, fury to full throttle rage.

"That bastard!" I jumped up
and screamed, pulling on my hair.

Before I could even realize, Lilli had
her hands on my arm.

"Calm down, please? Don't go
running off and doing something stupid toward your family."

"Are you sure about this?"

She shrugged.

"I don't think that James would
offer up his father if he weren't sure, but I think that you should talk to
James, rationally."

I nodded. I felt the fury still boiling
under my skin, fists still clenched.

When she removed her hands from my arm,
I felt the loneliness seep back into my body. I missed her touch so much.

The first person on my list to deal with
the next morning was James. I immediately had him in my office. I could see the
nervousness all over his face and body.

"James, why didn't you come to
me?"

"Aidan, Lilli is the only one that
could tell you about this without you going on a lynching project."

I nodded. "Tell me what you
know."

He cleared his throat. "Aidan, my
father, though he is a complete dick who I still can't believe did something
like this, was only acting on fear. He was afraid for our family and for
AIS..."