Family
He noticed his wife had been quiet throughout the party. She went missing for a while, even though it’s not new. She has a habit of staying away from the crowd to recharge. She never liked the social setting, not with ‘his people’ anyways. She feels like she has to transform into someone else when she is among them, and it’s tiring.
He slipped his hand to reach hers in the backseat of their car. She pulled away. That’s how he knew her quietness was caused by something he did.
“What’s the matter? You haven’t said a word since we left the party.”
She was looking out the window with one hand on her chin. She shook her head and made a gesture that she didn’t want Travis to listen to their conversation.NôvelDrama.Org owns this.
Declan pressed a button, and the divider slowly rolled up. But she kept silent.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“I don’t know … do you? You seemed so sure about your plan to have triplets you didn’t even bother to let me in on that plan.”
“Oh … that?” he laughed lightly, “It was just an idea that seemed appropriate to bring up in the conversation … although … I have been thinking about it.”
“You didn’t think you should’ve discussed it with me before throwing it out in the middle of a party? How could you laugh about it when Brian kept using it as a party joke? It’s a bit off-putting.”
“I think we can both agree that Brian can be a bit irritating sometimes, right?”
“A bit?” she glared at him.
“Okay, a lot … but you know how it is … half of the people there didn’t think he was funny at all, but we all laughed at his effort, that’s what we do … he’s the host, the multibillionaire host that every person in that room has something to gain from … it has nothing to do with what I said about the In Vitro treatment.”
She sighed deeply, “I just … why didn’t you say something about it before? It caught me off guard … you know how sensitive I am around that topic.”
“I know. I’m sorry,” he grabbed her hand. “I just thought it fit in the conversation when he said that we have to have children … and he’s right, you know? Maybe it’s time for us to consider starting a family again.”
She looked at him; he was being serious. He kissed her hand, “Isn’t that what you want? This family is not complete without little Olivia or little Declan running around the house driving you crazy … for once, it’s not me doing that anymore,” he smiled.
She pulled her hand and turned to look outside the window again. “I don’t know, Declan … you know how hard it was for us back then … do you think you can go through that again?”
He fell silent. He knew what she meant. His affair was the result of their five agonizing years of failed efforts. The car stopped, and he didn’t have the chance to respond when she leaped out of the car and ran into the house. He let out a frustrating exhale, he had stirred the peace, and he would have to calm his wife down.
He dismissed Travis and waited for him to settle the car. He slowly walked into the house, locked the door, and climbed the stairs. Thinking about what he must do to convince Olivia that he meant well. When he arrived in their bedroom, Olivia was taking off her jewelry. He heard sniffles.
He leaned on the doorway and felt the hostility from her movement around the room. The silence didn’t do much either. She was crying. He walked over to her, caressed her hair from behind, and ran his hands along her arms.
“If I could take back what happened … I would,” he pressed his forehead against the back of her head.
She didn’t reply.
“I’m sorry.”
She clenched her teeth to hold back her cry. She had cried too much for the same reason; she’d promised never to do it again.
He turned her to face him and wiped the tears streaming down her cheeks. She wasn’t sobbing, her expression was stern as a rock, but her cheeks were wet. Even the strongest weep.
“I just thought … if you give me a chance to give you back your happiness … you’d love me again … the way you used to.”
She broke down. She yielded to the grief that she no longer allowed to resurface. But it’s there, it will always be there, and sometimes it made its way out. And she was helpless to it.
Declan held her in his embrace, let her bury her face in his chest because that’s where she belongs, in his heart. He has to make this better; he has to.
“If we could turn this house into a home … fill it with cries of babies … watch them grow into the extension of our wretched selves …”
Her shoulders twitched from a spontaneous chuckle.
He smiled. “Maybe you won’t find me so repulsive anymore …”
It made her smile even though she was still crying. He touched her chin, “I love you, Livy… we can still do this if you want to.”
She looked into his eyes, and her crying stopped. A soft kiss landed on her lips, and she let it linger for a while. She let herself dissolve in the moment, let Declan ease her sadness, and turned it into a sweet reconciliation.
She felt his hands rubbing her back and slowly made their way to unzipped her dress. She let him slide the dress off of her while her mind went back and forth, knowing what would happen next.
Declan didn’t give her the chance to change her mind. He undressed himself without breaking away from the kiss. His wife’s naked body was in his arms; it was his, all his. She let him run his mouth along her neck and taste her skin. She was giving in to him.
He laid her on the bed and engulfed her in his kiss. “Let’s try again, baby. Do you want to try again?”
She nodded. He lulled her with a promise of a future she had always dreamed of, and she was complacent. Not just from his words but the way he made her body feel at that moment. He was warming up to her, and she felt him everywhere.
“Let me come inside you … maybe we’ll get lucky this time,” he smiled, and she smiled back at him.