Closing my eyes I let the sun drip its remaining sunlight on my face, the warmth cascading my body in its sweet syrup of light. The sun faded away, leaving only a hint of orange in the pink painted sky.
"Mia? Where are you?" his voice called behind me. The door to our master bedroom creaked open as the floor boards screamed under the weight of my husband. I threw my head over my shoulder to see Aiden casually leaning against the door frame, his arms tucked away tightly across his chest. When my eyes met his he smiled, the peacefulness I once felt drained out of me, rendering me completely hopeless.
"So when you said 'excuse me' downstairs at dinner about an hour ago, this is what you were doing? Everyone has been asking for you." he chuckled lightly as he drew close to me, closing the distance from the door to the balcony in a few graceful strides. His arms encircled around my waist, his lips greeting my cheek with love and tenderness.
I forced my lips to curve into a smile, hiding my real emotion behind the mask I've been gradually cemented for the past 4 months.
"Yeah, the view is amazing up here." I turned my head back around and stared out into the expanse of the ocean, the waves clawing at the sand and dragging it back to its eternal depths. Aiden trailed small kisses along my neck, fiddling with the buttons adoring my loosely hanging dress. I inwardly cringed, staging the affections I couldn't return anymore.
He really had no idea.
"Mmmmm..." he moaned as he tightened his arms around me, trapping me against him.
I sighed heavily, getting ready for break the news I've been holding in for months. I pushed his arms off me and took a step forward, my hands gripping the balcony railing to support myself from collapsing under the guilt attacking my soul.
"I need to talk to you Aiden..." I said seriously, abandoning his playfulness from earlier. I turned around to meet his brown orbs, glistening in confusion. He raised his eyebrows, once again folding his arms against his body, a gesture to mirror his worry. He nodded, gesturing me to go on.
I took another deep breath, now regretting my decision to let Aiden know.
"I'm pregnant." I stated, the tension greeting our bedroom. I dropped my eyes to the ground, ashamed of the unspoken words the sentence contained. A chuckling laughter bubbled out from Aiden as he lifted me in his arms and spun me tightly in a circle.
"That's amazing Mia! I'm going to be a father!" he laughed, lightly placing me down and grabbing a hold of my face. He stared deeply into my eyes with enough admiration of love to make the guilt come back stronger than ever, he brought his lips down to mine and kissed me gently, all his excitement pouring out into the kiss. When he let go of me I smiled up at him, yet again hiding the façade behind my mask.
"Yes you are! I can't wait!"
Sadly, I didn't know which part of that sentence contained the most lies.
"My parents are going to be so happy to hear about this!!" he laughed as he grabbed my hand and guided me out of the room, back down towards the party. I halted right before we could reach the first step of our spiral staircase his forehead scrunched in confusion, as he questioned why we stopped.
"I don't want to tell anyone yet Aiden, can we just keep this to ourselves for a while?" I pleaded, needing to buy more time so that I could figure this all out. He nodded, his smile never rendering. He dropped to one knee and butterfly kissed my belly while his fingers roamed over his suspected unborn child. He quickly got back on his feet and took a hold of my face.
"I'm truly happy about this Mia, you've made me the happiest man alive" he proclaimed, his fingertips brushing against my lips. I gently smiled, the only emotion I could offer him without being completely dishonest. Before he could steal a kiss a cough sounded behind us. My eyes trailed towards our visitor and I had to surpass a gasp.
There he stood; Salvatore, our butler, my lover, and my baby's real father.
