Roses || durm

.acht.

.acht.

"After your papa found out I was pregnant with Maximilian," She paused for a moment, smiling as her hand ruffled her son's dark blonde hair. She was sitting on Maxi's bed, and his head was comfortably on her lap. Anneliese was in her father's arms, in between dreams and reality. "It took him less than a day to go see me." Arabella added.

Erik shrugged his shoulders. "I meant to go right after practice, but I knew your dad would probably lynch me if he saw me at your house. So, I had to wait until the next morning."

"He even skipped practice." Arabella informed the children.

-

It had been moments since she heard her father's car leave the driveway when she heard a knock on her door. Normally, her father would leave the front gates unlocked, and only locked them at night. Arabella knew the person visiting had to be someone she knew. 

She got up from the kitchen table and walked tot he front door.

When she opened it, she was surprised to see Erik. He knew he couldn't go see Arabella with her father there, he wouldn't allow it. Instead, he decided to skip football training that day so that he could talk to Arabella alone. 

"What are you doing here?" She wondered. But the back of her mind was telling her he was probably here for the divorce papers.

"What were you doing talking to Moritz?" He ignored her question and asked one of his own. 

Arabella rolled her eyes at him. "Don't even start with the jealous husband bit, Erik. It doesn't suit cheaters like you. Your lover was bothering me, and Moritz came to my rescue. But that's it. I'm actually a faithful wife, seeing as though we're still married."

"If you would just sign-"

"No," She shook her head. "I won't sign because when you married me, you promised before God. I'm not going to hell for your stupidity."

With a sigh, he told her, "Sorry. That's not why I came here."

"Then why are you here?" She eyed him suspiciously.

"Before I start," He said, "If Ursula bothers you, just tell me and I'll talk to her. There's no need for you to be going to Moritz for anything."

"Like I said," She started, "Don't even try the jealous husband bit."

"Why didn't you tell me we were having a baby?" His voice came out barely above a whisper. He looked into her blue eyes, and his were full of hurt. Even after everything that had happened between them, he still thought she would tell him about something like this.

"I know I should have told you." She admitted to him, running a hand through her auburn hair. "But I didn't think you deserved to know at the time. Would that have stopped you from leaving? No, you would have left us anyway."

He quickly shook his head. "But I wouldn't have left you alone. I would have provided everything for you and our baby."

"I don't want your money, Erik." She choked up. "I never wanted your money."

"And what about all the doctor's visits and ultrasounds I missed? All the shopping we could have done together for our baby's things, the decorating of the baby's room, picking out names..." He asked her. "I'll never get those things back, Arabella. I understand that you were mad about what I did, but you didn't have to take that from me."

"You gave it all up when you chose her." Arabella said bitterly.

"Do you know if its a boy or a girl?" He asked her, his eyes hopeful.

"Its a boy. His name is Maximilian." She informed him, her hand brushing over her bump gently. "I didn't choose a name without you."

When they were dating, they had once talked about baby names they liked. Both agreed that Maximilian would be the best name for a boy, and Erik begged Arabella to agree with him that if they had a daughter, her name would be Anneliese. 

"Can I...?" He trailed off, gesturing to her belly.

She nodded, and led him inside the house to the living room. Arabella sat on the couch, with Erik's help, and he knelt down in front of her. As much as she was hurt and mad at him, she couldn't deny him that. He wanted to meet his son. 

Arabella placed her hand on her bump and said sweetly, talking to Maximilian, "Daddy's here to visit you, Maxi." There was a smile on her face, but it was a sad one. And her blue eyes were glazed over with tears that wanted to escape. Arabella reached for Erik's hand and brought it to her stomach slowly, and when his fingers touched her skin, she felt the baby inch closer to his touch. She jumped slightly at the acute pain.

"I'm sorry. Does it hurt you?" He apologized shyly, and moved his hand away.

She shook her head. "Its okay. I like to feel him kick. I know he's going to be a football player some day, just like his dad."

From his pocket came the ringing of his cellphone. 

Erik reached into his pocket, looked at the caller ID, and hit ignore. But Arabella was able to catch a glimpse of the name on the screen.

Ursula.

"Your lover wants to know where you are?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

His bright eyes looked up into her own. "It was no one. Just my alarm." He lied, stuffing his cellphone back into his pocket.

"Erik, I'm not blind." She pointed out. "And you don't have to lie for my sake."

"Bella, the last thing I wanted to do was to hurt your feelings. You have to believe me." He said with a sigh. As he continued speaking, his words came out choked up."I didn't want to let you down. I still care about you, like when we were younger and I used to bring you rainbow pops from Euro Disney. But then you left, and when you returned you were all grown up. I...I was overwhelmed by your beauty. I loved you, I really did--"

She placed her index finger over his lips, the tears already running down her face. "Erik, stop." She pleaded.

"I'm really sorry things happened this way." He apologized. "But please don't take my son from me. I couldn't bear it." Erik then brought his lips to her baby bump and placed soft little kisses on it through his tears.

Arabella cupped his face in her hands, and pulled him up to look him in the eyes. "Do you think I would ever do something to hurt you, Erik?" She asked him.

And his heart ached for her in that moment.

She would do nothing to hurt him, but he had done everything (though unintentionally) to hurt her.

-

arabella is clearly the better person in this story. unlike a bitch named ursula and a cheater named erik. but anyway, here is an update for you. and i will probably post another one tomorrow. but we are about three updates away from the end of this story. i am very excited for you all to see how this will end.

thank you for reading!

-clary xx