Downtown Idea

60. Crying, Waiting, Hoping

I had just put Louise down for the night when I got a link sent to me from Reese.

"Hey, Ash." I called him into our room from from the office. By the time he peeked his head in I had fast forwarded to the time Reese had sent me.

"And then we come to the Irwin's. With Miss Zoe back in the states she brought their illicit child home." It was fuckin Lorelei. And she was calling my baby 'illicit'. Did she even know what that meant? While she talked there were pictures of me through the day. I was ready to cry. I mean she had pictures of me leaving for Disney, she had pictures of Ashton sitting out in the back yard and reading a book. He had a foot on the bouncy seat with Lady in it.

She was talking about how I was going out to 'probably spend his money'. Which was bullshit. And she proved that with the picture of me leaving Disney.

"Here we see Zoe leaving an undisclosed studio with Lin Manuel Miranda. And if I had a good guess I would say they were cheating on their significant others with each other. Look how close they're walking. And they're clearly enthralled with the conversation. For anyone who's new here, I know about this family. They are really here just for the money, whether they have it already or not." She said that part bitterly and I knew it was because she was referencing Reese. "I have met these people. They're all unfeeling, money hungry monsters." It was funny because she was actually the money hungry one and also I wouldn't live off Ashton even if I didn't have money. I would live off my sister first like a respectable human being.

"Wait did she call Lady illicit?" Ashton asked breaking me out of my train of thought.

"Your problem isn't that she has pictures of us on our own property and throughout our day, but it's her not recognizing our marriage?" I frowned at him. Wait way didn't anyone ever accept our 100% legal and legit marriage?

"I dunno! She can't defend herself! It's not fair to insult a baby." He was rambling but I wasn't listening.

"We have to have a wedding." I blurted. Ashton immediately stopped talking and the room fell silent.

"Won't that look like we didn't even count our marriage as legit?" He asked. And I had thought about that but what was worse than everyone else continuing to think of us as dating?

I just shrugged and decided to go to bed.

The next morning I had forgotten about the photographers. For a second. I went up into the living room and as soon as I passed the large windows overlooking the valley I saw a bush rustle. I nudged closer to see what animal it was when I saw the sun reflecting off of a camera lense.

"Ashton." I called into the house. But he was nowhere to be found. I went back down the stairs and out into the yard to find him in the pool with the baby monitor laying on a towel nearby.

I walked outside and sat down near the edge of the pool. I felt uneasy.

"Are you okay?" He asked swimming up to me and putting a hand on my foot.

"No." I was blunt with him, "No, I'm not. I feel unsafe in my own home." There was a shutter sound coupled with a bush rustling, "There's a whole other person in that fucking bush right now." I might have made a less than nice gesture at the cameraman.

"I know." Ashton said, "do you want to go back to mine?" He offered. But I shook my head.

"Your address is basically common knowledge." I was referencing the leak from right after he moved in.

"So, does this mean we're moving?" He asked after a moment of silence. I shrugged.

"I mean, I love this house. You bought me this house!" I frowned, "but we can't move the house." We were in a pickle.