Page 51 of Arden and the Girl Downstairs

“As if you are going to disagree! Your blueberry muffins are still the best, though,” Ralph yells back at her. Martha appears at the doorway and makes her way over to us with a platter.

“I can’t disagree. I am woman enough to admit when something is better than mine, but you don’t need to suck up,Ralphie.” The taunting way she says his name has everyone laughing.

Ella comes up behind him and wraps her arms around his big neck, giving him a cuddle.

He smiles up at her, like a father would smile at a daughter, and it warms my heart. I love that they are close.

“I didn’t even bother making cookies tonight because I knew I couldn’t compete. So instead, you have muffins and brownies.” She glances at Yasmin and winks.

Brownies are Yasmin’s weakness, and it seems Martha brought out the platter at just the right time. I pull my vibrating phone from my pocket and open up the notification at the same time half the phones at the table vibrate. Including Ralph’s.

The screen reads 2.6.

“Shorty, you better come and eat one of these brownies,” I call out to Yasmin, and she doesn’t argue as she pulls out the chair beside Chase. The rest of the girls make their way over to the table as Ella sits down on my lap and moves my arms so they are gently hugging her waist. I’m careful to place my hands in a way that won’t hurt her newly healed wounds or move her heat pack.

“You best be drinking this as well,” Martha says as she places a glass of orange juice in front of Yasmin.

“Thank you,” Yasmin responds with a mouthful of brownie.

Everyone digs into the sweets while I sit back, relax, and hold my girl.

My phone vibrates again, this time from a text message.

Dad: Marriage looks good on you.

* * *

“What are you thinking about?” Ralph asks as he takes a seat beside me at the café we’re at.

The girls are across the road at Giselle’s, and Dad, GW, and David are fishing. Rhys and Chase took the Jet Skis out with Shamus and Hayden. I didn’t really want to be away from Ella, so I opted to come and hang out with Ralph while he waits for them.

“I’m just amazed at how much everything has changed, but at the same time, it really hasn’t. If anything, our little family has just grown a bit.”

It’s hard to explain, but now that I’m in control of my actions and my thoughts are clear, I’m struggling to adjust to the fact that my world is completely different.

I didn’t think I’d ever find someone who fit with not only me, but my friends and family as well. Ella isn’t who I saw myself with. Actually, I never really pictured myself with anyone. It was hard to determine if someone was nice to me for me, or for my money. It’s why it was easier to not get attached.

I got attached to Ella—I just didn’t realise at the time that was what I was doing. She wasn’t my biggest fan, and I don’t blame her. I was a prick to her, and she had done nothing wrong. I fell for her without knowing I was falling. Fortunately for me, Ralph could see something there. If he didn’t come up with his ridiculous plan of tricking me into marrying her so that they could stage an intervention, I can’t say that I would be here now. Happy and in love.

In love?

That’s another thing I never saw on the cards for myself. But here I am, head over heels in love with a girl who infuriates me, challenges me, and sees right through me all at the same time. I don’t need to be anyone other than myself for Ella, and she accepts me for who I am. She also has no interest in my money, but that will hopefully change once I talk to her about something later on.

“It’s a good thing. She’s the missing piece. You know she’s the reason your dad has been home more with Julia?”

“What? How?”

Ralph chuckles before relaxing his large frame back into the chair. “It seems she hasn’t told you about their entire conversation they had when they met.” He takes a sip of his espresso and continues. “After she got over the shock of how scary your dad is, she let him have it. I can tell you, from what I’ve seen, you’ve gotten off lightly when she has called you on your shit. She ripped shreds off your dad. Told him he needed to pull his head out of his ass and look at what was right in front of him. She said that he was the reason you were taking the blame for what happened with Julia because you were trying to be the father figure she needed.”

I spit my drink across the table. “She didn’t!”

“Oh, she did alright, and that wasn’t even the worst of it.” Ralph’s eyes twinkle as he chucks a couple napkins at me.

I try to think back to what I told her all those nights I was drunk at the bar, and I realise . . . “God, no!”

Ralph laughs again as I stare at him, mortified.

“Yep, she told him, and I quote, ‘No pussy is worth losing your kids over. What’s the point in working to make all this money, when your kids barely know who you are and don’t really want anything to do with you?’”

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