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Bex’s knees hit the floor in front of Aiden and she wrapped her arms around him. His hand released Julie’s and he pulled Bex up to him. He sat her in his lap, wrapped her in his arms, and they cried together.
Bex wrapped herself around him, getting as close as she could.
Nurses bustled through and stopped the IVs and noisy machinery, but Aiden and Bex stayed in the chair.
Eventually, the sniffles stopped and they sat there in silence, wrapped in each other.
“Let’s go home,” Aiden finally said. He kissed her cheek. “We have a lot to do in the next few days.”
Encouraged by his mutual words (hearing “we” from his lips made her heart sing), Bex climbed out of his lap and took his hand.
Aiden stood beside her. He waited by Julie’s bed and said a few silent words before firmly gripping Bex’s hand and leaving the room. He turned off the lights and pulled the door shut behind them. After a quick nod to the nurses station, he and Bex left the nursing home and headed to his car.
They climbed in and he drove them to his house.
They literally walked inside, climbed up the stairs to his bedroom, laid down, and fell asleep holding each other.
* * *
Over the next few days, Aiden didn’t leave the house, but he made a lot of phone calls so Bex assumed arrangements were being made.
Many women dropped by with frozen casseroles and disappointed frowns when Bex answered the door instead of Aiden. The good part was, there would be no grocery shopping in their futures for a while.
Paparazzi lined up outside on the street, but at least they kept a respectable distance. Bex stayed off her phone, dreading to read the stories printed about her.
Even if they weren’t doing anything, Aiden wanted to hold Bex. He would get off the phone, come find her, and they would go lie in bed together until the next time he had to call someone, sometimes lying together for hours.
At first, he kept apologizing to her, for his neediness, for his silence. She quickly reassured him that she would willingly do whatever he needed.
Bex found a neatly pressed black suit hanging in Aiden’s closet, almost as though Julie anticipated he’d need it. Bex couldn’t put him in that. The memories would overwhelm him. A quick call to her designer, and Bex had a black dress and new suit on the way.
Bex also called Jade, and soon had security arranged for the memorial service through Jade’s fiancé.
Julie donated her body to science in hopes that it would further Huntington’s research.
Aiden would host a memorial service for her at her home in her backyard. But the science center to which she donated her body would cremate her and send her ashes back, which Aiden planned to bury in a private ceremony later.
The memorial service was four days away, on Saturday.
Bex had to leave on Monday.
Aiden had effectively shut down. Bex tried to work with him on that.
Eventually, she convinced him to come to the living room and watch a series on TV with her in silence. But he kept coming back for more episodes so she took that as a good sign.
She almost wept with joy on Friday when he cooked breakfast for them for the first time. The pancakes were simple but they meant he was coming out of his silence.
Bex’s designer delivered their clothes, which she quietly hung in his closet.
“I’m going to run to the store,” Aiden said around noon, picking his keys up from the kitchen counter. She was surprised to see him showered and fully dressed.
She shook her head. “There are at least a dozen paparazzi outside. They’ve learned I’m here. They would swarm me at the store. You’re better off going without me.”
Aiden nodded and gave her a quick kiss. “Any special requests?”
“Nah, whatever sounds good to you.”
The corner of his mouth turned into a smile. “I don’t know about you, but I could eat almost anything as long as it isn’t casserole.”
