Happily Ever Addendum (10 page)

"Lilli?"

"Hmm?"

"I have something I need to discuss
with you." My voice was shakier than I'd intended.

"About?"

"Come to my office with me, please?"

I took her hand in mine, waiting for her
reply. She nodded. Keeping hold of her hand, we walked to my office. My briefcase
and the large, mahogany box were sitting on my desk.

"What’s that?" She pointed to
the box.

"Devlin came in this afternoon to
go over some paperwork in regards to the inheritance. The box is part of some
of the things my grandfather left for me."

"What’s the matter?" Her eyes
shone with nervousness.

"Nothing's the matter. I got some
information today and it…well, it concerns you." To ease the worried look
on her face, I grabbed the legal documents and handed them to her. "Read these
over."

She sat down and began reading. After
ten minutes, which felt like hours, she looked up from the papers, her eyes wide.

"Aidan, I can’t…I mean…these need
to be changed." She thrust the papers onto my desk.

"There is nothing I can do right
now." I shrugged. "It’s not that big of a deal. I do need you to sign
the papers though." Turning to the page requiring her signature, I pointed
to the open document. "Sign here and here."

Shaking her head, she refused.
"No."

With a sigh, I ran my hand through my
hair. "Lilli, you have to or the document is invalid. You have to sign
acceptance or—"

 Fine." She slid the papers in
front of her and held her hand out for a pen. Once I placed the pen in her
hand, she signed, slapped the pen back onto the desk and stood before me.
"Now, get new papers drawn up and take it all back." She said firmly and
started for the door.

"Wait!" Placing my hand on her
shoulder, I moved to block her exit. "There are other things...I want you
to see them with me."

"You haven’t seen them yet?" Her
brow wrinkled.

"No. I just found out about them
today. There is a safe hidden in the bar." Taking a step away from her, I stretched
my hand toward her, requesting that she to do this with me. "I know that
it is late. But please, come with me?"

Lilli tangled her fingers with mine and
we walked to the bar. Once behind the bar, I unlocked the cabinet and found the
hidden black button. I pressed the button and heard a clicking sound coming from
behind us. Turning around, I noticed the large painting next to the pool table
slide into the ceiling.

"That was so James Bond."
Lilli exclaimed with a laugh. I grinned.

The safe had an alphanumeric pad. As
instructed, I typed in Isobel and hit the large red button. With a click, the
door popped open. I peered inside, noticing a few black, fire-safe boxes. Pulling
them out, I sat them on the pool table. There were five boxes varying in size.

We started with the largest. It contained
a stack of letters, deeds, legal documents and an old photo album.

"Oh, wow." Lilli ran her
fingers over the aged cover. "They don’t make them like this unless you go
to a specialty shop."

She was right. It was brown canvas with
leather binding. You could smell the age of it. I opened the album, revealing a
picture of my great grandmother, Murron, my grandmother, Isobel, and my mother,
Eliza, on the inside cover. Three separate pictures with their names, along
with the day they wed each Aidan Iverson, written next to each picture, from my
great grandfather to father.

Turning pages, we found baby pictures of
my Grandfather leading up to my own baby pictures.

"Is that you?" Lilli slid on
top of the pool table and leaned over my arm.

"Yeah, it is." Smiling, I
turned the album over to her. "You should continue it."

She looked up at me with wide eyes and
put her head back down to go through the pictures. For a moment, I couldn’t take
my eyes off of her. She's just so beautiful.

Finally able to pull eyes off my wife, I
moved on to the next box. This one was thicker than the others. When I opened
it, I found it held multiple compartments. It took me a moment to figure out
how to access each one. Once I did, I was a little taken back.

"I thought all the jewelry was in
safety deposit boxes." I mumbled.

As I went through all of the jewelry, I
remembered seeing some of this on my mother when I was younger.

"It was their jewelry." I whispered.
A tear slip over my cheek as I lifted the gold necklace that had graced my
mother’s long neck. Memories of watching her put the necklace on, or fingering
the chain, flooded me.

Lilli’s placed her hand against my cheek,
wiping away the tears and pulling me away from my thoughts. Her face was so full
of compassion I couldn’t help but wrap my hand around the nape of her neck,
pulling her into my arms. Our foreheads pressed together and she embraced me
without hesitation, rubbing soothing circles against my back.

"My mother wore this frequently. I…I
can remember it."

She hugged me tighter. Pulling back, I
kissed her forehead and ran my fingers over her cheek.  Her warm smile
instantly brightened the sadness surrounding me.

Closing up a box which held about a half
of a million dollars in jewelry, we moved on to the next. Inside were more
photos, letters, notes, dried flowers and a silver brush and comb set. This had
been my mother’s as well. Memories of sitting on her bed as she would brush her
hair at her vanity flooded back to me. I clenched my hand around the small,
silver hair combs as tears welled in my eyes again. Lilli move closer, sitting against
my side and soothingly ran her hand over my shoulder.

"These were my mothers." I
croaked, unable say anything else.

Lilli’s hand slid up the side of my
head, pulling me to lean on her. Holding my head against her chest, she allowed
me to sob over memories from so long ago.

Finally pulling myself together, I moved
on to the next box. It was evident that these were Grandma Isobel’s things.
There was a large, red leather book with her name in gold calligraphy across
the front. Pulling it out, I leafed through the pages of what turned out to be her
journal. Looking back into the box, there were a few more leather books. They
were all journals. I put them aside for the moment and looked into the black box.
Small tokens, lace gloves, a small, silk purse that held a lock of hair, a
small photo frame of a couple, I assumed were Isobel’s parents, and then there
were photos of two different babies. At first, I thought it was my father but
realized the babies were in coffins. A chill ran through me.

Turning the photo over, I discovered two
children my grandparents had lost. Both dated before the birth of my father.
Grandma Isobel and Grandfather had lost two children. Once I processed the new
information, I glanced at my wife’s swollen stomach.

Lilli looked up from the photos she was still
perusing.

"Wh-what?"

Cutting her off with my lips, I put all
of the emotions from tonight into worshiping her mouth. Deciding to forget the
past for tonight, I picked Lilli up bridal style from the pool table.

"Aidan! Put me down!" She clung
to me, fisting the material covering my chest. "I am too heavy for this."

Laughing loudly, I held her tighter. Even
seven months pregnant, she wasn’t exactly heavy. Hell, she couldn’t have been
more than a hundred and twenty pounds, at most, before she got pregnant and
now, well, hell, she still barely weighed much. My laugh made her huff. Once we
got to the bedroom, I laid her back onto the bed and curled up next to her.

"Are you okay?" She whispered.

"I’m more than okay." I kissed
her lips and moved, hovering over her body. "
You
make me more than
okay."

Brushing away a few strands of hair from
her face, I moved my lips to the crook of her neck, tasting her skin.

Her pulse quickened under my lips.

"Aidan…" She panted.

Pulling my head back, I looked into her
large, hazel eyes. She chewed on her bottom lip, remaining silent. Grabbing the
sides of my face, she pulled my lips to hers. Her arms sliding around my
shoulders, pulling me closer to her body.

Her lips parted and she darted her
tongue out, licking my bottom lip. As I was about to open my mouth to her, she
pulled away. Our foreheads pressed together, her eyes tightly shut, and she slowed
her breathing. After a few moments, her eyes flashed open, looking directly into
mine.

"I love you." She whispered.

Chapter Five
8 Months
Aidan

I laid awake in bed, watching her sleep.
She said she loved me. Those three tiny, yet heartfelt, words pushed me over
the edge. Any resistance I may have had tonight was blown.  Gone. I made love
to her slowly. Agonizingly slow. Every whimper and moan that escaped her lips
served only as confirmation she was
mine
and she loved
me
.

It was extremely early. My mind kept
racing. I was so wired and restless, consumed by my thoughts, that I decided to
get up before I woke her up. Leaning down, I kissed her stomach and then her
forehead before I left the room.

Arriving back in the bar, everything was
still spread out on the pool table. I started to slowly put some of the things
away. When I got to my grandmother’s journals, I decided to collect them up and
head to the library. On my way to the library I passed Jay in the hallway.

"Good morning, sir." He
nodded.

"Good morning, Jay." I smiled.

"Would you like me to get you
anything?"

"Actually, could you get me some
coffee? I’ll be in the library."

"Of course, sir." He nodded before
setting to his task.

"Thank you." Saying the words
over my shoulder, I continued toward the library.

Taking refuge in the large, oversized
leather chair, I glanced through each journal and put them in chronological
order. I opened the first leather bound book, smelling the years it held
inside.

The journals started off with my
grandmother discussing things women in her day were not allowed to discuss. She
was appalled by the actions of her father toward her mother as well as her
brother’s strictness with his new wife. She often heard him shouting at her for
being careless and clumsy. She had intervened a few times, only to be met with the
disapproving eyes of her mother as her father punished her.

Though her prior letters had confirmed that
she was, indeed, being courted during the time she met my grandfather, the
journal put a name to the man. Samuel Patrick McCloud. Apparently, she was
deeply in love with him. There were pages and pages full of his gestures and
declarations of love.

Then the story takes a different turn.
Samuel became more pressing on the physical side of their relationship, though
they were not yet married. Isobel stood her ground firmly but the fear of
losing him, and the future she had planned with him, had won. Months had passed
and the physical aspects of their relationship had grown. However, during this
time, she caught the attention of Aidan Walsh Iverson, an up and coming
businessman.

Isobel was intrigued by him but in love
with Samuel. Grandfather was persistent. Enough so, that she began a secret friendship
with him; keeping it friendly but still inappropriate for a woman at the time.

Toward the end of the first journal it
seemed Samuel began to change, for the worse. Once he discussed marriage to
Isobel with her father, he changed. He became like her father and brother. Her
opinions and voice no longer mattered. He often threw in her questionable
behavior. He even used her willingness to become physical so quickly against
her. Questioning her innocence.

Jay arrived with fresh coffee. I was so
enthralled in the journals, in my grandmother’s past, that I barely noticed his
presence.

The second journal continued in the same
tone. Samuel was becoming harsh and degrading. Isobel tried to stay strong and
even stood up to him a few times. It was during one of those times that her
life came crashing down around her.

During a discussion at a party, Isobel
voiced her opinion. Samuel was appalled and dragged her away from the party. On
the way home in the carriage, he stripped her of clothing, ignoring her cries to
stop. He took her without one interruption from the driver.

‘He took everything. My innocence, my trust,
my love…everything. It’s all gone.’

Her words caused me to pause for a
moment, but I couldn't stop reading.

Samuel then ended the engagement by question
of her virtue, going as far as to call in a doctor to examine her. Her mother
and father were shamed, blaming her for her indiscretions without bothering to
listen to what had actually happened. Months had passed and Isobel was pregnant
with a bastard child. Her family threw her from their home, putting her into
the home of her spinster aunt.

Shamed at the state she was in, she
refused to write my grandfather or accept his letters. The refusals eventually
brought him to her aunt’s doorstep one winter. She tried to politely dismiss
him, and when that failed she flat out told him she was pregnant with a bastard
child. My grandfather proposed on the spot.