Chapter 289\u00a0<\/p>\n
Athena\u00a0<\/p>\n
14%\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWell while you two were doing guy stuff,\u201d Sarah said. \u201cWe were finalizing plans for the thank\u00a0<\/p>\n
you dinner next weekend, it\u2019s going to be here, Saturday evening, and we\u2019re inviting Kiara, Leah,\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cara, Maya, and Derek.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I watched Orion\u2019s face carefully when Sarah mentioned Derek and saw the briefest flicker of\u00a0<\/p>\n
concern before he smoothed it away.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSounds good,\u201d he said. \u201cLet me know if you need help with anything.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will,\u201d Sarah said, then yawned. \u201cI think I\u2019m going to head to bed, my arm is starting to hurt\u00a0<\/p>\n
and I\u2019m exhausted.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll come with you,\u201d Orion said immediately. \u201cKids are already asleep so we might as well call it\u00a0<\/p>\n
a night.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
They headed upstairs and Tristan came over to sit beside me on the couch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHow are you feeling?\u201d he asked, his hand going to my stomach like it always did.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGood,\u201d I said. \u201cTalking with Sarah helped, she understands what I\u2019m going through in a way\u00a0<\/p>\n
most people don\u2019t.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m glad you both are okay.\u201d Tristan said. \u201cAll of you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m glad too\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cReady for bed?\u201d Tristan asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHmm, don\u2019t know\u201d Tristan raised his brow with a smile that I understood very well.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I shook my head in laughter, he wasn\u2019t serious. We couldn\u2019t do anything here, anywhere but\u00a0<\/p>\n
here.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before I could say anything he lifted me up carefully. \u201cHow about I carry my babies to the room so they don\u2019t stress each other\u201d I yelped and giggled together enjoying the way it felt to be carried\u00a0<\/p>\n
|||\u00a0<\/p>\n
\uc774\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
20.00 Tue, Jan 20\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 289\u00a0<\/p>\n
by him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
21470\u00a0<\/p>\n
The week passed in a blur of rest and recovery, my bruises slowly faded from deep purple to\u00a0<\/p>\n
yellow green and my throat felt better each day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The baby continued to grow safely inside me and Mara had given us another positive report\u00a0<\/p>\n
when we visited her midweek.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tristan stayed by my side constantly, only leaving when absolutely necessary, and even then he\u2019d call every hour to check on me, Sarah and I spent our days planning the dinner while the men worked on securing both houses and dealing with the aftermath of the attack.\u00a0<\/p>\n
By the time Saturday arrived, I was feeling almost back to normal physically though the\u00a0<\/p>\n
emotional impact of what we\u2019d been through still lingered.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sarah\u2019s house was filled with the smell of cooking food and she\u2019d made enough to feed an army with roasted chicken, pasta, salads, fresh bread, and three different desserts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou went overboard,\u201d I told her as I watched her pull another dish from the oven.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey saved our lives,\u201d she said simply. \u201cThis is the least I can do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The guests started arriving around six, Cara and Maya came first bringing wine and flowers, then Leah arrived with a homemade pie, and finally Kiara showed up with a bottle of expensive\u00a0<\/p>\n
champagne.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFor celebrating life,\u201d she said when she handed it to Sarah.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Derek was the last to arrive and the moment he walked in and saw Kiara in the living room his whole body went rigid, I saw his jaw clench and his hands ball into fists before he forced himself to\u00a0<\/p>\n
relax.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou didn\u2019t tell me she\u2019d be here,\u201d he said to Orion quietly but I was close enough to hear.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a thank you dinner for everyone who helped,\u201d Orion said calmly. \u201cShe helped.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Derek\u2019s nostrils flared but he nodded and moved to the opposite side of the room from where\u00a0<\/p>\n
|||\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
20:00 Tue, Jan 20 G\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 289\u00a0<\/p>\n
14%2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kiara stood, she watched him go with an expression couldn\u2019t quite read, something between hurt\u00a0<\/p>\n
and anger.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sarah caught my eye and we both suppressed smiles, this was going to be interesting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We gathered everyone in the dining room and Sarah had set the table beautifully with candles\u00a0<\/p>\n
and fresh flowers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Orion opened the champagne Kiara had brought and poured glasses for everyone except me, I got sparkling cider in a champagne glass so I wouldn\u2019t feel left out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore we eat,\u201d Orion said raising his glass. \u201cWe all want to thank all of you for what you did last week, you risked your lives to protect our family and we\u2019ll never forget that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHere here,\u201d Tristan added, his hand finding mine under the table.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 289 Chapter 289\u00a0 Athena\u00a0 14%\u00a0 \u201cWell while you two were doing guy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-second-gear-of-love-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26446\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}