Loved By You

Eighty-four

Omniscient

Over the past three months, Maja and Angelo fell relationship blossomed further. With the help of their respective therapists, the couple had made great strides in their grief and trauma. Maja found herself stable enough to visit Eva's garden for the first time since it was planted. While Angelo was able to speak with his parents about his past alcohol abuse. Maja's therapist thought after months of working through some of her major problems now was the time to invite Angelo to sit in.

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Maja sat on the couch nervous with sweaty palms as she looks at Dr. Reid. "So, Angelo I asked you to come in because as Maja's husband I wanted you to have an active role in helping your wife continue to heal, okay?" He asked. Angelo smiled nodding his head. "Anything I can do to help, I want to." He said looking at his wife. "Okay, so Maja feel free to start." Dr. Reid said. Maja let out a breath. "Okay." She said.

"So, I just wanted to start by saying I love you." She said looking at Angelo. He smiled. "I love you too, mamas." He said. Maja relaxed at his words. "I know I don't say it enough or as much as I should. It's just—" Maja paused looking down. Angelo looked at Dr. Reid worried, but the doctor gave him a reassuring smile. "Saying I love you wasn't a big part of my life. I mean I knew my family loved me, but that love is different than that of romantic love." Maja said. "Dimitri—" She sighed. "Our relationship wasn't the best. The love or what I thought was love wasn't good for me." Maja shook her head.

"We'd fight. Break up. Then he'd come back saying he loved me. It wasn't healthy. My next memory with I love you in the romantic sense was with Richard." She said looking up meeting Angelo's gaze. She expected to see anger or rage but all she saw was calm. Angelo knew his anger had been something about himself he wanted to fix. A lot of that anger came from Richard and what he did. Some of it came from his mother as well. The day he knew he needed to get his anger under control was when he almost blew up in front of Sami and Dem. The look of fear he saw on their faces broke his heart. He never wanted his kids or Maja to fear him, so he put in the work to be better. Angelo reached out grabbing Maja's hands giving her a comforting look. "Go on." He said. "He used those words a lot to the point that I associated my feelings with him with those words." She explained.

"But with you—" She paused feeling warm as she spoke. "But with you, I feel peace." She said. "Before you, everything was so painful." She mumbled. She took a deep breath steadying her voice. "It hurt to wake up. It hurt to do basic everyday things. I was so tired." Maja said as tears filled her vision. Angelo held his breath as he listened to her. "It hurt to just live, but then there was you." She chuckled. "You and your smartass comment in Professor Day's class." She said. Angelo chuckled. "From that day forward, you've become my partner in crime. Even if you don't always entertain my shenanigans." Maja said.

"Because of you I have a new outlook on love and being in love." Her voice rose. She looked into his eyes before she spoke again. "Angelo I truly love you." She said. Angelo stared at her feeling warmth consume his body as she spoke. He knew sharing her feelings was a big deal. He leaned over cupping her face as his thumb brushed her cheek soothingly. "I know that this is a big step for you and I'm so proud of you, baby." He told her. "I love you so much," He said before kissing her.

Maja

We had been home for a few hours now and Angelo was helping Dem with his homework while Sami was getting ready for bed. I sat up looking at the list of names we had come up with. I looked up when I heard the door open. "Hi mamas." I smiled seeing Sami. "Hi, mommy." She said climbing sitting next to me. "What are you doing?" She asked. "Well, Gelo and I have to come up with a name for your brothers," I explained. "Can I help?" She asked. "Of course. You have any ideas?" I asked her. She sat back thinking. "I finished my homework," Dem said. Angelo walked in a few minutes later drinking some water.