Begin Again novel Chapter 231

[Six Months Later]...

After months of preparations, Eden's weeklong exhibition at Fugue was a smashing success. She even managed to sell two of her paintings. But with all the smiling and pandering she had done to Rock Castle's uber-rich, she would not have expected anything less.

So when Saturday rolled around, the only thing she wanted to do was to crash on the couch and put up her feet. Not a lot for a girl to ask. But she wasn't destined to enjoy the little things in life.

Having tried every trick in the book to get her to give up her spot on the couch and leave the house with him, Liam finally let the cat out of the bag. Her friends had tasked him with the sacred job of dropping her off at Heat for a surprise baby shower.

Eden didn't want to go anywhere, but she would never hear the end of it if she didn't show up. So she threw on a pair of black leggings—the only thing in her closet that still fit her— and Liam's denim shirt and a pair of sneakers.

She piled her hair in a high ponytail and dabbed some light lipstick, and grabbed her tote.

Downstairs, she found Liam watching the news and Aiden scribbling in a colouring book. The latter immediately ran up to her to check on his little sister.

"Baby is sleeping?" He asked after touching her tummy for a few minutes and still didn't feel the baby's kicks.

"Yeah, she's tired like mommy." Eden laughed and ruffled his hair.

"Okay!" Aiden called over his shoulder as he dashed to the living room to put on his shoes and get his backpack.

"You're rocking that denim shirt," Liam pointed at her and smirked. "It looks familiar."

"I stole it from my hookup!" She smirked right back at him as he drew her in his arms and kissed her nose before he poured her a glass of orange juice.

"Thanks!" She mumbled while she looked through her tote for her prenatal vitamins.

"Ready to go?" He asked.

"Uhmhum." She nodded and popped the pills in her mouth, washing them down with the juice.

"Remember, you have to act surprised; they'll skin me alive if they know I told you," Liam reminded her as he crouched on the floor to tie her laces.

"I'm not sure why they thought you could keep a secret!" Eden stifled a yawn with the back of her hand.

"I can definitely keep a secret, Mrs Anderson!"

"You? Please!" She scoffed at him. "Remind me again, who told everyone we're having a girl as soon as we learned the baby's sex?"

"It wasn't me!" He smiled guiltily.

"You sure know how to make Shaggy look innocent!"

"Who's Shaggy again?" He laughed as he stood up and turned to the living room to call their son. "Kool-Aid, come on, let's go, let's go! If we don't leave now, we'll be late, and I'll get in trouble with your aunts!"

"Coming, Dad!" Aiden yelled as he ran back to the kitchen with his shoes on the wrong feet, dragging his backpack behind him.

"Dude, how did you even run in those without tripping over your feet," Liam sighed and knelt again to fix Aiden's shoes before he picked him up and threw his backpack over his shoulder.

Brenda came down just as they were about to slip out of the house.

"Have fun!" She called after them.

Half an hour later, they were at Heat.

"Call Jace when you're ready to leave. I have a meeting after my appointment with Linda," Liam told her as he drew her close and kissed her.

"It's okay. I'll ask Cass to drop me off," She said as he helped her out of the car.

"Bye, Aid, be good, don't make Daddy's therapist cry." She waved at her son and blew him a kiss.

Aiden blew ten more back at her and promptly forgot about her and carried on babbling to Steven and James in the front.

"I love you, Princess." Liam kissed her forehead and pushed her to the entrance.

Despite being under new management, the restaurant hadn't changed much since Eden was there on Sienna's birthday several months ago. The hostess showed her to the private room her friends had booked.

"Surprise!" Everyone screeched as soon as she walked in, and because she wasn't expecting Liam's mom and sisters and Erica, she didn't have to fake her 'surprised' face too much.

"Oh, you guys!" She squealed right back at everyone as they all hugged her like they hadn't seen her in a while, even though they'd all stopped by her exhibition throughout the week.

"This is so pretty!" Eden gushed as she took in the decor in the room. On any other day, the place was normally kitted out in minimalist elegance. But today, her friends had gone all out to transform it into a starry night themed wonderland.

She waddled around the room and 'oohed' and 'aahed' at all the small details, completely smitten with everything, from the stars and crescent moon floating from the ceiling to the star-shaped cupcakes she nibbled on the whole afternoon.

She was tickled pink when she saw they'd used Aiden's book as a centrepiece on the snacks table.

She'd printed several copies and sent a few to all her friends even though they didn't have kids. She also gave one to Zara from HR and shipped another to Isaac's daughter.

She'd received raving reviews from both Zara and Isaac, and they'd even encouraged her to think about publishing it. But she wasn't planning to commercialise the book. It was a labour of love she'd wanted to share with those near and dear to her.

"He told you, didn't he?" Her friends ganged up on her as she was about to grab more cupcakes.

"Who? Told me what?" She feigned ignorance.

"About this, of course!" Sienna groaned. "Honestly, this is why I don't trust married people!"

"Hey, watch it!" Eden scolded her.

"But are you surprised he told her, though?" Cassandra pointed out. "This is the same guy who prattled off to Eden just last week about my accidental smooch with Matt in his office."

"Liam can keep a secret!" Eden defended her husband and artfully changed the subject, throwing her friend under the spotlight. "Speaking of that accidental smooch, are you guys like seeing each other now?"

Cassandra turned a bright pink and shook her head quickly. "It was an accident, you guys. I dropped something. He helped me pick it up and—"

"And your mouths accidentally touched!" Lydia made kissing faces and smacked her lips together.

"You are so gross!"

"So you are still not a thing?" Sienna joined the fray.

"I think I'm falling for him, you guys!"

And they all squealed, attracting Erica and Lois' attention from across the room.

"I'll be right back," Eden told her friends and strolled over to chat with them for a bit.

"Not much longer now?" Lois said as she touched her belly.

"Yeah," Eden agreed. "In two weeks, she'll be here."

"Have you guys picked a name?" Eden shook her head even though they have. But she and Liam had promised they wouldn't tell anyone until the baby arrives.

But across town, on his therapist's couch, while his son pushed his car on the floor and talked to himself, Liam couldn't stop talking about Riley Anderson.

"I can't wait to meet her, Doc. She has the cutest little face. Did you know how realistic 4D scans are?"

Linda nodded and smiled at him. "I have three boys, Liam. Of course, I know. I knew 4D scans before they became a thing in your world."

"Thanks, Debbie Downer; why couldn't you let me have this one?" Liam growled as he sat up. "Anyway, I bet you don't know what Riley means!"

Linda shook her head and shut her notebook.

"Me neither," he smirked and picked Aiden up. "Your assignment this week, Linda, is to figure out what Riley means and call me with your research."

"You can just google it, Liam."

"Then why do I pay you if I can just google everything myself?" He asked, his eyebrows arched, his eyes flashing with amusement.

"Bye, Liam. I'll see you next week," she laughed and waved them out of her office. "Bye, Aiden!"

Aiden waved back at her. "Bye Bye Linda. Be good!"

They were at Anderson Logistics fifteen minutes later, where Liam spent a large part of his afternoon in a meeting with Aero Shipping and Lusso, discussing their quarterly earnings.

Despite his initial misgivings about Andrei, the man had stuck to his part of their agreement and hadn't rocked the boat.

But personally, Liam thought he was still an asshole. His opinion was firmly cemented soon when the meeting drew to a close, and Andrei just had to boast about the new painting he bought at Fugue.

"I own a piece of your wife now, Anderson!"

"No, asshole, you own a piece of her creativity!" Liam growled and walked off to his office, his cousins following behind him.

"Why do you allow him to rattle you like that?" Julian asked as he warmed them all up with a round of drinks.

"Would you not be rattled if the man kept talking smack about your wife?"

"It's Andrei!" Matthew added his two cents worth to the conversation. "He's an asshole. That's what he does. Anyway, you must be relieved the other crazy twin is finally behind bars."

"He got off easy," Liam scowled. He'd never be happy with the light sentence Aleksei had gotten. Six years was way too short for attempting to take someone's life. But he knew he had to make peace with it at some point.

"When is she arriving?" Matthew asked as they watched the view of Castle Bridge and sipped their whiskeys in silence while Aiden tried to peek through the telescope even though he could hardly reach the eyepiece.

"Two weeks," Liam replied.

"So soon?" Julian panicked on his behalf.

"I mean, are you even ready for her? You just got married, haven't even gone on your honeymoon yet because you were so paranoid shit would go wrong—"

And it did, Liam thought sadly. They'd had two scares with the baby, but thankfully both times, the doctors had managed to avert their worst nightmare. None of their family members knew, though, because they'd kept the harrowing incidents to themselves.

"—On top of that, you're still learning how to communicate with this dude over there," Julian carried and pointed at Aiden, who in turn pointed back at him and laughed his head off.

"And now you have this little one on the way," Matthew added and topped up his glass.

"I'll handle it." He said.

"How can you be so sure?"