His Fresh Start ✔ (Book Three)

Chapter 22

Louise and I watched Aiden and Ellie walk toward the beach until they turned into two barely distinguishable silhouettes.

Lou exhaled and turned the key in the ignition of her car. The engine rumbled, and she drove out of the parking lot.

Tension radiated off her, replacing the cheerful demeanor she showed over Aiden's birthday dinner.

After talking to detective Hutches at the police station, Aiden came to the bistro. I gave him and Ellie some privacy so they could discuss everything, but later, Lou and I joined them to eat and spend time together.

I wasn't naïve to think the mini celebration was enough to make Aiden feel better. What he learned about his father was shocking, probably even life-altering, and the way Steve delivered the news made the situation worse.

Once again, Aiden's maturity surprised me. He said he'd talk to the police about his father's abuse the following day, proving what I already knew - he might've been young, but he was braver than me.

I spent the rest of the drive lost in the recollection of the events.

When Lou parked in my driveway, she didn't leave the vehicle right away but sat behind the wheel with her gaze focused on nothing in particular.

"You alright?" I asked.

Her delicate hands pressed against her temples. "No. I need a drink."

Fishing the keys out of my pocket, I nodded toward the house. "Let's go."

Lou followed me in. I flicked on the lights in the hallway and kitchen while she perched on a stool at the island.

"Whiskey if you have some," she said.

"Will cognac do?" I asked, opening a cabinet to get two snifters.

"Sure."

When the drinks were ready, I gave Louise hers. "We can go to the living room."

"I like your kitchen," she said. "It's cozy."

"I wonder why. Maybe the owner of this house can cook. I'm not sure. Have you seen the guy? He probably survives on takeouts."

"And can't fry an egg without setting the house on fire."

"Well, he almost burned the steaks once. He said it was because he was so lovestruck his culinary knowledge flew out of the window of his bistro."

Lou chuckled into her glass, taking a small sip of cognac.

"How are you?" I asked. "If you'd rather not talk, we won't, but if you want to, get it off your chest."

Louise studied the amber liquid in her snifter. "I feel betrayed. Cheated on. Also mad. Don't get me wrong; I know my uncle couldn't share the details of the investigation with me. But he could've hinted at things and chose to lie and behave in the most despicable of ways instead. He hurt his family while trying to put Aiden's father behind bars. And he hurt Aiden just because he's the son of a criminal."

"He could've handled things better."

"Of course he could have." Lou groaned. "He should've left the boy out of it. It's not Aiden's fault that his father made terrible choices. Ellie fell for a good guy who also suffered because of what his only parent did to him. Now I doubt my uncle's every word. There are so many unresolved cases. I know Daniel Kennedy isn't the only person who did something and didn't receive punishment right away. Why is my uncle so obsessed with this case? He moved to Europe because he couldn't solve it. It seems almost personal, but it can't be, right?"

"The story Steve told made sense. I've always thought Daniel was shady. And I hate that he made his son suffer. There are so many questions still, Lou."

Louise downed her drink and rested the empty glass on the island. "I should talk to him. But right now, my gut churns at the thought. He was so cold to Ellie, as if she wasn't the same little girl he helped me raise. He should've treated her with kindness, especially knowing the truth about her birth parents. He should've prepared her for the news. True, I lied to her as well, but because I didn't have all the pieces of the puzzle. Knowing she was abandoned is one thing, but knowing her mom's heartbreaking story is another."

"You were just as clueless as Ellie."

"Because he doesn't think I'm smart enough. Probably because I'm a woman."

"You're not just smart. You're brilliant. And you don't need his validation to believe that about yourself. If he kept things from you, it had nothing to do with your intelligence and everything to do with his motives we might not know a lot about."

Lou slid off the stool and rounded the island to stand between my legs. I wrapped her in my arms, burying my nose in her blonde strands.

"I just feel I don't know him. Not really. Not like I thought I knew the man who raised me. He was so supportive of my decision to adopt Ellie. He did everything he could to make it happen. How did we go from that to all this secrecy and lies?"

I said nothing, just held Louise, running my hand over her back.

I didn't know my mother, after all. The woman who read me bedtime stories and kissed me goodnight didn't believe me when I was at my lowest and chose a stranger over me. How could we assume we knew someone at all?

The more time passed, the more convinced I became that being related to someone by blood didn't equal knowing them. Very often, we saw what we wanted to see. We saw a mom who'd always put us first. A dad who'd never hurt us. Or, in Lou's case, an uncle who'd never lie.

If you couldn't always trust your family, trusting a stranger was even harder, but the only alternative was loneliness - hiding behind your walls and second-guessing everyone's intentions. I'd been doing that before meeting Louise, and it didn't bring me happiness.

Louise pressed a kiss to my jaw, followed by one more. Faster than I'd thought possible, our discarded clothes littered the kitchen floor.

I scooped her up and carried her to my bedroom. There was a vulnerability to her expression as she peered at me from beneath her long lashes.

Kiss after scorching kiss, we became a mess of tangled limbs and damp skin. I drank her in like the most expensive of cognacs, savored her like the most exquisite dish while she loved me as if I were the perfect, the bravest of men. Maybe I was, in her eyes, and her belief in me made me feel better about myself.

Hours later, we lay in bed in each other's arms. I ran my fingers through Louise's damp hair, and her fingertips danced along my ribs, probably trying to determine if I was ticklish.

"It doesn't work with me," I said.

"No weaknesses?"

"Only one." I kissed the top of her head. "You."

Lou shifted and tilted her chin up to meet my gaze. "I love you. Thank you for tonight."

"I did what-"

Lou covered my mouth with her hand. "No. You did what I needed you to do, although I never said the words. And that makes me love you even more."

"Way to make me feel good. So, now I can relax and finally be myself."

Lou swatted my chest, huffing.

"Easy there." I chuckled and caught her wrist, wrapping my fingers around it. "Lou."

"Yeah."

"We...um. We didn't use protection."

She kissed my chest. "I know. We have two options. Either I do something about it or..."

"I think I like the or option better," I whispered, cupping her face.

A smile spread across Louise's face. "I like that option better too."