Elora and James returned from the trail ride they went on and we all headed over to the hayride, grabbing Jason, Maggie and Abby along the way.
After the hayride, we all sat down for face painting. I made Aidan get a pumpkin face and James got a puppy dog. After they were all made up, Elora and I refused to do it, laughing at the two of them. Of course Aidan gave me the pout face and I sat down. When the face painter was finished I was surprised at how quick it was, sure that he only touched my cheek. Looking into the mirror that was next to me, I saw ‘property of Aidan Iverson’ in large, red letters on my cheek.
"You loser." I laughed out at him and playfully smacked his chest. I grabbed a napkin.
"Ah, ah, ahhhh…it stays until we get back." He smiled, proud of himself.
I grabbed the paintbrush from the table next to me and put a large black L on his forehead. Laughing, I took off and he chased me until he caught up to me, tackling me into the mound of hay. Kids and parent’s looked at us with amused looks on their faces.
"I love you." He said as he leaned in and kissed me.
"I love you more." I said after he pulled away.
"Not possible." He stated as he stood up, offering me a hand.
Once everyone was exhausted and the kids were all falling asleep in the wagon, we headed back to Viola’s family house in the Hamptons. We spent the weekend there, just having a fun family get away.
Thanksgiving was upon us and we had invited everyone to our house. It was Thanksgiving Eve when I heard footsteps approaching the living room.
"Hey, should we have...?" I looked up, thinking I would be looking at Aidan. It wasn’t.
"Lilli." Henry said in a low tone.
Immediately I stood up. "What are you doing here?" I hissed. "You need to leave immediately."
"Please, I…I wanted to apologize, for everything." I could see tears on the edge of his eyes as he sniffed.
"Henry, what you did was so manipulating and…"
"Unfair, stupid, heartless…" he continued. I nodded. "I am so sorry, more so than I have ever been in my life."
"Are you truly sorry for what you did, or are you just sorry you got caught and lost your job?"
Henry looked at me with a sincerely hurt expression.
"It’s true that I lost my job, but that’s not what this is about. I’ve lost my family, my wife, my son, daughter-in-law and grandson. I’ve lost my brother, Viola, Aidan and you. You were all my family and I never truly realized how much it all meant till it was gone."
He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
"I am forever sorry for what I did to you and Aidan. I admit that I did it with, what I had thought, were good intentions, but that doesn’t excuse how wrong I was."
"I don’t understand how you could do something like this to Aidan. I mean, I get that I’m not your family, but Aidan?" I shook my head lightly.
"I suppose that my jealousy of my older brother, Aidan’s father, had carried over to him and it blinded my ability to make better choices."
I furrowed my brow. "I forgive you, but I cannot speak for everyone else."
"I know, but you are who I should’ve apologized to first. Though, I will admit, I apologized to Anne first. Not that she will speak with me."
I sighed. "Would you like to see the twins?"
His face lit up a little and he nodded with half a smile. I led the way.
We were both sitting and talking about the whole situation while the twins played in front of us when Aidan appeared.
"What the hell is he doing here?" I stood quickly, as did Henry.
"Aidan…" I moved toward him and he wrapped his arm around me, pulling me behind him.
"Get away from my children." He ordered and Henry immediately began to walk out of the room.
"Aidan, your uncle came to apologize and I accepted…"
"How can you even talk to him?" Aidan turned and grabbed onto my shoulders.
"I can’t handle the tension and the separation in your family any more. You need your family."
"He is not my family." Aidan glared at Henry who put his head down and walked out of the room.
"Aidan, it’s your choice to forgive him or not. I’m not saying to forget, but it’s time to forgive. Let go of all of that and move on." I kissed his lips lightly and pulled back. "I have forgiven him, that’s my choice."
I walked back over to the twins who were looking at us curiously. Aidan stood frozen for quite some time, seemingly thinking things over. Then he joined the twins and me on the floor to build castles out of blocks.
By Thanksgiving, I had invited Henry for dinner. Aidan was still very ‘iffy’ with him, but agreed to let it all go. He would never forget nor would he fully trust him again, but it was progress. Henry understood.