and we chased

Chapter 38

LEWIS

Seeing Aria and Winnie together is nothing like I've ever felt before. The way they interact would make one believe they have known each other for years. They're in the living room now, Winnie presenting Aria her drawing. She gave her a tour of the house minutes ago. They luckily spent the most time in her bedroom, Winnie showing Aria her toy collection, and not in my bedroom. I don't know how I could have survived that.

"And that's a unicorn", Winnie says proud of herself. I have to let my mouth twitch at that. I drew her that unicorn.

"That's so pretty", Aria says, looking at the named unicorn. "I could never draw something like that."

Winnie smiles at her, then looks at me. "Daddy could teach you."

I pretend to not have watched the conversation until then and act surprised as she mentions me. "I don't know..."

"Oh, come on, Daddy. You're the best unicorn drawer."

Aria looks at me smiling, so I have to smile back. "I guess I could teach her some things about unicorns."

Aria pretends to be thankful, sending me an air kiss. That air kiss has my knees melting. Winnie just chuckles, looking at us happily. That might not mean much to some people, but to me, it means everything. I haven't brought any girl home since Scarlett. I haven't thought of anyone romantically since Scarlett. Seeing Winnie accept Aria gives me hope. For I know I'm not going to want to bring anyone else but Aria home from now on. She's it for me.

~

"I didn't know you could cook", Aria whispers to me. We're sitting on the swing on the terrace, since it is past Winnie's bed time and Mya is also upstairs in her room, so it's only the two of us.

"I had to learn", I confess.

She looks up at me, removing a strand of hair from my forehead. I bend down and kiss her cheek once. She doesn't react, only remains serious as she asks: "May I ask what happened to Winnie's mom?"

I have to look away. Scarlett isn't a topic I like discussing.

"She left", it's all I say.

Aria nods once, then reaches with her tiptoes on the ground to give us another swing. I find myself the courage to continue: "Scarlett is an actor. We fell in love and planned on starting a future together. Only, I didn't know that in the time she wasn't with me, she spent her time taking pills. After I begged her multiple times, she went to rehab. She came back to me and we were just like before. Crazy in love. We wanted to start a family. It happened a few months after Winnie was born. I just came back from my race season. I came a day earlier, to surprise them. Scarlett and I started having problems for some time, started fighting more often and she kept acting more and more odd. I entered the house and saw her on the floor. She was talking nonsense, a pack of some pills in her hands. Winnie was next to her, playing with something. She luckily didn't get to the pills, but was so close to them. Scarlett didn't care. I took Winnie away from there and drove her to my parents. I then brought Scarlett back to rehab. Since I was in my off season, I took Winnie far away for some time. We moved to Marseille for a few months. As Scarlett came back, she came to me and told me she wanted nothing to do with our family anymore. That Winnie is the one creating all the problems between us. The one that made her start again. She made me choose between Winnie and her."

I can see Aria starting to cry. I take her hand, squeezing it once, trying to offer her all my strength if I could . "And you chose Winnie", she tells me.

"Yes. I don't regret choosing her. I know I'll never regret it. But I became a single father, so I had to make some sacrifices. I quit racing, although I loved it. I used to be away for months during the race season, and I couldn't afford that knowing I have a newborn baby at home. It was also too dangerous. If something happened to me, Winnie would have been alone. It was a decision that had to be made."

She looks at me again, and brushes a small kiss on my cheek. "She didn't deserve it", I can hear Aria mutter.

I look at her confused. "Who didn't deserve what?"

"Scarlett. She didn't deserve your love. Because being loved by Lewis Cunnan is a gift, and being the lucky one to call Winnie your daughter is a wonder."

Tears have started rolling down my face now too, as the effect her words had on me.

"I love you", I whisper. Three words don't seem enough for me to tell her how I feel right now. "I love you, sweetheart", I repeat. I repeat it a few more times, until she is giggling from it, and I kiss her.

"I love you too", she whispers.

It's all I need to hear.