Emma’s POV“Happy anniversary, baby,” Liam said, cheesing from ear to ear, as he walked into my room with a tray filled with waffles, bacon, eggs, an assortment of fruits, and two glasses of orange juice.“For me?” I smiled as I looked up from my phone. “Yes, ma’am,” he nodded, placing the tray on the nightstand next to me. “Happy anniversary, my love,” he said again, as he bent down to hug me. “I love you,” he pecked my cheek. “Happy anniversary, Liam,” I cooed in response, hugging him tightly, making sure to sniff him in the process. “How early did you wake up for you to have taken a shower and made me breakfast?” I asked, genuinely wondering. “Early enough,” he shrugged his shoulders, hopping into the bed and squeezing closely next to me. “I see that,” I turned my head to face him. “Did you sleep in here with me though? Because I don’t even remember sleeping off. I had planned to come over to yours after taking a bath, but I guess I must have fallen asleep after doing that”. “
Emma’s POVAs we pulled into the driveway of the Henderson house, I could see Liam visibly tense up already. From the way his fingers tightened on the steering wheel, to the way his jaw began to clench, it was clear he wanted to be anywhere but here right now. “Are you good?” I asked him, placing my hand on his that was still gripping the steering wheel even after he had parked the car. At the feel of my hand on his, the hold he had on the steering wheel instantly loosened, and I could thankfully feel the tension ease from his body under my touch. “I’m better now,” he said, mustering up a weak smile, as he held my hand and brought it up to his lips to place a kiss on it. “Thank you”. “Hey,” I rubbed the back of his neck. “Everything’s going to be alright. Besides, I have a feeling that we’re here to receive some good news. Nothing that’s going to spoil either of our moods. Okay?”“Okay,” he nodded, then turned off the car. As he started to open his door, I held him back again for
Emma’s POV“Okay,” Liam spoke up. “We’re listening. Why’d you call us over here today?” he asked. “First of all,” Mrs. Henderson cleared her throat. “Your father and I want to wish you both a happy anniversary”. Oh, so she remembered. “You remembered?” I squeaked out. “Are you kidding me, dear?” she asked with a small smile on her lips. “How could I forget? I mean after all the planning that went into that wedding and how invested I was, not just in the wedding but in your hopeful love story. With all that in mind, there was absolutely no way I could forget the day you got married to Liam; fake wedding or not. I was personally very happy that day because I liked you, so nothing was going to make me forget it”. “Oh…” I was speechless. “Thank you, Maria”.At the mention of her name, her smile instantly grew. I knew she hated me calling her Mrs. Henderson and I hated calling her that just as much because I believed we had formed a bond that went beyond me calling her that. So, while
Emma’s POVTo cut the whole story short, Liam spoke. A lot. He said far much more than I could even remember, and what’s crazy is he just said these things a few minutes ago. He took his father’s go-ahead for him to say what was on his mind quite literally, and when I say literally, I mean literally. Unexpected to all of us, Liam started addressing issues from far before I came into his life. Issues he’s had with his father, and his mother, from when he was a little boy, actually. There was also him talking about how he felt closer to his grandfather than anyone else before his passing and how his passing really affected him because he knew that he wasn’t ever going to feel that type of pure love again from a father figure, let alone his father. He talked about how he always felt unloved by his parents because, while his father drowned himself in work most of the time, his mother drowned herself in work and societal events and gatherings, so it felt like she was even more absent. The
Emma's POVAbout ten minutes after Maria and I got into our feelings with each other, Liam and his father returned to the dining room. Mr. Henderson looked fresh again in his change of clothes, but Liam, on the other hand, looked tired and stressed out. Clearly, the entire situation that had just unfolded in front of him stressed him out, but he didn’t say anything about it for the entire time the lunch went on. From one o’clock or so, till five minutes past three o’clock, the four of us ate lunch and made small conversations about anything else but the elephant in the room. While I found it a bit weird that everyone chose not to say anything about what happened, I obviously couldn’t comment on anything because, at the end of the day, I don’t have much of a say in what’s going on. It’s not like Mr. Henderson is my husband, neither is he my father, so yeah, I couldn’t exactly say much. Once we were done eating and had spent the extra hour at their place for our food to digest, Liam a
Liam’s POVIt had been a little over a month since the dinner at my parent’s place had taken place. Emma and I had taken our anniversary trip to Berlin after being indecisive about where to go for days. We were away for a week honestly, it was the best week I’d had in months. With work, my dad’s sickness and everything else that life has thrown at me over the past few weeks, this getaway we had was the exact thing I needed. My problem now was that we were home, and I was back to work, and it was all just a lot. With my dad being out due to his sickness, I’ve assumed the position in the office as not just the CEO but also the COO as well, meaning that I am basically splitting myself into multiple parts now just to ensure that everything runs smoothly at the firm. “Hey, babe,” Emma greeted me as she walked into my room with two glasses of what looked like apple juice in her hands. “Hey, baby,” I greeted her back, shaking my head off the thoughts I had in mind. Today was the first da
Emma’s POVSince Liam and I had that conversation about his dad yesterday, I wasn’t feeling at ease because he just felt, I don’t know, tight. I don’t know the exact word or words to use to describe exactly how he was last night, but let’s just say he was rigid. I know that to an extent he was happy to let some things off his chest, especially considering it had to do with his dad, but still, I’m guessing, since his dad is willing to just sit back and let nature take its course, he’s just been uncomfortable and angry, and I have had no idea how to help him. I mean, it was so bad that while we were trying to sleep, as I held him in my arms, I could literally feel the rigidity he exuded. I wanted to help him so badly, but I just didn’t know how, and it hurt my heart so bad to see him in this much pain. It was currently Saturday, meaning that I didn’t have to go into the office, but Liam did because work had just been a lot ever since he took over complete responsibility of the cases h
Emma’s POVLiam had called me from the hospital where his dad had been rushed to, so as soon as I managed to get the address from him, I rushed down there with Sammy. I couldn’t bring myself to drive due to the shock of the news, so Sammy graciously agreed to take me. Luckily for me, Sammy’s place was closer to the hospital, so we were there in about fifteen minutes. “Liam!” I yelled as I rushed into the building. I almost didn’t even wait to let Sammy come to a halt with the car before I rushed out and into the hospital. That’s how anxious I felt about the whole situation. “Ma’am, please, no shouting. This is a hospital,” the nurse at the front desk said to me in a calm tone. “I’m looking for Liam Henderson,” I said, panting, as I rushed up to her desk. “Where is he please?” I asked desperately. “Oh, Mr. Henderson,” she cleared her throat in realization of the name I had just called. No surprise there because, after all, this was a hospital that Liam’s father had made generous
Liam’s POVIt was currently Friday, meaning Emma has officially been back to work for a full week now. On the other hand, it also means that it had been six days of me asking her to remarry me and her telling me that she needed to think about it. I wasn’t about to pressure her more than she already was, so I tried to distract myself from it by immersing myself in work this weekend while at home with her. At the same time, I wanted her to also feel relaxed, so I sent Amelia away with my mother for the day to give Emma room to catch a breath this weekend. “Hey, are you up?” Emma’s voice spoke up from behind my bedroom door following a knock. I didn’t want to stress my voice by shouting a response, so I stood up from my desk and went over to the door. “Good morning,” I greeted her with a small smile as I opened my door. “How are you?” I asked, leaning on the door frame with my arms folded across my chest. “I’m good,” she nodded, unable to maintain eye contact with me. “You?”“I’m fin
Emma’s POVAfter hours of work that were mixed with hours of contemplation following me and Liam’s conversation from that morning, the work day was finally over, and it was time for me to go home. I knew that if I went home, I would have to confront the situation at hand between Liam and me, which I was not prepared to do, at least not before talking to Sammy first, and since I felt this was a conversation that I had to have with her face to face, I did the same thing of calling Liam ahead to let him know I’d be coming home late. “Hey,” his raspy, tired voice spoke up as he picked up the call. “How are you?”“I’m good, how are you?”“I’m okay”.“Are you sure,” I asked, worried. “You sound tired and stressed out. Are you still at the office?”“Yeah, I am. I’m tired, but I have a case I’m working on right now and want to try and make some progress with it before leaving here”. “Hm. Alright then. Just take it easy please”. “Yeah, I will,” he said. I could practically hear the smile i
Emma’s POVThroughout my drive to the office, all I could think about were Liam’s last words to me before he left the house. Considering how shocked I was by everything he had said, it goes without saying that I had no adequate response to give him at that moment. All I could muster at that point was, “I’ll think about it”. Shit. One thing for sure was that I know I definitely didn’t even say those words in a reassuring tone or anything, because the way his face fell once the words left my mouth was enough to let me know that he was disappointed. In my defense though, it was all too sudden. I felt cornered and just didn’t know what to do.“Emma! Hi!” my coworker, Dina, startled me out of my reverie as she knocked on my window. “Hey, Dina,” I rolled down my window and smiled at her. “You startled me”. “I’m sorry,” she laughed. “One of the janitors mentioned he saw you pull in a few minutes ago and, since you hadn’t come in yet, I decided to come down and check on you”. When she sa
Emma’s POVIt had been a bit over four months since I gave birth to Amelia, and it was finally time for me to go back to work. Normally, I should’ve resumed last month, but the management of the Fashion House asked me to stay back a while longer because they didn’t want to stress me out and all that. I definitely wasn’t going to argue with them, so I obliged, but I kept it down to a month extra because, truth be told, while I’ve been having the time of my life caring for my daughter, it’s been very exhausting and I need a break. I need to get some normalcy back in my life and the only way I can achieve that is by going back to work. Thankfully, today was finally the day. “Emma!” my mum’s voice called out to me from behind the front door after she had knocked. “Coming!” I responded, placing Amelia down on one of the chairs in the living room and rushing to open the door for my mum. “Hey, mum,” I hugged her. “Thanks for coming,” I said, stepping aside for her to walk in. “No need to
Emma’s POVAfter close to forty-three hours of labour, my baby was finally here. “I was told you were unaware of what the baby’s gender was before now, so it’s my pleasure to tell you that you’ve just delivered a beautiful baby girl,” the doctors said to me, her voice overlapping my baby’s cries, as she handed me my child. “Hi, there,” I cooed, poking her nose a bit as I looked back up to the doctor with a smile on my face. “Thank you, Dr. Bailey,” I said to her. “You’re most welcome, dear,” she smiled back. “Alright, I’ve got to go now. The nurses will help get you cleaned up, then I’ll see you again in a few hours, okay?”“Okay, I nodded. Please can you help call in Liam on your way out?”“Of course. Take care now,” she said and walked out of the room. “Baby!” Liam said as he rushed into the room, pausing when he saw our daughter in my arms. “She’s beautiful,” he breathed. “Yeah, she is,” I smiled at her. “Shame on you for not being in here for the birth,” I smacked his hand.
Liam’s POVIt has been nearly nine months of Emma’s pregnancy and God knows that these past two months of it have been hell. Not just for her, but for me as well. Unlike at the start of her pregnancy, over the past two months have been when Emma has been experiencing terrible morning sickness and all the pains that come with being pregnant. For some reason, the first six months were a breeze for her. She barely showed, she barely felt pain, and she was rarely sick. Now though, where do I even start?At about four months in, her bump began to appear and with how well-rounded it looked, there was no way we could lie and say she was merely gaining weight. So, Emma and I decided it was finally time to expand the number of people who knew about the pregnancy from Ryan and Sammy to her parents, my mother, and all our friends and colleagues who cared to know. As expected, both our parents were ecstatic about the pregnancy; my mother was more than her parents, of course. Considering I am all
Liam’s POVIt had been days – nearly a week actually – since Emma and I had held a proper conversation with each other. To be specific, following that little bicker we had during our last hospital visit which lasted until we got home later that day, she and I had yet to talk to each other. We were taking this thing so far between ourselves such that she hadn’t slept in my room since that evening, and we hadn’t shared a meal since then either. What was funny was that appointment of hers was last Saturday. It was currently Thursday morning and I had only gone to work one day this week, and she has not at all, meaning that we were spending much more time in the house at the same times during the day, but we just weren’t spending them together. If I was upstairs, even though it was in my room, Emma would be downstairs. Then, if I was downstairs, she would be upstairs. Obviously, it was clear that she was behaving in this petty manner that she was, because she wanted me to give in first
Emma’s POV“What do you mean?” Liam asked me again, in a smaller tone this time. Honestly, my heart broke at how heartbroken he sounded by my words, but let’s be real, this marriage of ours isn’t an ideal one for anybody at all, and I do actually love him and want to be with him, so why not just come clean about exactly how I feel now?“Liam,” I took a deep breath and turned back around to face him, grabbing his hand in mine. “I love you and that much is real, but let’s be true to ourselves right now, this marriage isn’t real, and I need you to recognize that. Maybe it’s because I was the one who was forced into the marriage, so I recognize it all the time”. “And what makes you think that I wasn’t forced into this marriage too?” he asked, visibly upset now as he pulled his hand out of mine. “You think I wanted to have to settle down at the time that I did, let alone get married?”“Oh,” I responded in a low tone. “You really think that this marriage was on the top of my bucket list
Emma’s POV“And that right there is your baby’s bead,” my OBGYN said as she pointed out what looked like a small rock on the screen of the ultrasound machine. “Perfection,” Liam gushed. Yeah, that’s right, I told Liam everything. Three months ago, Liam and I had a lengthy talk about my being pregnant and what that meant for us. As expected, even though I had a lot of doubt in my mind, he was in full support of me, willing to ensure I was okay and that everything about the pregnancy went smoothly. If I’m being honest, I don’t think I’ve ever seen any man as excited to have a child as Liam was that night. Now, with about two ultrasounds out of the way, he and I are finally starting to see our baby take proper shape and, judging from his expression as he stared hard at the screen while the doctor spoke, I think it was safe to say that he was most definitely more excited than I was. If I’m being honest, it’s so crazy. Because this was a man who first presented himself to me as this st