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“I had no say in it either. I went along with the plan as you did. I had things done to my body, things I never would have imagined, all to have our baby.”
“And I love you for that. You were the one facing all the changes in your body, and I was powerless to do anything about it. Even though we both found it hard, we were together on trying to have a baby. I want us to do that now, talk to the adoption lawyer, make plans to have the family we’ve always dreamed of.”
“Then why are you willing to do it now when you weren’t before Emma came into your life?”
“Because…” He rubbed his hands through his curly auburn hair. “Grace, those first couple days in Spartanburg, I was so anxious to see that Emma was taken care of.”
“But she had a nanny who was perfectly capable of caring for her, better than you and I, right?”
“Well, me for sure.” He gave her a wry smile, the same one that emphasized the dimples in his cheeks.
“Aidan, taking on a child is something we’ve never done. There is no best way, no predetermined plan that is known to work. It was supposed to be you and me facing the arrival of a child in our lives. And you left me out of every part of it, until now.”
Aidan met his wife’s anxious gaze. That this conversation was painful for her was evident in the hurt and uncertainty he saw in her eyes. His heart thudded in his chest. He felt as if he’d betrayed her all over again and it broke his heart.
Fighting to remain cool and in charge, he thought of all those times they’d sat across from each other in the college library, studying, laughing together, sharing the same jokes and loving the same things. It was as if they’d been born for each other. He’d never felt that way about anyone in his life. Never, in all his wildest dreams, had he imagined anything but the blissful happiness they’d experienced from the first time they’d locked eyes on each other.
He and Grace not getting along was out of the question. Everyone who met them couldn’t miss how much in love they were. He had been such a dumb ass in so many ways, but right now, all he wanted was to have his wife back in his life. “Grace, I would do anything to make this better. Believe me. All I want is for you and Emma to be loved and cared for. If you’re willing to help me, I swear, I’ll make it up to you.”
“If I believe you, and I want to…” She played with the edge of her coffee cup, her eyes focused intently on him. “How do we do this? How do we start over? Where do we go from here?”
“I’m not sure. All I am sure of is that I don’t want to make any more plans without you involved.” Their old connection, the intimacy they’d always shared, rolled over him. There would never be anyone for him but her, and it was time he put it all on the line. “Grace, would you like to go on a date with me?”
“What?” she asked, her dark brown eyes wide with surprise.
“We can’t figure out how to move forward, or at least, I can’t. I’m beginning to see that I’ve not only hurt you over everything I did, but I haven’t been treating you like my wife. I have taken you for granted. Sure, I can come up with reasons, but they’d probably only sound like excuses to you. The fact is, you’ve always been there for me, and I’ve always assumed you would be.”
Her hands stilled on the cup. “What did you have in mind for a date?”
Where would be the best place to go to dinner? Some place she loved. “I’ll make reservations for Dominique’s and pick you up. We’ll have a wonderful evening together. Just the two of us. We won’t talk about anything going on in our lives. We’ll simply enjoy each other’s company. I’d like to start new, date…the way we used to do. Then, once we’re both feeling more at ease with each other, we can move on to planning our future together. What do you think?”
