Perfect Doesn't Last Forever

Chapter Eighteen

            When I reach Preston, I wrap my arms around his waist and close my eyes, squeezing him tight in my grasp, unaware of anyone else in the room.  I feel him stroke my hair gently and press a kiss on top of my head.  I take a deep breath, still only minutely stunned by Lucas’s words. 

            I hear Preston excuse us from the room before he walks me outside and when I hear the door slide closed behind us, I unlatch myself from my husband. 

            “Just so you know, I already know about what’s going on between you and Lucas,” Preston says gently, his hand resting on my waist.  I stand, stunned, and Preston continues.  “I know my son and I know you.  I asked him about it before we went on vacation and he told me.  I didn’t tell anything to him or discipline him in anyway because I trust you to discipline our children.  But from what I saw just now, I’m disappointed in him.”

            I sigh to myself.  Everything makes sense now, Lucas stopped lashing out because he knew he could no longer get away with it, the sheer terror of what Preston would create as his punishment was enough to make Lucas behave.  “Why didn’t you tell me you knew?”

            “I didn’t want to step over your authority.  I trusted that you would know how to approach the situation.  I thought I was doing the right thing,” Preston says warily.  “But if that’s not what you wanted, I’m sorry.”

            “No, don’t worry about it, I’m not mad at you or anything.” I press my forehead against his chest and take a few deep breaths.  “I’ve just forgotten how to handle Lucas when he lashes out like this.  It’s been so long and it’s different now too.  I can’t just scold him and be done with it.  He’s a teenager now and I don’t want to push him away.”

            Preston brings his hands to my face and cups my cheeks in them. He bends down and plants a kiss right between my eyebrows and then on the tip of my nose.  “You’re doing perfectly Brittany.  I couldn’t ask for a better mother for Lucas and the boys.  Lucas is the oldest, the first, he’s our test case for Lyle and the twins.  And maybe even for our new little one.” 

            I watch as little crows feet mark the sides of Preston’s eyes and I smile widely back at him.  Flashes of the past two weeks pass through my mind; every stolen moment shared, even after being exhausted from the day with our kids.  Being together, just the two of us is as exciting and electrifying as it was when we first met.  I feel my eyelids droop as I snake my hands over Preston’s waist and up his back, stopping at his shoulder blades, and I reach to press my lips against his; but only for a quick second because an entire dinner party is waiting for our reappearance. 

            When Preston and I return inside, the table has somehow already been set and dishes of food are being placed in the middle of the table.  Maya hands dish after dish to Damien, who shuttles them over, and the kids slowly make their way to the table, standing aside, waiting to be told where to sit.  Adeline places Nolan in the smaller high chair placed at the table before going to the kitchen and getting a bottle of milk ready.  Hayley sets Melanie in a chair with a booster seat strapped to it and then sits beside Melanie, motioning for the rest of the boys to find a place near her. 

            “We’re just going to sit on this side of the table so the kids don’t feel the need to be a part of our conversation,” Damien explains, pointing to his side of the table as he sits at the head of the table opposite of Adeline. 

            Preston and I sit together, with Hayley sitting across from me, and Preston sitting beside Damien.  When Maya joins us, sitting between Damien and Hayley, we begin passing all the plates of food around the table, each helping ourselves, and Lucas and Lyle helping the twins.