Chapter 154 #154

Chapter 154 #154
Chapter 154
~Shailyn~

The drive home from the wedding was quiet in the best way.

Lily and Rose were both out cold in their car seats before we even hit the main road. Dwayne had the radio on low. Something slow and soft. 

I was watching the road but my mind was not even there.

"You okay?" Dwayne asked.

"Yeah. Just tired."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I am," I said. "Today was perfect."

"It really was." He glanced at me briefly. "Hannah looked so happy."

"She did."

"Luke too. I don't think I've seen him smile like that in the entire time I've known him."

"He's wanted this for a long time," I said. "He just needed to work up the nerve."

"Almost a year of working up the nerve."

"Some things take time."

We pulled into the driveway and got the girls inside without waking them, which felt like a minor miracle. Dwayne handled Rose while I carried Lily, and we moved through the house quietly.

Once both girls were in their cribs, we stood in the doorway of the nursery for a moment, just watching them.

"They were so good today," Dwayne said quietly.

"Lily was just all about having fun."

"She was." He laughed.

"And Rose ate half the dessert table."

"She gets that from you."

"Excuse me?"

He was already walking down the hall, smiling to himself.

\---

I changed out of my dress and was sitting on the edge of the bed when it hit me.

The call.

We've been working with Mr.  Dante Belmar, as part of his continued rehabilitation programme. As part of that process, our clinical team has reviewed his progress and deemed it necessary for a facilitated closure session to take place. We believe it would be beneficial. For him. And for you.

I hadn't said anything for a few seconds.

We understand this is a significant ask, Mrs. Belmar. There is absolutely no obligation. But if you're open to it, we'd like to schedule a time for you to come in.

I'd told them I would think about it. I gave them nothing else.

Then I'd gone back inside and watched my best friend dance with her new husband and tried very hard to be present.

Dwayne came in from the bathroom and stopped when he saw my face.

"What's wrong?"

I looked at him. There was no point pretending. He could read me better than anyone, and trying to hide something from him at this point in our marriage felt like a waste of both our time.

"The rehab called," I said.

He sat down beside me slowly. "When?"

"Tonight. During the reception. I stepped out for a minute."

"They said their clinical team has been reviewing Dante's progress." I kept my voice even. "They've decided it would be beneficial for me to come in. For a facilitated closure session. For both of us apparently."

The silence that followed wasn't uncomfortable. It was just Dwayne processing, which he did quietly and thoroughly.

"What do you think?" he finally asked.

I let out a slow breath. "I think I don't know what I think."

"That's fair."

"I spent so long trying to get away from everything connected to him. The case. The trial. The whole nightmare of it." I looked at the wall across from us. "And I thought I had. I thought we were past it."

"We are past it."

"Then why does one phone call make me feel like I'm standing right back in the middle of it?"

Dwayne didn't try to answer that immediately. He reached over and took my hand instead.

"What did you actually want to ask me?" he said.

I turned to look at him. He was watching me with that particular expression he had when he already knew what was coming and was just waiting for me to get there.

"What do you think I should do?" I asked.

He held my gaze for a moment. Then, without hesitation "Go."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that. Go, and you will know that you never have to step foot there again." He squeezed my hand. 

"It's not that simple."

"I know it's not simple. I'm not saying it's simple." His voice was calm.

"And if it's hard?"

"Then it'll be hard. And you'll come home and I'll be here."

I looked at him for a long moment.

"You're very calm about this."

"I trust you," he said simply. "And I want you to have peace. Actual peace. Not just the part where you don't think about it unless something reminds you." He brought my hand up briefly. "Anything for your peace. Always."

Something loosened in my chest.

I leaned into him and he shifted to make room, arm coming around me like it belonged there, which it did.

"Okay," I said quietly.

"Okay."

"I'll call them back tomorrow."

"Good."

We sat like that for a while.  Just the faint sound of the baby monitor on the nightstand.

"Thank you," I said.

"For what?"

"For not making it weird. For not being, I don't know. Strange about it."

"Why would I be strange about it?"

"Some people would be."

"I'm not some people." He pressed a kiss to the top of my head. "Now go to sleep. You're growing a human and you were on your feet for six hours."

"Seven."

"Go to sleep, Shailyn."

I did.

\---

He didn't bring it up again the next morning.

I woke up to the sound of the girls being fed in the kitchen, and Dwayne had clearly been up for a while because there was coffee ready, the twins were already in their high chairs, and he had that expression he got when he had a plan.

"Get dressed," he said when I appeared in the doorway.

"Good morning to you too."

"Good morning. Get dressed. Something comfortable. We're going out."

I looked at the twins, who were enthusiastically destroying their scrambled eggs. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

"Dwayne."

"You'll see," he said again, unbothered.

\---

The Elly Ice Cream Factory was about forty minutes outside the city. 

Lily pressed her entire face against the glass.

"Mama," she said. "Mama, wool."

"I see it, baby."

"Mama.

"I can see it, Lily."

Rose was in Dwayne's arms.

A staff member in a blue apron gave us a brief tour, how the flavors were developed, what went into each batch, the temperature of the mixing process, the difference between gelato and regular ice cream.

Then they sat us at a long wooden table in the tasting room and brought out small dishes. Six flavors.

Lily tasted the strawberry and her expression was one of pure, full joy.

"More," she said.

"More please," I corrected.

"More pwease."

They brought her more.

Rose worked her way through the vanilla with great seriousness, occasionally looking at Dwayne as if checking that he was also noting how good this was.

"You good?" Dwayne asked, spooning salted caramel into a small cone.

"More than good." I looked around the room. Families at other tables. The soft sounds of the production floor in the background. Lily already reaching for the chocolate. "How did you know about this place?"

"Luke mentioned it months ago. Said Hannah had been wanting to come." He passed me the cone. "Try this one."

I took it. "Did you call ahead?"

"I booked it last night. After you fell asleep."

I looked at him.

"You had a lot on your mind," he said simply. "I figured you needed a day that didn't feel heavy."

"So you booked an ice cream factory."

"I booked an ice cream factory."

I laughed. Actually laughed, the kind that came up without warning. "You're something else, you know that?"

"You tell me regularly."

"I mean it as a compliment."

"I know you do."

I leaned across the table and kissed him quickly, which made Lily look up from her chocolate and looked interested. Trying to make a kissing face.

"That's right, how could I leave out my princesses?" Dwayne said.

And then pecked their forehead.

We stayed for almost two hours. I tried every flavor. Bought two tubs to take home, dark chocolate for Dwayne, banana for me, and a small container of strawberry that Lily had grabbed.

On the way back to the car, Lily walked between us, holding one hand each.

Rose was on Dwayne's hip, chewing the corner of a napkin she'd somehow acquired.

"Don't eat that," Dwayne told her.

She continued eating it.

"Rose."

She looked at him. Did not stop eating the napkin.

"She's your daughter," I said.

"She's your daughter when she does things like that."

"That is not how genetics works."

I strapped Lily into her car seat and she was asleep before we'd even left the car park. Rose followed ten minutes later.

Dwayne found my hand on the center console.

"Better?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said honestly. "Better."

He turned the radio on low.

We drove home.