Chapter 81: Children

~ Ronan's Pov ~

I got out of the car, and one of my security guys, Allen, ran toward me the moment I stepped out.

The worry on his face was alarming.

“Boss,” he said.

“What's the matter?”

“We think there might be a fire outbreak inside the house or some other problem. We've been trying to reach Madame inside, but she's not answering.”

“What do you mean you think?” I didn't wait for him to respond. I rushed to the door.

I opened it, and smoke filled the whole room. The alarm was blaring, but there was no fire.

“Anyssa! Nyssa!” I shouted her name, trying to locate her. I mean, I could barely see shit through the smoke—it stung my eyes.

God, she should be okay. Please, she should be okay. My heart hammered in my chest from fear. If nothing else, I wanted her to be conscious.

What the fuck even happened?

I coughed, still shouting her name, until I spotted a small figure in the smoke. It was Nyssa, holding a tray filled with what looked like burnt cookies.

She had a nose mask on, and her concentration shifted to me the minute I got close.

“Ronan?” she said, pulling off the mask.

I took deep breaths.

“What the hell were you doing? I've been calling your name, and all this smoke?”

“Shit! I'm sorry. The smoke is all my fault. I tried to make cookies from a recipe I saw online, but I burnt them... and the fire alarm went off.”

Huh?

I looked down at the tray. Whatever was on it definitely didn't look like cookies. They were black, though, and I bet if I held one up, it would crumble into ash.

She placed the tray on the countertop and pulled off her oven mitts.

“I'm sorry,” she said, all innocent.“I just wanted to make some snacks so you'd have them when you got home. I guess that didn't work out as planned.”

“Baby, you could have asked Chanel to do that for you. I mean...” I stared at the “cookies.”

“These are... well.”

She rolled her eyes.

“I know, they look terrible. I told Chanel to take the day off. I wanted to... surprise you,” she whispered the last part.

It warmed my heart, and I couldn't control my smile...or was it a blush? Whatever.

I held her hand and took her out of the house.

“Boss,” Allen said when he got close.

“You have one job, Allen, to keep my wife safe. If you knew about the smoke, you should've found a way to get her out of there. What if she was severely injured, or it was an actual fire?”

“I'm sorry, boss. Won't happen again.”

“It shouldn't.”

I held her hand, and we walked back to the car.

“What's going on? I thought we were going back in after the smoke got sorted out?”

“No, we're going out.”

Her face turned red with alarm. She placed her hands on her cute pajama shorts.

“I have my pajamas on!”

I tried to hide my smile.

“Well, you don't look bad.”

Her light pink pajamas looked really cute, with Hello Kitty designs all over them. The top was even better, it hugged her frame in such a way that I could see her little nipples, and her breasts had grown bigger over the years.

The only thing, though... I could see her nipples up close. Yeah, not allowing that.

I pulled off my suit jacket and draped it over her shoulders.

“We can stop at a boutique on the way if you'd like. I think you still look good anyway.”

I could clearly see the light red hue on her cheeks, and that just gave me a funny sensation in my stomach.

Looking at her—watching her be so cute and just really beautiful, was magical.

We got into the car and soon stopped at a boutique, where she changed into a pair of jeans and a cute top. We were both hungry, so we grabbed some pizza at Domino's.

“Where are we going?” she asked in the car, putting her hair into a loose bun as she got ready to dive into the pizza.

“Somewhere special. Your special place.”

That piqued her interest, I could tell from the spark in her eyes.

“Okay... well, tell me where?”

“It's a surprise.”

“Are you really not going to tell me, or...?”

“I can't tell you right now, or else I'll ruin the surprise.”

She groaned, stuffing her mouth with pizza. “Just tell meeeee. You know how I feel about surprises.”

I laughed, and I expected her to laugh too, but she froze, holding a slice of pizza in her hand.

I stopped the car immediately.

“What's wrong?” I asked, placing my hand on her shoulder.

“It felt like I had said that before.”

“What do you mean?”

“The surprise thing... it felt like I had said it to you before. It felt like it had happened, like it was one of my memories.”

“You remember?”

“No, I just... I guess I kind of did.”

I could see how it was affecting her, so I cupped her cheeks in my hands.

“You don't have to think about it, okay? Like the doctor said, the memories will come back gradually.”

“I know... I just—it felt so real, Ronan. Like I've said that before, right here in the car with you.”

“Well, there's a possibility. I want nothing more than for you to get your memories back, okay? Just don't push yourself too hard.”

She nodded, pulling herself together.

“I'll try not to,” she said, smiling. I knew she was still going to think about it, but I decided not to press further.

Quietly, I kissed her on the cheek and drove off. It had been two years since we'd gone back to her favorite park...Willow Creek.

I got down, held her hand as I got her out of the car.

“This was your favourite park. You always loved it because of its calmness and the children that used to run around the park at noon.”

“Really? I didn't think I would have an obsession for children.”

“You used to love them…but then you stopped.”

“Why?” she asked and I swear I didn't want to say this.

“Because we lost our children.”