Page 96 of Down the Aisle

Well, that last part would certainly be a huge problem.

My footsteps thudded against the aging wood deck as I approached her from behind and held her. "We will cross the bridges as they come. For now, we have to let him know about James, minus the seven days at sea." I sighed softly against Eliza's head, kissing it lightly. "Come on, he's in my office waiting right now, and it won't be long until the twins come back with Rosie from their activities with Hailee and Adelaide." I hated rushing Eliza, but this was one of those things that needed to be done now.

Nodding with a sigh, Eliza turned her head back to look at me with a forlorn expression. "I just don't know what to do if he hates me," she whimpered, leaning her head into me.

Assuring her with a smile and kiss on the forehead, I rubbed her arms and shoulders. "Asher's not going to hate you for keeping James a secret from him. Our son is a bright kid and has more functioning brain cells than us combined most days," I lightly joked at the end with a chuckle, hoping to uplift my wife some.

Thankfully, it worked with the giggle she gave in response. "Well, guess we gotta rip the bandage off sooner rather than later, huh?" She sighed in defeat, relenting to whatever fate had in store for us.

Hand in hand, we made our way to my office, sitting down across from Asher, who still sat curled with the throw pillow. I didn't envy my wife, not one bit after I saw the guilt fully set into her dreadful face.

"Asher, there's something we have to tell you about your father," I started, glancing at Eliza to make sure she was finebefore looking back at Asher with a serious face, "and it's important that you listen to everything before responding and such, alright?"

Slowly, Asher nodded in response as he grew rather apprehensive of the situation. "I'm not adopted, am I?" he prodded warily and somewhat half-jokingly.

Unable to help it, I cracked a chuckle and smiled while shaking my head. "No, you're not. Well, at least to your mother." Leaning back against the couch, I settled an arm around Eliza, pulling her close while I rested my other arm on the armrest. "I adopted you, yes, but Eliza is your biological mother. Now, that being said, I've always seen and treated you as my own son. You've seen how I am with your siblings, and I don't treat you any differently from them. No matter what, you are my son, and I couldn't be prouder and happier of that."

Asher's lips pressed into an unsure smile, though his eyes softened with genuine gratitude and affection. "You're my dad for all I know, but I'm guessing from all that so far you're not my biological father." He surmised with a somewhat disheartened expression.

Surprisingly, Eliza spoke up before another word could leave my mouth. "Adam isn't biologically your father, you are right, but he's more of a father than your biological one." Peering up at Asher with apologetic eyes, Eliza looked at him for a moment before shedding a few tears. "I'm so sorry for keeping something like this from you, and please don't be mad at Adam for any of it either because I made him promise not to tell you."

With a frown of his own, Asher got up and went over to Eliza, hugging her tightly. "Oh, mom, please don't cry. I don't like it when you cry." His voice cracked as he held his mother. "Listen, if it's too much for you, then you don't have to tell me. I don't care about someone who hasn't been there my whole life. Like Isaid, the only dad I have and know is Adam, and even if you tell me about whoever I came from, I won't see things any different."

Pushing Asher away, Eliza looked at him with a regretful smile and a shake of her head. "No, you deserve to know about James." Sighing heavily, she moved Asher to sit next to her on the couch. "James Stone, that's your father. He's dead now and for the better. I wish I could say that he was a good man and such, but he wasn't. He was a horrible man who did nothing but manipulate other people to get what he wanted. He was also a violent man, and unfortunately, his wife was no exception." Her eyes drifted down to the faded scars on her arms.

Asher's trembling hands took Eliza's arms, looking at them in a new light. Well, more of a new and dark light. "H-he did this to you? All of them?" He sounded so hurt and horrified. We'd always told him that her scars were from an accident in the past, and Asher had always accepted the answer without question.

"Yes, and on more than one occasion. For ten years, I endured because he beat me down to the point where I really believed that I was less than dirt beneath people's shoes. I was so broken, not only physically, but mentally and emotionally too." Eliza's frown slowly curved into a hopeful and happy smile as she stroked Asher's hair and face with a mother's fondness. "It wasn't until I had you that things really became clear to me. A child wasn't going to fix a horrible man, and he made no attempts to change when you came. Hell, he even made plans to make sure you were as vile as him. And I couldn't let any of that happen to you, so I ran. When you were just a few months old, I drugged him, packed our things, and ran all the way from Idaho to Seaside, Oregon."

"I came into your life when you were a little over one, and I've been there since you grabbed me at the grocery store. I'm not going to lie. The moment you touched me, and we looked at each other, the connection was instant," I told Asher with a warmsmile of my own. "James managed to find your mother, and he threatened her, beat her right there on the back porch with a gun held to her. The cops took over afterward, but then we heard that he died somewhere along the way." I quickly wrapped the story up with a bit of a white lie.

The cops—Rowan—did take him away, and he did die along the way somewhere. Asher really didn't need to know the details about any ofthatfor his sake.

"Oh, Mom, I'm sorry for asking." Asher apologized, hugging Eliza tightly.

"No, honey, don't apologize," Eliza dismissed him with an understanding smile as she pulled away. "You didn't know, so you have nothing to apologize for."

Then, Asher looked at me for a moment, and he lunged at me, tackling me in a hug. "Thank you, Dad."

Hugging him back, I let a few tears slip as my heart ached with happiness and relief. "You don't need to thank me for doing what's right. You and your mother deserve the whole world, and I wanted to give it to you both."

Chuckling softly, I pulled my wife into the group hug, cherishing the moment for a while before the peace was interrupted by my other three kids. Of course, the three of them didn't bother questioning anything the moment they arrived. Hell, I didn't know the three of them got back until I felt a sudden force and weight slam into me.

"Family hug!" Dario, one of the twin boys, shouted with a laugh.

"Ugh, you're squishing me too much," Rosie complained with a scoff and groan.

"I'm barely touching you," Francis, the older of the twin boys, retorted.

"Guys, dying here," Asher strained out with an exaggerated drag of his breath. "Can't breathe!"

The sounds of nails against the floor drummed through the air, and an excite bark echoed through the room before all our chuckling groans drowned it out. "Bodie!" All of us chuckled at the extra weight of the old hound joining us.

Unable to help it, I laughed loudly to let my joy be known as I captured my family in my big arms. "God, I love you guys so much." They all let out a dying groan when I squeezed everyone tightly.

Then, I looked at my lovely Eliza with starstruck eyes. "But I love you the most,mia rosa." Not caring about the kids being present, I leaned in and kissed Eliza deeply.

"Oh, ew, Dad!" All my kids groaned with mock disgust, rolling their eyes and sticking their tongues out.

"Ew, cooties," Dario scoffed playfully, making all of us laugh.

As Eliza's laughter died down, she looked up at me with a grateful smile and eyes full of burning love. "I love you too, bub."

And all of this because I walked down the right aisle.