Page 75 of Because of Them

Michael stands at the end of the hallway, William on his chest and a bunch of lilies hanging by his side. His chin is low as he shuffles his feet. He searches the room for me, but drops his gaze down to his feet when he sees me on the couch. If it wasn’t forHenry, now fast asleep on my chest, it would look like I hadn’t moved in the hours Michael has been gone. And from the look on his face, I’d say he knows it.

Pulling Callum around the kitchen bench, Cassidy opens the back door to let Baxter out and turns to look at me. She rolls her eyes towards Michael, dropping them low to the flowers that hang by his side. Her eyebrows jump and she tilts her head to the side.

“We’ll get going. Thank you for letting us help Audrey.” I go to brush off her thanks, but she holds a hand up to stop me. “I mean it. Thank you.”

With Callum dragging behind her, she skitters out of the house.

Tension hangs thick in the air as the door clicks behind them. It turns to lead as the grumble of their car on the gravel dies down.

“I’m sorry,” Michael finally says. He drops the flowers on the table and joins me on the couch, but the gap between us is blinding. Cassidy and I were leg to leg the whole time, but Michael sits right up against the arm rest. He turns his body to face mine, one knee propping up on the cushions. Idarehim to make himself comfier. To lean back or close his eyes. Thankfully for him, he doesn’t.

I don’t respond to his apology. I can’t say it’s okay when it’s not.

“I shouldn’t have left today, and I knew that as soon as I had. I did everything I could to get back as soon as possible, but I know that means nothing to you.”

He adjusts William in his arms to free a hand, and uses it to pull the band out of his hair. It falls down over his shoulders and he brushes it back from his face with his fingers. A stray piece falls across his cheeks and I want to reach out and tuck it away. I want to run my fingers over his cheek and okay maybe I wantto kiss him. But I also want to slap him andfuck,hormones are annoying.

“Can I tell you where I was?” he asks.

I slump back into the cushions behind me and tipping my head to face the ceiling. A flicker of heat trickles down my neck, remembering the last time I was in the position. But the ice in my head and in my heart douses the flame before it has a chance to catch. We were different then. I was naive, drunk in lust and hope.

“I don’t want to talk about it. Go do you, it’s fine.” It’s not. In fact, it’s far from it. But resentment swells until baseless, emotionless remarks are all I can manage. “The boys will wake up soon. I just want to enjoy the peace before it’s over.”

He shifts, one hand on William’s back as he sits up. With his free hand, Michael wraps his large arm around Henry’s tiny frame, rolling him off my chest. With the boys snuggled into his chest, Michael makes my ovaries explode. If I hadn’t justbeenpregnant I—No. I cut the thought off and snap my eyes shut. Never again.

“Before the boys, you said you needed a grown up. Not another child. That’s what I’m trying to be. I just know that I’m shit at it. I made a promise to myself that I would be the man you deserve, the man all three of you deserve—four if you count Maisie, which we should. I said I would step up and make something of myself. That’s what I’m trying to do. I made a commitment to my dad to manage Noah’s project and prove that I am capable. Not just of a job, but of eventually running his business. I should never have prioritised that over being here with you today. I fucked up, and I’m sorry.”

My neck begins to ache from the stretch. I roll it to the side, facing Michael but keeping my eyes closed so I don’t get distracted by all the soft masculinity he’s displaying. “Thank you for acknowledging it.”

“There’s something else.” He continues and there it is. Not for the first time, and probably not for the last, I hold my breath as I prepare for the blow.

He nudges me with his knee. “You don’t just deserve a man who has his shit together. You also deserve to do what you love, every day. And you deserve the space to do it, properly, not crammed in next to Maisie’s toys.”

“Kids take up space.”

“Right, so it’s a good thing I have plenty of space to give you.”

My heart sinks to my stomach and my throat closes. My lip quivers and I want to tell him to stop, that I don’t need to hear it.

“That came out wrong. I had land,” he rushes out. “I’m building you a house.”

A house?I open my eyes, my lip no longer quivering but instead hanging so low my chin hits my shoulder. He did not just say what I think he did.Did he?

Because I swear I thought I heard him say he was building me a whole damn house, after what, one—maybe two—comments about this one being too small. All so I can have room to paint again. Regardless of the fact I don’t havetimeto paint again right now. The two half-finished commission canvases sit on easels in the now crowded sunroom, along with the promise to get them done as soon as possible and the reassurance that the women understand and I should take my time.

Time.I start to spiral, counting up the minutes and the hours and the sheer effort required to move into a new house. Never mind the two time thieves currently cuddled up on Michael’s chest. I’ll have to feed them soon, and the cycle will begin all over again.

“I don’t have time.”

Michael shushes Henry, who has started wriggling and whimpering, as if on cue. Although, it may be William. Without being able to see the little dab of blue nail polish on Henry’sbig toenail, and especially without being able to see the extra puffiness of his cheeks, I can’t be certain.

“You don’t need to do anything Audrey, I promise. It’s nearly done. I’ll handle the final walk through. I’ll organise landscaping before you move in and I’ll help with everything on moving day, and leading up to it.”

“Fine.”

There’s a small, tiny—miniscule really—piece of me that’s excited. Hell, I might even have swooned a little in an alternate universe. He’s doing what he can, in the way that he can. This is his grand gesture, in a very Michael way, to show me he will do anything for me and the boys. I can hear the love and good intentions in his voice. I can appreciate the effort he is going to and how he just wants me to have everything he thinks I deserve. And that he is the man who can give it all to me. Plus, I do genuinely think this house is too small and we need a bigger backyard for Baxter. The poor dog is currently trapped in a tiny courtyard of an outdoor area.

But I’m still mad. Moving house is a big deal, and Michael has come in and made all the decisions for me.

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