Modern Arrangements: Complete Trilogy (Modern Arrangements #1-3) (72 page)

"Yeah right." She laughed.
"Ms. Snowe?"

"How else can I fantasize you are
my all too willing assistant whom is staying late to work with the boss?"
She rolled her eyes, giggling. "So, what do I have to do to get you to do
this every night?"

She laughed and stood, though I whined
when she got up. Slipping her coat back on, she tied it shut and turned to look
at me.

"I’ll see you at home." She
smirked.

"You’re not wearing
underwear." I stated, holding up the torn lace.

"Oh, I know." She smirked.
"That’s just something for you to think about while you work."

Lilli left, shutting the door behind
her.

"Fuck." I'd dropped my head to
my messy desk.

Loud laughter from where my now fifteen
year old twins sat with their cousins pulled me from the naughty memory. A
naughty memory that repeated many times since then.

"What are you smiling about?"
James asked, with a small grin on his face.

"Just some great memories."
Taking a quick look at Lilli, I gave James my full attention.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Lilli

Standing on the other side of the room,
watching my husband look at our family and friends, I could tell he was
thinking about the past.  Smiles, furrowed brows, and frowns were passing of
his face. Though the one face, the sad one, I knew exactly what he was thinking
about.

Losing the baby was one of the hardest
experiences I had ever been through. Even with all of the crazy soap opera like
events we had experienced, losing that baby crushed something inside of me. It
took so much strength to come back from that. If it hadn’t been for Aidan’s
strength and understanding, I probably wouldn’t have been able to return to my
life.  A life that we had built on possibility, heartache, loss, family, and
love.

Aidan and I attended Demitri and Lorna’s
wedding six months after we lost the baby. It was a small wedding compared to
Iverson standards, but it was intimate and beautiful. They had written their
own vows and both cried when they read them. When the priest asked if anyone
objected to the marriage, I decided to tease Aidan.

"If there is anyone who feels these
two should not be united in front of God, please speak now." The words
echoed through the church.

Looking to Aiden, I caught his eye.

"I guess this is my last chance to
get Demitri." I whispered, pretending to wipe a tear from my eye, and went
to put my hand up.

Aidan growled and wrapped his arms
around mine, securely holding me in place. I quietly giggled and leaned in to
kiss his cheek.

"Not funny, Mrs. Iverson." He
grumbled.

"Yes, it was." I lay my head
on his shoulder for the rest of the ceremony.

Surprisingly, we became good friends
with Lorna and Demitri. Lorna wasn’t able to have children because of severe
diabetes. So, Viola and I had helped them adopt three times from the children’s
homes we funded through the foundation.

Unfortunately, we lost Uncle Henry two
years ago to a heart attack. That was a hard hit for Anne, Liam and James. Even
though Uncle Henry and Aunt Anne had been snobs and Uncle Henry had made some
bad choices, we'd grown closer. Anne had become much warmer towards her family,
especially where her grandchildren were concerned. Henry had returned to AIS,
working under James. Aidan had been hesitant with Uncle Henry, but tried to
trust him as much as he could.

My father was still going strong and was
about to celebrate his third year of marriage with Millie. During one visit to
see him, when the twins were ten, I discovered that their relationship was much
more than nurse and patient.

The kids and I were in the back yard at
my father’s house. They were playing kickball while I was reading on the back
porch when I noticed the time and headed in to make lunch.

Before making lunch, I decided to go
wash my hands in the bathroom. On my way, I heard my father chuckle and then
Millie’s laughter coming from his bedroom. Smirking, I washed my hands and
headed back down to the kitchen.

I was in the middle of making sandwiches
when my father entered with a large smile. Looking up at him, I smiled and
lightly chuckled.

"What’s so funny?" I heard the
kitchen chair screech across the linoleum flooring.

"Oh, nothing." I said
exaggerated.

"I see…" he trailed off.

"So, when do you plan on telling
me?" I turned around, smiling, and leaned against the counter behind me.

"Tell you what?" He looked confused.

For a moment, I questioned my
assumption. Swallowing hard, I took the chance. "About you and a certain
nurse?"

Donald’s face paled and his eyes became
large. "Um…uh…I…It’s…"

"Calm down, Dad." I rolled my
eyes. "I wish you would’ve just told me about it. If you are happy then
that is all that matters." I finished the sandwiches and started placing
them out on the table.

"So, you don’t think that it’s
weird?" He kept his face to the table, fidgeting with his fingers.

I had walked over to him and put my hand
on his shoulder. "If you're happy, then I'm happy for you."

He grabbed my hand tightly. "Thank
you, Lilli."

I patted him and then went to yell for
the children.

It took two years for him to get the
courage to ask her to marry him. When he finally did and she excitedly
accepted, they planned a small civil ceremony that Aidan, the kids, Viola and I
flew to Winter Harbor to attend. Phoebe and Adeline, along with Celia, Dixon,
and the girls all attended with us.

The biggest surprise was my mother’s attendance
and her date. Her date was only a year older than me and for the rest of the
trip I had to deal with Dixon referring to my mother as a cougar. When I got
her alone to talk to her about her new boy, she said she was having fun,
enjoying life, and that they both cared for each other.

Viola had summed it all up after she
squeezed every last breath from my mother in one long hug and exclaimed.

"Damn girl, you went and got you a
young stud. I bet he has great stamina. He has great stamina, doesn’t he?"
As my mother and Viola began that conversation, I quickly excused myself from
the gory details.

Returning to the present, my teenage
children's birthday party, my eyes landed on Viola.  She stood next to Liam
with a champagne flute in one hand, while the other slipped onto Liam's butt
with a pat. 
Oh no.

Obviously, Viola hasn’t changed and I
don't think any of us ever want her to. Her naughty side often appeared and
seemed to do so more often with each passing year. It was evident, by the
things Viola would say, that she and Liam were still as active as they had
always been, though she did mention Viagra a few times.

Liam still worked with Aidan at AIS and
was very much the man he had always been; a leader and a loyal friend. Aidan
still looked to him as his father figure and his opinion only seemed to come
second to mine. Liam was also extremely happy these days that they had Ryan. He
finally had another boy in the house with him and he felt this evened out the
estrogen levels.

Glancing back over to my husband, I
caught him looking at me. A sly smile crept over his lips and a gleam of the
kinky boy deep inside him flashed in his eyes. When I smiled, his face lit up
in a brilliant smile.  His smile made me wonder if he was planning another
getaway for us.

On our seventh wedding anniversary we
went back to the cottage Aidan had given me for our first anniversary. Aidan
had made prior arrangements before we arrived. I walked into the large open
room lit and warmed by fire and candlelight. There were seven dozen roses in
different colors placed all around the cabin.

"Aidan." I gasped, then smiled.

His arms wrapped around me from behind.

"You like?" I could feel his
breath against the back of my right ear. I nodded. He kissed my right cheek
quickly. "Good." He walked us to the center of the room and that’s
when I saw the pillows and blankets strewn about the floor in front of the
fireplace.

We sat down with a bottle of champagne
and chocolate covered strawberries. I sat to the right of Aidan, who was facing
the fireplace, with my legs stretched out in front of me, my feet resting on
his thighs.

"I have one more surprise for
you." He smiled and stretched back to reach into his black leather bag.

He pulled out a manila envelope and
pulled a stack of white papers from it. I wrinkled my forehead in confusion.

"What is all of that?"

Chuckling, he answered me.

"The Agreement." His eyes met
mine and I half smiled over my champagne flute.

"What are you doing with
that?" I laughed out after I took my sip.

"Well, I was thinking that we
should officially rid ourselves of this." He leaned forward and aimed the
papers for the fireplace. I grabbed his wrist quickly. The expression on his
face when he quickly looked at me was confusion and shock. "What?"

"I don’t know…maybe…we should keep
it." I took it from his hand and started to leaf through the paper, biting
my lip.

"You don’t want to get rid of
it?" He placed his hands on the bottom of one of my feet and massaged.

"God that feels good." Moaning
at his touch, I put my head back for a second and then looked back up to his
face.

"Aidan, this brought us
together." I held up the agreement papers. "This is the start of
us."

He released my foot and crawled up my
body, until he was on all fours over me. Grabbing the papers, he tossed them
into the fire.

"
Those
are not the start of
us." He kissed me softly. "The moment that I walked into Dixon’s
place and saw you dancing and singing in that tight blue shirt, short shorts,
and those damn striped white socks, you had me. It just took me months to
figure it out." He gave me gloriously brilliant smile before capturing my
lips in a searing kiss.

The past fifteen years had indeed been a
rollercoaster of emotions and trials, but it was all worth it. Watching our
family and friends at the twin’s birthday party was a reminder of the
hardships, but also of the greatness that was still happening.

The entire family was thrilled Maggie made
it home from Dartmouth for the twin’s birthday. She surprised us by bringing
Jason home with her and sporting a large engagement ring, especially after the
two had split up before college, agreeing that a long distance relationship
wouldn't work.

Viola and Liam were surprised but
thrilled for their daughter. Aidan grumbled about her being too young. James
and Elora congratulated them. Phoebe offered to design her wedding dress. Celia
offered up all of her girls for flower girls. I simply hugged her tightly and
then hugged Jason. The way he looked at her was like someone saw an angel.

Abby made it home from college, as well
as Rachel’s son, Alex, and Kimberly’s son, Peter. Jay brought all three of them
from the airport at the same time.

Ryan ran to his mother, excited to see
her so soon. He stayed with Liam and Viola while Abby was attending college,
though she traveled home at least twice a month to visit him. It had taken some
convincing, but Viola finally convinced Abby that she needed to focus on
college to build a life for her and Ryan. And that she wouldn't have to worry about
Ryan having a stable environment while she prepared for their future.

Alex had been quiet most of the time he
was home, though he did seem to spend some time with Peter and Walsh. Walsh
practically begged Alex to show him how to play bass. The bass was a talent
Alex picked up in college, though his real passion was writing. Once Alex
realized I too was a literature freak, we had some very lengthy, heated, and
great conversations over books and authors.

The house was completely full for the
party and the following week, not that it was ever quiet with Aidan, my four
children, and the constant slew of friends they brought around. Most of the
college crew stayed in New York for a week before returning to their colleges. Before
they all left, Kimberly and I noticed that Abby and Peter seemed to take a
liking to each other, and that Peter made sure to include Ryan. I wouldn’t be
surprised if the next family gathering didn’t bring Abby home with Peter close
behind her.

With the party behind us, I sat in my
office at the foundation head office. Glancing up from a stack of documents, my
eyes caught on the family photo we'd taken the day of the party. Almost
instinctually, my fingers grazed the glass just above the faces of my
children.  There were all so grown up and their own person.

It was hard to believe Walsh and Livy had
just turned fifteen. They both still shared the unspoken ability to communicate
they had developed as babies. Fights, thankfully, never lasted between the two
of them. Walsh often caved in for his sister before it could get too far.

Walsh was now obsessed with music, basically
taught himself to play the piano by the age of seven and from there ventured
into guitar, drums, saxophone, violin, and even the tuba. Not only was he one
of the best musicians at his private school, he was so passionate that he
developed a music club that met at our house weekly. I could already see this club
turning into a band. We didn’t know for sure what kind of musician Walsh would
become, but we knew whatever he did in life would revolve around music. Though,
if he were to take the rock star path, I would believe it was to impress a
certain girl who adored rock music - Adeline.