Page 54 of Julian

Once the weekend was over, life would be different. Again. Only this time, she and Angie would be moving in different directions. Not completely apart, but definitely separate for the first time in their lives as sisters.

For a moment, her pregnancy hormones grabbed hold of her emotions, and tears sprang to her eyes.

She brushed them aside as they fell, but rather than try to stop her tears, she allowed them to flow as she walked. Maybe she needed this time of sadness. Then, once it was over, she would put it behind her and focus forward, instead of continuing to grieve the loss of the way things had been for her and Angie for so long.

When her emotions were under control once again, Kiara returned to the house.

On Thursday, as they once again sat around the lunch table, Duncan announced that the plane was on its way to pick up Julian and Elijah. Kiara tried to ignore the flutter in her stomach at the news.

It had been a few weeks since she’d last seen Julian, and even though they’d continued to write letters, she didn’t feel like she was prepared for the reality of him being around more.

“Guess we’ll have a full table for dinner tonight,” Angie said.

“I wish Cole could make it,” Annie said with a sigh. “But since they have a game this weekend, he couldn’t get away.”

“Are you planning to go to any of the playoff games?” Duncan asked. “Since we already know they’re going to be playing.”

“Yes. I do hope to make it to a few of them. I’ll take Benji with me.” She narrowed her gaze at her dad. “And yes, I’ll pick the games that don’t interfere with school.”

“Thank you,” Duncan said. “I will be leaving next week for New York.”

“For just a visit?” Annie asked.

Duncan shook his head. “I need to stay there for an extended period of time. It’s been okay to work from here for the past few months, but there are some major meetings coming up that I need to attend in person.”

“I’m going with him,” Elizabeth said. “But if you need me here for anything, you just have to let me know.”

“Will Julian be returning to New York as well?” Angie asked, giving voice to the question that Kiara had but was uncertain about asking.

“He will have to join us for a week or two,” Duncan said. “And he might want to fly to Singapore to check on the projects there since he’s been out of touch for awhile. There are also other projects in Europe he needs to follow up on, so he might be traveling for a bit.”

Kiara listened as they discussed Julian’s schedule as if he didn’t have a wife or a baby on the way. It was a stark reminder—one she needed—that things really weren’t any different than they’d been before the wedding.

The vows she’d said and the piece of paper she’d signed were insignificant in the grand scheme of things. She couldn’t help but wonder if Julian had the same view of their marriage.

The letters they’d exchanged had drawn them closer as friends but hadn’t changed the parameters of their marriage.

She needed to remember that.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Elijah reached out and cupped Julian’s shoulder. “Ready to go home?”

His voice came through the headset Julian wore as they prepared for takeoff in the helicopter for the final stretch of the trip to the estate.

“I have mixed feelings,” Julian admitted.

He could have just agreed that he was ready to go home and left it at that, but he and Elijah had forged a friendship over the weeks they’d been together in the treatment center. And they’d pledged to always be honest as they held each other accountable.

Honesty was an odd concept for Julian. Not that he’d been dishonest in his dealings with people, but he’d spent most of his life hiding how he truly felt. How he was dealing with things. He’d never known someone he could be open with, while also being confident that they wouldn’t betray him.

“I don’t have a lot of happy memories at the estate,” he said. “I spent a lot of my time there drunk.”

“Well, maybe it’s time to make some new—happy—memories there.”

Julian hoped that was possible, but there were a lot of bad memories to overcome.

“How do you plan to deal with Kiara?”