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.
Twelve
“It 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.
“Okay, so you call Mitchell and tell him that,” I replied shoving my phone at him.
“Do you think hearing another man will make him feel better? Especially speaking for his woman?” Gabé asked, raising an eyebrow.
I bit my lip and looked away. He was right; the ghost of Gabrien had returned to give me wisdom and now it was up to me to decide what to do.
“How’d you figure it out, Mars?” I asked her softly.
“I never went back,” she replied quietly. “You know that. If I did Ethan would’ve taken every opportunity to make me believe that things would be different and everything would change and I would’ve believed him. Gabrien has never once raised a hand to me and barely raises his voice. We have two beautiful children together and I’m happier than I’ve ever been here in Greece. Where would you be happy, Liv? Spain or America? Would you be happier with someone who pays too much attention to you or none at all? You have to look inside yourself and see how much you’re worth; that’s when you’ll know.”
I got up from the chair and left the kitchen. I went out into the backyard and found the twins playing at the edge of the property under the watchful eyes of their grandparents and I sat down in the grass. They both came over and immediately tackled me absolutely taken over with the giggles.
I fell back against the grass laughing as they crawled all over me throwing grass and flowers into my hair before they were exhausted and fell asleep on me. I closed my eyes happily as the weight of the little children combined kept me pinned to the grass.
Dominico came over and gently scooped them off of me and reached a hand down to help me up.
“Sorry about that. They tend to wear themselves out on people rather than in their beds,” he said with a quiet laugh.
I grinned, “It’s okay. Playing with them and having them fall asleep on me finally woke me up in a way.”
“How do you mean?” he asked as I took Alexa from him and followed him toward the house.
“I mean I have an announcement to make once we get the little ones into their beds.”
He nodded and I followed him up the stairs to the kids’ room and tucked Alexa into her toddler bed while he tucked Markos into his.
I went into the kitchen where the four of them were still sitting and went over to Marley.
“You, my dear, need to help me with something,” I said steering her out of the room.