book 1 ✔︎
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book 3 ✔︎
PART OF ME - you become so emotionally close to someone that you feel like they are literally a part of you, like a half of your heart. You don't want to live without them - you can't.
Aviana Ember wouldn't know this fe...
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35 | my son, I'm sorry
reuniting
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My first reaction to seeing the man and the woman outside of the hospital room is to glance down at Axel, worried that it might upset him and stunt his recovery, but the poor guy is already dosing off once again, missing the company here to see him.
I stand up quickly, still holding my boyfriend's hand, and gasp.
The man looks at his wife, and back at me, his brow furrowed, trying to find words to express who he is.
He opens his mouth and I murmur, "I know. I'm the one who left the message."
He sighs, glancing down at Axel in the hospital bed, a sight for sore eyes.
"Let's talk outside," I suggest, letting go of Axel and wandering across the room, following the couple outside, and close the door behind us. I don't know exactly what I should feel, or what I should say. Should I be angry? Should I ask him what they're doing here after 17 years, or after telling Axel he wanted nothing to do with him? I can't imagine what Axel would do, if he'd be upset or happy, so I do what seems most reasonable. I hold out my hand. "I'm Aviana."
"Andrew Smith," Axel's father shakes my hand.
"I'm Lue," the woman says. "Andrew's wife. You must be Axel's girlfriend?"
I nod. "Why don't we sit?"
The two nod and I pull up another chair in front of them, resting my hands in my lap.
"I don't know where to begin," Andrew shakes his head, running his fingers through his greying hair. "I've never felt so much regret. I feel so sorry."
I smile softly. "It's not me who deserves an apology — an explanation."
"Do you know a lot about me?"
I shrug. "Only what Axel has told me; about his mom taking full custody, that you never came after him, that when he found you a year ago you didn't want to see him."
Andrew stares at the floor, shaking his head remorsefully. I can tell how angry he is with himself, and his lip quivers like he's going to cry. His wife takes his hand to comfort him, and glances at me, sighing.
"I didn't know Andrew had another child," she tells me. "He didn't tell me when we met, or after we had two beautiful children of our own. That's why when Axel showed up, he was so shocked. He was scared, and, although it wasn't right of him —"
"It wasn't right of me to send him away like that," Andrew speaks up for himself. "I thought about him a lot, but when I started another family, I let go of the idea of ever being his father again. When he found me I was horrified. I was horrified of what I would tell my wife, if she would hate me for keeping this whole other life I had from her. My head was a mess and I reacted badly. That's an understatement. I can't believe I did that to my own son. I couldn't just forget what happened."
