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Colin felt his hands shake as his blood pressure spiked. Tightening his fists, he desperately tried to ward off the looming panic attack, thinking this was too much to pick through in one conversation.
“You know why,” she suddenly hissed, slapping a fist into her palm sharply. “Do you think this is easy for me?” she said louder, her eyes flashing as she leaned forward in her chair.
Colin suddenly moved, his fist thumping into his chest hard. “It’s not just YOU anymore! Allison should have been OURS,” Colin suddenly yelled, his eyes snapping on hers and narrowing. “And yet I have to listen while she calls him daddy!” his eyes flashed angrily at her as he pointed a finger at Jonathan, who was now sitting back and pouring more whiskey into his tumbler, still remaining quiet because what could anyone say to that?
Olivia let out a little sound and placed her hands over her mouth, curling her knees up to her chest in the seat. Her eyes went wide.
Colin was so angry, a vein was beating in his neck. He leaned forward even closer.
“What exactly is it that you want me to say to you, huh? How the fuck is it supposed to make me feel?” he gritted bitterly, getting in her face. “I have been going there every week keeping up your Sunday visits and making excuses, torturing myself staring into her green eyes that are just like yours, telling her excuse after excuse about where her Aunt Ollie is while she calls me Uncle,” he leaned back in his chair slightly, trying to control his temper. “It is one thing, to have a child who is five years old, who barely carries memories from that time in their life, and compare them to a teenaged boy almost in their adulthood. I have to remember every fucking thing. I don’t have the luxury of forgetting a single thing. I had a mother who loved me, who died. And a father who is alive and wants nothing to do with me. There’s no fixing that, the damage is done, we can’t compare these two scenarios at all. But we can fix this, and you won’t even entertain the idea,” Colin breathed deeply, leaning forward once more, further into her space. “So you’re motherfucking right I can’t answer your question. This conversation is over,” he said as he pushed up from the chair and left to go into the back room, slamming the door.
Olivia sat back in the chair, stunned. Jonathan said nothing, sitting there looking just as tortured. She broke, her face crumbling as she drew her knees tighter, wrapping her arms around her legs and sobbing. Jonathan got up and sat next to her in the empty seat, pulling her into his chest as she cried.
“Ollie, it’s going to be okay. We’ll get through this Uhkat.”
Olivia shook her head. "I don't know Jonathan. I know I was hurt but I acted like a child. I don't even know why he'll want me after this. I don't even know why he still wants me."
"Olivia, Colin loves you. He meant every vow he spoke with you the day you two got married. You will get through this but you'll have to acknowledge that it'll take time to build back trust together," Jonathan said softly, reaching forward to squeeze her hand. He let her cry on him for as long as she needed until she wore herself out.
They spent the next four hours in silence, not speaking to each other.
***
The three of them were still silent after Colin’s raw outburst as the hired driver took them to Jonathan and Vanessa’s new home straight from the tarmac. They’d bought a huge mansion about ten minutes away from them.
Olivia was tense, not even able to take in the beautiful property as the car slowed to a stop. She took a second to wipe her tears, her heart beating wildly at the thought of reuniting with Allison and her sister.
She hesitantly followed Colin out of his side, stepping onto the intricately laid drive with ivy growing between the slats. She startled as she heard a loud slam and a “Where is she?”
Vanessa.
Olivia’s eyes widened as her sister rounded the corner of the drive and half flew down the pathway underneath archways of white climbing roses, her bulging tummy leading the way. Vanessa was crying and visibly shaken, her bare feet padded loudly on the stone as she came closer. Olivia stood stunned, wringing her hands in fear as she came up to her.
She cried out as her head snapped sharply to the side before her sister yanked her to her harshly, maneuvering around her big belly. Vanessa was sobbing.
“You’re such a fucking asshole Ollie! We thought you were dead you bitch,” she bit out. Olivia winced, her cheek stung, and Vanessa had her hands in her hair and was pulling her to her by the strands that she swore Colin had ripped out when he was stripping her hair of its dye.
“I’m sorry Nessie,” she half whined, her whole body now smarting from all the abuse over the last twenty-four hours. “I was just hurt big sis,” she said, relaxing into her arms. Suddenly, she felt a kick on her stomach and she pulled back gasping.
“Nessie,” she whispered, placing her hands tenderly on her sister’s bump. She squealed with excitement as she felt the kick again.
“I know, he’s very active!” Vanessa said, her spark back in her eyes.
“A boy?” Olivia said, a dreamy expression on her face. “I’m going to be an aunt,” she whispered, crouching down to put her face into Vanessa’s belly.
“I’m going to spoil you rotten, you little thing. Just you wait!” she said, wrapping both of her arms around Vanessa’s tummy and squeezing tightly.
“I’m going to get Allison,” Colin said, his face tight as he walked away toward the side entrance that led to the couple’s mudroom and kitchen.
Jonathan came up next to them and put his arms on both of their shoulders and pulled them in for a hug. The big guy was such a softy.
Too bad Colin isn’t, she thought.
Just then, he came out with Allison in one arm. Olivia’s heart tugged as Allison screamed so loud and pushed against Colin when she finally saw her, that Colin had to dip quickly to settle her on the ground before he stood up again, his brown eyes flashing slightly as they met hers in a silent recognition of his words to her from earlier.
He meant what he said on the plane.
Allison crashed into Olivia so hard, screaming with excitement and clawing at her, that they both fell back to the pavement. Olivia had to make sure she kept her legs pressed together to not betray her lack of underwear, feeling her dress slip up her legs. She pulled the little girl to her as she felt more tears fall down her face.
