~Brie

The rest of my dad's party went on smoothly. His cake arrived and he made a wish and blew out the candles with glee. Then everyone was cut a slice which we all sat around to eat.

Right before I dug in, Aiden interrupted me by squeezing my hand.

“I’d like to make a toast” He collected his wine glass and got to his feet.

At the other side of the room, Roman was loudly sipping on his sparkling apple juice with a cheeky smile and I gave him a stern, silencing look.

“This past year has been the best year of my life, no offense, Bruce.”

Everyone chuckled. My dad gave him a rueful grin.

“I can’t compete with the likes of my little girl and our Roman here. I get it, son. Keep going.”

Aiden looked around the table.

“It still feels surreal to me that I get to call you all family. Thank you for taking my sister and me in this past year and showing us the ropes of how you do things. Thank you for not keeping us at arm’s length. You’ve made this transition so incredibly easy. And a special thank you to Roman,” he added, grinning at my son, “for being the best kid anyone could ask for.”

Someone... pretty sure it was Nia and Dove... awed and my heart melted.

“And to Breanna” He turned to me, glass still held high. “My sweet, wonderful, fierce, scary Breanna.”

Everyone at the table laughed.

Scary?

“I scare you?”

“You scare everyone” Nia laughed.

“A little” Dove pinched her thumb and index fingers together.

I rolled my eyes with a smile and turned back to Aiden.

“You have shown me a love I never could have imagined. Sometimes, after you fall asleep, I lay there beside you, wondering what would have happened if we never got this chance. I’d be half the man I am today. You’d be a better woman, probably, but that’s beside the point.”

More laughter. I blushed and shook my head.

“Speaking of the point. Get to it, will you, Aiden? I’m starving” Aubree spoke up and I caught her sniffing and wiping her tears again.

What is wrong with her today?

Aiden chuckled and smiled at me.

“I’m rambling, I know. It’s because I’m nervous. Manny, give me a hand, will you?”

From the other side of the room, Roman slid off his chair and rushed around behind mine to stand beside Aiden. I frowned at both of them.

“What are you two playing at?”

Aiden put his wine glass down.

“Ever since we told everyone we’re together, we’ve been doing things right and taking our time. But I don’t want to wait anymore.”

Huh?

Roman crammed a hand in his pocket and my stomach fluttered with nerves.

What is going on?

I became suddenly aware of the fact that all eyes were on me. Iris sat beside Leslie with her hands over her mouth. Leslie wore a knowing smile— so did my parents and everyone else.

Roman handed a small black box to Aiden. He pushed his chair back, looked me in the eyes, and got down on one knee.

“Oh my... no way,” I breathed.

Before I knew it, my vision blurred with tears. I wiped them away. I wanted to see and memorize every second of this moment. Aiden flipped the box open, but I couldn’t take my eyes off his.

“Breanna Lucille Nolan, you’ve had my heart since I called you unqualified to work for me. We lost each other for a little while, but I know that’s never going to happen again. It’s the three of us now. Forever. So, on that note, will you make me the happiest man alive by making me your husband?”

And cue the waterworks.

I sobbed until my vision was so blurry that Aiden was just a dark splotch in front of me. I fell off my chair into his arms, and the whole table erupted with joyous laughter and praise. I heard Iris crying. Aiden wiped my tears while Roman bounced up and down beside us.

“Try the ring on, Mommy. Try it on!”

Aiden took my shaking hand and slid the ring on my finger. I still had a hard time seeing, but eventually, I made out the details. The ring was gorgeous. An oval-cut diamond sat on a shimmering gold band. All around the main diamond, smaller ones sat tucked around it like a sparkling bed of luxury.

“It’s stunning,” I whispered.

“Only the best for my bride.”

“Kiss her so we can eat cake already,” Nia and Dove chorused.

He laughed as he kissed me and swallowed me up in his arms. He gathered me up and set me back down on my chair, where he took my napkin from the table and draped it across my lap.

“Cheers to the engaged couple,” Emmett said proudly.

“Cheers!” everyone echoed.

While everyone dug into their cake, they talked to Aiden about how long he’d had the ring and how long this had been planned. Apparently, he’d had the ring for months already, and as soon as he decided he was going to do it at my dad's birthday party, he told Roman his plan and asked for his blessing. Turned out he’d also gotten my father’s blessing— not permission, but blessing.

I paused halfway through mine to sit back and look at all the people around me as they laughed, ate, and drank. Leslie had his hand on Iris’ leg under the table. I could tell. She had rosy cheeks from smiling so big all night. They were in love, and I wondered how long it would be before he was the one down on one knee.

My parents were bright-eyed and happy—happier than they had been in ages. And Aubree, would stop crying, make a snarky comment, then slip out of the room to cry some more.

When I turned to Aiden, he was watching me, too.

“You good?” he whispered.

I grinned and held up my left hand, flashing the ring.

“Better than ever, my love. I love you.”

He took my left hand and pressed his lips to my knuckles.

“And I love you.”

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

“Mom, I'm at work. Can we talk about this when I get home?”

“What are you doing at work at this hour, honey?”

“I won't be able to do much when the wedding date is set. So I'm doing much now” I explained.

“Well don't take too long okay? And stay safe.”

“I won't. Aiden's picking me up in like...” I glanced at the clock, “... half an hour.”

“Call me when you get home, you hear?”

“Yes, mom. Bye.”

She hung up and I shook my head. The studio was mostly in darkness. Everyone else had gone home and I was in here, making the notes that were fresh in my mind from the meeting I had had earlier that day with the loveliest couple.

A sound near the door made me raise my head.
There was a figure that was moving towards me in the darkness. I felt vulnerable. They could see me, but I couldn't see them. I got up and picked up the lamp on my table to use as a weapon. Before I could think of moving, the figure had made its way to my door. I raised the lamp ready to fling it.

“Breanna, no! It's just me.”

I dropped my shoulders.

“Beck! What the hell are you doing here? You scared the life out of me,” I said, putting the lamp back, “God!”

“I'm sorry,” he said, coming into my office.

I looked at him. He was dressed casually, looking completely put together, as he always did.

“What brings you here?” I asked when he was quiet for a while. “Anything I can help you with?”

He looked at me.

“My life is over,” he said.

My eyes widened.

“What? What's wrong?” I asked, taking a step towards him.

“Aubree has filed for a divorce,” he told me, his shoulders hunched.

Wait what?

My heart twisted a little.

“What? Why?” I asked and he lowered his head. “Did something happen?”

He shrugged.

“I... did something horrible” he muttered.

I waited for him to continue.

“I... cheated on her.”

My stomach twisted this time.

“What?!” I cried, “Why the heck would you cheat on her?”

Beck shrugged, dismissively, like it wasn't his fault he cheated.

“Why would you cheat on my sister?” I asked him, almost pleading with him to give me a reasonable explanation, “You know how much she loves you. Why would you take something like that for granted?”

He looked at me with a frown.

“Oh please. Stop acting like you didn't want her to divorce me so I'm all alone” he told me, coldly. “And she doesn't even know I cheated on her so it's irrelevant.”

I inhaled sharply, a lump forming in my throat.

“Why the hell are you here then?”

“I heard the news. He proposed huh?” his eyes fell on my ring.

“Yes, Beckett Lewis. I'm getting married.”

“And you must be over the moon.”

I shrugged.

“I don't see why not.”

“And you must be very stupid to think I'm going to let you and that man take my son away.”

I frowned.

“What? No one's taking Roman away.”

“He's my son!”

“Yes I know that—”

“And you're not going to change his last name to that coward's and take my kid away. Because he's mine! My son! My child! He's my blood and I'm not going to let that man or anyone else take what's mine away from me! Including you” he finished.

My brows furrowed.

“I know I'm a mess honeybee. But you don't have to marry that man. We can work on our family... the three of us. I'll change, I'll make more time for you and our son. I won't miss the milestones anymore.”

“What is wrong with you, Beck?” I asked, trying to swallow the lump in my throat. “There's nothing in this world that's going to change the fact that you're Manny's dad. No one's going to take that away from you. But you and I? That's not ever an option.”

“Breanna please...”

“You're a mess, Beckett. Go home.”

“Hey, Breanna... c'mon. Don't tell me you don't miss what we had. What we shared for seventeen years.”

Almost seventeen years and I don't miss any of that.

I sighed and rubbed my forehead.

“What do you want from me, Beck?”

He took a minute to answer.

“You've done enough already,” he said, suddenly emotionlessly.

“Beckett, no one's taking Roman away. Me marrying Aiden isn't going to take your title away from our son.”

He just looked at me.

“Please, go home, Beck,” I told him, “And if you want, Roman and I could come visit you tomorrow. You're staying at your parents' right?”

“No thanks. It's not like you care about me, anyway,” he said, setting his jaw. “I'm not going to let you take my son away. In fact, I might just file for full custody of Roman.”

A small nasty chuckle left my mouth.

“File for full custody? From which court? After you fully agreed and signed away our son's full custody to me? You didn't want to fight for Roman. And now you're going to?”

“I have the right to be with my son. I have the right to see him!”

“And you do! Whenever you want. I've never stopped you, and I never will.”

“But that coward is going to want to keep Roman away from me. He's taking all my son's attention away from me!”

“Why do you keep saying that, Beck? Aiden isn't taking anything away from you.”

He shook his head.

“You just don't know what I know,” he shrugged, offering me no further explanations.

“Well, are you going to tell me?” I asked him.

“I don't want to,” Beck stated, flatly.

I sighed.

“Beck, you know you can tell—”

“No, I won't!” he snapped, raising his voice. “I won't tell you anything! And you're not going to marry that idiot! And I'll kill him before he tries to take my son away!”

My breath caught in my throat. As confident as I may have been generally, Beck scared me immensely when he was angry so he didn't get that way often when we were married. I also knew he wouldn't physically hurt me.

There was a long silence.

“Breanna,” a deep voice said.

It was then that another figure emerged from the darkness of the studio.

Aiden stepped into the light of my office behind Beck, as the latter turned to look at the newcomer. He looked suspicious as he walked in, looking from Beck to me.

“I came to pick you up as promised,” he said, “Are you alright?”

There was power in the way he spoke and I could see Beckett faltering before him.

“Yeah I'm fine,” I said, trying to steady my shaky breath.

“Mr. Lewis” Aiden addressed Beck, “It's nice to see you again. I wasn't aware you were back in town.”

“I came to see the mother of my son,” Beck said, facing Aiden and taking a step back toward me.

Aiden nodded, his expression unfathomable.

“I can see that. And you must be just about finished," Aiden pretty much suggested that Beck leaves.

He looked at my face, and I tried to make sure that I had a neutral expression on my face. Aiden seemed to know that I was upset. Beck scoffed upon hearing Aiden's words.

“I'm taking Roman out for a father-son trip tomorrow,” he said more to Aiden than to me.

Then he threw me a glance over his shoulder and then, walked out of my studio. Aiden's eyes followed him out the door. It was only after Beckett had left that Aiden turned to me.

I looked in the direction that Beck had gone. Hearing footsteps against the hardwood, I turned to see that Aiden had come close to me, and was looking at me intently.

I gave him a soft smile and looked down at my desk, closing the open notebooks.

“I'll be done in a sec.”

“Breanna,” he breathed in a soft voice.

I didn't answer him.

“Breanna” Aiden said again, “Look at me.”

I didn't raise my eyes from the tabletop, unsure of what I would say if I looked at Aiden. Since he wasn't getting his way, Aiden bent his head, leaned down, and looked at me as I tried to avoid his gaze.

“Are you alright, my love?” he asked, gently, “Did Beck do anything to you?”

I shook my head and slowly turned my head sideways and locked my eyes on Aiden's blue ones.

“Breanna,” Aiden comfortingly touched my arm, “What did he do?”

I shook my head again.

“Nothing,” I told Aiden.

Aiden angled his head.

“Then why do you look like that?” he asked, making me inhale a shaky breath.

“I'm fine, my love,” I said, trying to smooth out my brow.

Aiden gave me a small smile.

“You don't have to lie to me,” he said, “But you don't have to tell me if you don't want to.”

I sighed deeply and filled him in on what just happened.

“I think another man entering his son's life is what's getting to him” I finished, “I don't think he ever pictured me remarrying and Roman and I easily replacing him.”

Aiden nodded.

“I think we should tell Roman about his father's idea of taking him out tomorrow. Maybe when Beck spends the entire day with his son he'll know how Roman has never stopped caring about him and how the kid still idolizes him.”

I smiled.

“Even when he's being a jerk, you're nice to him” I whispered.

He playfully shrugged and picked up my bag.

“Ready to go?”

I exhaled deeply and nodded.

“Yeah let's go.”

I turned off all the lights and walked out hand in hand with my fiancé.

Thank you so much for reading! ✨