A Promised Fate Read Online Free PDF Page B

Alexander’s.” I draped the soft blanket across the window seat
cushion. “The nursery will be put together in no time.”
    “Actually …”
    “Yes?” My brow rose in question at her hesitance.
    “Forget it, it’s super stupid.”
    “You have never said anything super stupid before, so
lay it on me.”
    “It’s just … I thought that maybe if we had the
blanket in our room, and used it until the baby is born, the fabric
would start to smell like us and not some gaudy store. Our familiar
scent will be comforting to our baby at night.”
    “I think that’s a great idea.”
    “Yeah?”
    “Not super stupid at all. I could actually use a
blanket, since you persist in ripping ours off of me in the middle
of the night.”
    “I do not!”
    “Sure you don’t.”
    We left the room with our new baby blanket in hand to
get ready for the afternoon of pool time followed by dinner and
fireworks. My heart was still racing. I was keeping a secret that
would break Ava’s heart.

Chapter 5
The Fourth
     
    “Come on, Ava, get in.”
    Ava sat at the pool’s edge with her feet dangling
into the cool water. It was hot outside. The rest of us were in the
water and had just finished a game of volleyball.
    Ava took her foot and splashed water up in my face.
She did so playfully but to me the gesture meant war. I grabbed her
hands in one quick swoop and began to pull her into the water along
with me.
    “No, no, sorry, Ari!” She immediately began to scream
in protest at what I was about to do.
    “Nope, you are learning to swim, Ava, and that’s
that.”
    I managed to get her into my arms and in the pool and
straightaway, she wrapped her body around mine, no easy task with
her swollen baby bump keeping the rest of her body at bay, but
somehow she managed.
    “Calm down, it’s just four feet of water. I'm going
to let you go now. You can touch here.” I let go of her but she
remained suction cupped to me, whimpering in my ear.
    “Ava, listen to me, you need to learn to be
comfortable in the water. You need to learn to swim. We have Max
and we have a baby on the way. If you are home alone and one of
them, God forbid, falls in the water then what will you do? How
will you save our children?”
    Ava released her grip at my words and her feet, for
the first time ever, touched the bottom of the pool. She had a very
sober look in her eyes.
    Ava is stubborn and tenacious, but she will do
absolutely anything for Max and for the little baby on its way. If
learning to swim will keep her kids safe, Ava will be able to swim
like a fish in no time.
    I took her hands in mine. “Alright are you ready? I
am going to take this nice and slow.” She nodded, a bit scared, but
also finally determined to learn.
    Ava gave in to my swim lesson for an hour or so and
slowly, she began to relax. She listened carefully and did exactly
what I said.
    The pool emptied and everyone lounged around the
sidelines in chairs. Lauren sat flipping through magazines.
    “OMG, Cameron Gallo’s a total hotty Mchotterson.”
    Her friend leaned across the lounge chair to glance
at my sister’s reading material, “Adorbs.” She bobbed her head
enthusiastically. “That hair! I love the honey blonde curls.”
    “For sure, and those baby blue eyes …
cutes-pa-tutes.”
    Lauren gave her own eager nod. “For sure, I know,
right? I cannot believe he cheated on Dove. I mean, wow, she is
gorgeous.”
    “She’s pretty, but he is too good to be true. He’s
like a god or something. Wow.”
    “Wow.”
    My eyebrow rose at Ava in question.
    “Apparently he’s handsome,” she remarked with a
barely straight face.
    “Did you ever tell your friends I was a hotty
Mchotterson?”
    “For sure, I must have doodled “Ari Alexander” on
every page in my diary.”
    “Really?”
    “No, Ari. Not really. But I did you think you were
hot. Still do, actually.”
    “Mmm,” I took Ava’s hands and glided her with me back
to the shallow end of the pool, pulling her in close