Claiming Olivia II (7 page)

I managed to quickly scribble a note for Mitch explaining where I had gone and why. I also promised him that I would come back as soon as possible and then this would be all over. My decision will have been made.

Ten minutes later Sofia pulled into the parking lot with Cassidy and I ran out to the car and  jumped into the backseat. I knew that Sof still had some of my clothes which she confirmed as she backed out and hauled ass to the airport.

Five minutes after we got there Alejo pulled walked through into the main terminal. He smiled widely when he saw Cassidy and they hugged each other before he said his hellos to Sofia and then came over and took me into his arms.

“American Airlines is going that way today. I checked before Sofia picked me up,” Cassidy said leading the way to the ticket counter.

We waited in line for the longest twenty minutes of my life before we approached the counter and I told the lady where we needed to go. She punched the information into the computer before she looked up.

“That’ll be $2,942.37,” she said.

Alejo pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and handed her his black American Express card.

Before she swiped it she got our information and then had Alejo sign the receipt once everything was confirmed.

We walked away from the counter, tickets and carry-on bags on hand toward the security check point.

But before we went through, I dropped my bag and turned to face him. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and pulled him down to me, giving him the most passionate kiss I ever gave anyone.

“Thank you so much. You have no idea what this means to me,” I whispered, pulling away just a breath from his lips.

“You’re welcome, Princesa,” he whispered back. “I await your return and hope that all goes well.”

I ran a hand gently down the side of his face and smiled before I picked up my bag and followed Sofia and Cassidy through the check point.

***

A
s soon as we landed we were greeted by her. Cassidy explained that after she checked the available flights for the day she also psycho dialed Marley to let her know we were coming.

I ran over to her and wrapped her in a tight hug to which she answered with miserable sobs.
Please let him be okay,
I silently prayed.

“How are you holding up?” I asked pulling away from her.

“Not good,” she replied in her soft voice, wiping the tears away from her eyes. Sofia and Cassidy each stepped forward to give her a hug before she led us out of the airport toward a waiting SUV.

“What’s going on?” I asked her carefully.

“He had a heart attack. I don’t know why it happened, Livie; he’s always been healthy,” she replied breaking into tears again.

I put my arm around her shoulder and she cried into my shoulder.

“He’s very tall too though,” Sofia said thoughtfully. “And from what we’ve seen in pictures he looks like he could be a muscle competitor. I hate to say this Mars, but it was bound to happen. The heart can only take so much before it decides to give up.”

I gave Sofia a dirty look. I knew she was only trying to help but she could’ve worded that differently.

“I know,” Marley replied. “I just thought I would have more time with him. I loved him so much.”

“Loved?” Cassidy asked curiously.

Marley sat up and used both of her hands to wipe the tears away as she nodded.

“Gabrien died this morning,” she whispered.

W
e rode in shocked silence all the way back to Marley’s home. I didn’t have the words to properly tell her how sorry I was, especially since she knew that I had two healthy, alive men fighting for my affection.

The SUV pulled up into a large driveway and stopped in front of what I could only describe as a mansion. The driver got out of the car and opened our door to let us out. Marley hopped out first and waited in patient sadness as we grabbed our bags and followed her into her home.

We were greeted by a little boy and a little girl, obviously twins that were excited to meet “Mama’s friends” and looked absolutely nothing like her.

So this is what he looked like,
I thought to myself picking up the little boy. I had never met Gabrien even though Mars was my best friend because I was too wrapped up in Mitchell to care about anything else. Now I regretted it so deeply that tears stung my eyes as I looked into the little boy’s face.

“Markos. Alexa. Go outside with your Yaya. You can play with your aunts later,” Marley said grabbing the little boy from my arms and setting him down.

They smiled mischievously as they held hands and ran out into the backyard.

“Yaya?” I asked curiously.

“Grandmother. His mom is outside just staring into the sky wondering how this could have happened,” she replied quietly, crossing her arms across her chest.

I nodded and Marley took our bags. She said she would take them to the guest rooms (yes; this house was so big it had guest
rooms
) and that we could settle in after we met his family. Sofia and Cassidy followed Marley, but I stood there and glanced at all of the pictures in the opulent living room. One in particular caught my attention. It was of Marley leaning against an extraordinary handsome man and both were smiling with such genuine happiness that I felt like my heart was being ripped out.

I walked over and stared at the picture that was hanging on the wall and stared at him. This was Gabrien; the love of Marley’s life that saved her from such an abusive relationship and loved her with the big heart that gave out too soon.

He was gorgeous to say the least. Light green eyes, black shiny hair, and one of the strongest faces I had ever seen. Marley looked so out of place in the picture with all her tattoos on her arms, the new chest piece she must’ve gotten in Greece and her short blonde, wild hair. The size difference was so apparent even though they were sitting that I smiled briefly. But they looked like they were so in love and so happy that I couldn’t help but feel a little jealous.

“Hello,” a man said behind me.

I turned slightly and saw someone that resembled the children slightly and racked my brain to remember the name that Mars told me.

“Dominico, right?” I asked after a moment.

He nodded and gave me a curt smile, “And who might you be?”

“Olivia,” I replied holding out a hand.

He took it and shook it briefly before turning his attention to the picture I had been staring at.

“My brother wanted very much to meet you. Marley spoke of you as family,” he said quietly.

“I’m sorry. I fucked up, I know that I did. I wish I could have met him too. They look so happy in this picture that I feel like I failed them both,” I replied miserably.

“You didn’t,” he said kindly. “He and Marley both understood that not all things were possible. But I am grateful that you managed to come now. She needs you desperately.”

I nodded and brushed away a stray tear. How was it possible that this man had just lost his brother and he was more concerned about Marley? It all made sense to me as to why she loved Gabrien so deeply if he was as kind as his brother.

“I’d like to introduce you to my mother,” he said.

I tore my eyes away from the picture and followed him out into the backyard that was more like their own personal football field. But while I wondered how it was possible to have so much property I recalled Marley telling me something about his family getting their money from imports or something like that.

I pushed my hair behind my ears as Dominico led me to a woman with the same shiny dark hair as Gabrien, a few streaks of gray showing through it.

He knelt down next to her and put a hand on her arm and said something to her in Greek. She looked at him slowly before she got to her feet and turned around to face me. To say that she and Gabrien looked alike would be a gross understatement. To say that I now knew what little Alexa would like when she was a woman would be the most truthful statement I could ever make.

“Hello,” she said softly. Her eyes were red and swollen. The tears that had formed fell over and followed the path down her cheeks of the heartbreak she was obviously suffering.

“Hi,” I replied in a small voice.

Dominico introduced me to her in Greek and she nodded in understanding at the stranger in her son’s home. I moved forward and wrapped my arms around her. I couldn’t help myself; the suffering on her face was so heart wrenching that I didn’t want her to not have someone to lean on.

I felt two small pairs of arms wrap around our legs and smiled despite myself. It was Alexa and Markos and they wanted a hug too it seemed.

Gabrien’s mother pulled away from me and went back to her chair to resume her sky watching as the children climbed into her lap.

“How old are they?” I asked Dominico.

“Three years old. They were his pride and joy. He knew how desperately Marley wanted to become a mother and he was happy that he could do that for her,” he explained as we walked toward a man that was standing on the property line, hands in his pockets, staring into nothing.

“Papa? This is Olivia, Marley’s best friend,” he said gently putting his hand on the older man’s shoulder.

“Hello Olivia,” his father responded blandly, without turning to face me.

“Hello. I’m sorry for your loss,” I replied softly.

“Thank you,” was the stoic reply.

Dominico sighed and led me back to the house. He explained that the rest of the family would meet us at the funeral home tomorrow. I brushed away tears again as I watched him leave and ran up the staircase. I wanted to find Marley and the rest of the girls because being alone in the knowledge that her husband wanted to meet me and never did, destroyed me.

I bumped into her at the top of the staircase as they were coming down.

“What’s wrong?” Marley asked curiously.

“Oh you know. Just met your brother in law, found out that your husband wanted to meet me, and I was too wrapped up in my own relationship to ever reach out to know,” I rambled.

Marley smiled sadly and put an arm around my shoulder, as we went back down the stairs.

“Don’t feel bad. It just wasn’t meant to happen,” she replied bravely.

I sighed unhappily as we went into her kitchen and sat down around the large island in the center.

“So tell me what’s going on,” she said looking at me curiously. “Sofia and Cassidy told me some of it.”

“You remember Mitch obviously,” I started, nervously licking my lips. “Well things kind of went downhill out of nowhere. The sex stopped or was so far and few in between that I felt like I was a virgin each time he decided he wanted to get laid. His drinking got out of control and he started to pay more attention to his video games than to me. Which would’ve never bothered me since I always played with him, but he would sit in the other room and play alone. Um, I decided to go to Spain and Cassidy went with me and I met a guy in the airport. God he’s so much younger than me, but he’s such a good person and the sex was – is absolutely mind-blowing, Mars.”

“Then what’s the issue?” she asked with a laugh.

“I left with him last year and the plane crashed. I’ve spent the past year in the hospital learning to walk again and struggling to get my memory back. It’s almost all there; I was able to tell him how I met Mitch and stuff. He, Alejandro, loves me so much that it’s suffocating, but not in a bad way. I could drown in his love and never once wish it was different,” I explained truthfully.

Marley cradled her chin in the palm of her hand and looked thoughtful for a moment. The backdoor slid open and in ran Markos and Alexa with flowers for their Mama and I couldn’t help but smile. I watched her take the flowers and kiss them each in turn as they turned around and ran back outside. She placed the flowers on the island top and glanced at Sofia, then Cassidy, then me.

“Have you decided who you want to be with yet?”

“No. When I was with Alejo all I wanted was to be with
him.
But when I was with Mitch, I thought of all that we had already been through together and even though it’ll take a lot of work to fix things, we built a foundation already.”

“Who are you willing to give yourself completely to, Livie?” she asked.

“It could go either way. It’s not as easy as I thought it would be,” I replied dropping my face into my hands.

“Think about it this way; you’re holding your almost death against Alejandro even though you willingly went. You’re holding your somewhat crumbled relationship against Mitchell, when you did nothing to fix it. That’s not fair to anyone involved, you included,” she said wisely.

I sighed as I heard the front door open. I turned my face to look out into the backyard when Mars got up from her chair and disappeared from the kitchen.

Sofia didn’t say anything and neither did Cassidy. I wasn’t sure if they were silent for my sake or because they just had nothing to say.

I heard Marley giggling when a deep male voice said something to her. The three of us turned and faced the entrance to the kitchen when we heard them approaching.

Marley smiled at us.

So did the man next to her.

I almost fell out of my chair.

It was Gabrien and he was alive and well.

“I
t was the only way I could get you bitches out here, before you even think about getting angry,” she said holding up a hand.

“Marley, I’m going to fucking kill you,” I said in a shaky voice.

“Before you do, let me introduce you,” she replied casually. “Gabé, this is Sofia, Cassidy, and Olivia. Girls, this is my Gabé.”

“Would it bother you terribly if I strangled her in your face?” I asked with him a huge, fake smile plastered across my lips.

He laughed good-naturedly and sat down in Marley’s chair. She went behind him and put her arms around his shoulders and smiled at me.

“This was my fault. If you wish to strangle anyone, then it would be me,” he said mischievously.

“What? Why?” I asked in shock.

“Sofia told Marley what you were going through and she told me. I thought about it and even though you don’t know me or have to accept my opinion, I thought it would be easiest to take you out of that situation and put you somewhere to think about it alone,” he said with a shrug.