Insatiable (38 page)

Her words stung, but Liam understood where she was coming from. If she went ahead and adopted the baby and things went wrong with their relationship, she'd be the one left holding the proverbial bag so to speak.

"Aurora, I get where you're coming from, but I have no intentions of letting you go, no matter what. I want this to be a joint decision, and if it were up to me, I'd say let's elope right now and get married. That's how confident I am that you and I belong together."

His statement caught her by surprise. He must be delirious from being left to his own devices in a stranger's house for so long.

Turning, she studied him. "Liam, have you lost your mind?"

"I've never been more stable," he smirked. Then his expression got serious.

"I'm not going to lose you, Aurora." He laid a hand on her arm.

Her head was spinning with questions, what if Deena changed her mind? What if the child inherited some, or all, of Benjamin's horrible disposition? What if she and Liam broke up? Would she want to care for the child on her own? That question was easy, yes she would. Deep down she knew that she would and could take care of that child, and she'd do one hell of a job too.

"I know what you're thinking," he said.

"Oh yeah?" The tightness around her mouth eased as she smiled.

"Yeah, you're having doubts. You're asking yourself what if she changes her mind, or what if the baby comes out with some of its fathers bad qualities. And the worst one yet, what would happen if you and I were no longer together." She turned her body so that she could look at him with ease.

"Liam, here's the thing, let's just say that all of this works out. Let's say that I get an attorney, make everything legal, and adopt Deena's baby.  I'd want that child to be surrounded by love twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, three hundred sixty five days a year, and then some. Because that is the only way we could even hope of slicing away at any challenges that may come along with the baby, and I need you to help make that happen, but this isn’t just something that we do on a whim. We need to really think about it, and we've got to think about it now. So, if you're going to leave, you better do it now, otherwise, you're mine forever," she grinned and leaned over to kiss him.

"There's nothing to think about, consider me yours." He kissed her back.

"We'll see about that Liam Hunt, we'll just see about that."

Chapter Twenty Four

Eleven Months Later

"All finished with your shopping?" Mari asked. 

"Yes, I had fun. Thanks for helping me out Mari, I really appreciate it."

"Of course, but there's no need to thank me, I was happy to do it."

"And how's our newest
friend
?"

"She's doing much better. Rosie and Martin had some last minute errands to run, so she went out with them. Her family is picking her up later on today. So it was just me and the little guy this morning." She motioned towards the baby carrier and cooed.

"Hi little one, did you miss me? I certainly missed you." Aurora's smile beamed when she looked at her newly pre-adopted son.

"I think he just smiled at me." Aurora clapped her hands together. "Or maybe it was just a little gas," she joked.

"Are you kidding? Of course he's smiling at his mommy.  How could he not?"

Mari came up behind her and watched Aurora as she cradled her son in her arms.

"Asher's first Christmas," Aurora kissed him softly on his cheek. The moment he was born, they'd thought up the name. It meant, happily blessed.

"I want this day to be special."

"And it will be. I think there's a about a half an inch of space left under the tree, you sure you don’t have anything else to go under it?" Mari teased.

"Your daddy may have gone a little bit crazy with the gifts, Asher."

Aurora and Mari chuckled as the tiny baby opened his mouth and let out a yawn.

Aurora was still holding their son when Liam walked through the door. He quickly put down the bags that he was carrying and made his way over to Aurora and Asher, his new son. He gave them both a kiss. He'd just finished picking up some last minute gifts and was excited to be home. It was Christmas Eve, and he and Aurora had been together for over a year. He'd been true to his word and hadn't left her side. They were in love, and the thought of leaving never crossed his mind, and now they had Asher, Liam remembered the day they were able to bring him home. Deena had gone into labor, and he and Aurora violated all kinds of traffic laws just to get to the hospital in time. When they finally reached the hospital, they were glad when Margaret and William told them that they were just in time to witness the birth of their new son. Deena had an ultra sound, months earlier and had decided that she wanted to know the sex of the baby. Neither Liam, nor Aurora were concerned, but Aurora could tell that Liam was quite happy when he found out that it was a boy.

He remembered being there in the hospital room. He and Aurora coaching Deena and trying to help her through the pain. He smiled to himself when after only a few pushes, little Asher made his way into the world. It was a moment that neither would forget and he wasn’t sure if there was a dry eye in the place. Even Deena had tears in her eyes, and at first Aurora thought that the young woman was having doubts, but she never faltered. She simply kissed Asher on the forehead, and told the nurse to hand him over to his mommy.

She didn't know what it was, but something told her a long time ago, that she was doing the right thing. She would be able to get on with her life, go back to school and earn a degree. All the while knowing that the child born out of a horrible situation would receive all the love in the world, love that she could not give. Yes, Aurora adopting the baby would guarantee him a wonderful place in this world, where  he would be surrounded by love.  She'd already signed all the paperwork and right after the baby was born, she'd told them that she had definitely made the right choice. If Aurora had any more doubts, they went right out the window when she saw little Asher being born. His eyes sparkled just like Deena's, his tiny mouth reminded her of Randy, and he came out with a head full of hair. "No wonder I had such bad heartburn," Deena joked at the old wives tale.

"He's got my hair color," Liam beamed proudly at the small comparison. "Yes he does." Aurora smiled and kissed him. "Yes he does."

Before she signed the paperwork, Deena had decided on a closed adoption. Although little Asher, would not be legally freed for adoption for another six months, both Aurora and Liam felt confident that he would soon be theirs. Once the six months was up, their lawyer was to submit an adoption petition to Rhode Island Family Court, and provided there were no problems, Asher would legally be theirs.

"That will be a day of celebration as well," Aurora told Liam. They were proud parents and tonight was Christmas Eve, and neither of them had any idea of what the other had planned.

It wasn’t until after they'd had dessert that Aurora decided to put her plan into action. She glanced over at Asher. He had fallen asleep in his carrier, and Aurora thought it was the perfect moment to propose to Liam.

Mari and Rosie met her gaze, big grins on their faces. "Go for it!"

Liam looked around suspiciously. "Aurora, what's going on?" He eyed her.

She stole glances from Nick and Martin and found them issuing her equally encouraging smiles. It seemed that Mari and Rosie had let them in on Aurora's surprise proposal.

She gathered another calming breath and sat down next to him, and he regarded her with excited, but stunned blue eyes. "Liam, I just wanted to ask you something and it couldn’t wait. First and foremost I want you to know that I love you. I love you so much that being without you hurts. I cannot stop thinking about you. In the past year, you have been there for me, and even when I wasn’t thinking about you, you were there, conquering every inch of my thoughts, and it's been thrilling.

She studied his face, and when his eyes were tangled with hers, she continued. "I don’t know what the future holds for me, or Asher, but I know that I want to face every moment with you. I need you, we need you, so with that being said, Liam Hunt will you marry me?"

"Yes," he almost shouted, but remembered that Asher was sleeping.

"Yes, Aurora Collins, I will marry you," he whispered again.

She immediately closed her eyes and exhaled. Overwhelmed with relief, she let tears of joy ransack her face. Her hands were shaking when she opened up the small velvet box and took out the Eternity Links Diamond engagement ring. After she placed the ring on his finger, Liam wrapped her in his arms and held her tight. "Yes," his voice steady. His hands lifted to her face and wiped away her tears.

"When did you even find the time?"

When she opened her mouth to respond, she couldn’t. He kissed her full on the lips. He kept kissing her, and even when congratulations were being hurled at them from their friends, he still kept on kissing her. When they finally came up for air she said, "We're going to be a family."

"And we'll be happy, incredibly happy."

She tightened her arms around his neck. "Incredibly happy," she said and glanced over at Asher, he'd slept through the entire proposal.

Rosie and Mari walked back into the room carrying a tray of glasses filled to the rim with champagne.  After a quiet toast, Liam pulled her off to the side. He was overcome with joy. She'd told him that she needed him. It was at that moment that he didn’t really care what came next, he would have said yes to anything. "You trust me Aurora. You finally trust me, and being needed by you, is ecstasy for me."

Her seductive mouth made rational thought difficult at times, and now, it was one of those times.

He was sure that she had no idea that he'd planned on proposing first thing Christmas morning, and he had no intentions on raining on her parade tonight.

Her hazel eyes met his and glimmered over his face.

"I love you Liam Hunt."

"I love you too Aurora Collins. I love you too."

THE END

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