Fulfillment (Book 3 in The Temptation Series) (27 page)

“That’s good.
Like I said, getting back into your normal routine can only help
your situation. Now, if you are planning to try again to have
another baby, then you should wait a couple more weeks, but I’m
sure your doctor talked to you about that.”

“Yes, she
did.”

“Okay, good.
So, how do you feel now, after our chat?”

“Do you always
ask that question at the end of your ‘chats’?” I asked flatly.

“Yes.”

“So it’s a
habit?”

“Yes, but I
want to know your answer.” She packed up her briefcase and stood
up.

“I feel
better.”

“Good, as long
as you don’t feel worse, then we are on the right track. Now, stay
there, don’t get up. Bryce is on his way.” She walked toward the
door.

“How do you
know?”

“I sent him a
text.”

I rolled my
eyes. “Am I the only one who doesn’t do what he says?”

She smirked
back at me. “Yes, I think so.”

As she turned
the handle to the entryway door, the elevator doors opened and
Bryce entered the room.

“I’ll speak to
you tomorrow, Alexis. And Bryce, Gareth missed his session last
week and he is not returning my phone calls. You know what is
coming up, so if you see him again today, please tell him I want to
see him as soon as possible.”

“Sure, thank
you for letting me know.”

He walked over
and held the door as she passed through it.

After Jessica
left the apartment, Bryce made his way to the lounge and sat
down.

“That makes
sense you know,” I said.

“What makes
sense?” he asked as he rubbed his hands up his arms. “Are you cold?
I can put the fire on.” He got back up and made his way to the fire
without waiting for me to answer. “Sorry, what makes sense?”

“Gareth
wanting to leave so quickly when you mentioned Jessica was on her
way here.”

“Yeah, I did
pick up on that too. I will track him down shortly. He knows he
shouldn’t be missing appointments with her, especially this time of
year.” He sat back down and pulled me to him.

“Why? What’s
this time of year?”

“The
anniversary of the accident, it’s a week from Monday,” he answered,
emotionlessly.

I snuggled
into him as I watched the flames from the fire pick up. “Do you do
anything to mark the day?”

“Yeah, we
normally go to the cemetery. Would you like to come?”

I tilted my
head to look up at him. “I’d love to.”

“Good, I’ve
always hated going on my own.”

“Didn’t you
just say ‘
we
’ normally go to the cemetery?”

“Yeah, Lucy,
Nic, and Gareth.”

“Then you were
never on your own, were you?”

“Yes, I
was.”

I squeezed him
tightly, understanding what he meant. “Well you aren’t
anymore.”

CHAPTER
NINETEEN

I never quite liked the
feeling of impatience, even if it went hand in hand with an outcome
of joy—a reward for the patience you had to endure. I hated the
obsession with time, flicking to my watch every few minutes in the
hope it would display a passing of hours instead. I hated the
feeling of disappointment when I was so sure my wait was over, only
to realise it wasn’t and having to be patient once again.

On this
particular day, my impatience was a result of having to wait for
Nate and Charlotte to arrive home. I was so eager to wrap my arms
around them both, see their beautiful adorable faces and hear their
sweet voices. But, as excited and eager as I was, I was also
terrified, because I soon had to explain why my leg was broken and
why I was no longer pregnant. It was a surreal type of impatience
and I hated it even more.

The buzzer to
the door sounded and I jolted excitedly, kicking the coffee
table.

“Shit! Crap!
Fucking Balls!”

“Alexis, for
fuck’s sake, be careful. As much as I have enjoyed carrying you
around these past two weeks, I don’t want you to re-break your foot
again.”

“They’re here,
Bryce!” I shrieked with a huge smile. “I haven’t seen them in two
weeks. Do you know how hard that has been for me?”

He smiled back
at me. “Of course I do, Hunny.”

I stood myself
up on one leg, arranging the crutches into position. Bryce went to
the door and opened it, letting Rick and the kids in. I hobbled
over to where the kids were standing and both of them went
pale.

“Mum, what
happened? How did you break your foot?” Nate looked like he wanted
to hug me but was not sure how to go about it without hurting my
injured leg.

“I fell down
the stairs, little man.”

“Are you
okay?” he asked, clearly worried.

“I wasn’t okay
at first, but I am now.”

Nate stepped
forward and gently squeezed my waist then let go and stood back,
still looking overly concerned.

“Mum, did it
hurt?” asked Charlie curiously, while staring at my cast.

“Yes,
Sweetheart, it hurt like hell.”

“How did you
fall, Mum? Were you running? You shouldn’t have been running. You
keep telling us not to run, and now look what’s happened.” She
placed her hands on her hips, with an expression basically branding
me a hypocrite.

“No,” I
laughed at her. “I was not running. I just kind of lost my balance
when I was coming down the stairs. It was an accident, Charli-Bear.
A horrible, horrible accident.”

“Did you hurt
the baby when you fell? I bet she didn’t like being all bumped
around in your belly.” Charli looked at my tummy.”
Oh, God. This
is going to be harder than I thought.

I compelled
the tears to remain at bay and forced a fake smile. “No, she didn’t
like being bumped around, but I’ll tell you about that later. Right
now I need to sit down; these crutches are hurting Mummy’s arms.” I
quickly turned my back to them, giving myself a second for
composure.

“Can I have a
turn of your crutches, Mum?” Nate asked with raised eyebrows.

I grinned.
“Yeah, when I’m not using them though. Come on.”

As the kids
and I headed for the kitchen, Bryce pulled Rick aside to apologise
for hitting him a week earlier. I stopped at the doorway and
noticed Rick make amends for something also—I couldn’t quite hear
what. Both of them ended their discussion with an unemotional
handshake and a light pat on the back. It was a step in a direction
that led to God knows where—I just hoped that wherever it led, it
was a good place.

We sat down,
and Bryce ordered sandwiches from the hotel’s kitchen. It was
strange sitting around the dining table with my estranged husband
and my new partner, but the atmosphere was no longer hostile or
territorial. It was a strange type of calm.

“Charli, are
you going to tell your mum what we did during the week?” Rick
suggested with a nod.

“Oh, yeah, Dad
took us to see the Crusty Demons. I want to be a Crusty Demon. They
go upside down and everything. They even let go of their bikes in
the air and they jump over fire and do flips. It was soooo cool!”
she babbled at a rapid speed.

My eyes
widened as I stared at her obsessively crazed face then I turned to
Nate with a questioning look.

“Yeah, it was
awesome, Mum, but Charli
REALLY
enjoyed it. She
screamed and clapped every time they jumped.”

“Don’t they
jump...a lot?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Rick
said quickly. “They do.”

Oh, God,
Charli-Bear a Crusty Demon, shit! I think I may need to take her to
Disney on Ice or something.

“So, Nate, you
wanna tell Mum and Bryce who you met yesterday.”

Nate shrugged
his shoulders. Charli went to open her mouth to spill the beans,
when Rick put his finger to his lips to silence her.

“Go on, Nate,
tell them.”

“I met RJ, I
went to his soccer game,” Nate said quietly.

“And?” I
asked, a smile creeping across my face.

“He’s kind of
funny.”

Rick started
laughing and scruffed Nate’s hair. “What about when he kicked that
goal?”

Nate giggled.
“Yeah, he did a front flip and a cartwheel, Mum. It was
hilarious.”

“I liked it
when he pulled his t-shirt over his head and bumped into one of the
other boys because he couldn’t see where was going,” Charli
added.

***

Rick left
after lunch and I thanked him for keeping the kids busy, happy and
completely oblivious to the events that had transpired in their
absence. I also explained that I was going to tell them about the
miscarriage tomorrow morning, because I just wanted a happy evening
with them, one without heartbreak and a lesson of life’s sometimes
cruel events. He also apologised to me for barging in to the
apartment the week before and being inconsiderate and insensitive.
He also told me to call him if I felt he could help with the kids
and their reaction to the news I would soon give them. I thanked
him again and said that I would if I needed to. It was such a nice
reprieve to not have to worry about my on and off again issues with
Rick. Hopefully from now on we could all move forward in a civil
and friendly manner.

Shortly after
Rick left, Bryce received a text from Lucy asking if practice was
still on for this evening. Before my accident, Bryce had arranged a
practice session and a fish ‘n’ chips dinner at the apartment with
the members of Live Trepidation, Lucy and Nic.

After I lost
the baby he had completely forgotten to re-schedule them and was
about to cancel when I insisted that he didn’t. Cancelling was the
last thing I wanted, I wanted things to go back to normal, and fish
‘n’ chips on a Saturday night was normal, so I convinced him that
the change in atmosphere was just what I needed.

An hour later,
I was sitting on the sofa in the man-cave with Charli at my foot
gently drawing pictures on my cast. So far, I had a rainbow, a
unicorn, and she was now attempting a Crusty Demon. Lucy was at the
keyboard practising, and Nic was sitting next to her with Alexander
on her lap. He was practising too, slamming his little hands down
on the keys and having a wonderful time. Nate was playing pool with
Derek and Matt, and Will was lightly tapping out beats on the
drums. Bryce was sitting on the arm of my chair playing the guitar,
strumming chords that every now and again sounded familiar.

When he
started playing the riff in “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd,
I casually lounged back, putting my hands above my head, deciding
I’d join in and sing along. Before I knew it, he changed the song.
I removed my hands from behind my head and pouted at him because I
really liked that song. He smiled at my protruding bottom lip but
kept playing the new tune. It didn’t take me long to figure out
that the new song was “Layla” by Eric Clapton, so I chimed in and
sang that one instead. Then, like clockwork, he switched the song
yet again. I glared at him but he only smirked back at me. I
listened to his new choice and caught on that it was “Wanted Dead
or Alive” by Bon Jovi, so I blurted out the opening line while
smirking back at him.

Suddenly, the
rest of the band were gathered around and were watching me play the
guessing game with him, as Bryce would switch to a new song and I
would quickly try and guess which one it was before he’d switch
again. I thought I was doing a decent job, guessing songs like “Dr
Feelgood”, “Enter Sandman”, “Back In Black”, “Foxy Lady” and
“Johnny B. Goode”. But then he’d decide to try and make it a little
harder, by playing stuff I hadn’t heard of and completely random
songs like “Just A Girl” by No doubt and “Mister Sandman”—which I
laughed at, because he pulled a stupid face as he played it.

It wasn’t
until I guessed with such enthusiasm that he was playing “Eruption”
by Van Halen that he gave up the game and said, ‘You win’. I’d
tried to do a happy dance but obviously couldn’t, so went with the
happy-clap instead, and I was rewarded with a quick soft kiss on
the lips. It was in that moment that I decided I wanted to surprise
him and learn to play the guitar so that I could play for him. I
thought that maybe he would appreciate me learning something he was
so passionate about. It was also a gift I could give him, a gift I
could give a man that appeared to have everything.

He’d
disappeared for a short time with Lucy and Charli to cook the fish
‘n’ chips. So I took that opportunity to approach Derek and see if
he wouldn’t mind giving me some secret lessons.

I motioned for
him to come over to me then spoke in a hushed tone. “Um, Derek, can
I ask you something?”

He looked
around the room in a sneaky type of way with a cute grin on his
face. “Yeah, why are you whispering?”

“This is gonna
sound completely crazy, but I was hoping you’d do me a favour.”

“Okay, sure.
Fire away.”

I giggled.
Yes, giggled like an idiot at his choice of the word ‘fire’,
remembering Carly’s burnt fiery hole that she wished he’d put out
with his hose. I had to reign myself in again, much to my
embarrassment and his amusement. “Aren’t you gonna ask what the
favour is before you agree?”

He chuckled.
“No, how bad can it be?”

I raised my
eyebrow at him and he sat back just a little. “Nup, still can’t be
that bad. So, what can I do for you?”

I leaned over
so that I could whisper in his ear, I didn’t want anyone else
hearing my plan. “I want to learn to play the guitar as a surprise
for Bryce and I was wondering if you’d teach me.”

He shot back
away from me. “Seriously?” He sounded somewhat amused.

“Yes,
seriously. There’s not much I can give a man that has everything,
but this is something I can give him. I think he’d enjoy it.”

He scoffed,
but in a good way. “Yeah, I think he would too. Of course, I’d love
to teach you. When do you want to start?”