Free Atonement (Heart of Stone) by D H Sidebottom

in the room. “Teeth and shoes” Mason reminded them when he understood
my hooded look.
    “Yes, daddy” they both drilled out like good little
soldiers before they chased each other up the stairs. “I’m using mummy’s sink”
George shouted to his slightly faster sister as she rounded the landing.
    “You can have mummy’s, I want daddy’s anyway” She sneered
a little too nastily.
     
    “Did you sleep at all?” Mason asked quietly and I jolted
slightly as he slid his hand gently down my arm and took my hand, encompassing
it in his large one after he had flicked a delicate kiss over my knuckles.
    “A little” I replied as I studied our joined hands.
    “I’m an arse, baby, I…”
    I snatched my hand back and glared at him, “Words are no
good Mason if they hold no conviction. I won’t do this again, I can’t do
this again. I won’t survive it a second time.”
    He nodded, his guilt mixing with sadness on his face as
his hand now settled on my cheek and I instantly nestled in the familiar
essence of him. “You know how important you are to me, Ava. You’re everything
baby; you’re my life, my fuckin’ breath, my own personal life support machine.
Without you there’s no beat in my heart and no point to…anything.”
    “Then prove it, Mason, prove to me how much I mean to
you. You know without words how much I love you, how I would die for you, baby,
but put my babies at risk and I will kill you.”
    He jerked at my words but nodded, “I know, and you know I
would never do anything to hurt you all. I know how much you’re in pain right
now, Ava and I’m gonna make it all better, baby. I’m gonna scour the earth for
what our marriage needs to make it whole again. I promise.”
    His words triggered the tears that had been threatening to
materialise since last night.
    He pulled me in tight and wrapped my hair around his
fingers in his possessive hold; his heart was beating rapidly against the thin
material of my shirt as he whispered words of love and commitment in my ear.
     
    “We need to talk about something.” I tipped my head back
and peered up at him. He kissed the tip of my nose and nodded as I took a deep
breath.
    “I asked…”
    “Katie smacked me….” George bellowed as he came sobbing
through the hallway into the kitchen.
    Damn, just when it was good time to tell him!
    I needed to tell him quickly and whilst he was feeling so
indulgent, so I blurted it out the same time as George scuttled himself into my
legs and Katie came stomping in to shout her disapproval at George splashing
her with dirty toothpaste water.
    “I asked Kade to come this weekend.”
     
    The children quietened immediately when they felt the
chill envelope us and the air tighten to a near struggle to breathe in.
    Ice seemed to cover everything in the room from the
kettle to the fridge, from the window to my babies. From Mason to me.
    Mason blew out a breath slowly then inhaled purposefully as
Katie and George stared at their daddy desperately trying to rein in his temper
in front of them.
    “Go get your bags and climb in the car” I told them with
no room for argument.
    They didn’t even moan or acknowledge my demand as they
thankfully had an excuse to remove their precious bodies from the house.
     
    “Mason” I warned as I palmed his cheek and turned his
face to me, “We need to sort all this with Kade. We’re just friends and I hate
to see him hurting after what I did to him. It still pains me and I need to fix
it.”
    He screwed his face up and a deep growl rumbled through
his chest. “What you did to him, Ava? What you did? Fuck, baby,
was he not there when you two fucked like rabbits?” he hissed out and I felt
his anger like a physical slap.
    “Shit, I didn’t mean that, Ava.”
    I nodded, I understood, it must hurt him every time my
affair was revisited but I needed to be firm on this. It had gone on long
enough. They used to be family as well as friends and I ached at how far apart
I had blown