Art of Forgiveness

by Monique Orgeron

  Avery walks over to Zander and puts her hand on his arm to try to calm him. She knows he’s protective of Fallon, but I wonder if she knows how protective he is of her, too. She finally gets him to settle when we hear a baby’s cry.

  Vin yells out, “He’s here.”

  We all run to the door and try and listen to what’s going on. I can tell you this much, that kid has a set of lungs on him.

  Not too much longer, they open the door and we all almost fall in. We run to the bed to get our first look at baby Stern. Even Avery pushes her way through to get a look at him.

  Fallon says, “I’d like for you all to meet Gavin Michael Stern. Gavin, these are all your uncles and your aunt Avery. You are a very lucky boy because they will all love and protect you all your life.”

  Avery

  After Liam and I dress, we head towards the screams, and it gets crazy from there, it all happens so fast. I had to move out of the way, the boys were all freaking out throwing punches and blaming each other for crazy shit. Poor Zander was a wreck. He can’t stand seeing anyone in pain. But it was all worth it when we heard the baby cry. He’s so beautiful, I fell in love instantly.

  We decide it’s time to give the little family some time alone, so we all head to the kitchen. I notice Catherine head into her office. It doesn’t take long before she comes into the kitchen and joins us.

  “Avery, would you help me, dear? Can you start the coffee? I’m going to make us all some breakfast. I think my boys worked up an appetite.”

  I look at all of them at the table, and they nod their heads in agreement. I make the coffee and help her finish the breakfast feast. We all start eating in quiet.

  I look at Liam and can’t believe I almost slept with him tonight. I’m glad the baby came when he did, or I would have gone through with it. I didn’t plan it, but when I saw him, I just wanted him so bad that I lost my senses and went for it.

  Catherine says, “They’re going to be exhausted. I’m going to go help them for a while and let them sleep.”

  “Catherine, you look exhausted, too. How about I take the first shift, and you can take over after you get some sleep, too. If something happens, I will let you know. And if the baby gets hungry, I’ll bring him back to Fallon.”

  “Thank you, Avery, I am tired. I would like to catch up on some sleep, if you don’t mind. I’ll set the alarm and relieve you in a few hours.”

  I finish eating and leave them to finish theirs. I knock on the door and tell Gabriel, “Catherine said you two need to get some sleep. I’ll take the baby for a little while, if that’s all right.”

  I look over with him at Fallon, who can barely keep her eyes open.

  Fallon says, “Please, Avery, if you don’t mind, he’s going to want to eat again soon. Can you bring him back when it’s time?”

  “I promise, you did good, Fallon. Sleep for a little while. Let me and Catherine help you for tonight.”

  She nods her head and hands me the baby.

  I take him to his nursery and change his diaper and get him cleaned up. In his clean pajamas, I take him to the rocker and start rocking him. As I sit, I start humming a lullaby I know. I look up to see Liam standing in the doorway.

  I tell him, “He’s perfect.”

  Liam comes closer and looks at Gavin. “He is.”

  “What happened earlier?” Liam asks.

  “Nothing. I just lost my mind for a minute, that’s all. It won’t happen again.”

  “I still want to talk to you, Avery.”

  “Not tonight, Liam. Don’t ruin our night. I don’t want to fight with you.”

  “I don’t want to fight. I would’ve rather made love.”

  “At the time, me, too.”

  “You ever think you’ll have that removed? Don’t you want children?”

  He points to my arm where the birth control is embedded.

  “Someday, but not anytime soon. I have a lot more work to do on myself first.”

  He chuckles. “I say we have at least three.”

  “Liam, we are not a ‘we’.”

  “We will be. I’m tired of playing games, Avery. I want everything Gabriel has. I want it all with you.”

  “Please stop, Liam.”

  He does, but he never leaves the room; he stays with me. He eventually falls asleep but is awakened when Gavin starts to cry. He’s hungry, so I carry him to Fallon with Liam behind me. As I’m leaving their room, Catherine comes strolling in. She informs me that I can go get some sleep now, she’ll take him after he’s finished eating.

  I’m so tired that I agree and head to my room. As I lie down, I feel an arm come around me.

  It’s Liam. “Sleep, baby. All I want to do is hold you tonight.”

  I’m so tired that I can’t even argue. I just lie down in his arms and sleep the night away.

  The next morning, I wake before Liam and quietly pack a bag and leave the house.

  57

  Liam

  I slept like a baby with Avery in my arms, but I wake to an empty bed. I figured she must be with the baby, so I walk to the nursery, but she’s not there. I decide to try Gabriel’s room. Mom, Fallon, and Gabriel are all there, but no Avery.

  “Good morning, how’s the little guy?”

  Gabriel says proudly, “He’s fine, just like his dad.” Then he whispers to me, “He doesn’t want to get off her tit.”

  We laugh, and then I ask, “Hey Mom, where’s Avery?”

  She looks at me and says, “She left.”

  “What do you mean she left?”

  “Liam, she said it was time for her to go home.”

  “And no one stopped her?”

  Shit! Mom stands and says, “We? Why didn’t you stop her? You better fix this, Liam. I planned on having that girl in this family. Stop screwing around and get her before she becomes Mrs. Phillip Braun.”

  I run out of the room and get dressed in my suit; if I’m going to do this, I’m going to do it right. With the ring in my pocket that Baxter made me years ago, I run like my life depends on it.

  I make it to her house in record time. I knock on the door, and her butler James answers the door.

  “I’d like to see Mrs. Edwards. Margaret, that is.”

  I wait by the door for her. I need to ask for her permission to wed her daughter, like a proper gentleman.

  Margaret comes to the door. “Liam, what a nice surprise. Why are you here?”

  “Mrs. Margaret, I would like to ask for your daughter’s hand in marriage.”

  “It’s about time, don’t you think, Liam? I’ve been waiting years for you to ask. You know I caught you a few times coming around. It killed me when you broke her heart. I always thought you were going to ask. Well, I guess it’s better late than never.”

  She clears her throat and says with a smile, “Yes, you may have Avery’s hand. But she won’t see you.”

  “What do you mean, she won’t see me?”

  “Sorry, Liam. She gave James and me explicit instructions not to let you in.”

  “Well, how am I going to ask her if I can’t see her?” I start yelling, “Avery! Avery!”

  “Son, I don’t know what you’re going to do, but that won’t work. She told us if you caused a problem to call the police on you. Maybe give her some time? She might come around.”

  James closes the door in my face. Shit, now what do I do? I sit on the porch step for a minute, trying to figure it out, but all I do is reminisce on our nights sitting right on these very steps. I take my phone out and text her:

  ME: “I’m here, come out.”

  No response, so I try again:

  ME: “I’m on our step waiting for you.”

  Still no response. I guess Margaret’s right. I can try again tomorrow. I start walking off, and then I realize I can’t wait for tomorrow. I’ve waited long enough to have her, I need her now. I turn around and spot that old fucking oak tree.

  “Oh hell!”

  I take my suit jacket off and loosen m
y tie and slip it off. I lay them both on the ground. I can’t believe I’m about to do this again. I start to climb and remember how easy this used to be, but not anymore, especially not in a suit.

  Once I get to the branch I always used, I look into her window and see her pacing like she did the first night I came to her. I sit up and start texting:

  ME: “I see you.”

  I see her stop and look down at her phone. She looks back up a few seconds later, like she doesn’t know where to look. So, I text her again:

  ME: “Think Avery, you know where I am.”

  I see her pause and read, then it hits her where I am. She moves the sheers and looks in my direction. I wave, and she fumes and closes the sheers.

  ME: “Come outside.”

  She finally replies:

  AVERY: “NO!!!!!”

  That’s a lot of exclamation marks. I guess she’s serious.

  ME: “Come on baby, please. For ole time’s sake.”

  AVERY: “YOU CAN FALL OUT OF THAT TREE FOR OLE TIME’S SAKE!”

  Whoa, old Avery would have never used all caps, and she sure wouldn’t want me to fall out the tree. She used to always worry about me up here.

  I get another reply:

  AVERY: “Please leave.”

  Maybe she’s softening; at least there were no caps or exclamations.

  ME: “Not till you talk to me.”

  I see her peeking through her sheers again.

  AVERY: “Please Liam, I’m done. Go away.”

  Bullshit. I text back.

  ME: “NO!”

  See how she likes that. I stay in the tree for almost thirty minutes before I get another response.

  AVERY: “Why won’t you leave?”

  ME: “Because I love you!”

  The next one is quick:

  AVERY: “You only think you do. If you loved me you wouldn’t have thrown me away for Marcy.”

  Well, that pisses me off.

  ME: “GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE NOW!!!!”

  The next thing I know, she’s opening the window and starts screaming.

  “Don’t you dare yell at me!”

  “I wasn’t the one who started yelling!”

  “Get out of that fucking tree, Liam, before I call the police.”

  “Call them! You know they won’t do anything to me, and your mother won’t press charges. This tree belongs to her.”

  “I hate you!”

  “No, you don’t!”

  She slams the window, and I wait it out. This time, almost an hour goes by before I hear anything else. But this time, it’s not Avery; it’s Margaret and James.

  “Liam, honey, you want a beer?”

  “Yes, ma’am, I sure do, but how are you going to get it to me? I can’t come down.”

  “Hold up, James has a ladder.”

  I wait, and sure enough, James comes back with a ladder and a saddle bag filled with ice and beer.

  “Thanks, Mrs. Margaret. You, too, James.”

  “No problem. I figure you’d use the saddle bag. Just lay it over the branch. It looks like you might be up there for a while.”

  She wasn’t lying. Hours go by, and all I get is a full bladder and aching balls from hugging this branch for so long.

  I feel my pants vibrate. It’s another text from Avery,

  AVERY: “Leave.”

  ME: “No, come talk to me.”

  No reply, but a few minutes later I get a call from Zander.

  “Hey, I’m kind of busy right now. What do you want?”

  “Are you in a tree?”

  “Avery called you?”

  He starts laughing his ass off. “Oh my God! Hey guys, she wasn’t lying. He’s in a tree.”

  I hear all of them laughing. “Tell everyone you can all kiss my ass.”

  A laughing Zander says, “I’m coming to take a picture. Hold on, don’t fall yet.”

  “Zander, do you want Avery back?”

  He pauses, then says, “Yes.”

  “Then don’t come. I know what I’m doing.”

  I hang up on him and wait some more. James comes out and climbs the ladder again and tells me, “Mrs. Margaret says you need to eat. I don’t know what you people over there did to my Avery, but that girl is so hard headed now. I wish she would have been like this when she was little. I like it.”

  I grab the two sandwiches he brought me and say, “I do, too, a lot.”

  He nods and climbs back down. I look at my phone, and sure enough, it’s past lunch. After I finish eating, I take another piss off the tree. Then I text her:

  ME: “How long are you going to make me stay in this tree.”

  Nothing, no response. Some more hours later, I’m still here in the tree. Then something happens right before dusk. Avery comes storming out of the house.

  “Liam, I want you out of that tree now! I’m not here to talk. Just get down and go home.”

  “If you don’t want to talk, then why are you here?”

  “Because your mother called and said I needed to get you out of the fucking tree.”

  I know she’s about to run off if I don’t do something quick, so I yell, “I didn’t cheat on you!”

  She had already started walking, but she heard me. I can tell because she stopped.

  She starts to turn around. “What did you say?”

  “You heard me. I did not cheat on you with Marcy or anyone ever.”

  “Get down here now, Liam, so I can kick your ass!”

  “No, I want you to listen to me. I loved you, Avery, so much it hurt. I wanted to marry you, I wanted you to have our children. But when I turned eighteen right before graduation, Mom told me about our family business. We’re not good people, Avery, and I couldn’t do that to you. You were everything good and pure in my life. I knew if I married you, I would only hurt you when you found out what kind of person I would have to become. So, I thought if I became distant, you would forget about me, but you didn’t, so I told you I slept with Marcy, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. All I ever wanted to do was protect you. Even if that meant protecting you from me. What I didn’t plan for was how much it was going to hurt. I never forgot you, and I never loved anyone else. When you came back into my life, I…I’m never going to forgive myself for that. You should have been with me. Then they would have never gotten to you.”

  “So, you feel sorry for me?”

  “Yes, no. I mean, I thought I was saving you to live a perfect life. And then to find out you weren’t, it killed me. I don’t see a victim when I look at you, Avery. I see the woman who survived not only the rapes, but you survived me. I never survived you. I ruined my life the day I threw your love away. Please forgive me. I need you, Avery. I don’t think I could go on anymore without you.”

  “You’re not worried about your family business hurting me anymore?”

  “No, you’re stronger than me. I think you could handle it way more than I have. I think you always could have. I just never gave you the option before. I am now, Avery. Marry me, baby, please. I’ll beg until you put me out of my misery. Look, I even have the ring I had made for you years ago. I planned on asking you to marry me at my graduation.”

  I pull the box out to show her.

  “Liam, come down here.”

  “Well…I –”

  “Liam, just come down. We’ll talk.”

  “See, there’s a problem.”

  “What problem?”

  “I kind of ripped my pants.”

  She starts laughing. “You ripped your pants?”

  “Yes, stop laughing. I went commando, and my pants split down the middle. I don’t want your mom or anyone else to see.”

  “It’s fine, just come down.”

  “Okay, fine, but no laughing.”

  I start to make my way down, and of course she’s laughing hard. My ass and my balls are exposed. I guess I should be happy that’s she’s laughing and not pissed anymore.

  I make my final step down and turn – and “Fuck!” She punches
me in the face.

  “Avery, what the hell?”

  “That’s for lying to me for years and not trusting me with the truth. You never gave me a chance. And it’s for years of making me live with a broken heart. I would’ve stayed, Liam. I loved you. I would’ve accepted it all. I loved you so much, and you broke me and made me regret my love for you. I loved you so much that I couldn’t even let another man touch me. I loved you, Liam. I still love you. Now and forever. I forgive you, Liam. This is me forgiving you, but don’t you ever –”

  I couldn’t let her go on; I needed her lips on mine now. I kiss her like I’ve never kissed her. And the best part is, she kisses me back.

  “I love you, too, Avery. Past, present and always.”

  I bend down on one knee and pull the ring out of my pocket.

  “Will you marry me, Avery Edwards? Be my wife. You were and are the only one for me.”

  She’s crying, and I’m not ashamed to say I’m crying, too. In the distance, I hear Margaret and James yelling, “Say yes!”

  She wipes her eyes and says, “Yes, Liam. Yes.” She bends down with me and kisses me. We remain like that for a while, kissing, crying, and hugging.

  “So, you won’t marry Phil, you’ll marry me?”

  “No, Lucy won’t like me marrying Phil.” She laughs.

  “Who’s Lucy?”

  “You’ll meet her at the wedding.”

  “Avery, let’s see if the ring fits.”

  I remove it from the box and slip it on her finger; it’s a perfect fit. It’s a three-carat single princess cut diamond set on a platinum band.