Chapter 25 - few days later
Hardy's pov
Driving down our street towards the house, I saw that Aria was over at Ezra's and some silver Prius in the driveway where I normally park. Who the hell do we know that owns a Prius… damnit. Should have known working today was a bad idea but Caitlyn wanted to get back to our normal routines… even though she now has this week and next week off . Pulling to the curb, I quickly cut the engine and got out as Aria walked out of Ezra's house, staring at the Prius confused. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw me at the curb, as we caught each other's eye, we took off running for the house.
"Caitlyn Grace, you're being absolutely stubborn for no reason! William is better for you than this bar worker imbecile who can't even take care of you financially, let alone take care of Rosalie." I heard as I reached for the doorknob.
"How dare you, come into my home that I share with Hardy and insult him without even knowing him!" Caitlyn shouted then saw me, resulting in her father turning to see me as well.
"Actually Sir, I can take care of them financially. I actually used to be a law professor and saved up a pretty good amount of money…. which you seem so fond of. Nothing doesn't change the fact that Rosie's my little girl and I'm so crazy about your daughter and I want to marry her." I told Caitlyn's dad.
"Wait what?"
"You stole my daughter!" William shouted at me.
"Dude, you were never in her life or even tried to be. I'm the one who is raising her with Caitlyn, not you." I reminded him
"She's MY daughter, NOT yours!" He shouted again.
"When was she born?" I asked.
"December tenth." He said and Caitlyn nodded at me.
"April sixteenth at three fifteen in the morning, weighing eight pounds and three ounces. You know nothing about her; not even her birthday. I wasn't even in their lives until Rosie was two and yet, every detail about her is memorized in my head." I snapped.
"
am the one she calls daddy, the one she calls to look for the monsters under her bed. Five years you had a chance, but you were nowhere to be seen because Caitlyn didn't want to marry you. When I propose to Caitlyn, there won't be an ultimatum…. like what you gave her. Yeah, I know about that." I continued.
"Is he serious?"
"You say you wanna marry my Caitlyn? Tough, you're not good enough for her and never will be!" Her dad shouted at me.
"EVERYONE STOP." Aria yelled before I could respond, which is probably a good thing I have a few choice words ready for him.
We looked over as Caitlyn walked towards me and I thought I heard a whimper. The last thing Caitlyn needs right now is any of this stress; she should be resting in bed right now and not being backed into a corner into tears, especially since she had been here on her own. Neither me or Aria had been here to protect her when William and her dad showed up... God, I should have been here.
"You really want to marry me?" She asked.
"This was definitely not how I planned on doing this, but yes." I said and slowly got down on one knee.
No one is stopping me now; I'm finally going to ask her to marry me. After weeks of postponing it, and trying to figure out how to even do this… I'm asking this girl to marry me. Never in my whole life, did I think that I would get married or want kids but Caitlyn and Rosie have turned my world upside down. Those two are my whole life and hell will freeze over if I let them go without a fight. Even if I really do have to wait forever to marry her, I'd wait until she's ready.
"Caitlyn Grace Woods; with every fiber in my being, I want to marry you and I don't care if I have to wait a thousand years. All I know is that you are more than everything I ever dreamed and I am so in love with you. Although this is not how it's supposed to go; will you marry me?" I asked.
I slowly stood up, seeing the fear in her eyes. She's more worried about her not being able to get pregnant again. Gently cupping her face with one hand, I wiped the tears from her eyes. All I want to do is make her happy and spend the rest of my life with her.
"There's always adoption or even a surrogate if that's something you'd want. I don't care if you can't have kids or decide you don't want any more, because you and Rosie are all I need." I said softly.
"Knowing that this is my past?" She asked, motioning to her dad and William.
"We all have pasts; and knowing yours… makes me love you even more. Because it made you who you are now; a wonderful and caring woman, who's also a kickass mother. If I could go back in time, I'd meet you even sooner." I told her.
"Hope you know that my answer was always going to be yes." Caitlyn said.
As I pulled the ring box out of my jacket, William stormed over and shoved Caitlyn aside, Ezra quickly caught her before she could hit the floor and possibly get hurt even more. Before I could defend her, he shouldered me in the chest, knocking me to the ground. The box flew out of my hand and scattered across the floor somewhere. All of a sudden, I heard Rosie scream in fear before running up the stairs.
"Edward, how can you stand by and let this idiot try to marry Caitlyn?" William demanded and I stood up and gently cupped Caitlyn's face.
"You okay?" I asked Caitlyn and she nodded.
"Yeah… but Rosie's not." She whispered, more concerned for Rosie.
"I'll check on her, please sit down and try to rest." I told her softly.
Ezra quickly led Caitlyn over towards the family room and sat her on the couch. Aria followed them as I turned to face William. How does he think physically pushing people around will get him what he wants? William turned around and I pushed him back.
"Hey, you wanna push someone around, push me around but don't you
lay a hand on her again
Get out of here so I can go check on our daughter. And neither of you are welcomed here." I told them.
Without a second glance at him, I turned around and sprinted up the stairs after Rosie. How did I not realize that it had been her whimpering earlier? Walking into her room, I knew that she was in the fort part of her bed. That's always her hiding spot, especially when she's scared.
"Rosie princess, daddy's coming into your castle." I said.
Slowly opening the curtain of her castle fort, I saw her sitting in the corner holding her stuffed floppy bunny that she had named Olaf tightly to herself.
"Why did scary man hit you?" She whimpered.
"Because he's angry with himself and takes it out on me." I explained.
"Why?" she questioned.
"This is a conversation we should be having with mommy. But I can tell you this, he doesn't like the fact that I'm your daddy and he isn't." I told her.
"Daddy, you have a boo-boo." Rosie pointed out in tears.
"Shh, it's okay pumpkin. Daddy's okay." I whispered.
She opened her barbie house and grabbed one of her Princess bandaids and held her arms up. I carefully scooped her up and sat her on my lap, she placed the bandaid on the end of my eyebrow and kissed it.
"Thank you pumpkin. Now daddy feels even better." I said, kissing the top of her head.
"Are you and mommy getting married?" She asked.
"Yeah, we are." I told her.
"When?" She inquired.
"We don't know yet, but you'll be the first to know Princess. Do you know any little girls who might want to be a flower girl?" I asked her.
"Me daddy. I'm great at throwing stuff!" She exclaimed, giggling.
"I was hoping it'd be you." I told her.
…
Aria's pov
Ezra and I shared a look as Caitlyn just stared at nothing in particular. Ezra had to restrain himself from actually throwing William out of the house. Then Edward just walked out without a second glance to Caitlyn. Neither Ezra or I really knew what had gone down years ago between Caitlyn and these guys, but now I understand why Caitlyn didn't say much about William or her father when we first met and I don't blame her.
"Why would my dad even wait five years to find me?" She asked, just needing to get it out.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Ezra asked her gently.
"I'm fine, maybe I should check on Rosie and Hardy." Caitlyn responded.
There were steps coming down the stairs and we looked to see Hardy walking down with Rosie on his back. I may not have known Hardy as long as Ezra has, but I've known him long enough to see how much he really has changed for Caitlyn and Rosie. Once, I had asked Hardy if he would ever settle down and he said settling down was for lame people.
"Ice cream!" Rosie declared.
"Come here Rosie Posie, let's get your ice cream." Caitlyn said, holding her arms out to Rosie, we all silently knew that Caitlyn didn't want to talk about what just happened in front of her.
I walked over to the cabinet and quickly grabbed Rosie's favorite Frozen bowl with Olaf on it. Hardy was getting the ice cream out of the freezer, while trying to look for the engagement ring. Rosie carried her pink elephant print booster cushion towards her chair as I handed Caitlyn the bowl. Staring at the straps that secure her cushion with the chair, Rosie walked over to Ezra and took his hand in hers.
"Ezzy, help pwease." Rosie said, looking up at him.
"Uncle Ezzy to the rescue." He told her, she led him back to her chair and he quickly secured the cushion as I shared a look with Hardy.
"There you go, you little cinnamon roll." Ezra said, picking Rosie up and placing her on the chair.
"Thank you." She said as Hardy placed the bowl of ice cream in front of her.
"Hardy's actually engaged? I never thought I'd see the day." Ezra said with a chuckle.
"You had this in your pocket?" Caitlyn asked, handing Hardy the ring box.
"Yeah, ever since I bought it…. Over your Spring break." He admitted.
"Will you put it on for me?" She asked.
"Pretty sure it'd look better on your finger than it would mine." Hardy joked as she smacked his chest as he took her left hand and slid the ring onto her finger.
"We can always exchange it if you don't like-." He started to say but she cut him off.
"No, I love this one because it's from you." She told him.
…
The next day
I stared at my list of reasons not to be with Josh, it's smaller than the one for Ezra and it's a real eye opener for me. Groaning, I crumpled up the lists and laid my head on the table, just as there was a knock on the door. I got up and opened the door to see Sabrina standing there with a plate of brownies. Letting her in, I silently sighed in relief for someone to talk to. Luckily for me, Ezra had taken Oliver to the park and for ice cream since I had ended up having morning sickness and Oliver didn't want to get my germs.
"Figured, you could use some brownies and girl talk about this love triangle." She said.
"You have no idea….Wait a minute, weren't you working today?" I asked, confused.
"Ezra gave me today off since I had a migraine yesterday, even though I'm feeling better." She explained
"No medical weed in these right?" I joked.
"None, just caramel chips and marshmallows." She said with a soft smile.
"You spoil me." I told her.
"In baked goods." She pointed out and saw the crumpled lists.
"What's keeping you from saying what you really want? You know when it comes to this triangle of hell." She inquired, getting straight to the point.
"Because someone is going to get hurt in the end no matter what; Either Ezra or Josh will get hurt." I said
"That doesn't matter, what matters is if you're happy in the end. If you go with Ezra and you'd rather be with Josh or vice versa,
won't be happy and it'll hurt
." She told me and held up a finger before I could respond.
"Aria, you were willing to drop your dream of NYU and settle on Hollis when you found out you were expecting Ollie. You let Ezra be with Nicole because you didn't want to risk him resenting you. Why are you putting everyone else's happiness before yours? It's time you got
happy ending, either it be with Josh or Ezra or even by yourself." She said as my phone beeped.
"It's Josh." I said, seeing it was Josh texting me.
Looking at the text, I sighed. Sabrina's right, I can't keep putting everyone's happiness before mine. After everything I've been through, I deserve to have my happy ending.
"Josh wants to make me dinner. But I haven't really talked to him much since he tried to kick Ezra's ass." I said.
"Doesn't matter whether you've spoken to him or not. You need to do what will make you happy. Now, do you want some help getting ready?" She asked and I nodded.
….
Later that night
I watched from my spot at the table as Josh measured out a bunch of seasonings to put into the sauce for the spaghetti he's making us. After Sabrina left the loft, I did some thinking for a while and I finally came to the answer I've known for a long time. Even though hurting him was the last thing I ever wanted to do, being with him isn't going to make me happy in the end… being with Ezra will. Josh didn't deserve to be strung along; I should have done this after hooking up with Ezra. But I was scared of hurting him with this and not realizing that stringing whatever this is between us along would make it worse. And I also should have ended it after he tried to kick Ezra's ass in front of the kids.
"Are you sure you don't need any help?" I asked.
"Got everything under control. The only thing I normally would need help with is the taste testing, which by the look of it…. You should not be in charge of that, with that weight gain of yours." He said and I looked down at my growing belly bump.
"Excuse me? I am NOT gaining weight! I- I'm sixteen weeks pregnant… with Ezra's baby." I admitted.
"How long were you going to wait to tell me? Or were you just going to convince me that I was the father?" He snapped.
"I was waiting for the right time to tell you." I told him.
"Uhm, how about before I ever asked you out? Like when we were sitting in the park! You knew you were pregnant then didn't you?" He yelled and I nodded.
"Yeah, I knew and so did Ezra." I said quietly.
"Oh, I get it now! You were more upset that Ezra realized that you were going to get fat and decided to walk away before that happened to make himself less of an asshole. So, is he going to be there for the baby like he was for Oliver?" He scoffed.
"Don't you dare bring that up! That's between me and Ezra!" I yelled.
"Like you spreading your legs for him was between you two?" He asked angrily, Ezra would never say any of this to me.
"You know what? Coming here tonight was a mistake." I said, standing up.
"I think we'd better take a step back… and not be exclusive for now. You clearly need to take a breath and realize that Ezra isn't some knight in shining armor like he has made you believe." He said, like he hadn't just said a bunch of hurtful things to me.
"We're not taking a step back, we're breaking up. I get why you're angry at me, I really do. But if you think I'm going to stay with you after everything you just said to me…. You're mistaken. And I told you that if you can't respect Ezra, this between us wouldn't last." I reminded him.
"So that's it, we're done?" He asked.
"Yes." I told him.
"So, me saying I love you doesn't change anything? You're just going to run back to the same guy that broke your heart broken in a thousand pieces?" He asked.
"But I should stay with a guy who'll say things to hurt me just because he's pissed at me? Wait a minute…did you only say that you loved me to try to keep me from going back to Ezra?" I asked as the realization hit me.
"When you and Ezra shared that slow dance at the wedding, it was pretty clear that you'd go back to him in a heartbeat." He said.
"Goodbye Josh." I said, walking to the door
"He's only going to break your heart again." He called out as I opened the door and turned to look at him.
"That's a risk I'm willing to take." I told him and walked out.
…
Pulling up behind The Brew, I sighed and grabbed my purse. The things Josh said are still so fresh in my mind; Ezra would have killed Josh if he heard him talking to me that way. But is Josh right in some way? Ezra has broken my heart in the past, but he wouldn't do it again… would he? We stayed together after I learned about him and Alison, we worked through that and why would this be any different? But it is different, we actually signed the divorce papers this time. God, I shouldn't let Josh get to me like this! I've always been in love with Ezra, and he's always been in love with me! He does make me happy, but is it possible he'll just break my heart again?
"This sucks." I muttered to myself as I climbed up the back stairs.
I quickly unlocked the door and walked into the loft to see the living room clean, which means Malcolm or Ezra probably cleaned since the living room was chaotic when I left. Ezra promised to stay with them until I came home, that way they wouldn't be completely alone. As much as I love the twins, I kind of wish I weren't pregnant just so I could have a glass of wine and a nice hot bubble bath. Slipping out of my shoes, I heard someone coming down the stairs.
"Hey, you're home early." He said.
"Bad headache." I lied.
"If it helps, there are some leftover chocolate chip cookies on the counter for you and the boys are both sound asleep." He told me.
"Thanks; and thank you for staying with them." I said.
As Ezra and I gazed into each other's eyes, we slowly inched closer to each other. All I want to do is to kiss him and tell him I want to be with him, but I just broke up with Josh and I don't want Ezra to think that it would just be a rebound for me. He could never be just a rebound to me, Jake and even Riley a little bit were more of a rebound. All of a sudden, Ezra gently cupped my face, pressing me up against the island. As our lips were about to touch, Ezra quickly pulled back and the look on his face told me he thought this was a horrible idea.
"I… I should probably get going, let me know if you need anything." He said quickly yet softly.
"Yeah, okay." I managed as he stepped back.
"I'll see you sometime tomorrow." He told me.
He pressed a soft kiss to my forehead and walked out of the loft. I rushed towards the door and leaned against it, running my hands through my hair. Locking the door, Josh's words popped back into my head;
. It feels as if he's not even trying to fight for us anymore…. What if Josh is right? Being with Ezra is the only thing I've wanted ever since we met and he's going to be the only guy I'll ever want to be with. Even though I told Josh that Ezra's a risk that I'm willing to take, I'm scared that I'm lying to myself. As I held back my tears, I listened to the sound of his car starting up and driving off.
"I need to know that you still want us." I whispered
"Mom?"
"Hey you, aren't you supposed to be asleep?" I asked Malcolm.
"I needed water. Are you okay?" He asked and I nodded.
"Figured I would tell you in the morning, but I broke up with Josh tonight." I told him.
"Mom… there's a reason Josh tried to kick dad's ass isn't there?" Malcolm asked quietly.
"Yes, but it's nothing you need to be worried about and you know you're not supposed to be swearing Malcolm." I reminded him.
"Did you and dad have sex or something?" He asked and I raised an eyebrow at him.
"Actually…. nevermind." He said, realizing what he just asked.
"Come sit with me babes." I told him
Quickly wrapping an arm around him, I led us over to the couch and sat down with him snuggled up to me. The last thing he or Oliver needed to see was Josh and Ezra getting into the fight. Even though Ezra told me not to break up with Josh over it, I needed to because I don't want either of my boys growing up to get into fights when they're mad at someone.
"Wanna know something?" I asked quietly and he nodded.
"I wish I could go back and keep you kids from seeing that." I said, wrapping my arms around him.
"Mom, I've seen worse than that and I'm going into seventh grade." He pointed out.
"Exactly my point. You're only twelve, Malcolm. There are things you shouldn't see or know about, but there are times where I forget that. You're still my little boy, I should be protecting you from things like that." I explained.
"Are you gonna get back with dad?" He asked.
"Not broken up for five seconds and you're already trying to push me back to dad?" I joked, receiving a shrug.
The images of Josh and Ezra's fight are still fresh in my mind, it all but killed me to see Ezra get hurt. Even though he had tried to act like he was fine, I know him too well to call his bluff.
