6 weeks later…..
Ari put Alyssa down in her crib and closed the door taking the baby monitor and heading into the kitchen. She was a little tired but she was happy. Well, as happy as she could be without John with her. They still hadn't really talked much since Alyssa's birth. He came by to see her three times a week. But she still hadn't talked to them. She was confused. She loved him. More than she ever thought she could. But she didn't know if she could forgive him. She heard her cell phone ringing and went over to grab it before it could wake Alyssa.
"Hello?"
"Hey, I'm in town and was wondering if I could come by and see Lyssa."
"She's asleep but you can still come by. I think we need to talk."
He wasn't sure that he'd heard her correctly. She wanted to talk? This was a good sign.
"Um yeah sure. I will be over in an hour." He hung the phone up and looked over at Randy smiling. "Ari wants to talk."
"Then what the hell are you doing sitting here talking to me?"
"I told her I'd be over in an hour. I hope to got she doesn't have any of her family over there. I swear her brothers are like bulldogs."
"She's the baby and the only girl. What did you expect? You have a lot of ass kissing to do. And not just with Ari. I think she's the least of their problems." John nodded his head. "I gotta get in here and see my girls. Alanna is going to my mom's tonight and I want to see her before I go. Don't come back here tonight. Just giving you a heads up." Randy walked back into the house. John shook his head and grabbed the keys out of his pocket. He was glad that Ari was willing to talk. He was hoping that this would be the first step to getting him back where he belonged. With his girls.
Ari sat on the couch and waited for John to get there sipping a glass of wine to calm her nerves. She had a lot of questions. Questions that only John could answer. She kept going over the letters he'd written her in her mind. Had he meant any of it? The knock on the door drove her out of her thoughts. She knew it was John. She took another sip of her wine for courage and got up to answer the door.
"Hey." He said walking in. She closed the door behind him and walked into the living room with him following close behind her. "You look great."
"Thanks." She said sitting down on the couch. "So do you."
"I wrote you letters when you were on vacation."
"I read them. That's actually what I wanted to talk about. Just don't say anything until I'm done okay?" He nodded. "When Sam walked into that room and told me that you were nowhere to be found, I felt like my whole life was over. You promised me and my entire family that you would never hurt me. But you did John. You hurt me worse than anyone else ever has. Josh may have hit me but the one thing he could never do was break my heart. You did that. And what was worse is that you weren't just running out on me. You were running out on our baby. A baby that you told me over and over was conceived in love. I got to thinking to myself that if you could walk away so easily without a word, that you must not have loved me too much. You just left. You didn't come and talk to me. You didn't trust me enough to believe that we could survive this. Josh almost killed us but we both pulled through because we did it together. But you just let your ex come in with this big secret and you run scared. That was bullshit and you know it. Why didn't you come to me?"
"I didn't want to lose you. I didn't want to have to explain that I had this one night with Randy's wife. I didn't think that you would be able to accept it."
"So not only did you not tell me that you met with your ex and that she was blackmailing you but you didn't think that I would be able to get over something that happened before we even met? Way to underestimate me John."
"I'm tired of making excuses for what I did. I shouldn't have left. I should have told you what was going on. But all I saw at the time was losing my best friend. But an even worse thought was losing you and Alyssa. I couldn't have taken that." He said looking at her. "There's more to the story than you know. She's always been a little crazy. I was afraid that if I didn't go away, that she would hurt you."She looked at him and saw the fear that was there when he talked about losing her. He saw the pain from realizing that he'd lost her anyway.
"Did you mean what you said in your letters?"
"Every word." Alyssa started to cry and Arianna jumped to her feet ready to go and get her. "Get on the phone and call and order dinner. Anything you want. Let me go get her." She nodded her head as he walked up the stairs. She got on the phone and ordered a pizza. The baby monitor was still on and she could hear John talking to Alyssa.
"Shhh, it's okay baby girl. It's okay. It was just a bad dream. Daddy's here. I love you. And I promise you that I will always be here to chase the monsters away." She smiled as she heard Alyssa cooing. "I know things have been a little crazy between Mama and me over the last few weeks. That's all Daddy's fault. He messed up big time. But I just want you to know that you and your mama mean the world to me. I don't know what I would do without you both. And if your mom is willing to give me another chance to prove it, I will never mess up again." He rocked her back to sleep and put her down in her crib.
Arianna sat on the couch and wiped the tears from her eyes. She was so ready to forgive him but she still had a few doubts. What if he broke her heart again? Was she really ready to take that chance?