A pleased smile touched Gray's lips as he saw the tabloid website headline: "Aaron Hale Replaces Father As CEO In Unexpected Coup d'état." So, he'd finally done it. Excellent.
Now it was Gray's turn to disrupt their father. He'd prepared the article weeks earlier. All he had to do was send it to a journalist friend, and it would hit the headlines the next morning.
With Aaron's news already trending, the Hale family would be in the spotlight. The timing was perfect to release additional information. People devoured this kind of story.
He imagined the impact of revealing that the city's two most eligible bachelors were secretly brothers, and even more so, that one was already married.
He sincerely hoped Keeley was prepared for the news. Inevitably, someone would discover her identity.
Gray emailed the article to his friend and leaned back, perfectly content. The police hadn't sought him out again, his father was getting what he deserved, and all felt right with the world.
Aaron had texted her during his lunch break that his takeover was successful, so she finally felt comfortable updating her social media—last name, marital status, and photos. The person they'd been hiding it from already knew, so there was no point in continuing the charade.
Immediately, astonished comments flooded in from people she hadn't seen in years:
"Since when do you have kids?!" "YOU MARRIED AARON HALE?!?!?!?" "Twins? You had twins?" "How did you end up with the most eligible bachelor in New York?"
To playfully respond, she simply used a smirking face emoji. It wasn't anyone's business, and explaining would be a nightmare.
Her caption read, "A lot has happened this past year, but I wouldn't change it for the world," followed by a heart emoji. The post included pictures of the wedding, the babies, and their trip to Niagara Falls.
A notification appeared: Aaron had liked her post. Of course he had. He was probably thrilled to finally show her off. He was like that.
Scrolling through Instagram, she did a double take. A series of pictures posted from inside her house appeared—of Dinah, the babies, and her. She hadn't posted them, so who…?
Her eyes shot to the username: hail.storm, her longtime follower, was the culprit. Keeley groaned. That idiot had been following her the entire time without saying anything?! She hadn't even known he had an account!
She sent him an annoyed text: "When were you going to tell me about your Instagram account?"
He replied, "I just did," adding a smiley face.
Exhaling, she calmed herself. This wasn't worth getting upset over. It simply proved Aaron was even more of a devoted sap than she thought—and she already knew he was pretty sappy.
"You're ridiculous, I hope you know that."
"Yeah, but you still love me."
Keeley rolled her eyes. He'd hold that over her forever, wouldn't he? She'd only regret telling him if it weren't for his happiness.
It was true, anyway. She wasn't like she used to be—if someone said "I love you," and she felt the same, she had to say it back. She'd punished him long enough.
The past was dead. The present Aaron was an excellent husband and father. He made her feel loved, made her laugh, and supported her dreams. He was her best friend again.
Cries came from the baby monitor, and Keeley put down her phone to check on her children. They were probably hungry; they'd been napping for a while.
Feeding them was much harder when Aaron wasn't home. She had to soothe one while feeding the other, which both broke her heart and gave her a headache.
"Hang in there, Violet," she soothed. "Kaleb will be done eating soon, and then it will be your turn."
Violet continued crying. Of course she did. She was hungry; words meant nothing. Food was all that mattered.
Once both babies were fed, burped, and had their diapers changed, she placed them on their padded mat, started the mobile, and began reading to them. They happily listened to their mother's voice and kicked their feet.
When Aaron arrived home, the babies were in their bouncers, and Keeley was making dinner. He kissed her cheek and presented her with a pint of Cherry Garcia ice cream.
"I thought we could have ice cream later to celebrate our victory today."
She smiled. "Our victory? Pretty sure this one was all you. I had nothing to do with it. You've been working on this for a long time."
He shook his head. "You were the motivation behind it all. Besides, you did help me hold him off by pretending to be Bethany Carlisle a few times."
Still, it didn't feel like much of a contribution. But her heart skipped a beat at the reminder that he'd done this all for her.
Eight years ago. He'd started down this path eight years ago because he loved her and wanted them to be together safely. It had been a long time, and he'd never given up.
She abandoned the vegetables she was chopping and threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. He returned the embrace eagerly.
"What's that for?" he asked, chuckling.
"I'm glad you didn't give up on me," she admitted. "I didn't make things easy for you."
"And I didn't make things easy for you, so now we're even. I've told you before—you didn't give up on me when we first met, so I could never give up on you."
Keeley wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him until all the pent-up emotion had poured out. She lacked words to describe her happiness that they were finally together safely and in love, as they always should have been.
(The promotional text at the end has been removed as it was unrelated to the story.)