Living Alone Together - Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen.

"Mama, there's a boy in Auntie's bed," James informed his mother after having been told to wake up his Aunt for breakfast.
"What?!" Cora exclaimed.

Since when did her twin bring home men. As much as she wanted to, she didn't have time to play 20 questions with her sister.

"You be a good boy. Ok, James?"
"But I always am!"
She ruffled his hair and ran upstairs to knock on her sister's door.
"Aze! We're leaving now! Please get up soon."

Hearing Cora's feet running back down the stairs, Aislinn turned in bed.

She laid there comfortably with William, like they'd done this before. His face was lit by the sunlight that begged to come through the drapes. The healed bruises from his first encounter with Travis, were starting to come back because of yesterday. Her hand reached up to hold the parts of his face that weren't damaged in any way.

Then, she kissed the parts that were. When she pulled back, William's voice startled her.

"If that's my wake up call, I'd love to sleep with you every night."
She laughed lightly.
"Did you sleep alright?"
"Best sleep I've had in a while."
"I gotta get up. James-"

Her door burst open and a little boy dressed in overalls holding his toy truck, came bounding in.
Turning back to face the little boy, she smiled brightly.
"Good morning James!"
"Good morning Auntie!" He said, reaching up to give her a morning hug.
"Mmmm... James you smell yummy!"
"William, this is James, my nephew. James, this is my friend, William."
"Hi James..." William said over Aislinn's shoulder.
James waved hello.
Turning his attention to Aislinn, he asked, "Will you take me to the park?"

They all agreed to go after breakfast.

When James left the room, they got ready for the day.
Aislinn helped William out of bed. With a few moans, groans and explicative under his breath, he was finally up.
"The pain's definitely kicking in."
"I'll give you some painkillers downstairs. You sure you're up for a walk?"
"I can't let you guys walk out there on your own. Not with Travis out there."
"But what can you do in your condition?"
"I'd rather be his punching bag, than you."
"He wouldn't hurt me."
"You can't say that for sure."

Her shoulders slumped as she walked to his car. Fortunately for William, his clean gym clothes were still in his car, so with a bit of difficulty and help from Aislinn, he changed into those.

Keeping a close eye on their small charge run around the park, they sat on the bench under the old tree, held hands and talked.

"So tell me what happened between you and this Travis."
She shrugged, "Where do I start... We met when I was in college. We dated a while. He was a great person to be with. In my final year, I brought him with me to meet and visit Cora at her school."

William nodded, understanding where this could be leading.

"Well, one evening, somehow I walked in on him and Cora having... You know... In her apartment. They were drunk and both hadn't been introduced to each other yet as my sister and my boyfriend. That was my mistake."

"And James?"

"Cora and Tony, James' father were on a slippery slope at that time. When she found out she was pregnant, she wasn't 100% sure who the father was."
"Nevertheless, Tony promised he'd do everything right by her. He was here for a while after James' birth but had to leave. Family obligations to his father. I'm not sure why he hasn't come back, though."

"What about you?"

"I graduated and went back home."
"He said you wanted him to follow you."
"That was before-"
"Oh..."
"Yeah," she sighed.

He continued gently brushing his thumb over her knuckles.

"It's all over with, and I just want him to move on. I know it was a mistake on both their parts. I'm over it all, but seeing his face brings back the hurt, sometimes.."

"How did Cora get over it?"

"When she told Tony everything, he became her pillar of strength."

"Where could he be now?"

"I don't know... I've been wanting to find him. And it probably won't be hard, but I don't have a spare moment to even sit down and make the calls. He sends cards for Cora and James, but without return addresses."

"Auntie!"

Aislinn jumped off the bench to push James on the swing. Looking over at a brooding William, she shook her head. Maybe it's for the best that he knew all her dirty laundry before they went on their second date.

William blew out a deep breath.

As they walked hand-in-hand with James in the middle, Aislinn and William took turns ooh-ing and aah-ing at his latest adventure tales.

"You'd be a great writer when you grow up, James."
James smile smugly and tilted his chin up with tremendous pride.
"I know, Pa tells me every time."

Sitting in a family restaurant, it became quite apparent that James was very comfortable with William.

Evidently so, when he asked William hopefully, "Do you have kids?"

William shook his head, "Sorry kiddo, I don't."

"It's ok. Auntie doesn't have any either."

Popping a fry in his mouth, he continued chatting about little nothings that were big deals to his young life. Meanwhile, Aislinn blushed furiously after William gave her a knowing wink.

She gave his foot a hard kick under the table which caused him to flinch and wince at the pain it caused his whole body.

"Oh, shoot! Sorry!!" She apologized, almost forgetting about last night's fight.
Who could miss the purple splotches on his face.

"Apology not accepted. You have to make it up to me. Right James?"
"It's only fair, Auntie. It's not nice to kick someone who's hurt."
"You're very smart, James. That's right," William said to the little man.
"Mama and Auntie are smarter!"
"What do you say, James? What could Auntie do for me?"

Aislinn suddenly felt parched. She feared her outspoken nephew would voice out another outrageous idea.

When she raised her glass to sip, she found James wasn't ready to stray from his norm.
"She could give you a baby!"

Aislinn choked on her drink, and coughed many times before she was finally able to catch her breath.
"Sorry... My drink went down the wrong tube."

Throughout her coughing slash choking fit, William was silently chuckling at her reaction and patting her back.

"Thanks, James. I'll keep that one in mind."

"Are Mama and Pa home yet?" James asked, obviously tired from being out.
"Not yet, sweetie. Are you sleepy now? Nap time when you get home."
"Ok," he replied.

Aislinn looked over at William, "Let's go?"

Paying for the meal, he watched Aislinn and James walk ahead.

The boy certainly was a bright child.
William silently wondered if she would ever consider the idea of having his child.

Jogging up behind the two, he draped an arm over her shoulders and they walked home content.

A few blocks away from home and James' energy wasted away.
"I caaan't walk anymore..." He whined.

Giving into the boy, Aislinn lifted James and carried him for a block. Once they turned the corner, William surprised her by shifting James into his arms.

"Honey, are you sure? He's a bit heavy."
"It's ok," he assured her.

They talked quietly about this and that.

Once they'd settled James in bed, William led Aislinn to hers.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, she stood between his legs captured by a hand on each of her waist.
"I have a question to ask..."
"Shoot."
"Do you still have feelings for this Trav-"
"No. My turn."
"Hit me."
She leaned forward, entwined her fingers behind his neck and whispered, "You don't have a psycho ex willing to tear me up, do you?"
He frowned and shook his head.
"Good," she said and leaned back to take a good look at his face.
"Am I worth those bruises?"
"You kidding me, Ace? Of course."

She leaned in and kissed him tenderly.
Leaning back once more, she said, "Good answer."

Hearing the jangling of the front door knob she asked, "Are you staying, or leaving?"

"Staying."

"Then I guess it's time you met the rest of my family," she said with a peck of a kiss on his nose.

Aislinn dropped her hands from behind his neck to his hands and led him down to the front door.