by Lilly Wilde
“Neither do I. Not as much as I used to,” he defended.
“This life has cloaked the person she’s trying to get back to. You all need to talk—really talk. No expectations, no manipulation. Just talk. I think she has a lot to say, and you all need to listen. Don’t let this chance slip through your fingers. You have the opportunity I wish I had. Don’t ignore it and end up with a load of regret.”
Aiden’s expression softened as he crossed the room and pulled me into an embrace. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Just missing my own parents.”
We exchanged knowing glances, and I forced a smile before facing the others. My glance fell upon Connor’s sad face. I wanted to tell him what he longed to hear, but truth was … I couldn’t. I had no idea where Sienna’s head was at, but if her emphatic denouncements were any indication of her true feelings, then she really wasn’t coming back to Connor.
Fran walked in with a tray of food. She took in the somber looks of the room and placed the tray near the flowers on the table in front of Connor. “Can I get you anything else, Mr. Raine?” she asked.
“That will be all,” he said, dismissing her.
“Daddy, why don’t you come downstairs and we can all have dinner together?” Allison suggested as Fran left the room.
“You kids go on without me. I wouldn’t be very good company.”
“Dad, you’ve never really been good company, so we really wouldn’t notice the difference,” Aiden said.
Connor shook his head, a hint of a smile lighting his face.
“So why not sit down together?” Aiden asked.
“Yes, Connor. You should join us,” I added.
But Connor had no intention of coming downstairs. And after a few appeals, we finally gave up and left him to eat alone in his bedroom. After dinner, Aiden and I spent time with Lyric, hoping to recapture the happiness we’d enjoyed before the recent blows to our lives. For a while, we were back there—in our Boston home, sitting on the floor of the nursery, as we played, laughed and blocked out the rest of the world.
Until Lyric’s lids grew heavy, we remained in our little circle, grasping every bit of joy we could, and stocking up for whatever was waiting. After tucking the baby in, we retired to Aiden’s former bedroom, and I slipped into the tub, further relaxing and preparing my mind for the next day.
“Tired?” Aiden asked, as he strolled into the bathroom.
“Just a tad,” I said.
Aiden stepped closer to the tub. “You certainly look relaxed.”
“That’s because I am. A glass of wine works wonders.”
“Let’s see if I can relax you even more,” Aiden said, his voice lowered. He sat on the side of the tub, and his hand moved over the edge, disappearing into the fragrant bubbles. He focused the devilish glint of his eyes on mine. His finger circled my nipple, and then he led a slow trail down my body until he reached my thighs and spread them apart.
“How does that feel?” he asked once he’d slid two skilled fingers inside me.
My mouth was agape, but nothing decipherable escaped, only pleasured moans as his long fingers slid in and out of me.
“Mmm.” My eyelids fluttered closed and my head was lying against the back of the tub.
“Open your eyes,” Aiden said. “Look at me,” he whispered. “Come for me.”
“Yes,” I breathed as he continued to caress my sex.
“That’s it, princess. Let that beautiful pussy come on my fingers,” he said, the velvety tone of his voice stirring me, and pulling me toward a climax.
“That’s it,” he said, as his fingers expertly stroked my pussy, working feverishly, driving me to an orgasm. “Let it all out.”
And that’s when I let go, and the walls of my sex clenched around his fingers, releasing in a flow of heated waves.
*****
It had been days since I’d heard from Sienna. When I’d spoken with her, she’d said she was headed back to Chicago. I assumed that meant she would come to her home, but obviously, she had other plans. Connor had transformed into a man I no longer recognized, and he pulled further into himself. He wasn’t sad, or at least he didn’t appear so; he appeared more contemplative than anything, as if he’d been looking back over his life. He no longer resembled the refined, upscale billionaire. He appeared to be a concerned husband and father—one who was finally waking up to an existence he’d taken for granted.
Despite Sienna’s request that we not look for her, Aiden’s team had finally pinpointed her whereabouts. But she threatened to leave again if we came after her, so all we could do was wait. And we did—for days and days.
“What are we going to do about Dad if she really doesn’t come home?” Nicholas asked.
“I figured she would have been back by now,” Aiden said. “It’s been almost a week since she last called.”
“Maybe we should ignore what she said and just all go to her,” Sloan suggested.
“We’ll give it a couple more days, if she doesn’t come home, we’ll go to her,” Aiden said.
*****
The following morning, we were all assembled in Connor’s bedroom. Allison was sitting beside her father, holding his hand and cajoling him to join us downstairs. After a few grumbles, he finally caved. “You kids go ahead. I’ll be down in a minute,” he said.
We were hesitant to leave, thinking he was only saying what we wanted to hear.
“Go on now,” Connor reiterated. “I’m coming.”
We left Connor to himself and headed downstairs to the family room. After a period of silence, we aired our concerns and suppositions on where this was all headed.
“Daddy’s coming,” Allison whispered and we quickly changed the subject.
“Is all of the whispering about me?” Connor asked, as he approached us.
“No, Daddy,” Allison lied. “We were just discussing holiday plans.”
“Oh yeah?” Connor asked. “What did you come up with?”
“Not a lot just yet. How did you sleep?” Allison asked.
“As well as could be expected, I suppose,” he said.
Connor didn’t resemble himself at all. His face no longer bore that taut, superior expression, nor did I see him as the largest personality in the room. As I’d said before, he seemed human—likeable. But it wasn’t hard to notice the sadness of his eyes.
“Have any of you kids spoken to your mother?” Connor asked, once we were seated at the dining room table.
“As far as I know … only Aria,” Sloan said.
Connor shook his head as he glanced at me.
“I tried to get through to her, but I don’t know if I did,” I said.
“Thank you, Aria. I can’t see a life without her. If only she’d give me the chance to tell her that,” he said.
“You can tell me now.”
We turned toward the sound of the voice and saw Sienna standing in the doorway. Everyone leapt from their seats to greet her—all except Connor.
“Mommy, you’re home,” Allison exclaimed, pulling Sienna into a hug.
“We were worried sick,” Sloan said, grasping her mother’s hand.
“Don’t scare us like that again,” Nicholas said, taking his turn to embrace his mother.
Hugging Sienna, I said, “It’s good to see you. I’m so glad you came home.”
“Mother, what were you thinking? Why did you do something like this?” Aiden asked.
“I just needed some time to myself,” she said.
“Come sit down. Have you eaten?” Sloan asked.
“I haven’t had much of an appetite,” she said. “Something about watching your family fall apart removes the desire for food.”
“You should eat something,” Nicholas said as he led Sienna to her chair.
I looked at Connor. He hadn’t said a word. His eyes were fixed on Sienna. She didn’t look at all herself … but perhaps she was more herself than she’d been in years, dressed in jeans and a white button down shirt. Locks of he
r shoulder-length brown hair were tucked neatly behind each ear. Her lips were lightly stained with a hint of rouge, while she otherwise appeared to be without any makeup. She looked relaxed.
“I need to speak with Aria and Aiden,” Sienna said. “In private,” she added, as she retracted her hand from Nicholas’.
Sienna had come home. That was a good sign. Or, at least, I hoped it was. But why did she want to speak with us? I glanced at Aiden. His gaze was on his mother as she exited the room. Sienna led us to the study and closed the door behind us.
“Aria told me I needed to check on Connor … that he was ill. He certainly didn’t look ill to me,” Sienna said, glancing from Aiden to me.
Aiden’s eye’s flashed to mine, obviously shocked by Sienna’s words. I hadn’t told Aiden and the others that part of my lie. “Sienna, the things I said …”
“You mean you aren’t moving out of the country, Aria?” she asked, feigning shock.
“I think we both know I was saying just about anything to get you back here.”
“I realize that, but that’s not why I returned.”
“Why did you?” I asked.
“My children. My daughter-in-law. My grandchild. For the first time since becoming a mother, I’m placing my children first.”
“Mother, why did you want to speak to us?” Aiden asked.
Sienna motioned for us to take a seat. “I was very upset with you, Aiden. I couldn’t believe you’d take this feud with your father so far. You must have known what it would cost us.”
“So you’re back to do what you’ve always done? Siding with Father on something that has stripped this family of everything that matters?”
“No. That’s where you’re wrong. After some time, I realized it was the best thing you could have done.”
“What?” Aiden looked uncharacteristically taken aback.
“Your father is very proud of you, and he’ll never say this, but I think he admires your triumph. That you were able to take ahold of the one thing that he’s held dear for so many years. That you stood up for what you believed in.”
“You’ll have to give me a moment to take this in,” Aiden said.
“It’s rather surprising to me as well, I assure you,” Sienna replied.
“How do you think Connor will react to your support of Aiden?” I asked.
“I don’t know and I don’t care,” Sienna said. “Not anymore.”
“Aiden didn’t mean for any of this to happen,” I said.
“I realize that,” she said, looking at her son. “I know you won’t agree, but of all my children, you’re the most like your father.”
Aiden frowned.
“But not in all areas,” she quickly added. “Your love and compassion—as much as I hate to admit it, that’s because of Dianna. And you can put on this show all you want, but I know this was hard for you to do to your father.”
“I didn’t want this,” Aiden said. “I never wanted this.”
“I know,” she said, and she assumed the seat beside me. “Your relationship with Connor has always been … complicated.”
“I’ve never understood him. He’s constantly trying to teach me something. He pushes me out the door, but then blackmails me to return.”
“He wanted you to be strong. Stronger than he was when he was younger.”
“Why me?”
“Because he saw more of himself in you.”
Aiden grimaced. “That’s more of a burden than a compliment.”
“It depends on how you look at it,” Sienna said. “Have you ever considered that given the two of us, that Connor is the better choice for a role model?”
“Are you saying I should?”
“Maybe.”
“Why would you think that?”
“I wasn’t your mother. I let other people raise you so that I could keep up with the façade of being the flawless wife of Connor Raine, the woman who stood dutifully at his side, smiling through a mask I’d perfected over the years. What have I given you, Aiden? An overzealous need for your submission to Connor’s wants? Sheet music? A feeble attempt to steer Connor away from the vision he had for your life?”
“Mother, what’s going on? Where’s all of this coming from?”
“Last year, you told me I was just like him. Willing to risk everything and everyone for Raine Industries. I thought about that. And I thought about how I may have been what drove you to do this to your father. Had I been more involved with your upbringing, had I paid more attention to my children and less to appearances, maybe we wouldn’t—”
“Do you think now is the time to rehash the past? You and I have discussed this, and I’ve said and still maintain my stance—you’re aware and you’re making amends for all of that. You didn’t force Dad to do any of the things he did. I don’t blame you,” Aiden said.
“But your father—he still gave you something. I’ve only taken, which is why I said that given the choice … maybe Connor is the one you should choose to model.”
“I’m not sure how you will take this, but I don’t choose to model either of you,” Aiden said. “Like most children, we try to do for our kids what our parents failed to do with us. I know you love me, and I know that over the years, you’ve seen me in much the same light as Dad, as the person who would become the patriarch of the family. The one who would take Raine Industries and make it into something greater than it already was, to represent the strength you saw in my father. Well, in a way, I’ve done that. The company is mine now, and I have no intention of it ever falling back to Dad.”
Sienna shook her head. “I hope you don’t think I called you aside to convince you of anything. I’m going about this all wrong. Basically, what I want to say is that I’m glad you’re enough like your father that it gave you the strength to take that company. And I hope you keep it.”
Was that spite talking? Or was she sincere?
“Dad says he thought you were in Arkansas.”
“I was,” she replied.
“When I left this house, I had no idea of where I was going,” she said. “I just drove and I somehow ended up at the airport. And at the ticket counter, when the agent asked my destination, Little Rock was the first place that popped into my head. Of all the exotic or luxurious places I could have gone, I chose Arkansas. I didn’t question it and I didn’t understand it until I was standing outside the house in which I’d grown up. I’d forgotten how small it was. The entire house was the size of one of my bathrooms. I remembered hating that place. On my eighteenth birthday, I decided I wanted to get out of there and chase my dreams. That’s when I met Connor. He had a few dreams of his own.”
She smiled, nostalgia taking her back to a different place and time.
“He said all the right things. Did all the right things to impress me, to make me happy. Going back there reminded me of why I fell in love with your father. He was a different man back then, and so much of that man has vanished over the years. When we started out, I was the center of it all. As the power and wealth grew, something shifted. It wasn’t any one thing I could put my hands on. It was gradual. I was no longer the priority. His status was. And by the time I had Sloan, we were no longer the same couple from Little Rock who were chasing the same dream. We were something different—a symbol of wealth and prosperity—the American dream. And we grew into those roles without even realizing it. And I would have probably never recognized it if a rambunctious spirit like you hadn’t stepped into our lives, Aria.”
She reached over, grabbed my hand, and gave it a gentle squeeze. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. And I was sure Aiden was thinking along the same lines, given the way he was looking at his mother, as if she were a stranger he’d like to meet.
“And I remember thinking you hated me,” I said.
“Oh, I did. Just a wee bit,” she said, holding up her finger and forefinger representing the size of a pea. “I knew I’d receive the attention I wanted from Aiden a lot easier than I would my husband. And
I knew Aiden would accept mine in return. And Aria, I didn’t like the influence you had over my son. He’d never placed another woman before me, until you,” Sienna said. “Well, maybe Allison from time to time, and as much as I hate to say it, even Dianna, but never anyone else.”
“So you were jealous?”
“I suppose one could look at it that way. Like Connor, I saw something in Aiden I didn’t see in my other children. He was willing to make sacrifices for me and he was fiercely protective. In some sense, Aiden gave to me a little of what Connor once did, and I knew with you in the picture, I wouldn’t have it at all. You had the love and affection I wanted, but would never have. I was very selfish.”
I didn’t quite know how to respond to that one. I glanced at Aiden. He was studying his mother, waiting for her to continue.
“I can’t speak for Connor, but I’m not going back to the way things were,” she said. “Our time on this earth is short and so very precious. I refuse to spend another second of it living up to the ideal of what the world expects. I’m not saying I’ll suddenly become June Cleaver—that’s not in the cards for me. But over the past few days, I’ve enjoyed being Sienna. Not Sienna Raine—just Sienna.”
She stood and faced the both of us. “So your question: why did I wish to speak with you?”
“Yes,” Aiden replied, and sat back in his seat.
“I wanted to thank you. Both of you,” she added, offering me a smile. “Had it not been for Aria, we’d all still be walking around believing the lie. Aiden, she’s given you something to fight for—something to believe in.”
There it was. The official Raine endorsement I didn’t think I’d ever really receive.
Taking a deep breath, she continued. “And I’m sorry I wasn’t the parent you deserved. That I wasn’t the one to teach you how to hold a spoon or tie your shoes. I’m sorry I missed those special moments that every mother and child should experience. It’s not my job to pick and choose the paths or the partners my children set their sights on. It’s my job to offer them unconditional love and support. To let them follow their own dreams like your father and I did … to let them forge their own paths. I’m sorry I failed you. But I promise, from this day forward, you’ll have the mother I should have always been.”
