No Deal Breakers (12 page)

"That’s true, I just wanted to give her a
space of her own, to do what she likes. She said she enjoys
cooking, reading and sewing. The kitchen is always well stocked, we
have a library, and now she can sew all she wants."

"Alright, fine, I’ll give you that it’s a
little sweet then." Sam said with a wry smile.

"They should be back soon, let’s get going,"
Christian said to his brother and friend as he headed out of the
room.

"Thanks, I really appreciate the help," Brian
handed each kid a twenty-dollar bill. James, the fourteen-year-old,
lit up like a Christmas tree. They all tried to politely decline,
but Brian could see in their eyes how grateful the two Erickson
boys were, spare cash wasn’t something they were accustomed to. Sam
on the other hand was used to having money to spend, both of her
mothers had good jobs and their kids didn’t want for anything.
Regardless, she still thanked him and was clearly grateful to be
rewarded for her hard work.

Twenty minutes later Brian found himself
pacing in front of the garage waiting for the women to return, he
couldn’t wait to show her her new room, but he was also anxious
that she wouldn’t like it. He thought of the look on her face while
she cooked, she was so proud of everything she made, she would
dance around the kitchen like cooking was the most wonderful gift
she could have been given. She normally had a worried, distracted
look about her, but when she was in the kitchen, it was like magic.
All of her defenses were down and she looked happy and at peace.
She was truly in her element, she was happy when she cooked.

That’s what he hoped the craft room would
give her, another place to feel safe, open and peaceful. He wanted
to bring her joy.

He heard the van pull into the driveway, this
was it! His face split into a wide grin as Aria climbed out and
eyed him suspiciously.

"Hey, Anna, thanks for distracting her for
me," he winked at her.

Aria whipped around to look at Anna, "You
didn’t really want to spend time with me?" Her voice was laced with
disappointment.

"Of course I wanted to spend time with you!
You’re becoming a dear friend, and as your friend I wanted to help
with the surprise in any way I could and it just so happens, the
best way I could help was to distract you for a few hours. I expect
a call from you to let me know how you like it."

"I consider you a friend, too. Thanks, I’ll
call you later." Her words dripped with relief. They waved as Anna
backed out of the driveway. Aria turned to him with a raised
eyebrow and an uncertain expression, "Another surprise?"

"Yup, come on, I hope you like it." He could
barely contain his excitement as he led her up the stairs and stood
in front of the door to the room he had set up for her.

"I wanted you to have a place that you could
go and do whatever you want, create whatever you want, I remembered
you said you liked to sew, so…" he pushed the door open and waved
her in. He waited nervously as she walked in and looked around.

Anna said she might like it better if it was
a general craft room instead of just a sewing room, so there were
scrap booking supplies, stamping supplies, and even yarn and
needles along with the sewing machine and enough fabric to supply a
store.

"What do you think, you’re making me
nervous."

She turned to look at him, tears streaming
down her face, and before Brian could react her arms were around
his neck. He felt the warmth flood through him, this felt so right,
so natural, he wanted nothing more than to put his arms around her
waist and hold her close to him forever. Without giving it any
thought his arms snaked out and enclosed her in an embrace.

Immediately he knew this was the wrong
choice, she froze, her body went stiff as an iron rod. He let his
arms drop to his sides, and she jumped back immediately, she bit
her lip and looked up at him under her lashes.

"I’m sorry, Brian, I shouldn’t have…I don’t
want to give you the wrong…I’m sorry, I didn’t even think. I was
just so overcome with…with gratitude for all of this, you are the
most generous person, this is so thoughtful, thank you, I love
it."

"I’m the one that should apologize, I know
you don’t like me touching you, I shouldn’t have hugged you back,"
this gave him an idea, "I just realized, you seem to be okay when
you’re in control. The one initiating the touches, right?"

She looked at him wearily, "I guess so, yeah.
I just don’t want you to get the wrong idea, I just, I trust you, I
do, it’s just so hard for me to feel…"

"Shh, it’s okay, I know. I was thinking, what
if we came to an agreement? I don’t mind you touching me, the hug,
the hand holding at Zimmer’s last week, you’re welcome to touch me
whenever you’d like. I know it bothers you when I initiate it, so
what if I promise to keep my distance, as I have been, but you can
touch me whenever you’d like, and I won’t return your touches
unless you make it clear that you want me to?" Her lips puckered in
thought, and her brows drew together, reveling a tiny crease
between them, it was the most adorable thing.

"So, I could hug you, or hold your hand on my
terms, and you wouldn’t return the gesture, or expect to be able to
initiate those things with me? Unless I told you it was okay?"

"Exactly. I want to earn your trust and your
respect, I want you to know that you’re safe here…with me." Why did
he feel so nervous? After a few thoughtful moments she
answered.

"Okay, I think that could work, I know it’s
an odd arrangement we have, and I can’t believe how wonderful
you’ve been in this whole situation. Thank you for being so
understanding," she smiled, but her eyes reflected a bit of
timidity about the situation. Brian released a pent up breath.

"It’s in the job description, I’ll draw up a
contract if you want," a teasing smile spread across his face, she
answered with a shy one of her own, and then held out her hand.

"Let’s shake on it, then, no contracts," she
smiled sarcastically. He carefully took her small hand in his, oh
how he loved the feel of her soft skin, even if she still tensed up
at his touch. He relished every touch from her, no matter how
simple, he tucked each one safely away in his heart.

"So," she began, dropping his hand and
turning back to the room. "How did you manage this without me
noticing?"

"I don’t know much about sewing or quilting
or any of this stuff, but I knew you wanted to make a quilt, so on
Sunday I talked to a few of the ladies in the quilting club to get
advice, and Mrs. Simpson, she’s their leader, you met her briefly
last week, remember?"

"Your football coach’s wife?"

"Yeah. So, I asked her what I needed and she
started rattling stuff off so fast, I couldn’t keep up. I ended up
having her, Anna, and a few of the quilting ladies give me an
estimated budget and then Monday night after the courthouse when I
said I needed to run to my office in town, I really took cash to
her. Tuesday they took a trip to Iowa City and bought all of this,
and kept it at her house. Anna said you might like more crafts than
just sewing, so her and I ordered several things online, again,
when you thought I was working. I had it all delivered to my office
so you wouldn’t be suspicious and the last of it came in yesterday.
I couldn’t wait to give it to you so I had Anna take you with her
to town and Christian, Sam, and James came over and helped set this
up for you."

"Wow, that’s a lot of sneaking, I really love
it, thank you."

"I normally wouldn’t lie to you, but I think
an exception can be made when it comes to surprises."

"It’s not really a lie since you had no
intention of permanently keeping it from me. I can barely contain
myself, I just want to dive in and get started." She was like a
small child, her excitement filled the room, it was palpable.

"Go ahead, it’s all yours, you should have
everything you need to make at least twenty quilts, at least that’s
what it looks like. You even have a computer and a new camera, I
think Anna was really picking out stuff she’d like. She assured me
you’ll be able to do all manner of creative things with this lot,
we even made sure to get patterns and instruction books."

"This is…amazing doesn’t even cover it, I’ll
never be able to express how grateful I am for this."

"The look on your face says it all, I hoped
you’d like it, plus I figured it would give you something better to
do than sneak into my office to organize while I’m gone."

She gasped and her eyes went wide, "You know?
How?" He snickered.

"Of course I know, I’ve known Helen my whole
life, she is the least organized person I know, and you expect me
to believe that all of a sudden my seventy-five year old assistant
has decided to catch the organizing bug?"

"I guess I didn’t think about it, sorry, I
shouldn’t have intruded, it’s not my place." His brow furrowed as
he watched her cheeks pink up and her gaze fall to the floor.

"Of course it’s your place, you’re my wife,
my entire life is your place. I really appreciate knowing where my
files are and having them grouped together, thank you. You don’t
have to sneak around, you’re welcome to organize whatever you’d
like."

"Oh, well, in that case, when I finish the
office that loft above the garage is a disaster," she smiled and he
let out a long laugh.

"Whatever makes you happy, dear. I’m going to
leave you to check out your new room, It’s pretty decent out so I’m
going to take Thunder out. I’ll have my phone if you need me, oh
and I want to eat dinner out tonight, so don’t get anything out

"Sounds good, thank you."

He smiled and left the room, he heard her
squeal with delight as he headed toward the stairs. It pulled at
his heart, she found such pleasure in so many ordinary things, it
made him curious about her life before last week, but she still
wasn’t talking about it, and he wasn’t going to push it. He was
going to follow his dad’s advice and just let God and time handle
it.

The following Wednesday Brian had managed to
be up earlier than Aria, usually on days that his assistant, Helen
would be at the house she made sure to be downstairs long before
she got there, but she must have decided to sleep in this
morning.

He decided to get started on breakfast, he
had just gotten the hash browns on the stove when he heard the door
to his office open, he turned to see Helen walking in, and Aria
coming downstairs at the same time. Crap.

They’d been caught red handed, he looked at
Aria, her face was filled with alarm, but that didn’t overpower her
glassy eyes and pink nose, he took in the rest of her appearance,
she was wearing a pair of pink fuzzy pajama bottoms, and matching
thermal top. This was unusual, he hadn’t seen her in pajamas since
that first night in the hotel, she was always dressed when she came
downstairs. She looked sick, but before he could ask her about it,
Helen cut in.

"What’s going on here, why are ya’ll
pretending to be married?" Helen looked like a small child that had
just had their ice cream snatched away.

"We’re not. We really are married." He had no
idea how to explain this odd arrangement that they had. He said a
quick prayer for guidance.

Helen’s eyebrows drew together as she looked
between the couple. "Why are you sleeping in different rooms if
you’re really married?"

Brian sighed, "Have a seat, Helen, and we’ll
try to explain," he motioned for Aria to join them, and they all
took a place around the old oak table that held so many childhood
memories for Brian.

"We got married on a whim, without thinking
about it, or knowing much else about each other than our names."
Brian started to explain, but Helen cut him off.

"Well, we all know that part, but that don’t
explain why you’re sleeping on different floors."

"It’s my fault," Aria began before Brian
could say anything, she took a deep breath and forged on. "I have
some…issues, with men, I’ve been, well, through a lot, and I have a
really hard time trusting people or letting people touch me. I know
it sounds insane for a girl that can’t even stand to be touched by
a man to marry a complete stranger, but I was….in a…tough spot, and
it was really the best option at the time. Once we actually went
through with it, I freaked out. I realized what a mistake it was, I
thought when I met Brian that I could let him touch me and that I
could share a bed with him, but then I realized I can’t. I tried to
get him to agree to an annulment, but he’s the most stubborn person
I know and he refused." She was fidgeting with her hands in her
lap, refusing to look at either of them, by the end of her
confession she was barely whispering.

"You got that right, sugar, that boy right
there is the most stubborn thing God ever created, but he’s the
most honest and trustworthy too. You won’t find a better man than
Brian Harris."

"I’m beginning to realize that, Helen."
Brian’s heart lodged in his throat, he couldn’t believe his ears.
Could it be possible that she was beginning to trust him, starting
to fall for him as he was her? He certainly hoped so.

"So, lemme get this straight, you got married
to a stranger to get away from your old life, but you’re too scared
to share his bed, and you realized that wasn’t fair to him, so you
tried to call it off, but he’s too stubborn for his own good so he
insisted you come home with him and sleep separately. Did I get all
that?" they both nodded.

"Okay, so why are ya’ll lying and carrying on
like everything’s peachy instead a just telling the truth then?
Surely your folks would understand, Brian. You got your mamma all
excited talking about new grandbabies and her new daughter, but you
aren’t going to give her that." He sighed and looked out the corner
of his eye to see a fat tear roll down Aria’s cheek, he knew she
felt guilty over this enough already.