A Broken Fate (The Beautiful Fate Series book 2) (26 page)

Chapter 23

Beautiful Family

Ari and I were knotted up together in a sea of pillows and blankets whe
n I heard our bedroom door open with a creak. I could hardly even open my eyes to see who the cause of my disturbance was.

I peeked through a slit in my eye to see Aggie standing in the doorway with a very sleepy looking Max at her feet. I tried to shake Ari awake but my efforts were useless.

“What,” I finally croaked.

“Do not
‘what’ me, Ava.”

“Aggie, what do you want?” I moaned in a childish whiny way.

“It’s noon. Why aren’t you up yet?” she snapped.

“What do you want?!” I snapped back, tucking my
face into Ari’s neck.

“I need to run to the store to get some Christmas shopping done and Max needs a nap. Also, tonight is Andy
’s Christmas party for work. I need you to watch Max. I packed a bag and left it on the floor in the kitchen.”

I nodded at her.

“C’mon, Max.”

He tore away from Aggie
’s side in a flash and I helped him crawl up in to the bed next to Ari. Max curled himself up into Ari’s free arm, blinked twice, and was asleep.

Aggie tried to give me instructions or something but she was too late; I was already slipping back into the world of sleep as she gave up and left.

I woke up a couple of hours later to the sound of Max giggling. I gave a stretch and sat up, Ari wrapped an arm around my shoulder.

“What is this all about?” he asked, at Max.

“Um, I don’t really remember, something about a party; point is we have Max tonight.”

Ari gave a smile.

“Okay, great, what should we do then?”

I took a deep breath, racking my brain, trying to think of something that would keep a three- year-old entertained.

“I don’t really know. Any ideas?”

Ari rubbed at the stubble on his face and stared at me blankly.

I climbed out of bed, grabbed some clothes, and headed to the shower.

“Let me know what you come up with, I have to wash hot tub scum off me. I
’ll be out in a bit.”

“Hurry,” Ari said in a small panic.

I tossed my head back and laughed.

“Why Ari? Are you nervous?”

He climbed out of bed and threw Max over his shoulder.

“No… not nervous, just hurry.” They headed for the kitchen, presumably for a snack and I hurried up to get ready for what was left of the day.

****

Out of the shower, I checked the weather on my phone.
Sunny and 70!
I love California. I threw on my jeans and a breezy, silky top and walked barefoot into the kitchen. Ari was leaning against the sink, peeling an orange and Max was perched at the island on a stool eating some crackers. I moved him from the tall stool to the chair at the table, took a few grapes, cut them in half, and added them to Max’s plate along with a piece of fresh Swiss cheese. Then I took his cup of sugary apple juice and added some water.

“You
’re a natural,” Ari grinned and I chose to ignore the comment.

Except for the three of us, the house was empty, which was a nice change of pace. August had gone up north with Collin to spend the holidays with Collin
’s folks and Rory and Julia were out getting their holiday shopping done. Christmas was just a few days away. I had ordered Ari some gifts from my favorite London shop a week or so earlier and was expecting them to arrive any day, but we still had a few loose ends to tie up, and we needed to get some things for Max.

I joined Ari at the sink and he handed me half of his orange.

“So what do you want to do?” he asked.

“Mmm,” I shrugged. “We can go to that little playground up the beach from here. That
’ll keep him busy for a while, I guess.”

“Great,” Ari said looking relieved.

I found Max’s tiny little converse shoes that Aggie had left by the door. Ari threw Max up on his shoulders and we walked along the beach to the playground.

Max went nuts. The playground had slides of various lengths and curves. There were tunnels to explore and a large, wooden pretend pirate ship. He played for hours and outlasted Ari and myself by far. The two of us had to call it quits and took a breather at a bench until we finally convinced Max that the time to head back home had come. We walked home slowly and dodged the waves that were threatening to dampen our sandy feet. Ari taught Max how to comb the beach for white shells and black stones and we found a few of each to add to Ari
’s collection. We got back home in the late afternoon a little before dinnertime.

In the kitchen, Ari and I discovered we h
ad barley any food in the house. We hadn’t gone to the market in weeks. Usually on Saturdays, we head to the farmers market, but we had slept through it this morning.

“Dinner out?” Ari suggested.

“I don’t know what other choice we have.” I said as I walked out of the pantry empty handed.

“What are you hungry for, Ava?”

“I have to check something out in Newport, we can drive up there and then go to that Pizza place you like, then maybe take Max to a movie?”

“Sounds great. What do you need to check out in Newport though?”

“I will show you. It’s a project I have been working on, it was supposed to be finished as of yesterday.”

“A project for
House to Home
?”

“Nope, this one is personal.”

We packed Max up in the car and made our journey up to Newport. I had Ari stop at a flower shop along the way and I purchased three vibrant bouquets. 

“Where to now, Ava?”

I had been giving Ari directions and had gotten a bit turned around. “I think it’s just up here. Turn left.”

Ari turned up the drive to a large beach type resort.

“Pacific Recovery? Is this the place?” He raised his eyebrow at me.

“Yes. That must be Juan waiting for us.”

Ari unbuckled Max from his seat and followed me up to a man waiting by the front entry.

“Ava!”

“Juan?”

“That
’s me. It is nice to finally meet you.”

“Likewise. Juan, this is my husband Ari and this little guy is Max. Ari, Juan is Pacific Recovery
’s facility director. He runs the place and founded the center back in the early nineties.”

“1991 to be exact.”

Ari and Juan shook hands.

“You have a beautiful family, Ari. Your wife is an extraordinary person.”

“I couldn’t agree with you more.” Ari responded and wrapped his arm around my waist, still confused as to why we were even at the rehab center.

“Everyone here would like to thank you, Ava, for your generosity. Your kindness means so much.”

I blinked in response.

“Follow me. The memorial is all finished; just like I promised.”

“Great.” I handed Ari and Max both a bouquet of flowers and we followed Juan up a cobble stone path that lead through a vast and colorful garden. The path wound its way lazily to a wooden, white gate that sat under an archway completely covered in flora. Juan opened the gate and ushered us forward onto a spacious seaside cliff.

“It
’s just up here a ways.”

We moved forward across the tall, sandy grass to where a simple, rustic bench sat overlooking the ocean. Near the bench was a freshly planted Pink Magnolia tree.

“We were able to construct the bench out of old driftwood. I think it turned it out nicely.”

“Oh, Juan; I think it is just perfect.” I ran my hand across the smooth, sun-bleached wood then turned to Ari. “I had the center put the bench and tree here in memory of Misha and the baby.” I told Ari as he studied the scene before him.

“Like our family, we hold you in our heart. Misha Kline 1989-2012.”

Ari read the message aloud. “You did this?”

“Yeah.” I was still unsure if my gesture was the right thing to do or not and I felt a little uneasy as I waited for Ari to show some sort of emotion.

“Does anyone else know about it?”

“No.” I pulled at the hem on my shirt.

“Ava, you sweet, sweet girl, you are the nicest woman, person, human being I have ever known. I would like you tell the family that this memorial is here. They will want to come as well.”

“Won’t they be mad?”

“No, Ava. This is a wonderful gesture. I am so proud that you are my wife.”

I pushed back tears and Ari and I placed our flowers on the bench, Max chose to put his under the tree and then we walked back quietly towards the center.

“Thanks again, Juan. You have done a wonderful job. It was really nice working with you. I hope to collaborate with you again, do more for your center.”

“I look forward to it, Ava. It’s nice to have made a new friend.”

I smiled at him and Ari, Max and I drove off towards Ari
’s favorite pizza place. After, we took Max to a movie at the theater. Max had never experienced a movie theater before and was very excited; he never took his eyes away from the screen. 

It was late and dark when we left the
cinema. It had been a very long day and we had done a fair job of wearing out Max. He fell asleep in the car on the way home.

“So where is he sleeping tonight?” Ari asked, looking back at Max in the rear-view mirror. Max had been sucking his thumb before he fell asleep and now it was partially hanging out of his open mouth. I laughed, snapped a picture on my phone and texted it to Aggie. I found it odd that she hadn
’t called either Ari or myself to check in on Max.

“I guess Max will stay with you in our room. I can go to the couch.”

“What? No way! Why?” Ari asked quickly.

I explained what had happened the last time Max and I had snuggled together and how he had woken up in a panic to my screams. Ari looked a little bummed out, but he eventually agreed. “Okay,” he said, “but I will miss you. I hate sleeping without you.”

“It’s just for tonight,” I said, forcing a smile.

“OK, just tonight. This isn
’t so bad, is it?”

I cocked my head to the side, unsure of what Ari was talking about.

“Max… kids… today was fun.”

I put my hand up to my mouth and began to chew on a fingernail. After a moment
’s hesitation, I let out a breath.

“Ari, making room in our lives for a child is not why I don
’t want kids and you know it.”

“We had a chance at a family, Ava, and you gave it away. Max could have stayed with us. Why did you do that? Why did you agree to let him live with my parents? We can do this.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

I closed my eyes. I did not want to have this conversation.

“You do so much for so many. Why couldn’t you do this one thing for me; for Max? He would have been happy here with us as parents. Family is the most important thing to me, Ava. I want one of my own. I wanted to raise Max as our own child and you passed on the opportunity. Why did you do that to me?”

I hesitated again before responding. Longer this time.

“If you had known before you asked me to marry you that I didn’t want children would you still have asked?”

Ari scoffed at my question but he didn
’t answer me. Instead, he pulled into the driveway and hit the button to open the garage.

Ari carried Max inside and tucked him away in bed. I wasn
’t sure if we were on speaking terms or not. To my surprise, he came and joined me on the floor in the living room for a while to work through my pile of scribbled on post-its.

“So what is Margaux doing in Chicago?” I asked, setting down the journal to stretch. I was looking for any topic other than Max to fill the silence.

“I don’t know, really. She was going to be gone for only a day or two. I try not to ask.”

His tone suggested that he was still upset with me.

“Oh, so she is back in town already?”

“Yeah, I think so,” he shrugged.

“What is she doing for the holidays?” I asked, remembering that last year she had been too busy even to send me a card.

“I don
’t know what she’s doing on Christmas. She mentioned that she would like to see you, but I kind of brushed her off, and then I felt really bad about it.”

I grinned at him and tried to lighten the mood.

“You can’t feel bad about brushing off a demon that is holding my grandmother’s body hostage. You are too nice, Ari.”

He shook his head back and forth. “No, it wasn
’t No. 7; it was Margaux.”

“Oh,” I said sadly, “now that does make me feel bad.”

“Don’t feel bad, Ava. You’re right. You can’t be near her and Margaux knows that more than anyone. The best thing you can do is figure out how to save her.”