Chapter 102 CHAPTER 102
Celebration
“I can’t believe it!” Ares’s voice broke the quiet of the garden, sharp and sudden. His chest heaved, a laugh bubbling out before he even realized it. “Tessa… you… we…”
He didn’t wait for words to catch up. He jumped to his feet, arms wide, and pulled her into a tight embrace. Tessa froze, caught between shock and the rush of his energy, her eyes wide as he spun her lightly in the morning sunlight.
Julian blinked, mouth half open, holding his coffee cup like he might drop it. “Uh… should I get—”
“Drinks!” Ares cut him off, still laughing, voice booming with happiness. “Julian! Bring drinks! This is a celebration! Do you hear me? Hurry!”
Tessa’s hands rose slightly, gripping his shoulders as he swirled her around again. Her hair fanned out, catching the light, and for a moment, she felt weightless, suspended in the pure shock of Ares’s unbridled joy.
“You’re… you’re happy,” she whispered, still clutching him, voice trembling. “You’re happy?”
“Of course I’m happy!” he said, spinning her one last time and setting her down on the marble bench. “This… this is the best news ever. You… us… this—it’s everything I didn’t know I was missing! We’re having a baby, Tessa.”
Julian hurried over to the house, nodding to himself as he went. “I’ll bring the champagne,” he muttered, trying not to laugh, knowing he was part of something that would be talked about for a long time.
Tessa could only stare, her mind still catching up. The envelope. The strips. Her carefully plotted plan had worked, but she hadn’t expected… this. Ares wasn’t tense, confused, or calculating. He was… ecstatic. Radiant. And it threw her off completely.
Ares grabbed her hands again, spinning her slightly, a grin stretching across his face. “We’re going to need a bigger garden for this celebration,” he said, laughing into her hair. “I’ll dance with you in the fountain if I have to!”
Tessa’s lips parted, barely forming words. “You… really…”
“I’ve never been happier!” Ares interrupted, twirling her once more before letting her go and catching her again in a laugh filled hug. He pressed his forehead to hers, eyes sparkling, breath warm against her skin. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this moment! For us to be a family.”
Chloe had been standing silently by the edge of the fountain, her hands gripping the hem of her skirt. She hadn’t spoken since Tessa had dropped the envelope. Now, seeing Ares jump, laugh, and hug Tessa without hesitation, her lips pressed into a thin line.
Her stomach churned. The air seemed heavier. She couldn’t move at first, couldn’t breathe. Then, as Ares twirled Tessa again, she felt the rush of something like fury and betrayal collide in her chest.
Without thinking, she walked away. Quietly at first, then faster, her heels clicking against the marble floor. She went around the corner of the mansion, the sun warming her back as her hands clenched into fists.
And then she let it out.
“No! This isn’t happening! Tessa! You can’t—” Her voice broke through the quiet courtyard, echoing against the walls.
She grabbed nearby objects—vases, small stones, even a chair from the patio and flung them into the sky, her hands shaking. Each object became a vessel for her rage, the sound of them hitting the ground sharp in the air.
“Damn you, Tessa! Damn you!” she shouted, the words raw and jagged, carrying into the gardens below where Ares and Julian had once sat.
Tessa turned slightly at the sound but kept her eyes on Ares, whose laughter and joy hadn’t dimmed even in the distance. He was hers, and he was celebrating her news.
Ares didn’t notice Chloe. He was too busy lifting Tessa off the bench again, spinning her around, holding her close like she was the only person in the world. His joy was infectious, spilling into the air and wrapping around Tessa like sunlight.
Julian came back with glasses of sparkling juice and champagne, hands steady but eyes wide. “Here we go,” he said softly, handing a glass to Ares and one to Tessa. “To… to news that can only be celebrated.”
Ares clinked his glass against hers, eyes locked on hers, a laugh in his throat he couldn’t suppress. “To us. To this. To… everything!”
Tessa smiled, trembling slightly, letting herself feel it—the excitement, the surprise, the weight of this moment. She never expected it to feel like this, so real, so unrestrained, so overwhelmingly alive.
Ares hugged her again, swaying slightly with the movement, his head tipped back in laughter that echoed through the garden. “We’re going to be parents! Can you believe it?”
“I—” Tessa’s voice caught in her throat, a mixture of joy, disbelief, and awe. “I can’t… I wasn’t expecting…”
“Expecting?” Ares cut in, grinning. “Expectations are for before this! This is reality. We’re living it! Right now!”
She laughed softly, almost in disbelief.
Meanwhile, Chloe continued to vent her fury alone, her voice carrying across the mansion courtyard. She kicked over a small ceramic pot, the crack echoing in the garden. She grabbed a vase and hurled it skyward, watching it shatter against the side of the mansion.
“Curse you, Tessa! Curse you!” she shouted, her words jagged, broken by sobs she tried to suppress. “You think this is yours? It’s mine! It should be mine! He’s celebrating your pregnancy and didn’t celebrate mine!”
The wind caught her hair, whipping it around her face as she stomped her feet, throwing anything she could find into the air, letting the anger, the jealousy, the frustration spill out like a dam breaking.
Inside the garden, Ares spun Tessa once more, laughing, shouting her name into the morning air. “The bastard child you’re carrying!”
She clung to him, letting herself melt into the sensation of being celebrated, of being cherished, of finally feeling the weight of happiness settle over her shoulders like a warm, unbreakable blanket.
Julian stood a little to the side, hands in pockets, shaking his head but smiling. “I’ve seen a lot of things,” he murmured, “but bro, your life is an interesting movie.”