One More Time

Chapter 14

Archie's POV
Veronica walks in the front door around 2:30, just as I put Natalie down for her nap. "Hey babe" I say walking over to greet her. She gives me a small smile and falls into my embrace. "Are you okay?" I ask looking down at her. She nods "Yeah. The meeting was..." she starts but fades out. "Was what?" I ask feeling bothered, did this guy do something? "Just a waste of time. He didn't give me useful information" she says pulling out of our hug and taking her jacket off. "I'm sorry to hear that. Want to talk about it?" I ask. "Not really. Just glad to be home and not working" she says. I start to feel guilty when I realize that she's been working and I've been taking care of Natalie, not that I think I should have to provide for her but I just want to help out. "Do you want to take a break from work? Let me take over?" I ask taking her over to the couch. "No I love my job" she says laying her head on me. "I don't want to talk about this anymore, I have to go to her bathroom" she says as she stands up and walks to the bathroom. I watch her as she walks to the bathroom and I furrow my brows in confusion. She's fine, just a difficult day... right?

Veronica's POV
I walk into the bathroom and splash water on my face. Cmon Veronica, just lie. You do it for a living I say inside my head. This is different than lying to clients, I'm lying to Archie. I know only one person who can help me with this situation and it's my dad. I walk out of the bathroom and pray Archie has dropped the subject by the time I get back to the living room. "Hey, today is Reggie's last day in town so he wants to go out for drinks tonight. You in?" He asks checking his phone. I love Reggie like a brother but I need time to invite my dad here. "I'm actually not feeling good. But you should go have fun" I say sitting down on the couch. He looks at me from across the room and gives me a skeptical look, "are you sure?" He asks. "Yeah. I'm just going to drop Natalie off with my parents since my dad just got home he wants to see her. And I'll just take a bath and maybe get to sleep early" I say giving him a small smile. "Okay. Well he wants to meet now so are you sure?" He asks again. "Yes. Now get out before I make you wash my car or something" I say with a fake laugh. He smiles at me "Okay fine" he walks over to me and kisses me "I love you. We'll rain check on the park" he says before walking to the door. "It's a date. Bye" I say. He closes the door behind him and I go and grab my phone to send my dad a text.

V: Emergency. Will you come up ASAP

I click off my phone but seconds later my phone beeps.

H: Coming now

I sigh in relief and try to collect my thoughts. How do I tell my father that I'm married?

Minutes later my front door swings open without him even knocking. "What's wrong, Mija" he asks frantically. "Sit" I say gesturing to the couch. He sits down across from me and I try to get myself together. "No interruptions. Just wait till I'm done, promise?" I ask. He nods and I take a deep breath. "When I first told Matt I was pregnant he suggested that we get married and he even had papers drawn up" I start, but the look on his face tells me that he already knows what I'm going to say. "It seems as if he forged my signature and now we're married. We've been married. And I've been with Archie" I say. His fists are clenched and the vain in his forehead is bulging, he's furious. "Are you sure" he asks. "Yes. He had a certificate. It's very real" I say running my hand through my hair. "Did you tell Archie?" He asks. "God no. He'd kill Matt" I say. "I can't divorce him because he won't sign the papers unless I either give him Natalie or move back to LA with him" I finish. "I will help you. I'll get my Private investigator on this and have him find information on him. If that doesn't work we'll frame him for something, he'll be put in prison where he belongs" he says. I give him a small smile "Thank you, daddy" I say. He stands up and opens his arms "Come here, Mija". I stand up and hug him. I feel like a child when he hugs me, but right now it's comforting. He kisses my head "I'll help you" he says quietly. I exhale and I feel as if everything will be okay, I sure hope so at least. "I'm going to go home and get to work on this right away. This is top priority" he says stepping back and walking to the door. "Thank you dad" I say. He nods and walks out, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

Archie's POV
"I can't believe you're going to ask Lodge to marry you" Reggie says, looking at the engagement ring I picked for her. "I know. I've had that thing for weeks but I just didn't know when to do it" I say shaking my head. "What about tonight?" He asks closing the ring box and handing it back. "She feels sick. I want it to be perfect" I say. He nods "makes sense. You've been crazy about her since high school, everyone was jealous of you guys you know" he says. I shake my head "I doubt it". "No I'm serious. First of all, not to be weird, but she's hot. How a guy like you ended up with her is beyond me. Second of all, she wasn't against PDA so you even got to make out at school. No one else had that, you had it good, still do. Do not screw this up" he says sipping his beer. I laugh "Thanks Reg" I say. He nods "dude I have to take off, early flight. But it was good seeing you. I better get an invite to the wedding"  he days standing up. He gives me a hug "definitely. I'll see you" I say. "See you" he says as he walks out of the bar and disappears to his car. I pull the ring out of my pocket and take it out of the box. I hold it under light and it shines from every angle. I can see Veronica's face when I ask her to be my wife, I know she'll say yes. We just talked about this days ago. I just have to hope that I do it right.

Things seem okay now, but you'll see how this all plays out 😂