𝘏𝘈𝘙𝘉𝘖𝘙 ° 𝘙𝘖𝘔𝘈𝘕 𝘎𝘖𝘋𝘍𝘙𝘌𝘠 ✓

19 | all we wait for

IT IS SAID THAT TIME HEALS ALL WOUNDS. Time allows for change, for allowing the past to remain long behind as life moves on. Before Rory knew it, spring had come and go, and summer approached with unspoken tension that lingered between those all around her.

Rory was officially having a baby girl with a perfect bill of health. Despite her initial reluctance of the Godfrey Institute's obstetrician ward, Dr. Ford and his team ensured she received the best care. She had reached her third trimester of pregnancy with an ease that unnerved her.

Roman moved into the Reyes estate, taking the room next to Rory's as his own as a formal gesture even though they shared the same bed every night. He and Peter snuck into the mansion a few times to retrieve all of his clothes and belongings. With life settling nicely around them, He hadn't spoken to his mother since.

The Godfrey family remained reclusive, not a word was let out to the public of the heir and his mother's estrangement, aside from the fact Roman no longer lived in the ancestral home. He had began attending board meetings, preparing for when he took his official designated head seat in the company the second he was of age.

With a portion of her inheritance, Rory bought an abandoned fire station, hoping to turn the small, narrow two-story brick building into an art studio. She had realized it was time for her to seriously move on with her life, no longer needing a safety blanket that attending the high school art classes had been.

The day Rory was six months along, she cried her eyes out, Roman's arms around her. In the back of her mind, she still believed it wasn't real, that her baby would be taken away from her again, like everything else she loved. But Roman waited for the tears to subside. He bought the cutest, most expensive, ivory crib.

The next month, he showed her a house he had found that he thought she might like. And she loved it. From the open concept living area with a fireplace, the floor to ceiling glass wall that made up the back of the house opened up to a beautiful lake, and a nice courtyard perfect for their little girl to play in. Roman was relieved she loved it as he had already bought it long before ever showing her. They decided they would fully move in after the baby came, knowing it would be helpful for the new parents to have Dante and Giselle close by.

They weren't perfect, but they were happy. Aside from the smart mouth and arrogance, he was the future she had dreamed about since she was a little girl, running in the woods with the impudent neighborhood boy, and now they were running with a baby on tow.

➖

"It's not much of a baby shower."

At Rory's side, Roman rested his hand on the small of her back as they stood in the foyer of the Reyes, under the guise of greeting guests, but simultaneously avoiding interacting with them past the point of entry.

There was a mountain of diaper cakes on the coffee table, a pink glass pane set up in the corner of the room where name suggestions had been painted, gift bags and boxes piled on another table in the side room. Yet you could tell the real reason people had come in the first place just by looking on their faces bereft with curiosity and judgement, and it wasn't of joy that the Godfrey heir was already having his own heir before he took up his seat at the table.

Rory shot another fake smile as she directed another guest into the living room. "90% of the room would prefer there wasn't a reason to host this party. Besides, the Trio are having fun."

She was dreading the party games Letha, Giselle, and Dante had planned. It was endearing how much effort the trio had put into the party, doing all the hostly things and properly mingling with the guests, but Rory would've honestly preferred to have just her aunt, uncle, the Rumanceks, and the Godfreys attending (excluding Olivia for obvious reasons). The bulk of the guests came from important figures in the Godfrey Industry, Dante's colleagues, a handful of classmates, and a few distant Reyes cousins that lived a few towns over.