Modern Arrangements: Complete Trilogy (Modern Arrangements #1-3) (13 page)

Laughing, I headed up the stairs. Once
in his room, I took a quick glance around. I found a small picture frame that
held a photo of a woman about Lilli’s age; it was an older photograph. After a
few more minutes of examination, I realized this must be Lilli’s mother.
Another photo taped to the large dresser mirror was of a younger Donald. His
arms wound around a scrawny little brown haired girl. Immediately, I knew that
this was Lilli; it was all in the eyes. I could only assume that the older
woman was a grandmother or aunt.

Moving to the other side of the room, I
found photos of Lilli and Donald on fishing boats. However, Lilli is always in
the background with a book or cringing away from a fish that Donald was
holding. I put my hand over my mouth to hide the laugh. Once I started to feel
like a creeper for going through her father’s room I quickly changed into a
pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt.

Heading back toward the stairs I saw
Lilli standing in the living room with gray cotton pants and a t-shirt; her
hair pulled into a ponytail. She looked amazing. I shook that off and headed
toward her and Donald.

"Do you need anything?" I
overheard Lilli ask Donald. He was now in a hospital style bed that was in the
corner of the living room. He shook his head. "Well, I’m going to get you
some water for next to your bed." She turned around, evidently having not
heard me enter the room, and ran directly into my chest. Instinctively my arms
went around her to keep her from falling. She blushed and pulled away.
"Sorry," she mumbled.

I didn't want to let her go.

"No problem," I grinned.

She headed toward the kitchen, turning around
before reaching her destination.

"Did you need anything?"

I shook my head."No, why?"

"I just figured that you were going
to go to bed," she shrugged.

"Oh…uh…are you headed up too?"

"Um…that’s my bed right
there," she pointed to the couch.

"You’re going to sleep on the
couch?" I asked.

"Yeah, that’s—"

"Lilli, I’ll sleep on the
couch." I offered and meant it.

"Aidan, go to bed. I sleep near
dad," she turned away but then turned back. "But thanks." She
smiled softly and continued on to the kitchen.

I turned to Donald.

"Goodnight, Donald." He waved
me over to him and I walked to the side of his bed. "Yes, sir?"

"You care….for her?" he
breathed out raggedly. I was sort of dumbstruck. I didn’t know how to answer.

"Um...yeah." I smiled.

He nodded.

"You know…Dixon?"

I nodded before he could answer.
"Yes, I know Dixon, very well actually."

"Hurt her…I’ll…have…him—"

I hated to make him speak more than he
had to.

"Donald, Dixon already told me that
he would
rip off my balls and feed them to me
," I chuckled.

"Good," he croaked and smiled
large. "Take…care…of…her," he rasped.

 Lilli entered the room looking at
Donald and then at me, questions written all over her face.

"Goodnight," I said quickly
then headed toward the stairs.

"What was that about?" I heard
Lilli ask Donald in a hushed voice.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Lilli

Donald gave me an innocent look.

"Oh, I am so not buying that!"
I smirked at him. "Spill it!"

"Just…a…warning."

I shook my head.

"There's nothing to warn him about,
he’s just a friend," I shrugged.

Dad raised his eyebrow at me in
question. I sighed and sat down next to him.

"Can we wait till you are stronger
to talk about this?" I gave my best puppy dog eyes.

He shook his head and gave me the
now
eyes.

"Fine," I breathed.

I spared him the gory details of the
arrangement, however, I gave him the gist of Aidan and I marrying for financial
reasons for both of us. I could tell as I spoke that he was getting angry.

"Don’t….do this…for…" I
stopped him.

"I'm doing this for both of us, for
Aidan and his family and for the people that work for him," I sighed and
stood up. I leaned over Donald and kissed his forehead. "It will be
fine," I spoke to his forehead so that he wouldn’t be able to read my face
as I said it. He would see that I didn’t believe what I just said.

"Lilli…" he rasped.

"Dad, please don’t speak anymore
today," I brushed the hair from his face. "Get some sleep." I
smiled and then went to the couch and got comfortable. "Goodnight,
Dad."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The next morning, snug in my flannel
pajama pants and long sleeved tee, I headed to the kitchen to make coffee. With
the coffee started, I began to make breakfast; French toast, turkey bacon and
strawberries. With everyone else still asleep, I placed the ear buds from my
iPod in my ears and turned it on while cutting up strawberries.

Thinking I was alone, I began to sway to
the sound of Maroon 5. Spinning with the strawberries to place on Donald’s
tray, I came face to face with Aidan.

 "Jesus!" I put the bowl down
and grabbed my chest, pulling out the ear buds. "Can you not scare the
shit out of me, please?" A laugh, mostly at myself, bubbled out of my
chest.

"I didn’t mean to," he
shrugged. He stood in the doorway leaning on the frame, arms crossed over his
chest. His hair was freshly mussed from sleeping but, if I hadn’t know better, I
would say he just went a few rounds in bed with some lucky girl.

"Hungry?" I asked quickly,
before he realized I was checking him out.

"A little, you need any help?"

"Ummm…no, no help needed." I
turned toward the cabinet, grabbed a couple of coffee mugs and sat them on the
counter. "Coffee?" I motioned to the mugs going back to finishing the
French toast.

"Thanks," he walked over and
poured some into a mug.

"Sugar is on table, milk in the fridge
if you need them."

"Is this where you grew up?"
The chair squeaked as he sat down to the kitchen table.

I shook my head.

"My mother left with me when I was
five. We moved across the country to Nevada until I was fifteen. I decided to
move in with Donald when my mother got divorced from John – husband number two.
Besides, it was around that time he started to get sick." Putting a plate
in front of him, I sat down across the table with mine.

"So, your mother is in Nevada?"

I shook my head, again.

"No, not anymore; after the divorce
she decided to move to Canada and
start over
. She wanted to take me with
her but I came here." Leaning over my plate, I took a bite. While chewing,
I noticed he hadn’t touched his food yet. "You not hungry now?" I
covered my full mouth as I spoke.

"Oh, no…I mean, yeah, I’m hungry. I
was just thinking…sorry." He picked up his fork and began eating.

I swallowed. "Thinking about
what?"

"I just don’t know if you mind
answering my questions, that’s all. You’re very difficult for me to figure out."
His brow furrowed.

"You can ask just about anything
you want." I shrugged. "So, what else do you want to know?" I
placed another bite into my mouth.

 "Do you have any other relatives,
like—?”

"Nope," A sip of my coffee
washed the food down. "I had a grandmother. She passed away shortly after I
moved back to Winter Harbor."

"I’m sorry," he mumbled then
took another mouthful of French toast.

"It’s okay," I smiled and then
took another bite.

"So, um…should we discuss…"

"Good morning, Millie." I
exclaimed over his shoulder, relieved for the opportunity to change the
conversation.

"Morning, dear." She patted my
back, on her way to the coffee. "Did your father wake at all last
night?"

"No, he slept straight through."

"Good," Millie sat down with a
plate and began to eat. We finished in silence.

Pushing away from the table, I stepped
to the sink and placed my plate in the basin. Loading up dad’s tray, I headed
to the living room. He was lying awake. Millie came in behind me and we started
getting dad out of bed. I didn’t even realize Aidan was next to me until I felt
his body against my side, scooting me out of the way. He wrapped dad’s arm over
his shoulder and helped him to his lounge chair.

"Thanks," Donald breathed.

Aidan massaged his shoulder.

"No problem," then he turned
to me "Do you mind if I go take a shower?"

"Not at all, it’s at the top of the
stairs."

He nodded and headed upstairs.

With Donald’s food before him, he ate
heartily. I was happy to see his appetite returning. He seemed to be feeling
better. I could only hope the medications would last and surgery would not be
necessary, at least for awhile longer.

Aidan stayed at my father’s until the Sunday
evening I was flying back. I’d avoided the conversation about our arrangement
just because I wasn’t ready for the finality of the deal yet.

"What are you doing?"

I snapped my head over to see Aidan
watching me at my father’s desk. "Printing my ticket."

"Cancel it, you won’t need
it," he walked over and grabbed the printed ticket.

"What—"

"We’ll take the jet," he spoke
like it was no big deal to just have a jet waiting, which, for him, I’m sure it
wasn’t.

"Jet?" I cocked an eyebrow.

"Yeah, the AIS Jet. It’s waiting
for our arrival this afternoon," he pulled out his cell phone. Before I
could say anything else, he began to make a call. After about ten minutes he
snapped his phone shut. "Okay, your ticket is taken care of." He
ripped up the printed ticket.

"Excuse me?" I furrowed my
brow.

"What?"

"Can you at least let me decide if I’m
flying with you or not?" I rolled my eyes.

"Lilli, be reasonable, it’s stupid
for you to pay for a plane ticket when I’m flying out on the family jet to the
same location" he looked at me as if I had three heads.

"I don’t like decisions just being
made for me." Standing, I tried to exit the room. He grabbed my arm.

"I’m sorry," he looked into my
eyes. "I’ll try not to take charge of things but I was only trying to
help."

"I know." The words slipped
out quickly and I shook off his hand.

The pull of his touch was way too
tempting. I’d never had that happen to me before. Sure, I was instantly
attracted to some people and when guys in my past had touched me it made my
body react. However, this was a simple gesture of touching my arm. It wasn’t in
a romantic or intimate nature, yet I felt prickling heat flowing from that
point of contact. I grabbed my bags and headed toward the steps.

"Here let me help," I turned
to look at him "Please?" I handed over the bags and he headed down
the stairs. I took another long look at the house as I walked down the steps,
taking it all in.

Donald was sitting and waiting for me to
come tell him goodbye. I hated leaving him but knew that Millie would take care
of him while I was gone.

"I’ll miss you," I whispered
and kissed his head.

He smiled.

"Love…you…Lilli." His voice
was still raspy but it sounded better than a few days ago.

"Love you too," I smiled and
hugged him. I hugged Millie goodbye as Aidan said goodbye to my dad.

It wasn’t until we got to the airport
and were walking toward the plane that I realized that we would be alone the
whole flight. He was going to want to discuss things on the way there. I
groaned internally even though I had agreed to this of my own will. We climbed
onto the plane and I took a seat. I was still so lost in my thoughts I hadn’t
realized that Aidan had sat down next to me.

I snapped out of my thoughts at a loud
thud. A thick stack of papers sat on the small table in front of us. Aidan had
a nervous but determined look on his face.

"We have quite a few hours till we
get to New York. I was thinking we could discuss things before we get
there," he rubbed the back of his head. It was clear he was forcing
himself not to look in my direction.

I turned my gaze back to the stack of
papers before reaching out and picking them up.

"Ok," I barely answered in a
whisper. I took a deep breath and started to read over the documents.

Chapter Eleven
The Ring
Lilli

My eyes were starting to dry out as I
read through the thick stack that felt like it was made of cement rather than
paper. There were five different sections bound together for one contract.

In section one of the Marital Conditions
Agreement, Aidan and I were to agree to four years of consummated and
monogamous marriage. Infidelity voided the contract. I was required to take the
Iverson last name. Living in the same home for the full four years was also a
requirement, as well as sharing a room and bed.

Section two was the ‘Marriage Agreement’.
Aidan would receive his one hundred billion dollar inheritance, his
grandfather’s estates and possessions. In return for marriage, I would be
allocated full purchase of Donald’s home in Winter Harbor, which was already done,
college tuition for the length of the marriage and one million dollars.

"Aidan, I don’t need a million
dollars," I croaked out. "What is this
Indecent Proposal
?"

"Lilli, look at how much money I’m
inheriting. Please realize my inheritance is on top of money I already
have." He looked at me with sternness. "Anyone could use a million
dollars."

"But—"

"No buts," He argued.
"Once four years of marriage is complete you will receive a million
dollars. You can consider it guaranteed alimony if you wish." He shrugged.
"What’s
Indecent Proposal
?" He asked with a curious glance.

"The movie? You’ve never seen the
movie?"

"I haven’t gotten to watch many
movies," he laid his head back on the headrest of the seat.

Furrowing my brow, I went back to the
contract. Seeing the next sections that were to be addressed I felt my stomach
knot and I had to swallow a large lump in my throat before I could continue.

Section three was the ‘Heir’ Conditions
Agreement’. We were to conceive a child within the first year with a healthy
birth before the end of our second year of marriage, unless medical
complications are incurred. The child is to be a legitimate heir to the Iverson
family and will be bestowed with the Iverson name.

Section four was the ‘Procreation
Agreement’, in which, upon conceiving, AIS would be granted to Aidan Walsh
Iverson III as sole proprietorship. In return to being the Iverson family
incubator I would receive a home in New York, financial support for the child
and the child would have a trust established in his or her name.

"Aidan…" I hesitated.

"What?" His voice waivered.

"I can’t have a child. I’m sorry, I
just can’t. Not like this." I laid the papers back on the table and shook my
head at him.

"Lilli…look, I get your
apprehension and trust me, I’m not exactly thrilled or excited that this is
what it has come to for me but we can make it work." He pleaded.

"I’m from a broken home, Aidan. I
can’t voluntarily have a child knowing I’m going to provide them with a scheduled
broken home. I don’t want to offer a solid family dynamic and then rip it away
from them, regardless of how old they will be at the time." I argued.
"I think this is a bad idea. I’m sorry." I took a deep panic filled
breath. "You need to find someone that will do all of this for you, cause I
just…I just can’t. I can’t."

"Lilli." He said firmly as he
knelt in front of me. "It will be fine." He picked up the papers.
"That’s what the home in New York is for." I twisted my face in
confusion. "This way you will have a home close to my home. We will stay
friends after all of this, at least I hope that we will, and we will keep our
residences close enough so that the child will be able to see us every day if
they want to. It won’t be perfect, but then again, what is perfect anymore? The
child will grow up with two parents that care about them deeply." He
sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Look at me. I didn’t have
either of my parents after I was ten. Viola, Liam and Maggie kept my family
dynamic intact and it was completely different for me."

"I can’t do it," I spit out.
"I’m sorry."

He sighed heavily.

"You can do it. You’re going to do
it." He said firmly.

"Wh-what..?" I stuttered at
his tone and at his words.

"Lilli, I don’t have anyone else. I
am not going to just pick some girl up off the street and ‘hope’ that she isn’t
a psycho, a gold digger or something even worse." He sat back into his
seat and took a deep breath. "I need you…I need you to help me and allow
me to help you." He kept his head down.

I internally cursed myself and picked up
the contract again to go over the last section.

Section five was the ‘Prenuptial
Agreement’. This section simply secured Aidan and the Iverson’s assets before
the marriage as well as the company’s assets acquired during the marriage. The
final clause was in regards to family jewelry, which I was unsure what that had
to do with me. I didn’t want any jewelry.

After some more legal jargon and clauses
I sat back in my seat with my eyes closed, the contract in my lap. My mind was
spinning and I was having an internal battle. Part of me wanted to grab a parachute
and head for the plane door. The other part of me felt bad for Aidan’s
situation and the easy help I could provide. Releasing a heavy breath, I rubbed
my hands over my face.

"You okay?" Aidan spoke in a
hushed voice.

"I don’t know," I answered
quickly, slightly annoyed by his interruption of my thoughts.

"Are you going to sign?" He
pressed.

"Hah," I breathed out in
partial amusement and partial astonishment.

"What?" His nerves were
working into his voice, again.

I glanced at my watch.

"We have less than ten minutes
before we arrive to JFK," he said matter-of-factly.

I nodded.

"Please talk to me," he
requested.

"What do you want me to say? That I
feel like a high price whore or that I’m selling my soul?" I raised my
head to stop his argument, it would prevent the hurt look on his face. "I’m
sorry but you asked."

"You’re not a whore and I’m not the
devil," he growled.

"It doesn’t feel that way at the
moment," I chuckled, humorlessly. Stressful situations had always caused
me to have inappropriate reactions. I took another deep breath. "You’re
ready to purchase the next four years of my life?"

"I have no other choice," he
grumbled.

Nodding, I understood what he meant. I
barely had any choices left myself and I knew he was right. He didn’t have a
choice unless he wanted to lose everything.

"Is it only the…the conceiving part
or is it the marriage as well?" he questioned without looking at me.

"It all bothers me, Aidan," I
sighed out and then growled. "I could handle the marriage but putting the
baby thing on top of it...well…."

"Let’s just focus on the marriage
part right now and then after we’re married we can discuss the baby portion of
the deal. Okay?" He looked at me hopefully.

"But I still have to agree to have
a baby, right?" He nodded slowly. "I don’t know if I can do
that."

"It doesn’t have to be right
away," he argued. "We can wait a few months to see how things go with
each other before we decide to bring a child into this." His eyes were
pleading again.

"Fine. Where’s the pen?" I
spit out. I watched him search around. "Hurry before I change my
mind!"

"Here," he shoved the pen into
my hand.

As I approached the sections about
having a child, I hesitated and looked up to him.

"I will continue to take my birth
control pills until we talk about this again." He nodded, knowing that it
wasn’t a question.

I signed and every pen stroke felt like I
was signing a deal with Satan.

Aidan took the pen and signed his parts
of the contract. I felt a tear slip over my cheek as I turned to my side in my
seat trying to force myself to relax.

"Now we just need to talk about the
wedding," he sighed out.

"Wedding?" I croaked out
trying to hide my tears.

"Yes, it will be in a month,"
he said factually.

I wiped my face and sat up turning back
toward him.

"Aren’t we just going to go to a
Justice of the Peace or something?" I scoffed.

He shook his head.

"Viola wants to plan the wedding.
It will be small, just family." He shrugged.

"So, I have to wear some dress and
do the whole
down the aisle
thing?" My voice hitched up a notch at
the end of my question.

"It’s not a big deal, Lilli. Viola
can handle it all. My family is close and we have certain traditions. If this
were a real wedding then it would be much more elaborate and take at least a
year to plan."

I scowled at his choice of
real
wedding
.

"I don’t want a wedding," I
argued.

"It would crush my aunt if I didn’t
do this, if
we
didn’t do this. Besides you can talk to her about it when
we get to the airport," I instantly turned my head back to him.

"At the airport," I exclaimed.
"How about you just fill me in on all these damned plans and meetings you
have arranged for me?" I spit out, angrily and sarcastically.

"Calm down. Viola wanted to meet
you and talk to you before the wedding. She suggested coming to pick us up from
the airport. Maggie should be with her too."

"Who the hell is Maggie?" I
raised my hands palms up.

"She is Viola and Liam’s daughter, my
cousin, though she is like a sister to me."

I nodded, thinking that he had mentioned
her before in a conversation.

"Anything else?" I pressed.

"Well, there is this," he
placed a small black leather box on the arm of the seat. My nerve endings were
firing rapidly and my body started to go numb from one small box. He cleared
his throat.

"Are you going to open it?"

I shook my head. He laughed.

"It won’t bite you." He rolled
his eyes and opened the box, took out a ring and looked down at it. "It
was my mother’s," he said almost too low for me to hear him.

"Oh, Aidan, no," I shook my
head and put my hand on his arm. "Save that for the," I gulped,
"for the real thing."

He shook his head and handed it to me.

"I want you to wear it," he
nodded lightly.

"I can’t," I pushed his hand
back. "Save it for the real thing, Aidan, honestly. Don’t waste it on
me."

He looked up to my face, grabbed my hand
and slipped the ring on my finger.

"Huh," he smiled a little.

"What?" I choked.

"It fits," he smiled up at me.

I pulled my hand closer to my face and
looked at the ring. It was pretty and vintage looking. It was a large round
diamond set in silver or platinum, I wasn’t sure, and it looked like knots on
each side of the diamond.

"Did I mention that we’re
Irish?" He watched me look at the ring.

I put my hand down.

"No," I answered shortly,
mainly because I was embarrassed for getting caught checking out the ring that I
didn’t want in the first place.

He grabbed my hand and lifted the ringed
finger between us.

"The diamonds are set in a platinum
setting. See right here?" He was pointing to small knots on the sides.

I nodded.

"Those are Celtic Trinity
knots." He put my hand down. "There will be a few Irish or Gaelic
portions to the wedding." I just nodded. "Your opinion matters you
know?"

"It’s okay, it really isn’t my
thing." I forced a small smile, sitting there quietly until I couldn’t
take it any longer. "Okay, time to talk everything out."

He looked up to me and smiled.

"Like?"

"Wedding is when? Clearly we have
to live with each other, etc…I think you need to tell me all the details as
well as about your family." I turned sideways in my seat, ready to listen
and discuss.

"Wedding is in a month, after the
wedding we will move into my grand…erm, my, our mansion," he smiled at his
self-corrections. "As you read, we have to live in the same home for the
four years and sleep in the same bed at least a few times a week."

"Okay…family?"

"Uh…obviously my parents are not
alive. I grew up with my Aunt Viola and Uncle Liam, as well as with
Maggie." He took a deep breath. "You’ve met James, he is my cousin.
His wedding is in a week." He paused and smirked. "Will you go with
me?"

My eyes widened. "Um I…uh…"

"It will be a way for you to meet my
family and family friends that won’t be at our wedding." He raised an
eyebrow at me.

"Ugh…do I have to?" I whined.

He laughed. "That’s a yes."