The Wolf’s Contract Marriage by Layla Silver

Chapter 15 – Caelum

When I walked into the house after work, I immediately realized that something was wrong.

Teagan hadn't reacted when I walked in the front door, instead she was staring sightlessly at a spot on the wall while her laptop had fallen asleep on her lap.

This was not like her, not like her at all.

“Teagan?” I asked gently as I walked over and came to a stop in front of her. She still didn't react, and I was barely resisting the urge to wave my hand in front of her face. “Teagan, baby, are you all right?” A range of thoughts zipped through my mind as I stared at her blank expression. She regretted what we did yesterday. Something had happened to someone she cared about. She was leaving.

“Caelum?” Teagan asked as she blinked rapidly. Her voice cracked with disuse and her eyes were bloodshot and watering. “What are you... oh my God it's after five? I'm so sorry, I should get dinner started.”

I crouched down and held Teagan gently but firmly by her upper arms so that she couldn't get up from the couch. “You're not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on. Something isn't right here, Teagan.”

Teagan shook her head. “Nothing's wrong.”

“Don't lie to me, Teagan, please. I thought, out of everyone in my life, you'd understand why I value honesty so highly. Especially after what Camilla did to me.”

A guilty look immediately came over her face, and Teagan took my hands from her arms and entwined her fingers with mine. “I'm sorry, Caelum.” She hesitated for a few seconds before she began to explain. “My sister is pregnant and my brother is moving back to New England.”

“Ainsley and Grayson, right?”

She nodded. “That's right.”

“And you want to go back to them, don't you?”

Teagan couldn't meet my eyes. “I thought about it. I really want to reunite with my family, I haven't seen them in a long time.”

“Understandable,” I murmured, but on the inside, my heart felt like it was shattering into a million pieces. I loved her, I really didn't want her to go. I'd gotten used to her smell around the house, her humming as she prepared meals in the kitchen. I'd miss her kisses, her mischievousness, her pure Teaganness.

“However,” Teagan continued after taking a deep breath, “I gave my word that I would help you. I love Octavia already, I'm going to fight as hard as I can alongside you to win her back.”

“You really don't have to stay.” I desperately, selfishly wanted her to stay with me, and Octavia once I won the court case against Camilla. If I was in her situation, however, I'd want to reunite with my family as soon as I possibly could.

“You and Octavia are my family too.” Teagan lifted her head and looked me straight in the eye. “Or at least I hope you two will be my family.”

“We'd be honored to have you,” I replied softly as I leaned forward and kissed her gently on the forehead. Inside, however, I was dancing every dance known to man, celebrating that she was staying with us.

“In the meantime, you can't fight the evil ex-wife or sign off on construction sites on an empty stomach,” Teagan replied with a grin as she gently pushed me away from her. “I'd better get dinner ready.”

“I could just order in,” I offered as I followed her into the kitchen.

“Nonsense,” my girlfriend replied with a dismissive wave of her hand. Teagan rubbed the petal of a flower that was still fresh in the vase as she walked past.

“Are you sure? You've had a pretty emotional day, you don't have to make me food.”

“Cooking helps me to think,” Teagan reassured me with a quick peck on my lips.

“I can't argue with you,” I answered as I propped my hip against the kitchen counter, out of her way, and watched her start making dinner.

“You can help me, though, if you want,” Teagan said after she pulled some vegetables out of the pantry.

“Anything for you,” I replied fervently as I rolled my sleeves up.

“Chop that onion up for me, please?”

“Of course.”

As we worked together, side-by-side to make dinner, I realized that I wanted us to be like that for the rest of our lives.

I wanted Teagan to be my partner in every sense of the word.

The only question was how exactly to go about doing that.

***

After dinner, Teagan and I moved into the living room. She still seemed a little out of it; clearly she still had a lot on her mind. She shuffled up so that she was leaning against my side and unlocked her phone. Then, she opened her Facebook app, and navigated to a picture of a bottle of champagne with some tiny baby shoes leaning up against them. Teagan sighed deeply as she stared at the picture, and it didn't take me long to work out that it was what had sent her thoughts spiraling so thoroughly.

When she got up a short while later to go to the bathroom, I dived on her phone before its screen locked. Then, I navigated to her contacts list. Ainsley was right at the top. I opened her contact page and took a quick picture of it with my phone.

I replaced Teagan's phone to where it had been before, just as I heard the toilet flushing. My heart was hammering a mile a minute, and I was trying desperately to convince myself that I hadn't just violated Teagan's trust in me.

Teagan flopped back down on the couch beside me and immediately opened her Facebook app again. She navigated through her feed of various adverts and spam before finding the picture she'd been staring at for the past hour and a half. Then she settled in to stare at it some more.

This behavior was definitely not like her, and it was freaking me out to say the least. I most definitely needed to call Ainsley sooner rather than later.

“I just remembered I forgot to call someone at work today,” I told Teagan, hoping that in her distracted state she wouldn't become too suspicious.

“Okay, good luck,” Teagan muttered with a wave of her hand in my general direction. She didn't even lift her gaze from her phone's screen to watch me go.

I walked out onto the porch for some privacy, and punched Ainsley's number into my dial pad before hitting the call button. The phone rang a few times before a decidedly male voice answered, sounding bewildered.

“Hello, this is Ainsley's phone.”

“Hi, I'm Caelum. I'm looking for Ainsley. Do you know when she'll be available for me to talk to her?”

“No, actually, I don't. I'm Bastian, her husband, and if you're—”

“No, no, this is nothing like that,” I quickly reassured the man on the other side of the line. He sounded angry and suspicious, and the last thing I wanted was an irate husband on my case. “I just want to talk to Ainsley about her sister, Teagan.”

“Is Teagan okay?”

“Yeah, she's fine. She just has a lot to think about, it seems, since seeing Ainsley's Facebook post.”

“Okay, Caelum, you said your name was?”

“Yes, that's me.”

“Okay, well, while we wait for Ainsley to get back from the shower she's taking, let's talk.”

“I... guess?” As far as I could see, if I wanted to talk to Ainsley, I'd have to talk to her husband. I didn't have much of a choice in the matter unless I hung up and phoned back later.

“So, Caelum, how do you know Teagan?”

“Well... that's a long and funny story for another day. Let's just say I'm the man looking out for her best interests.”

“Hmm.” Bastian sounded like he didn't quite believe what I was saying, but didn't push the issue. “What do you do for a living, Caelum?”

“I'm an architect,” I explained, “but mostly I've only been able to do quality checks on buildings that are being built here in Vegas.”

“An architect you say?” Bastian suddenly sounded a lot more interested in what I had to say. “How fortuitous.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Well, everyone here in New England has desperately been trying to find an architect who can help us rebuild a ski resort.”

“There aren't any architects in New England?” Out of everything he'd said, I found that the most difficult thing to believe.

“Not that we can find,” he replied, with a giant, frustrated exhale of breath. “So it’d be great if you're coming here with Teagan.”

“Who says Teagan's coming to you guys? And who says I’m coming with her?”

Bastian chuckled deeply. “Well, Teagan is probably missing her family. She hasn't been here for a while. It's time for her to come home. And as to you following her? I hate to tell you this, man, but you're head over heels for her. I can hear it in your voice.”

“You can?”

“Sure. Every time you mention her, your voice goes all soft and I can hear that you're smiling.”

I hadn't known Bastian much longer than a few minutes, but I was starting to like him already.

“I guess I have a lot to think about,” I murmured, staring out into the darkness of my driveway.

“I'd say you do,” Bastian replied with a rueful chuckle. “But I have a feeling that you'll do the right thing.”

“I can only hope that I will.”

“Here's Ainsley if you still want to talk to her,” Bastian announced after a few seconds of companionable silence between us.

“No, that's okay, I've gotten all the answers I was looking for.”

“If you need anything, call this number, or mine. I'll text you our details.”

“Thanks, man,” I said, meaning it. “And Bastian?”

“Mmhm?”

“Congratulations on your impending bundle of joy. I have a little girl. Trust me, your life will never be the same again, but in the best way.”

“Maybe I'll come to you for more than architecture advice.”

“Call me anytime.”

“I will. Goodbye, Caelum. It was nice to meet you.”

“And you, Bastian.”

When we hung up, I was left with the feeling that I'd gotten a friend who would actually help in a matter of a ten minute conversation.

I walked back into the house, and found Teagan asleep on the couch with her phone on her chest. I took her device and put it to the side before I scooped her up in my arms and carried her to the bedroom.

“Goodnight, Teagan,” I whispered softly to her as I tucked her into her side of the bed. “I'll help you work this all out, I promise.”