Epilogue-2

They'd given me a photo frame, well no points for originality there. Yes, it was from Tiffany's and must have cost a lot but seriously, a photo frame? I tried not to act like a brat and it was a hard time being mad when Zach had secretly started rubbing my back, making my shoulders feel like jelly. "Remind me to send them a thank you note," I said dryly and he chuckled, pulling me into his arms. The evening went really well and I had loads of fun, everyone did. Now Zach and I were driving back to our place. "Don't worry about them," he said as he stroked the back of my hand, relaxing me. I knew he was talking about my parents because I knew he could tell that I was still thinking about them. "I just can't believe that...that I had a family like that. I grew up thinking everyone was perfect, my parents, my sister, my boyfriend. How could I have been so blind?" I noticed how he gritted his teeth at the mention of the word 'boyfriend'; clearly it wasn't something he wanted to talk about. The only information I received about Noah was from Bruce and from what I knew, Noah was in jail and was pleading guilty; the rest of the details were being kept from me and I was okay with that. A part of me felt guilty because I blamed myself for drawing him to that point so if in future I could help him, maybe I would? "It wasn't you Ari, you saw the best in people, you trusted them and they betrayed that trust. I guess we never really like seeing the bad side of the people we love and when we do it just takes us by surprise even though we know that it's always been there." "Do you feel the same way about your parents?" I knew his relationship with his mother and father wasn't that great either. He rarely talked to any of them and even when he did it was all about business, it didn't seem like he cared but with Zach it was impossible at times to tell but I was getting better at it. "For me it's never really been an emotional relationship. I mean we'd do the whole Christmas, Thanksgiving thing but mostly I was on my own, I raised myself along with a bunch of nannies so I've never really been that attached to my parents." I could see that from the casual tone of his voice and I was afraid for just a second then. Wasn't it said that people who came from homes like ours would never be good parents? What if we repeated our parents' mistakes? What if we treated our children the same way? "Okay what's with the face?" he asked as he made a turn towards our neighborhood. "What face?" My voice came out squeaky. I didn't really feel like telling him what was going through my mind; we'd promised each other that we wouldn't discuss having children for a while, not until I was twenty-two at least but the thought had been crossing my mind more and more lately. "The 'I'm thinking really hard but trying not to show it' face." "There's no face!" "Arianna." I sighed in defeat, slumping back into my seat and frowning like a disgruntled child. "I was just wondering that..." I bit my lip as he looked at me expectantly. "Will we be good parents?" His forehead wrinkled as he pondered over my question, the crease between his eyebrows deepening as he concentrated. Then I realized what I'd said and wanted to slap myself. Shit, why are you so dumb Ari! "I didn't mean it like that, I wasn't talking about...about you know," I mumbled, trying not to look at him. I hadn't meant to make him guilty, I wasn't even thinking about it. "I messed up, Ari. We lost our first child because I couldn't protect you but it's not going to be like that. I want to be the best father I can be but we both know that we aren't ready for it right now." "How about in two years?" I tried to lighten the mood by getting all excited, knowing that the argument would distract him. "I've told you before, not until after you finish college, Ari." "But I can do it; I can handle having a baby and college. You'll be there so I'm sure it won't be a problem." He shook his head, looking slightly amused and parked the car. I waited for him to open my door since he loved to do that. Hand in hand we walked into our house and as soon as he closed the front door he pressed me up against it and began kissing me deeply. I responded immediately since I'd been waiting to do that the entire night. My arms encircled his neck as he wrapped his tightly around my waist, pushing himself against me so that there was no space between us at all. It started out as a tender kiss but soon turned fiery, hungry and passionate as our tongues battled for dominance where he eventually won. His hand travelled sensually from my waist and cupped my butt; I jumped up and wrapped my legs around him, grinding my hips against him which earned me a loud groan from him. He removed his mouth from mine and showered my neck with hot kisses, then moved to my earlobe which he bit and sucked on. "No fair," I breathed out as his hands caressed my body, igniting every part they touched. "Hmm?" He rubbed his nose against mine and began kissing me again, smiling into it. "You're trying to distract me." I have no idea how I managed to complete a full sentence especially given the position we were in. "Nope, I'm just practicing," he muttered against my lips, kissing me between each word and making it impossible for me to concentrate on his words. "Practicing for what?" I arched my neck towards him, the sensitive spot on my collarbone begging for his attention. "For all the kids we're going to have." He chuckled as his tongue traced the path from my neck to my collarbone. I sucked in a breath at the pleasure he was giving me but he mistook it for shock. He pulled back for a while and tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear. He grinned at me wolfishly. "You do realize that I'll want loads of kids and that we'll need a lot of practice for that." I gulped, actually terrified yet excited at the same time. He was finally talking about having kids! "How many are we talking about here?" "I don't know, maybe five or six?" he said, like he was talking about the weather. Five or six kids?? I nearly fainted. "You do realize that giving birth is the most painful experience on the planet?" I raised an eyebrow at him and he just smiled cockily. "But I promise to make it worth your while." I hit him on the shoulder but he just started kissing me again and then it was time to practice because who knows, maybe in one of these practice sessions he might just give in and I was going to have a lot of time to convince him. His second present to me had been a six-month trip around the world for just us two but I was prepared to wait because frankly, at the moment I was content with having him in my life and there was possibly nothing more I could ask for.