Loving The Temperamental Adonis
Chapter 259: At the old cabin

Chapter 259: At the old cabin

In what seemed like the blink of an eye, three years slipped away, carried by the gentle yet relentless march of seasons. Spring’s delicate blossoms unfurled, quickly replaced by the warm embrace of summer, where the sun cast long, golden rays over fields and shimmering lakes. Autumn arrived in a blaze of color, with leaves swirling in the crisp air, whispering tales of change. Winter followed, draping the world in a silent, snowy blanket under a sky heavy with somber clouds. The seasons cycled seamlessly, one into the next, until, almost unnoticed, three years had passed, leaving behind a fabric of moments woven into the ever-changing sky.

"Daddy, we want car­to­ons." Noah Galverra le­aned over his fat­her’s sho­ul­der di­rectly in­to his fa­ce to ma­ke his an­no­un­ce­ment.

"Ye­ah." Nolan nod­ded in agreement, his gray eyes shimmering with mischief. "We’re bo­red in this silly old place with no phones!"

"How can you be bored?" Neil glanced across the room at the grandfather clock on the wall. It was barely ten o’clock in the morning. This had, he grimaced, all the makings of a very long day. How was he supposed to keep these little devils here before the arrangements were over on the other side of the island?

How long does it take for a wedding venue to be arranged on a resort island? He’d been here on another part of Puerto Rico Island, in one of the Galverra ancient cabins with his kids since yesterday evening, on his wife’s and Grandma’s request.

Nolan and Noah Galverra, he thought grimly, were the most stubborn and disastrous little three-year-olds he’d ever seen. If they were to be present at the resort island where his wedding ceremony was to take place this evening by sunset, then things were bound to go wrong there, because they would destroy every single thing they touched or came in contact with.

His Grandma had talked him into bringing them here while the arrangements and the shopping were going on, but he was starting to regret it now. The fact that his wife had not thought of calling him or picking up any of his calls since morning was starting to make his mood grimmer than it was before. For the past three years she’d survived that coma, he’d not been separated from her until now.

He knew his grandma had purposely sent him here with the kids because she wanted him to follow their tradition of not seeing the bride until the day of the wedding. He’d been against it when she first told him to go stay in a hotel until the day of the wedding so he wouldn’t see Mia, but when he refused to follow the damned tradition, she’d said the two boys couldn’t be in the house while the workers were getting everything ready. She talked his wife into convincing him to take the boys to the family cabin on this part of the island.

He should have known something was wrong when Mia refused to make love to him the night before he came here. His Grandma had talked her into believing their tradition of the bride and groom not being together or getting intimate before their wedding. She’d taken it so seriously she wasn’t even going to pick up any of his calls. Oh, she’s definitely going to pay for this on their wedding night, which would be tonight!

"We want cartoons!" the twins chorused, breaking Neil out of his thoughts.

"Guys, guys, for the last ti­me, the­re is no te­le­vi­si­on he­re. You’re in an old cabin on an island. Lo­ok"-Neil sto­od up and pul­led back the ho­mes­pun cur­ta­in on the li­ving ro­om win­dow and po­in­ted out­si­de to the sea-"you stand right he­re and watch, and I’ll bet that be­fo­re too long a shark or a big boat will go right by."

"We saw a big boat yes­ter­day, and we came here on your big shinny boat that has flat screen TV but this silly cabin has none," Nolan re­min­ded him with a frown and a pout on his small lips that reminded Neil so much of his wife when she was little. The more their sons grow, the more their features change into a combination of both their parents.

"I’d rat­her see a shark bite off someone’s head," Noah grum­b­led.

"Or see a zombie rip off someone’s throat. I miss watching zombies bite people, don’t you?" Nolan tumbled on top of his brother and brought him down with a thud as he laughed in victory.

"Yes." Noah agreed as he turned over and sat on his brother’s chest. "And people dying..."

Neil, who was still busy trying to reach his wife, heard what his sons were saying and stopped in surprise. "How do you guys know about zombies and people dying?" He asked over his shoulder, his voice taking on a note of disapproval.

"Lilly lets us watch it with her whenever she comes over and you and Mom are not around," Noah told his father. Even though Lilly had made them promise not to tell anyone she was watching movies like that, and they had promised not to tell, he dared not lie when his mom had taught them never to lie. Furthermore, with that look their father was giving them, Noah dared not lie.

"For how long have you two been watching such movies?" Neil frowned and made a mental note to speak with Ms. Emily, his sons’ nanny, about what she was allowing the children to watch right under her nose when Mia and he were not around.

"Four times." Nolan said as he struggled to slip out of his shirt and escape from his brother, rolling over the back of the sofa their great-grandma, Valerie, had personally made herself when she was young, said their father, who had told them all kinds of things about the cabin and the Galverra family yesterday.

Noah dove for his twin, who, being a master of evasive action, turned in time to send Nolan crashing into the table and pitching the lamp onto the floor.

Neil grimaced at the sound of the ancient lamp breaking onto the floor. His grandma was definitely going to have a mini heart attack once she saw how his sons had almost destroyed everything in the cabin. He considered his roughhousing offsprings and figured it would take them another twenty minutes to pretty much destroy all the work it had taken his grandma to keep this ancient cabin in place.

There would be hell to pay when she saw how his offsprings had destroyed everything. Oh, he could explain a broken lamp—make that four broken lamps, he thought as he flinched at the sound coming from their bedroom—but as proud as she had been of the fact that she had gotten rid of the three Galverra males to give Mia the time she needed to prepare, she was not likely to have more than four lamps’ worth of forgiveness to spare.

A crash from the small di­ning area ra­ised the an­te to five lamps and two va­ses. Cursing under his breath, he ran his fingers through his hair in frustration and strode towards the boys. He’d had enough.

"Boys, get yo­ur shoes on, we’re ta­king a walk around the island before your uncle Liam comes to get us." He ca­ught the lit­tle hel­li­ons as they tri­ed to flee back down the hal­lway that led to two small bed­ro­oms.

"We took a walk yesterday," Nolan protested loudly, trying to struggle out of his father’s hold.

"Well, we’re taking another one today." Neil dumped the squirming bodies onto the sofa. "Get your shoes and your sunhats. Let’s move it." He ordered strictly. By God, he had no idea who his offsprings took after, because he was sure as hell he wasn’t like this as a boy.

"We don’t want to go for a walk. We want to watch cartoons and play games." Noah folded his arms across his chest and did his best to scowl at his father, who was looking down at them in disbelief.

"Yeah." Nolan mimicked his twin brother’s stance and facial expression. Both, identical in every way, their voices and everything else. The only way Neil could tell them apart when Mia dressed them in matching outfits was from the dimples. Nolan had dimples while Noah had none.

"Tough. We’re walking. Get ready." Neil, not to be out-scowled, pointed firmly to the pile of shoes one of his men had brought for the boys this morning on Mia’s request inside the back door.

Still grumbling, the boys reluctantly did as they were told.

"May­be we’ll see a bald eag­le," Neil sa­id to en­co­ura­ge them.

"I’d rat­her see a shark," Nolan sul­ked.

"Ye­ah. Or a mermaid." His brot­her mo­ped along be­hind him, but Nolan glared at him and said, "Mermaids are for girls. We are men, we want something big and tough. Like whales and wolves, not mermaids."

"Trust me, fel­las," the­ir fat­her told them as he held the back do­or open, "you don’t want to see a wolf or a shark from the wrong si­de of the win­dow."

"We’re not sca­red," Nolan sa­id bra­vely.

"Well, you sho­uld be." Neil clo­sed the do­or be­hind them. "You wouldn’t want to see a wolf on the island."

Noah scoffed, "No wolf or shark can harm us when you are here. You will shoot it down with your guns like you shoot bad guys in the military."

"Yeah. Miss Cat, our teacher said our dad is a hero! And our friends also said they want to be like you when they grow up. We can never be harmed when you are there. Right, Noah?" He turned to his twin while holding their father’s hand and jumping up and down as they walked at the side of the sea.

"Yep. Dad, when are we going back to bisabuela’s? It’s not fun here. Mom brought us little suits yesterday morning and she said we are going to wear them this evening, but here we are taking a boring walk instead of getting ready to wear our new suits." Noah grumbled with a pout.

"What’s the occasion, dad? Why was mom and aunt Rayne shopping so much yesterday? And why is mom not here with us?"

"Mom and I will be getting married this evening," Neil replied, knowing they wouldn’t drop the question. They’d been asking him since last night, and he’d avoided it until now. As expected, the two frowned in confusion and looked up at him at the same time.

"You mean you two are getting married?" Noah asked, confused.

"I thought you were already married to Mom? Why are you having a wedding again?" Nolan asked, not understanding why his parents were having a wedding ceremony when they were already married.

Neil sighed softly as his kids kept bombarding him with questions. Yes, they were married, but they hadn’t had their wedding ceremony yet because of all the misfortunes that had befallen them. First, it was Mia’s coma, then the process of her recovery after she woke up, which took almost a year and a half before she could walk on her own without a wheelchair or his assistance.

They’d finally decided to have it this summer because his grandma was persistent about having them visit Puerto Rico. When they arrived, Neil thought it was a perfect opportunity to have their wedding ceremony like Mia had always wanted. But now he was starting to think he’d made a mistake. He hated being away from her for long; he was already missing her so badly that he wished he could just throw caution to the wind and fly back to her.

"Dad, answer us! Why are you getting married again?" Noah persisted when Neil didn’t reply and was lost in thoughts about his wife.

Just when Neil was searching for words to answer, he spotted his driver and Liam making their way toward them, which he believed was a sign that the arrangements were done and he could go back.

"Uncle Liam!!" The boys chorused the moment they spotted him and wiggled their hands away from their father’s hold, sprinting toward Liam, who opened his arms for them.

"My little boys!" He hugged them both at once and picked them up, spinning them around. They giggled happily in his arms as he put them down, making Neil roll his eyes when Liam shot him a look that said they like me more than you.

"Did you come to take us back?!" Noah asked, too excited to see his uncle. He clutched tightly to his pants. When Liam nodded, the boys jumped up and down in excitement.

"Have you gotten our suits ready?" Neil asked as he approached his friend, eager and as excited as his kids to finally leave.

"Yep, everything is ready. But..." Liam trailed off, hesitant to speak further.

"But what?" Neil asked with a frown.

"It’s about Mia. She’s not all right," Liam said, not knowing how to phrase it to his friend what he’d found out when he met her before coming here.

"What’s wrong with my wife?" All color drained from Neil’s face at the thought that something bad had happened again.