Modern Arrangements: Complete Trilogy (Modern Arrangements #1-3) (12 page)

"Fine," I growled.

There was no way I would be a charity
case and no way was I just going to let him pay off our house. He knew I would
owe him for the rest of my life and that wouldn't sit well with me.
The
jerk!

"W-what?"

"You fucking heard me,
Iverson!" I pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration.

"Y-you agree then?" Relief and
victory flooded the sound of his voice.

"Yes" I hissed.
"But—"

"But what?" Apprehension
replaced victorious relief.

"I will not be having sex with you,
nor will I be getting pregnant. I will actively use my birth control
pills." I conditioned.

"Lilli, part of the terms of a
marriage is the consummation of—"

"Oh, shut up. It's not like someone
is going to demand to be in the bedroom with us. We can easily lie about that
detail." I rolled my eyes.

He huffed.

"So, what are we supposed to do for
four years of marriage, Lilli? Cause I can abstain but not for that long."

"You have a hand," I
countered.

"I don’t think so," he spat.

"Fine, get a mistress, just keep it
discreet then you won’t break any rules. I sure as hell won’t say anything, as
long as you don’t get caught."

He groaned.

"You really think I'm going to risk
getting caught and losing everything?"

"Look, I’m sure I can help you out,
make it look like she’s a friend of mine or something. I’ll bring her home with
me and you can do what you want when I make myself scarce." He didn’t say
anything. "Hello?"

"You’re diabolical," he said,
astounded.

"Don’t forget that either," I
threatened.

"We can work out the details when
you get back in New York," he growled.

After a couple moments of silence, he
spoke again, this time much softer. "How is your father?"

His question surprised me, having been
so focused on his own problems just a moment ago.

"Uh…he’s alright, for now. He needs
surgery. I have him at home and am trying to work things out with the
nurse."

"Why isn’t he at the
hospital?"

I cleared my throat, uncomfortable with
the questions.

"He hates the hospital, so I'm
trying to budget out a permanent live in nurse or caretaker for him." Then
I realized I probably just told him too much and smacked my forehead.

"Lilli give me all the hospital
information and I'll take care of it," he practically demanded.

"No. I’ve got it," I stated
firmly.

"Quit being stubborn, I’ll take
care of the bills and then I will have my uncle make some calls. He has
connections in the medical field. I can get a live in nurse within a couple of
days."

I wanted to argue but the thought of my
father being so well taken care of was too much for me to pass up.

"Fine," I grumbled.

"Good," he sighed. "When
will you be returning?"

"Once there's a nurse here with him,
I will probably stay at least another week to help Donald adjust with the new —"

"Hold on one minute."

The line went silent. I started the car
up and began my trek back to my father.

It was a few minutes before he returned
and my mind was exhausted from everything trying to process at once.

"Lilli?"

"Yeah," I said quietly.

"There will be three nurses at your
father’s home tomorrow for you to meet. Decide which one you would like to keep
around and the home health agency will contact me."

I couldn’t speak.
How did he do that?

"Hello…Lilli?"

"Um…I’m here," I said still a
little in shock.

"So, I will see you in about a week
then? We can meet to discuss things?"

"Sure," I squeaked,
overwhelmed.

I agreed to call him when I got back to
New York in a week and we said goodbye.

Walking through the front door of my
father’s small, cottage style house, I debated on telling him about everything.
We didn’t keep secrets, however, I knew if I told him about Aidan he would stress
about it. It looked as if I would have to keep the whole marriage a secret
until I could be sure he was strong enough.

As promised, the next day three nurses
arrived within an hour of each other. All were really friendly and
professionally capable. However, when the one nurse arrived in Yankee scrubs,
Donald was sold. At least he would have someone to watch all of the games with.
Two days later, Millie brought her things and moved into my old bedroom.

The day after she settled into the
house, I started getting her familiar with my father's doctors and medical
instructions, along with his routine. She was a quick learner.

Millie quickly gained the trust and
friendship of my father. She was a tough woman who wouldn’t take his crap, but
she was also very tender with him.

While I finished dinner, I thought about
the day I would be heading back to New York. Everything waiting for me there
felt like an alternate universe. My plan was to leave Winter Harbor in three
days and, still, I couldn’t believe I be discussing a marriage proposal.

As I walked towards the living room to announce
dinner, there was a knock on the door. I stopped Millie just as she was about
to get up.

"I got it," I smiled. "Dinner
is ready, go grab a plate."

When I opened the door, all the air in my
lungs whooshed out. Once I caught my breath, I shook my head clear.

"Ai-Aidan, what are you—?"

A big smile stretched across his face as
he walked in the house, brushing by me. I closed the door and turned. "Why
are you here?"

"I’ve come to speak to your father,"
he winked.

Chapter Ten
Fancy Flights
Aidan

After I hung up with Lilli, I called Viola
to make sure she was home and left work immediately. I had my secretary make
all of the necessary changes to my schedule as well as make other arrangements
with Liam and Henry.

On the drive over to Viola and Liam’s, I
was still processing the phone call with Lilli. She finally agreed. Well, she
hadn’t entirely, but it was a start. I was now starting to feel some of the
stress lift from my shoulders. We still had a lot to discuss and agree on, but I
was feeling lighter. Arriving to Viola and Liam’s home, I hurried inside.

"Viola?" I called out to the
empty entryway.

"Aidan?" She called from
somewhere upstairs.

"Where are you?" I called
back.

In a pantsuit, she appeared at the top
of the stairway which led from the main hall to upstairs. "I’m right here,
now are you going to tell me what you are going on about?" she smiled, lovingly.

"I need my mother’s ring," I
replied, returning her smile.

"You mean, her ring? You are going
to—?" Her eyes lit up.

I nodded. "It’s simply an agreement
but I want to use my mother’s—"

Her large hug cut me off.

"Oh, Aidan," she squeezed
tighter. "I wish it was for real but I’m still happy for you."

"I’m sure you’ll all be relieved
now, at least." I shrugged.

"Oh baby, please don’t do this if
you’re going to be miserable," she cupped my face in her hands, just how I
thought my mother would have.

I smiled and shook my head.

"I’m not exactly ecstatic or head over
heels in love but she’s a nice girl and a good friend."

"A friend?" She questioned
with the raise of a perfectly sculpted eyebrow.

"Yes, just a friend," I
chuckled. "It’s sort of like a business arrangement that she’s agreed
to."

"A-a business arrangement? Aidan
she isn’t a...?"

I burst into laughter.

"Oh, God, no! Viola, she is a real
friend that I know, not a ‘professional’." I chuckled again. "It’s
just a simple agreement." I shrugged again, but Viola looked slightly
apprehensive.

"Her parents are okay with
this?"

I hadn’t even thought about what Lilli’s
parents would think of this arrangement.

"Umm…we haven’t really talked about
parents just yet." Embarrassment tinged my cheeks.

"You’re sure about this?" Worry
creased her face.

"It will be fine," holding
both of her hands in mine, I kissed her cheek. "So, where’s that
ring?" I winked.

Vi would only give me the ring if I
agreed to immediately introduce her to Lilli the moment the ring was on her
finger. She warned me not to run off and elope.  She was going to start calling
around to plan a small family wedding. I quickly agreed to her terms so I could
go and make other arrangements.

With the ring in my pocket, I knew there
was one more person I needed to talk to. So, on my way to my apartment I called
Dixon.

"What up, dog?" he laughed.

"You are positively insane," I
laughed.

"You are a tight ass bitch. What do
you want?" He joked.

"I wanted to tell you something and
I wanted to tell you before anyone else did." I swallowed, slightly
nervous about his reaction.

"Well?" He pressed with a
little unease in his voice.

I went on to explain what happened with
Lilli. Though, I didn’t play up the parts of my manipulation, of course. It was
quiet between us for a few and before I could ask if he was still there, he
spoke.

I heard him huff.

"Aidan…if you hurt her, so help me God,
I will rip your balls off and feed them to you." He didn’t sound pissed
off.

"I have no intention of hurting her
Dixon. The farthest thing from my mind is hurting her. I only wanted to help
and told her she didn’t have to agree to this."

"Yeah, but Lilli doesn’t take well
to being a charity case and she would never let you just help," his tone
was full of tension. I wondered if he was slowly figuring me out. "Your
move was kind of shady."

"Are we okay, man?"

Dixon had become a close friend again
and I didn’t want to lose his friendship, but my family was going to come first.

"For now," he warned. We said
our goodbyes and I made two more calls from my car, James and Oscar.

Once I arrived to my apartment, I
started to make calls to Devlin as well as to the mansion staff. Devlin was
going to draw up some preliminary marriage paperwork, prepare to release my
inheritance and establish personal accounts with Lilli listed. The staff at my
grandfather’s — well, at my house — was going to begin preparations for Lilli
and me to arrive there after the wedding. With so much going through my mind, I
thought I’d never fall asleep.

It wasn’t until I woke the next morning
that I thought back to Viola’s question regarding Lilli’s family.
Would she
tell them about the arrangement or pretend that it was a real marriage for
their sake?
Prepared to simply call her, a better idea came to mind.

After speaking to my secretary and Liam,
I made arrangements to clear my schedule after today. I went to work and
handled some meetings and pressing obligations. Devlin delivered the
preliminary paperwork before I caught a flight to Maine.

During the flight, I thought back over
the conversation with Lilli. She was dead serious about me getting a mistress
and her helping me. The fact she thought that up on the spot didn’t go
unnoticed by me. She was very quick and pretty fucking smart, or diabolical. I
didn’t want to admit she’d slightly bruised my ego by not wanting to have sex
with me. She didn’t seem to be even slightly interested in me physically.

Having a child was going to be a hard
discussion. I wasn’t kidding when I told her the idea of it scared the hell out
of me. It did. However, without an heir, I would lose the company. I couldn’t
let that happen. Devlin read over the fine details to see what our options
would be but it turns out that infertility is the only situation that would get
us out of a biological heir. So unless one of us ended up infertile, we would
either have to bribe a doctor or comply with a pregnancy. This was going to be
rough.

Once I touched down in Maine, I drove
the remaining hour and a half to Winter Harbor. It was an extremely small town
but it was charming; full of docks, fisherman boats and a lighthouse in the
distance, the drive was scenic. I found the small, cottage style home easily.
Taking a deep breath, I parked outside the white house with a green door and
shutters. There was a chance I was going to piss her off by showing up.

I knocked on the door and heard her
muffled voice on the other side. When she opened the door it looked as if she
were going to pass out.

"Ai-Aidan, what are you...?"

I smiled large at her confusion and walked
into the house.

"I’ve come to speak to your
father." I winked and her mouth fell open.

She pulled me back to a corner.

"What the hell are you doing?"
She said in a hushed voice.

"I told you. I want to talk to your
father." I whispered back.

"For what?" Then it dawned on
her and I smiled. "No. He doesn’t know about any of this and I don’t want
him to."

"So, what, your parents aren’t
going to know that you’re married for four years?"

She sighed and pinched the bridge of her
nose.
It was fucking adorable.

"Are you kidding me, right
now?" She was still using her hushed tone.

"Just play along." I headed
toward a doorway and she grabbed my arm trying to pull me back. She wasn’t
strong enough to stop me but I halted and turned to her. "We can make this
look real for your benefit or your parents."

She sighed heavily.

 "No! I’ll eventually just tell my
mother about it, but I won’t lie to Donald." I could read the irritation
all over her face.

"Fine, but shouldn’t he at least
meet me?"

She furrowed her brow and motioned for
me to follow her as she led me into the living room.  A very pale dark haired
man with deep purple circles under his eyes watched Lilli as she approached. Fire
and love lit up his eyes. Her father loved her tremendously. Looking to Lilli,
the same love reflected in her eyes.

"Dad, this is Aidan," she
motioned to me. "Aidan, this is my father, Donald."

"It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr.
Snowe." Reaching out, I took his hand and shook.

He smiled and replied between breaths.

"Good o…meet…you…son".

I nodded and turned back to Lilli.

"Could you give your father and I a
moment alone?" She furrowed her brow, aggravated, before turning back to
her father. Donald nodded and she started to walked out of the room, turning
back around before she left.

"I’ll be back in five
minutes," she narrowed her eyes on me.

Once she was out of the room, I moved to
sit near Donald.

"Sir, I’m Aidan Iverson and I have
to admit that I am completely taken with your daughter," I smiled.

He let out a breathless chuckle and then
whispered out, "Good luck…you will need it" then he winked. I
chuckled.

"Yes, she is quite stubborn isn’t
she?" He nodded and then motioned to himself. "She get’s that from
you?" I asked for clarification on his motion. He nodded and I chuckled
again. "Well it’s not a horrible quality," I smiled. "Sir, I
would—"

"Call…me…Donald."

I nodded. "Okay, Donald," I
smiled.

"So," he rasped out "What…brings
you…here?" He cocked his eyebrow, clearly examining the man who had shown
up to see his daughter.

"Umm…"

A small smirk on his lips made me
realize he was playing with me.

"I’m actually here to see how Lilli
is doing. She left so quickly and has been away for some time, just trying to
be a good friend." I responded in a partial truth.

"Friend?" He rasped. Amusement
filled his eyes. All I could do was grin.

Lilli emerged back into the living room
with a plate. A large dark skinned woman, who also held a plate, followed. The
food smelled great and my stomach growled. Lilli walked toward me and put the
plate in front of me.

"You don’t have—"

"Are you not hungry?" She
raised one eyebrow.

"Uhh…"

"Exactly, just eat." She gave
me a stern look and then headed back toward the kitchen.

Donald shook silently and I turned to
him, he grinned weakly.

We ate; pleasant conversation filled the
room keeping dinner light and friendly. Lilli was so at ease, yet so stressed
at the same time. Watching her look at her father with sadness and adoration, I
couldn’t imagine watching someone dear to me get sick like this.

"Oh wow," Lilli stretched and
yawned. "I didn’t realize how late it had gotten." She turned to me.
"You have a bag, I assume?" I nodded. "Go grab it," she
ushered me out of the living room.

"What did you say to my dad?"
she whispered.

"That’s between your dad and I,"
I grinned and walked out the door laughing. Bag in hand, I headed back to the
front door. I reached for the knob but it wouldn’t turn. I knocked.

"Are you ready to tell me
now?" Lilli shouted from the other side.

Unbelievable.
"Are
you kidding me?"

"Nope," she shouted through
the door.

"Fine, just open the door," I
chuckled.

She pulled the door open. I started to
take a step but she stopped me. "Well?" she raised her brow.

I shook my head and mumbled, "Diabolical."

"I told you not to forget it,"
she winked and smiled.

"I introduced myself to him and
then he asked me why I was here."

"What did you say?" I couldn’t
tell if she was pissed or worried. I prayed she didn’t slam the door in my
face.

"I told him you left so quickly and
have been gone so long I was just being a good friend and checking up on you."
I shrugged.

She crinkled up her face.

"You really shouldn’t lie to him.
He’s like a human lie detector, ya know?" Then she got an evil smile.
"Did he say anything else?"

"Actually you interrupted us, so
that's as far as it got." I pushed through the door and passed her.

"Up the stairs, go right, door at
the end of the hall," she ordered.

"Is that your room?" I
grinned.

She shook her head and smacked my arm.

"It’s my father’s room,
pervert." She laughed. "Do you think I would actually let you rummage
through my old things?"