Page 56 of The Hitman's Secret Love Child

“I’m hungry. How much longer to eat?” Austin asked, coming into the kitchen, led by his stomach.

“Constantine will be home in a few minutes. Then we eat.” Spaghetti and meatballs. Our first and maybe last meal together would be the one I made that he loved the most. It almost felt like I was attempting to bribe the answer I wanted out of him with food.

“Constantine is home tonight, yeah!”

“Yup, it’s slow at the bar so he’s home all night.” Looking down at his beaming little face, I smiled. It was a rueful smile. Austin was still struggling with the loss of the man he’d known as his father, but never mentioned the incident. The psychologist Constantine had us both going to felt he may be suppressing the memories of that night. I was grateful. They may come back at any moment, but at least it wasn’t today, giving him time to heal and bond. With any luck when the memories came back he’d dismiss them as some horrible nightmare that was simply a figment of his imagination.

If not… we’d cross that bridge when we came to it.

“Hey baby, I’m home. Virtually no traffic,” I heard Constantine call out as the front door opened and closed.

Just hearing his voice made me smile. But my smile quickly faded and it hit me in the gut like a Mack truck, leaving me winded. If he chose his profession I’d be even more devastated than I was the first time I left him, pregnant and alone.

“We’re in the kitchen. Supper is ready.”

“Smells like it.” A couple of minutes later he appeared in the kitchen archway. He looked tired though he smiled, but as sexy as he always did and it made my heart rate accelerate – just a little. Entering the kitchen, he walked over to kitchen drawer that contained the cutlery and pulled it open. Grabbing a spoon, he dipped it into the meat sauce and brought it to his lips, sampling it. “Amazing. Swear you’re the best cook, babe.”

Before I had time to answer he spun away from me and made his way over to the table where Austin had perched himself at his spot at the table. “Hey little buddy, how was your day?” He sat down at the head of the table and gave Austin his complete attention.

As they chatted, I set the table and filled it with the dishes I’d prepared. Constantine had a hired cook on-site, I was surprised how much I enjoyed cooking even if I felt the cooking was sub-par. Maybe I’d take a class.

Once I seated myself and we dished out our servings, Constantine touched my hand, sending warmth through me. “Would you like to go for a walk in the gardens once Austin is to bed?”

“I’d like that.” I just hoped I’d have the nerve to give him the ultimatum I planned and had the willpower to follow through with it.

~*~TT~*~

Robyn

“Such a beautiful night.” My insides trembled at what I needed to do, trembled so badly that a few times I felt I was going to be ill. Maybe I could accept what he did? But as the thought came to mind I knew I couldn’t, that wasn’t the person I was. It had to be a fresh start from everything. That was the only way I could move on with him.

“It is. I don’t think I could have planned a better night than tonight for what I’m about to do,” Constantine said as we entered the gardens and he led me to a large marble fountain back up against a stone wall. He motioned for me to sit down and I obliged; I needed to sit because my knees were threatening to collapse under me.

“I have something to say,” I started, trying to just get the jump in on him.

“Just let me start, okay?” I nodded. What I had to say could wait a little longer.

He sat down next to me, taking my hands in his. “Remember the first day we met?”

My lips spread into a wide smile. Of course I did. “We ran into each other in the courtyard before second period. I skinned my knee and ruined my new nylons.”

Constantine smiled; there was such love in his eyes that it made my insides melt. Maybe I should have gone first. If he continued down memory lane I’d never be able to say what was necessary. “That wasn’t an accident.”

The smile on my lips faded and I frowned. “You knocked me down by accident?”

“I didn’t mean to actually slam into you that hard; it was meant to be a romantic comedy type of introduction that we’d laugh about for years to come. At the very least I was hoping it would be an icebreaker.”

“That’s lame.”

“Worked though, didn’t it?” he pointed out.

He had me there. I shrugged, giving him a sheepish grin. “Fine. You win. It worked.”

“From that very moment I knew that you were the woman I wanted… No, wait… Needed to spend the rest of my life with.” He slipped from the bench to the ground, on one knee.

Oh shit, was he about to do what it looked like? The entire world stood still and all I could do was sit and stare at him. I needed to stop him, get out what I had to say before he did… But I couldn’t move, frozen in place as he reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out the ring case I’d found in the hidden compartment of his drawer.

“Constantine…” I managed to squeak out.

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