Call Her Mine (Harmony Pointe #1)- Melissa Foster Page 0,72
tied at the waist, the sleeves rolled up to her elbows.
“Nice disguise,” he said sarcastically, as if a flannel shirt and hat could hide her identity. “Where’s Aurelia?”
Piper pointed to the bedroom. “She’s sleeping. Willow and I got SOS texts from her. Willow was in the middle of making a wedding cake, so I came over.”
“SOS?” Ben closed the distance between them, looking at Bea. “What happened?”
“Let’s just say it was a long day,” Piper said.
“No one’s hurt?” Ben asked.
“No,” Piper said. “Just exhausted.”
Ben set a serious stare on Remi and said, “I’ll deal with you in a minute.”
He went into the bedroom and found Aurelia curled up on the bed, hugging a pillow, tears streaming down her cheeks—and his voice playing from the recorder. He set the things he’d brought for her on the dresser and crawled onto the bed, gathering her in his arms. Her eyes were puffy from lack of sleep and from her tears, and her nose was pink from crying. How could he have been so selfish?
“Babe, what happened? What’s wrong?”
“I tried, Ben. I thought I could do it all, and I didn’t want to let you down, but this is so freaking hard. Bea must hate me. She cried so much today. Everything I did was wrong.”
“Bea doesn’t hate you, Rels. She loves you. I’m so sorry. Why didn’t you call me?”
She swiped at her tears. “Because you have enough on your plate, and I kept thinking I could figure it out. I wanted to figure it out, but nothing worked. Now I’m behind on inventory, and I’m supposed to see my grandma for lunch tomorrow, and I’ll probably have to put that off.” She snuggled into him and said, “I’m so sorry, Ben. I don’t mean to be such a loser. She’s one baby. Women care for babies all the time. I just suck. I think we need help, and I hate saying that, because I want to be with her all the time. But apparently I’m not good enough at it.”
“No, sweetheart. I suck. This is my fault. Bea is my responsibility, not yours.” He held her tighter, kissing her temple. “You’re great at taking care of Bea. That’s not the trouble. You’re exhausted, and you’re just starting your business, and we came in and took over your life in the blink of an eye. I’m sorry, Aurelia. I’ll take Bea to my house for a few days—”
“No.” Her face crumpled, rivers of tears sliding down her cheeks. “I don’t want you to leave. I just need a minute to catch up on my sleep or something.”
His father’s advice sailed through his mind. Give them a physical space of their own . . . a place to be alone with their own thoughts, to make their own decisions, and figure out how they feel about things.
“You need more than a minute, babe. You need your life back, at least parts of it.”
“I want you and Bea in my life,” she insisted.
“I know. That’s not what I meant. You can’t be expected to put your business on hold for my baby. I love that you’re part of our lives, but I want you healthy and happy, not overwhelmed and sad. We need help with Bea, and I’m going to line some up. But we can figure that out later. Right now I want you to rest.” He brushed a lock of hair, damp with tears, from her cheek and kissed her there. “Did you know Remi is here?”
She nodded. “She’s hiding from her bodyguards. I told her she could stay with us for a few days.”
He made a mental note to let Aiden know she was okay. “Good. You could use the girl time.”
“Ben . . .”
“It’s fine, babe. I love you, and I hate that I did this to you. I’ll take Bea, and you do your own thing.”
“But I don’t want to do my own thing,” she pleaded. “I want to be with you and Bea.”
“You may not realize it, but you need a breather, Rels, and that’s okay. When you’re feeling better, we’ll figure this out.” He held her until she stopped crying, and then he held her longer, because for the second time that day, he had to leave the person he always wanted by his side.
When Aurelia fell asleep, he thanked Piper for being there for her, and after Piper left, he said to Remi, “You need to call your brother.”