Chapter Six: Freedom
"Margaux, I love you more than life itself… you, Carl and Simone are everything to me, and I can't imagine my life without any of you. Thank you, for fixing me, for loving me… I'll do everything in my power to make you happy every single day of our lives" Jack finishes softly; I can't believe another year went by… Aiden takes my hand and I kiss him, our wedding day fresh in our minds, he kisses Amy's head and I hold Simone tighter "do you like mommy's dress?" I whisper in her little ear, she giggles and claps happily. "Jack… the first time I saw you I realized there was something special about you, even when you looked so broken I could see it, then I finally knew why and from that day I decided that my mission was and still is, to make you happy…I wanted to see you smile again- he does and she wipes another tear from her face- you, Carl and Simone are my life and I don't want to imagine my life without any of you, I love you" I'm pretty sure the whole church is crying by now, I see Charlotte smiling at Carl -who's sitting right by Pascal- she looks beautiful and as Margaux's maid of honor she made an amazing work. The church is crowded but as soon as the ceremony is over, we're heading to the Porter-LeMarchal house for a smaller reception, Amy grabs Aiden's tie and laughs loudly while playing with it, and gladly the ceremony is almost over so nobody noticed. I see Nolan taking Charlotte's hand and it's our time to get out, Simone giggles watching the rose petals flying outside and Amy keeps yelling "Dada, woses!" "Yes baby, that's right roses" With one year and 3 months, the girls surprise us every day with new words and games.
When we arrive, Nolan and Aiden immediately take the girls so Charlotte and I can take care of the last details before groom and bride get here. "Can you believe it's been a year?" Charlotte asks me while fixing the flowers "Not really…" I say deep in my thoughts. We finish right on time, "Emy, mommy is here" Carl runs to me, "I know, she looks beautiful doesn't she?" I ask him and he nods furiously, we laugh when he crashes with Margaux's legs, "I love you mommy". We smile, laugh, cheer, yell, cry, dance and sing the whole night, we enjoy as much as we can… Jack and Margaux are going to Europe for two weeks with the kids, and I think we're all too used to be always around, specially the kids, Amy and Simone are the best friends and Carl plays his role of older brother perfectly. Sooner than we want, it's time to go; we say our goodbyes "Good luck guys!" I yell and Aiden adds "don't do anything I wouldn't do" he winks and Jack laughs, "We'll see".
Charlotte and Nolan go to our place for a while, "She finally closed her eyes" I say tired, "she's just like you Ems, so damn stubborn" Nolan smiles and Aiden agrees "Hey" I scold them. Charlotte is awfully quiet tonight, and while Aiden and Nolan argue about the possibility of Amy being a genius I shake my head and drag her outside, "What's going on?" I ask her softly, she looks up "I…it's nothing Em, really" I look at her with my best mom-knows-best look and she smiles "My mom called" Oh, that explains a lot "what did she say?" I ask as calm as I can "nothing worth repeating, but she keep saying that I should keep my distance from all of you, that I would always be a Grayson and that Graysons don't have love or friends" By now, she's sobbing in my arms and my blood is boiling… she has no right to hurt her like this, and even though she'll never tell everything that bitch told her I can imagine them, I hold Charlotte tighter, I won't allow Victoria to destroy our family "Charlotte, look at me" I say quietly "you are a very important part of our family, your last name doesn't make a difference to me I have always loved you like a sister and that won't change because your mother says so" I comfort her as much as I can, "and as far as love is concerned, look at you, look at us…nobody thought we could be this happy, we're surrounded by love and someday you'll find a great guy, you're still young…just don't listen to that psycho anymore please?" She actually laughs, "Thank you Emily, I guess I wanted to believe she still had some hope… but I guess I'm just wasting my time" "Anytime, and you weren't wasting your time, you just wanted her to stop being so miserable" she smiles sadly, and then hugs me as tight as she can.
During the night I wake up and go to the nursery, "I will do everything in my power to keep you safe, I won't let anybody tell you you can't do something… I will be by your side every step of the way" I kiss my princess head, "I love you Amelia, so much". When I go back to my room, Aiden is wide awake "hey" he says softly "what are you thinking?" I lay down "just how lucky we are" he starts kissing my neck "I'm so glad I found my way back to you" I whisper in his ear, he looks up and then kisses me deeply "we belong together Emily, no matter how we would had found each other" "I know" I say serious "but I'm glad we did it when we did".
The weeks fly, and we're all at the airport waiting, "Moon!" Amy yells excited, her eyes light up seeing her friend and little Simone hurries her dad, when both girls are on the ground they hug like they haven't seen each other in years and we all smile "Amy, I buy you presents" Simone speaks fast and Amy hugs her again "I miss you" my heart melts and I'm sure Margaux feels the same. "Why don't we continue this in my place?" Nolan says and we leave as fast as we can, we're all eager to hear about their honeymoon. Carl talks non-stop about his ride on the London eye and how tall the Eiffel tower is and how his new French cousins played all kind of stuff with him… and we're all happy. The girls keep talking and hugging each other, "Simone insisted to buy one for Amy as well" Margaux says, "It's beautiful" Now both girls have the same charm bracelet, because well…that's what best friends do. The girls and I catch up quickly and we agreed to go back to our weekly lunch routine right away, "I missed you so much!" Margaux says and then adds "when we weren't busy of course" she winks and we laugh loudly. Before we go home, we have to ask if Moon can stay with us, because Amy won't go without her friend "Mommy I miss her lots and lots" I try to say no but Aiden can't resist our daughter's words and apparently neither does Jack… and Margaux never put a fight in the first place.
"Our baby is having a friend overnight for the first time" Aiden says and I start laughing "Aiden, Simone is family… besides I believe these two will always be together, I mean look at them" I point the two sleeping babies, "they're hugging each other" We both smile and I take a picture with my cell phone, and seconds after I sent it I receive Margaux, Jack, Nolan and Charlotte answers …. We're all hopelessly in love with them.
"I spoke with Charlotte yesterday… she told me about Victoria" Aiden says, we're having an early breakfast to enjoy the day with the girls, "I told her we will always love her" "yeah, she told me… I said almost the same and that if she ever need us, we'll be there for her" I wrap my arms around his body "you did good, she needs us more than ever" "I wonder why she's acting like this… why she wants to destroy her daughter?" "I don't know… maybe Victoria isn't trying to break her, maybe she wants her by her side, she's her daughter after all" I kiss his head, "We'll never find out, for now we should just protect her" "you're right, even if she's her mother, if she puts a finger on Charlotte she'll be gone for good, I'll personally make sure of it" "I won't let you go near Victoria, Emily" He turns around and looks at me, I can see nothing but love in his deep eyes "I love you" I kiss him senseless.
Aiden stays home with Amy while I walk around the beach, it's been three years since I decided to stop my endless revenge and I can't be happier about my decision, my father was right forgiveness did set me free, free to finally have my own family, to be just me. I feel a hand on my shoulders and my fight instincts kick in, "Ems what the hell?!" Nolan asks me from the ground, "Oh my god! I'm sorry" I say embarrassed while I give him a hand, he quickly fixes his clothes "I just wanted to say hi" "guess I was somewhere else" "Yeah, I noticed" we sit on the beach, "guess what?" he says excited, "what?" "I bought something for Amy" I raise my eyebrows, with Nolan you never know "again, what?" "This is a tablet; I designed it especially for her… with this she will be reading in a few months!" "Nolan…she's still learning how to talk" "it doesn't matter" I give up; you can't argue with him… it's like trying to argue with Amy.
"What's that?" Aiden asks curious, I sigh "it's from Nolan, he decided Amy needs to start practicing how to read" he takes it from me "amazing!" he runs to Amy's side and I laugh… but when I watch him patiently teaching our little girl how to use the program, and I hear her giggling, I really don't care about it anymore. "Emily, look!" Aiden yells, "we're raising a genius" he says pointing the screen and Amy claps happily, I see a picture of me holding Amy and she selected the word MOM to go with it, I smile proud of my baby girl even though I'm almost sure is just a coincidence but who cares, right? I take Amy in my arms "So, you're a genius after all?" "Mommy! I did it" She kisses me, and I love her even more.
~A&E~
I'm so sorry for the delay with this chapter, but my week's been chaotic… since I'm in my second year of med school I had to help organize the party to welcome the new generation… thank god I only have to do it once, so much work and so little time!, anyway we had a great time yesterday and I'm back on vacations until march :)
I just finished this chapter and I didn't want to keep you waiting, I have no patience so I can understand, I hope you like it! Also, since the Porter-LeMarchal wedding finally happened I'll be jumping a few years into the future from now on… I don't feel like ending it just yet.
Kisses, Cami