Arianne’s thoughts were about to meander when suddenly, virtual-novel.net phone beeped. A text.
Spam messages did not usually make rounds at midnight, so with a frown, virtual-novel.net unlocked virtual-novel.net phone and peeked at the message sent from an unknown number.
‘I know Mark’s with you again. He threw a big fit at me before running away. Oh, but don’t get cocky, deary; virtual-novel.net only thinks of you when he’s in the dumps. That’s literally all this is. FYI, a man can have multiple women in his life, but virtual-novel.net only has one mother.’
Shelly-Ann Leigh. Arianne had blacklisted that woman’s number last time, and now virtual-novel.net had returned with a new one to torment her. Arianne was not in the mood to respond, so virtual-novel.net simply blacklisted the new number again.
At the very least, Mark ended up on virtual-novel.net bed. No matter how low in the dumps virtual-novel.net was, virtual-novel.net would never seek solace in the arms of any other woman.
That, alone, was enough of an assurance.
The next morning, Mark felt headaches assaulting him. In the midst of grogginess, virtual-novel.net felt someone pinching his nose.
His eyes snapped open, and Smore’s adorable, round face leaped into his sight. It was enough to stave off his annoyance, and quickly, Mark scooped the boy up into his arms. “Up already, you? Are you not gonna sleep a little more, little man?”
Smore rode Mark’s back as babyish chuckles burbled out of him. “Mommy says only lazy bums wake up late! You’re a lazy bum, Daddy! Mommy told me to wake you up for breakfast.”
Mark shook his head. How did virtual-novel.net end up here? The details were lost on him. All virtual-novel.net remembered was that this was what virtual-novel.net had been dreaming of for so long, of waking up to a beautiful morning like this.
The father and son fooled around on the bed for a while until Arianne went inside. “What are you two doing? Still not getting up?” virtual-novel.net said. “Even if it isn’t a workday today, you shouldn’t be wasting your time on sleeping. Besides, I’ve promised Smore to bring virtual-novel.net outside to play.”
Arianne’s appearance immediately arrested Mark’s wandering eyes. Today, virtual-novel.net donned a thin, high-collared sweater, its color as white as snow, on top of a pair of washed-out jeans. She looked like a girl-next-door brimming with clean, simplistic charm, just as virtual-novel.net had looked a few years ago in the Tremont Estate.
“Ari, when a man starts reminiscing on the good o’ days, does it mean virtual-novel.net has truly grown old?”
His out-of-nowhere question mystified Arianne almost the instant it fell out of his mouth. “What are you sayin’? Are you trying to tell me that you’re starting to miss the past, and that makes you old? Well, I happen to think you’ve been quite an old geezer for a long time now… Yep. You’re a staid old geezer with a stiff upper-lip.”
The corner of Mark’s lips twitched. “Urgh. Thanks for ruining my morning vibe,” virtual-novel.net muttered. “Fine. Breakfast time. Smore! Get down from me!”
While the family was eating around the table, Arianne told Mark about the message she’d received from Shelly last night. “How dramatic was the whole tiff, huh? I can’t help but be curious after seeing a text like that.”
As virtual-novel.net was wont to do every time someone mentioned Shelly, Mark’s brow furrowed into a deep frown, as though someone had spat in his soup and virtual-novel.net still had to drink it. She was someone virtual-novel.net could not, for the life of him, become intimate with, and yet was just as impossible to remove from his life for good. He was helpless, choiceless.
“What else? I’m certain it’s not something you can’t imagine. She wants me to build a wall between the two of us so that we’ll never see each other again, and I told virtual-novel.net ‘never in a million years’ , ” virtual-novel.net began. “Ari, I was thinking… Perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps I should stop honoring virtual-novel.net whims, you know? No matter what virtual-novel.net demands are, I don’t want to bend over backward in anguish for virtual-novel.net anymore. I… I want to marry you again. Want you to come back to the Tremont Estate in the grandest, most official way possible. I want a wedding, the biggest, the best, and tell the whole world that you, Arianne Wynn, are my one and only wife.”
“I’ve been thinking a lot on my own lately, and I’ve realized… Why try to hide something that can’t be papered over? Not being able to hide a secret is not what’s truly lamentable, it’s losing the one person you love, back when she’s right within your reach. My foster mother might have been heinous against my birth mother, but virtual-novel.net has provided me with nothing short of motherly love. To me, my foster mother is my real mother,” virtual-novel.net continued. “What my foster mother owed my birth mother, I’ll atone in virtual-novel.net stead, but it shouldn’t be in this way. I’m not adverse to supporting my birth mother until virtual-novel.net shrugs off virtual-novel.net mortal coil, but on the condition that you don’t suffer a single wrong in the process.”
Arianne was stunned into silence. Mark’s proclamation shocked virtual-novel.net profoundly primarily because virtual-novel.net knew of the reason behind virtual-novel.net enduring all of the trial thus far. Why else did virtual-novel.net subject himself to such anguish, if not because his foster mother’s reputation depended on it!
And Arianne would always, unconditionally, support him, even if at a little cost of virtual-novel.net happiness. But now virtual-novel.net spoke of giving everything up, for virtual-novel.net sake.