Sweet Love 2x: Miss Ruthless CEO for our Superstar Uncle

Chapter 403: Family Gathering

Franz let the silence settle. Lexx’s fingers were wrapped around his, the grip holding with the easy confidence of someone who had no reason yet to doubt the world. The afternoon light fell through the windows in long golden rectangles. The documents Arianne had been reading lay forgotten on the nightstand.

"My parents called this morning," he said. "They want to throw a celebration."

"What kind of celebration?"

"The twins’ birthday is coming up. They’ll be six. My parents want to host it at their estate: a proper party, with decorations and cake and relatives. And they want to combine it with a one-month celebration for Lexx. Introduce him to the family."

Arianne was silent.

"The Rochefort family," she said.

"Yes. Some of them, at least. Close relatives. My father’s sister, my mother’s brother. Cousins I haven’t seen in years." He paused. "You haven’t met most of them."

"I haven’t met any of them. We’ve been married for over two years."

"I know. There was never a good time. The company, the pregnancy—there was always something more urgent."

"And now?"

"Now there’s a birthday and a new baby and my parents want to show off their grandchildren." He looked at her. "Are you okay with it? If you’re not ready, I’ll tell them we’ll do it another time."

Arianne considered the question. She had never been particularly interested in large family gatherings. The Summers family had cured her of any nostalgia for extended relatives, and the Conways had been distant at best, hostile at worst. Walking into a room full of Rocheforts she’d never met was, she had to admit, daunting.

But these were Franz’s relatives. Lexx’s relatives. The twins’ relatives. They were part of the family she had married into—the family that had accepted her without hesitation, the family that had shown up for her in ways her own blood never had. She thought about the way Franz’s mother had sat with her through the difficult weeks before the birth, asking nothing, expecting nothing, present in the way that counted. She thought about the twins, how they called her mommy now without any instruction to do so, how they had folded her into their world as though the space had always been hers.

These were those people’s family too.

"We didn’t have time to prepare a proper celebration for the twins’ birthday anyway," she said. "With the baby and my recovery, it slipped past us. If your parents want to host, let them."

"You’re sure?"

"I’m sure. The twins deserve a party. Lexx deserves to meet his family." She paused. "And I should probably meet them too. Eventually."

"They’ll love you."

"You don’t know that."

"I know my family. They’ll love you because I love you. That’s how it works."

"That’s not how it works in every family."

"It’s how it works in this one."

He lifted her hand and pressed his lips to her knuckles. "Thank you. For agreeing."

"I haven’t done anything yet."

"You’ve done everything. You gave me a son. You’re raising my brother’s children. You’re running the company my father built." He held her gaze. "You’ve done more for this family than anyone. Meeting a few relatives is nothing compared to that."

Arianne didn’t answer. But she didn’t pull her hand away, either.

Lexx made a sound between them, a small grunt, the kind that usually preceded either a burp or a dirty diaper. Franz looked down at him, then back at Arianne.

"I think he’s about to—"

Lexx burped.

"Timing," Franz said. "Impeccable."

"He gets that from you."

"I have never burped in the middle of a heartfelt moment."

Arianne shook her head, but the corner of her mouth was curving upward. She reached down and adjusted Lexx’s blanket, her hand resting on his chest, feeling the steady rise and fall of each breath. He had gone back to sleep with the total abandon only babies managed: limbs loose, face slack, completely unbothered by the conversation around him.

"Six years old," she said. "The twins. They’re turning six."

"I know. Lily has already started planning the guest list. She asked if Kyle could sleep over after the party."

"The party is at your parents’ house."

"She’s already negotiated with my mother. The sleepover is happening. There will be a fort."

"There’s always a fort."

"There’s always a fort." Franz smiled. "Some things don’t change."

"And Leo?"

"Leo wants a specific flavor of cake. He sent my mother a tablet message about it. Three separate messages, very specific. She called me afterward to ask why he cared so passionately about lemon."

"He’s always felt passionately about lemon. He’s been this way since he was four."

"I know. I told her that. She’s ordering two cakes now."

Arianne looked at him. There was something in Franz’s expression when he talked about the children—all three of them, Lexx included—that she had never seen on him before he became a father. It wasn’t softness exactly. It was more like certainty. As though this was the thing he had always known how to do, even before he knew it existed.

"Your mother is going to spoil all three of them rotten," she said.

"She already does. She has been for years. Lexx just adds a third target."

"He’s one month old."

"She has already bought him four outfits. I’ve seen them. One has a bow tie."

Arianne looked down at Lexx, who was wearing a dinosaur onesie and had no opinions about bow ties. "Poor child."

"He’ll grow into it."

He lay back against the pillows with Lexx between them. The afternoon light was moving toward evening. The house held the particular ease of those hours between the last meal and the first feeding of the night. The documents were on the nightstand, waiting. The board meeting was two weeks away. The celebration was being planned.

But for now, there was this: the three of them in the bedroom, the baby stretching and settling and falling back asleep, the golden light moving across the floor, the future arriving one ordinary day at a time.