Page 121 of Haunted

I’ve turned into a damn coward. What if Aria refuses to believe we’re her parents? What if she doesn’twantus as her parents?

I grind my teeth and blow out a hard breath.

“You ready?” I ask in a low voice.

Jules blows out her own deepbreath. “Yes.”

Mom and Dad are due to be here any minute now. It’s time Aria knows the truth. I still can’t fucking believe it. She’s our precious little girl.

I drop to my knees in front of Jules, forcing her legs apart and wedging myself between them. Putting my palms on her cheeks, my fingers in her hair, I bring her head up so I can see her face. Tears run a river down her cheeks, but I can see the unmistakable joy in her eyes.

“She’s ours, baby,” I rasp, then repeat it again. “She’s ours.”

“I still can’t believe it,” she says softly after several minutes. “I’m so scared I’m going to wake from a dream, and I won’t have any of this.”

She launches herself at me, and I fall back on my heels with the force. We both laugh and cry, a blubbering fucking mess, but deliriously happy. I pull back and kiss her over and over again. Simple kisses, but they mean so much.

I look deeply in her eyes. “Believe it, Jules. Believe every single minute of it. This is our time, and nothing can take it away. You, me, and Aria… nothing or no one will ever change that.”

A knock sounds at the door and we both tense. I help Jules to her feet and go answer the door.

Aria’s carrying a baggy of carrots as she prances in the house. “Hey, Uncle Luca and Jules!” Mom and Dad look somber as they follow her in.

I take a moment to look at Aria.Reallylook at her. I’ve always thought she looked so much like Theo, but it wasn’t him she took after, it was me. She looks likeme. She has my eyes, my nose, and my high cheekbones. I look closer, and although Aria definitely favors me more, I see Jules in her too. Their eyebrows arch the same, and Aria has Jules’s full lips. They even have the same smile. Now that I see it, it’s a wonder I never noticedbefore, but I know it’s because there was no reason to look for a resemblance.

“Uncle Luca, are you okay? Why are you and Jules looking at me weird?”

We laugh; so do Mom and Dad. I know it must hurt them to find out Theo lied about so many things, but in the end, Aria is still their grandchild.

“Come sit with Jules and me, boo. We’ve got some news to share with you.”

She shrugs and takes a chomp of her carrot as she goes into the living room.

Jules and I were there when Mom and Dad told Aria the news about Theo a couple days after she came home from the hospital. She took it surprisingly well. She was upset and sad, but I think she somehow knew Theo wasn’t coming home even before Mom told her so. She and Theo have never had a very close relationship. In a sense, I think Theo did love Aria, but I also believe he kept himself distant from her because she wasn’t his. I also think he held some resentment toward her because of who her real parents were. Aria was a constant reminder of what he wanted but never had. He cared for her but was never the best father. She’s always been closer to my parents, Ella, and me than she was with him.

I just hope the news we’re about to drop on her is something she can accept.

Mom and Dad stay quiet as they sit on the love seat, but I feel their anxiety. I pat the cushion between Jules and me and Aria comes over and flops down. Her head turns back and forth, looking at us curiously. Reaching behind Aria’s back, I grab Jules’s hand. Some of the tension wanes from her face. She’s nervous, and damn it to hell, so am I.

I look back at Aria. “There’s something we need to tell youand it’s going to be confusing and may hurt, but we’ll try our best to explain it to you.”

“Okay.” She frowns, and it reminds me of Jules’s.

I clear my throat to unclog the lump forming.

“Jules and I found out some news the other day. It’s big news. You remember when Gamma explained to you that Jules and I are married? That we did it years ago, but we both forgot.”

Her bottom lip goes between her teeth. “Yeah. She said that Daddy’s head was sick and it made him tell some lies.”

I nod. “Yes. That’s right. Well, we found out that there was another lie he told.”

Her lip begins to wobble, and her eyes turn glassy with tears.

Fuck, this is so damn hard.

With her free hand, Jules grabs one of Aria’s. “It’s okay to cry,” she tells her tenderly.

Aria sniffs, and I’m so proud of her when she pushes the need to cry away. This little girl acts so much older than her almost seven years.

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