Family (It's What You Are) | Port Orthos 2

chapter 22: fawn's friends

chapter 22: fawn's friends

~fawn~

       One of my favourite things to do in Port Orthos is host a barbecue for me and my friends whenever the weather permits it. We use to alternate whose house we host the barbecue at but now that Marius and I have a farmhouse with a huge yard, we always do it here.

       The two of us don't mind at all. After all, what's the point of having a huge yard if we don't have barbecues with our friends?

       I already know that one of the many topics that will be discussed during the barbecue will be my wedding with Marius now that everyone knows about it. Even before Marius and I got engaged, my friends were constantly asking when we were going to get married.

       They all know about my past with my ex-husband now, but I didn't really have the energy to explain that my past relationship made me a bit afraid to get married again, even to someone as amazing as Marius.

       Ellie and Alyssa are the first to show up, bringing Emmett along with them, of course, since my friends' kids are always invited to come too. We do our own things from time to time without our kids, so it's no big deal to bring them to our barbecues.

       Harlow immediately leads Emmett over to the sandbox for the two of them to play together. Fern looks at them and looks as if she's considering joining, but then she decides to just stay where she is, sitting by our pond watching our pet duck swim around. Maisy lies down beside her, also watching Bubbles.

       Maisy might choose to go inside when all of my friends are here since there will be quite a few people but as of right now, she's content just sitting beside Fern.

       Ellie and Alyssa place the food they brought on the table set up before they walk over to me. Alyssa immediately gives me a hug with a huge smile on her face. "I'm so happy you and Marius are finally getting married!" she says.

       I can't help but smile as I hug her back. "Thank you."

       Alyssa pulls away and, being the hopeless romantic she is, starts to ask question about the proposal; who proposed, where, when, if there was anything special to it. She seems genuinely interested in knowing, so I tell her, of course.

       "Where is Marius, by the way?" Ellie asks when I'm done answering the questions.

       "Oh, he's just inside taking a phone call," I say. It's been a while, but it's not rare for his phone calls to take a while, especially if it has to do with work or maybe even the defamation case. 

       Marius ends up finishing his phone call by the time everyone else arrives. He comes outside to the backyard and walks over to me, placing his hand on my back. "Hey, can I pull you away for a bit?"

       "Yeah, of course," I say. 

       Marius tells me that he wants us to talk in private, so I make sure that Harlow and Fern are find with me and Marius heading inside for a bit. Mary-Anne is sitting with Fern since she is one of the very few people Fern is always comfortable with, and Alyssa is with Harlow and Emmett in the sandbox.

       The moment Marius and I are inside, Marius says, "I have a confession to make."

       Even though when most people say that they have a confession, it always seems to be something bad. While I don't know exactly what Marius is going to confess to, I know it shouldn't be too bad since he would never do anything to hurt me, especially since we have strong communication thanks to our couple's therapy.

       So instead of thinking of the worst case scenario, I just ask, "What is it?"

       "I went to visit Quentin in prison."

       Out of all the possibilities, I did not think it was going to be this. "Oh. Why?"

       "I know you want him to leave you alone, so I was hoping I would be able to convince him. He refused to listen."

       "Yeah, I kind of figured that. Thanks for trying though even though you know how stubborn he is and... after what he did to you."

       "Hey," Marius says softly, gently placing his hand on my cheek. "I would do whatever it takes to make you happy. Which is why I didn't give up even after Quentin refused. I talked to Sarah about it and apparently, there's something called a no-contact order where criminals can't contact their victim, the victim's spouse, and children."

       "But you and I aren't married yet."

       "That didn't matter, apparently. I was just on the phone with Sarah. She had just finished getting everything sorted and the no-contact order was put in place. Quentin isn't allowed to contact me, you, or our daughters. She said because we live together, have children, and are planning to get married, they put you on the no-contact order."

       I stare at Marius for a bit, trying to process what he had just told me. Even though Marius could have done the simple solution of just ripping up the letters for me, he chose to go through the trouble of trying to make sure Quentin isn't legally allowed to contact me.

       "Really?" I ask, hoping that I'm not just imagining this. That once again, Quentin will be out of my life as long as he is in prison.

       "Really," Marius says. 

       I can't help but wrap my arms around Marius's neck, pulling him down to me as I press my lips on his. Once again, Marius has done something to prove how much he loves me. He really will do anything to make me happy, and it's one of the many reasons why I love him.

       When I pull away from Marius, I smile at him. "Thank you so much."

       "You're welcome," Marius says, smiling back at me. He gives me a gentle kiss before the two of us head back outside.

       The last time my friends and I were all together was on the twins' birthday but even then, it was more about the twins than about us all hanging out. And I missed most of it when I had to stay upstairs with Fern. It feels nice for all of us to hang out again.

       Even though it does get a bit loud with the conversations, Fern seems to be doing well. Maybe it helps being outdoors where the sound doesn't bounce off the walls. She just stays away from the crowd most of the time or she just comes to sit on my lap. There are even a few times she spends time with Edna because Edna will show her pictures of animals on her phone.

       It just makes me extremely happy to see how my friends know how to treat my daughters. Once I told them that Marius and I suspect that Fern might be on the spectrum, they all said they would do whatever it takes to make her comfortable. I couldn't be more grateful for the friends I have in my life.

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it's been 22 chapters and we've barely seen marius and fawn's friends :( we definitely need to see more of them since i love the friend group lol.