When Christmas arrived, Henry and Anne were on their way to reconciliation. Aidan and I forgiving him seemed to be the starting point for Henry’s acceptance. Elora was still slightly cold with him, but she could tell that James was happy to have his father back in his life. He was his father after all. Henry was an amazing grandfather to Jimmy. It was an amazing turn in his personality. I had never seen Henry interact with children before, but he was great with him.
This Christmas brought us a six months pregnant Phoebe. Since she was so tiny, her belly was all you could help but notice on her. Phoebe wanted to be surprised, so they didn’t find out the sex. She was positive though that it would be a girl. She had already decided that her name would be Adeline Lee Emerson, Lee was Oscar’s middle name.
The New Year brought with it so many changes. While some were difficult, more were amazing.
Maggie was accepted to Dartmouth. Jason bought her a promise ring and with it the promises that they would make their separation during college work. Abby was starting her junior year of high school and was in the running to be valedictorian with the grade point average that she was holding. Ryan had turned two and was a beautiful and bright little boy that Liam and Viola treated as their own son.
Oscar proposed to Phoebe when she was seven months pregnant. March came with the arrival of a beautiful, little Adeline. Phoebe took to motherhood like she had been doing it all her life. She had only been home for a month when she started working with Celia on the dress fittings for the wedding. I was ridiculously jealous of how quickly she had lost all of her weight.
Dixon and Celia’s wedding took place in May. They married in the Central Park Gazebo with one hundred and fifty guests in attendance. It was so beautiful and perfect for them. Celia had finished college and was currently the top engineer for a car company. Dixon and Celia were so perfect for each other, Dixon in a female dominated career as an RN with his boisterous and welcoming personality while Celia worked in a male dominated career as a car engineer with her stand-offish and bitchy personality. It was like ying and yang.
Warm summer air rolled in with June and I was excited to get the twins out of the house. Aidan had been expressing his desire for more kids for a few months now. After much consideration and relenting, I was in my second month of pregnancy and tired.
When I surprised Aidan with the news that we were having another child, he rearranged his schedule for the rest of the workweek and swept me away to the cottage he had given me for our first anniversary. Our whole time there we stuck to the no clothing rule, applying it to both of us. My legs were so sore when we returned, I planned on heading straight to the welcoming jets in my bathtub.
Once we were home, we greeted the twins and played with them for about an hour. Then I headed for the bathtub, finding my mail on the table next to the bedroom door. Absent mindedly, I picked up the stack and started going through the envelopes.
I came upon a thick standard envelope. There was no return address and the postmark said Germany. I furrowed my brow and flipped it over. In big, bold letters, the word ‘Please’ was scrawled on the back. I put all of the other mail down and opened the envelope.
"I thought you were going to take a bath?" Aidan came in and wrapped his arms around my waist, placing his chin on my shoulder, his hands over my stomach. "What’s that?"
I swallowed hard as I unfolded the letter and looked for any indication of who it was from. Then I choked out. "It’s from Loreley."
Chapter Ten
Headlines and Events
Lilli
I know that none of this excuses or washes away what I have caused so many people, but I need you to know that my love and friendship for you was the first real thing for me.
I am sorry and only hope that this brings you and your family some answers and closure.
Thank you for all of your kindness, even when I didn’t deserve it.
Forever your friend,
Loreley
As I finished reading the letter, I wiped my eyes and sniffed. Aidan was pacing back and forth in the room as I sat on the edge of our bed reading the letter out loud.
"Jesus, Aidan…" He stopped and looked at me intently. "You…" he cut me off.
"Lilli, I am so, so sorry!" He started to cry. "I didn’t even realize that Gideon would go ‘that’ far…I mean, fuck…his own daughter. He used my…fuck, Lilli, I am so sorry!" He buried his head in my lap.
I ran my hand through his hair.
"We need to find her." He looked up at me, shock written all over his face. "We need to help her and the baby." I felt the warm tears start to slip over my cheeks again. "He’s your son, Aidan. Regardless of how, it’s not the child’s fault and I will be damned if Gideon gets his hands on that innocent child."
"You are so amazing." Aidan grabbed my face and kissed me fiercely. "I’m going to call Liam, James and Henry…" he looked at me with uneasiness on the last name and I simply nodded to him and smiled, "we need to meet as a family and discuss all of this." He sighed.