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“I love you now. I didn’t need proof, Aristos.”
It was what he’d wanted to hear for more than fifteen years and she’d offered it to him that night. Eyes full of tears, trembling from head to toe, she’d offered the benediction he’d craved, from the moment he’d seen her shy smile, the moment he’d met her generous heart.
Why hadn’t those words been enough?
Why had he thrown them in her face and walked away?
What the hell had been wrong with him?
Fear, the answer came up every time. And it galled him to admit that for he’d pretended and believed his entire life that he was fearless.
“You’re not invincible,”Mira had said in his office and she was right. He’d been afraid that he’d never be good enough for her. That she’d abandon him as his mother had done, as she’d done all those years ago.
He’d had what he’d wanted all his life and yet he’d been scared to believe he was worthy of it. And now she was hurt, alone and terrified for the babies, probably, and he hadn’t been there.
By the time he jumped out of the helicopter, Aristos was sweating profusely, his legs barely holding him up.
He walked past his family, and hers, and made his way to their bedroom. She was sleeping. Reaching her side, he swallowed the tears that crowded against his throat.
Tenderness and fear and an avalanche of love welled up within him, consuming him, drowning him, choking him.
Her face looked pale and wan and small against the stark white pillow. He went into the bathroom, took a shower, dressed in pajamas and crept into bed by her side. It wasn’t enough that the doctor had reassured him that Mira was fine and the babies were fine. That it had just been a simple bruise.
He needed to touch her, to hold her, to feel her warmth against him. He wanted to feel the babies kick against his palm. He wanted to see the delight and sheer joy in her eyes when they did.
So many people who loved her, so many whom Mira loved and yet she had found it in herself to love him too. And yet he ran away from her and her love. And more importantly he’d run away from himself.
Because he had messed up once but Mira had given them a new chance. How did he know that he wouldn’t do it again? He hadn’t committed the mistake that Mira thought he had. But he had deserted her when she’d begged him not to.
Aristos didn’t know how long he was awake. Around dawn, he felt Mira move on the bed, go into complete stillness and then with a soft cry, she cuddled into him. Her hands moved over him with a frenzy he couldn’t calm but thoroughly understood. In the end, he simply surrendered. Like he should’ve done a long time ago. He kissed her, and held her wordlessly.
He’d barely gotten his arm around her and his mouth pressed against her temple when he realized she was fast asleep already.
His throat contracting at her trust and love, something he’d callously walked away from not a week ago, he gathered her to him. Only when the warmth of her body thawed the frost around his heart, only when the lush heat of her breaths caressed his cheek, did the fear that had gripped him leave.
He fell asleep within minutes, for the first time in his life, feeling satisfied about his place in the world.
He belonged with the woman he loved, he’d always, loved.
When Aristos woke up, it was to find midmorning sunlight showing him an empty space next to him on the bed. Somehow, he managed to brush and shower in record time, without peeking at the gaggle of voices that he could hear floating up through the backyard.
Dressed in dark denim and a white linen shirt that Mira loved seeing on him, he walked past the large kitchen and dining area. His heart was beating a rapid boom by the time he arrived at the cozy setup at the large patio in their backyard.
Breakfast had been served buffet style, and there were any number of people surrounding the one woman he wanted to get to.
If it were just his family members—Stella, Leo and Tia Sophia—he’d have thrown them all out with one gesture. But no. As if they meant to protect her from him, his wife’s sisters enfolded her between them on top of a cozy sofa, with Nush’s husband, Caio, standing sentinel behind them.
That they’d noticed him coming down the steps wasn’t in doubt given the combative look Yana cast him and the deep frown Anushka subjected him to.
But he only registered it in passing, like you noticed little tidbits around the world even when your heart was crawling into your throat.
As if aware of her sisters’ antagonistic glares, Mira looked up. Her smile froze, and a wariness entered her large eyes that would fell him to his knees if he let it.
He caught the thread of words Yana whispered to her and his heart iced over as they sunk in.
“Jesus, give him a break,” Caio mumbled from behind them. “He looks bad enough.”
It was support from a quarter Aristos hadn’t expected to get. Though it felt good, Caio wasn’t the one he needed to convince.
