Page 95 of Vicious Arrangement
“Go on,” I say.
“You’ll probably want a DNA test, and I’ll do that.”
Something heavy sinks in the bottom of my stomach. “Why would I want that?”
“So you know who I am. That I’m not lying when I say I’m Aaron Templeton Jeffries. Your half-brother.”
Fuck.
Chapter Twenty-Five
ARIA
I have a flyingvisit with Gramps the next day after my shift. I drop by with the extra pastries, and we eat them and talk.
It’s nice, and when he asks me if everything’s better with Noah, I just smile, and heat burns in my cheeks. He pats my hand in return, and we move on to other things.
For the following week, things are good. The morning sickness comes and goes like some kind of wonky tide, and more than once, I’ve had to rush off to the bathroom at work to hurl.
Once I’m through this, I’ll be able to work through a lot of my pregnancy, and then… then I guess I’m going to have to do something I’ve never thought I would.
Take time off for maternity leave. With my marriage to Noah, I don’t have to work, there’ll be no rush to return to work and yet I never want to just stay at home. I’m not sure how much of that is in my DNA. I’ll go back eventually. But maybe… I suck in a breath, maybe in a different form.
I’m getting ahead of myself, and when I get home, I take Angus out for a run. I’m amused by how he’s warming to Noah’sroom, which, when he smells around the apartment, I think he’s looking for him.
Noah keeps up the gruff stance of not liking dogs or Angus, but he buys him treats, the butcher treats are common now.
He claims he’s just trying to train the dog, but I don’t think so.
Angus has had a big day, he and Alonso gardened, and he helped Carrie with the housework. That’s according to the note left.
But the run ends, and we walk back. I’m pacing myself a little with the morning sickness I’m a little more delicate those days, and this morning was one of those.
“Hey, Angus,” I say, stopping at a fruit stand. “Do you want some berries?”
He’s more interested in smelling a spot on the pavement, and I end up buying a whole lot more than the raspberries and blueberries and strawberries on the cart. I buy citrus, watermelon, apples and grapes, too.
“I should get you some side saddles,” I tell Angus as we turn onto our street. “So you can carry my shopping.”
He barks, and I laugh. I look up at the building.
Things with Noah, I think once more, are good.
But they’re not where I’d like them to be. I’m falling for him fast and he… I don’t know where he is on that, or if he’s even near the same book.
We have a routine, we have a lot of sex, even if I still have my room. I make myself sneak back some nights, and there are times he comes to me.
But he doesn’t tell me anything about that call he got or if he did anything about it. With a sigh, I open the door, and Angus and I get in the elevator, a man rushing in too. He hits the third-floor button.
He doesn’t talk, a baseball cap on as he scrolls on his phone. When the door to that floor opens he heads out to one of the four apartments on the floor.
When the elevator arrives at mine… ours… Noah’s I take the fruit and set it on the marble island.
Angus barks and takes off outside to the terrace, and I pop a raspberry in my mouth as I open the fridge.
All the delicious, healthy meals neatly stacked stare back at me. I don’t want any of them.
“I’m craving Italian. D’Angelo’s…”
