Darcy's POV

           "Darcy," Charlotte called out. Her voice, pulling me back from somewhere I hadn't even realized I had gone to. I shook my head slightly and turned toward her. Even while upset, she was still beautiful. There was just a softness about her that had always attracted me and made me weak to the knees. She raised and eyebrow and gestured my way. Seemingly wanting me to start talking. "I'm waiting." She added.

        It wasn't that I didn't have things to say, because God knows I had plenty to tell her; so no, it wasn't that. The thing was, though I had a fountain of words ready to be spilled, I just didn't know where to start.

        Anger was the feeling that was radiating from her, blasting hot waves that I knew only very specific things I say could cool it. I smiled at her and said the first thing that came to my mind. "I love you."

        Nothing more than a soft sigh but I knew how much she loved hearing those words from me. I've learned in those two years that we've been back together that only the mention of my love for her was enough to turn her frown upside down. Though this worked mostly on meaningless issues, but I knew I had to try something.

       She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "I'm two seconds away from walking out. And trust me, you don't want that." She could be quite stubborn, this woman. But I knew, I knew that she wasn't willing to hear that because she already had her mind set on being upset. But I also knew that I only needed to make hear me. So I tried again.

          "I love you." This time more firmly and with conviction because that, that was the honest truth. She glared at me.

          "Darcy_"

          "No, hear me, hear this, I love you," I said again because she needed to hear it. "And when you love someone, you're ready to do the impossible to keep that person happy. To have them always smiling because that's where you get your happiness from." I started, before delving deeper in the real matter at hand. I had no doubt that she knew I loved her and would give her the moon, if only to make her happy, but I needed to say those things for her to understand my reasoning and why I made those decisions.

           "I promised you, Charlotte, that I would do anything possible to keep Jemma away and for you to not have to worry about her taking Sebastian from you. And I know you might not see it right now, but I'm doing this for you. Letting her see him once or twice a week for an hour or so isn't perfect by all means, but it's at least a start, if it means no courts and no lawyers." I wasn't nearly done, but I stopped so she could absorb what I had just said.

          She needed to understand that what I was doing was beneficial for us more than anything. I would rather let Jemma see Sebastian for a few hours a week under supervision, than to drag us and the kid through months, if not years of custody battles and court hearings. Sebastian definitely didn't deserve that and now that I knew Charlotte was pregnant, my decision seemed even more justified.

            So I waited for her to say something, anything really, as long as it wasn't the silence that seemed to be dragging toward infinity. As long as she talked, as long as she had something to say, all wasn't lost. With Charlotte, I've learned a few things a long the way, mostly of how her mind works and how she approached certain situations.

           We weren't a perfect couple, we definitely had our moments but we learned to deal with them in ways that were convenient. It was all part of the growth process. You grow both as individuals and as a pair. And through all of that, I've learned that the second she was quiet, the second she seemed like she had nothing else to say, that was when you knew all hope was lost and when that happened, you made sure you fixed it,  whatever it was.

          This lesson was learned when an argument about my traveling the week of our first year anniversary arose and I told her I wouldn't be home to celebrate with her. This had been big and I never wanted to relive this again. So, I needed her to say something....anything.

          "Remember last year," I started again because she still wasn't talking, though her face had softened a bit, not by much, but I knew her enough to know things like that about her. "We had taken the kids to this corn maze because you said you'd never been to one. William and Rose thought it would be great if we took the kids with us," She turned to face me, her eyes narrowed. She seemed surprised that I was even bringing this up in the midst of something entirely different.

          I smiled. I closed my eyes and it was like I was there again. That magically simple day. "You were wearing those oversized sunglasses you loved so much. I remember you wearing long sleeves, even though it was hot outside. You hadn't wanted to change because I had told you the previous night that I've always loved it on you. I remember those two french braids because you didn't want your hair to touch you when you were sweating so sweaty." I said, a little nostalgic. That had been one of the best days we had spent together as a family. It was memorable and fun. It was what she loved the most in the world, she told me so that same night.

          She shook her head, looking a bit more confused. "What has that got to do with anything?"

           "I want us to have a million of those days together without worrying about a damn thing. I want us to be this happy, when the only things we had to worry about were sunburns, silly kids and making sure Sebastian wasn't doing too much because of his asthma. Charlotte, when you ran into my arms after chasing after the kids, and said this was one of the best days of your life, at that moment, I knew I had to do anything I could to see keep you happy." I explained.

          She stared at me. And while she did, I noticed her eyes filling up with unshed tears. She closed them and the tears made their descent to her cheeks.

              "You lied to me." She whispered, her words barely audible.

             "I thought I was protecting you, doing what I thought would be best for our family. I didn't want you to worry about anything. I was doing my job, take care of you, that's my job, Char."

         She shook her head and wiped away at those tears. "We are supposed to be a team. Making decisions together, no matter how hard they are and how difficult it would be to deal with them. You can't keep things this important from me. This is not protecting me, this is hurting me." Her voice broke from her trying to keep the pain inside. She was right, of course she was right. I had hurt her even though that was never my intention. By keeping this from her, I had done what I wanted to protect her from; pain.

         "You_" Her voice broke even more as the tears kept falling, so she stopped talking. I realized She wasn't trying to wipe them off anymore. I caught sight of her hands and noticed them shaking. I reached out and attempted to cover them with my own. She let me."You can't do that, not ever again. I won't forgive you."

         I looked up and found her saddened eyes, wet and red. My hand hand slowly crept up to her cheek. She closed her eyes and leaned in. I pulled her in and kissed her. And to my heart's content, she didn't fight back, instead came to me willingly as she kissed me back.

           "I'm sorry, baby. I'm so sorry." I said between kisses, tasting the saltiness of her tears. My tongue chasing them as they fell. My hands holding on to her head as my fingers chased away her tears.

         Then she pulled back, her eyes meeting mine. "Put an end to it."

          "Charlotte_" I might have gone about handling that situation the wrong way, but I still believed the decision I made of letting Jemma see Sebastian, was good. It worked and taking that away from her now would do more damage than good.

          "I mean it, James. We can always find other solutions. But I don't want her near him. This would be too confusing. And plus, he's my kid, I get to decide what's best for him." She countered back. I already knew what she was going to say and that was unfortunate because what we were doing worked and teveryone was happy.

           "I know you worry for Sebastian, but do you honestly think that I'm going to let anything happen to him or let Jemma alone with him? I would never do that, but taking those visitations from her now won't be good, so please, just reconsider."

             She fell silent as if she was actually thinking about it. And maybe she was, or she was simply trying to keep her calm instead of exploding.

           Then, She took a deep breath, held my gaze and simply smiled.

              "No."

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Hahaha, Charlotte is too damn much! Anyway, please don't forget to vote. Do you think what she's doing is best or is she making a huge mistake? Let me know! 😚😚