A loud gasp filled the room. All eyes turned on Leila as she covered her mouth in apparent shock, and her eyes filled with tears. Aria’s heart went out to the other woman. “Cody, Sam, that’s awesome news. What do you think, Leila?”
“I-I don’t know...what to say,” Leila whispered.
“Say, yes.” Reece offered her a gentle smile. “I promised we’d help any way we could. Sam and Cody’s offer is perfect. You’ll get your life back. Isn’t that what you want?”
Leila bobbed her head in acknowledgment. “It is...I can’t accept this though...it’s too much.”
Cody and Samantha walked around the bed. “You saved a member of my family, Leila,” Cody’s soft statement brought tears to Aria’s eyes.
“What we’re offering can’t repay your help. As Reece said, it would give you back your confidence, your life.” Samantha slid an arm around Leila’s shoulder.
“Say yes,” Kelly and Aria said in unison.
“Thank you,” Leila finally whispered. “You have a beautiful family, Aria.”
Aria smiled. “Yes, I do.” Her gaze roamed the room and finally rested on Reece. He winked and blew her a kiss. Her heart somersaulted at his family’s kindness toward a total stranger. Granted, she and Reece had just started dating, their embrace of her as part of their family, left her speechless. She couldn’t have asked for anything more. Everything was just the way she dreamed.
Chapter Thirty One
When the car pulledup to the house four days later, Aria eyed the property with mild trepidation. Her lips curled in a grimace as she cut the engine. She looked out the windshield. Nothing had changed since she’d left apart from the inherent neglect. Walls mossy with algae and peeling paint. Bougainvillea plants, once lush and pink, now overgrown shapeless creepers were just the two things she noticed. Her father’s heart would’ve shattered with sadness had he lived long enough to witness the apparent lack of respect for the house he worked hard to buy and maintain.
“You okay, babe?” Reece’s soft words tugged her out of her dismal wanderings.
“I shouldn’t have come.” She pulled her gaze away from the dilapidated building, shook her head, then rested it back against the seat.
“You need the closure, Ria or none of this is going away. It might haunt you for the rest of your life.” Reece took her hand in his. He gently caressed the open palm. “You owe yourself that much.”
Aria glanced at Reece. His smile still brought butterflies to her tummy. It filled her with the courage to face this impending fiasco. “Okay.”
“You want to go in alone?”
Several cars in the driveway told Aria her stepmother still entertained. Something she was seriously good at and managed to a fault. Pity, she couldn’t officiate a little supervision on a home in such evident disrepair. “I think it would be best,” she said at last. He nodded. Aria glanced at Prisha asleep in the backseat.
“I’ll watch her.”
With a quick kiss to his lips, Aria opened the door. She stepped out with a resolute sigh before navigating the parked cars to the front door. It stood open. Without knocking, she entered to a cackle of laughter. The sound instantly conjured up a coven of witches in Aria’s head. Grinning, she headed for the living room from where the mirth emanated. A laugh, strident enough to hurt the ear, abruptly screeched through the air. Aria halted on the first step down. The familiar smell of freshly fried samoosa’s, tomato dip, and green apple and coriander chutney seized her nostrils. For a moment, Diwali celebrations with her parents flooded her mind.
