Run, Girl (If You Can)

It seemed a lot like Violet wanted an apartment similar to the one she grew up in, including terraces and a large entertainment room. Aaron couldn't help but smile to himself as the conversation went on. He and Keeley had succeeded in building a warm, comfortable home for their children since their daughter wanted her new place to be the same.

He had no such thoughts when he moved out from his parents' place all those years ago. His first house with Keeley had been opulent, sure, but there weren't any things from the house he grew up in that he thought were worth keeping. Everything there was simply an object without any true meaning behind it.

But Violet wanted terraces because of all the fun they had barbecuing and roasting marshmallows and wanted an entertainment room because of all the family movie nights they had enjoyed over the years. She wanted a place that seemed like home because she was happy there.

That was perhaps his greatest accomplishment as a parent. Aaron felt a bit choked up as they continued searching through the options.

After narrowing it down to five different places, he hugged his daughter tightly and told her he loved her. She brushed it off with a "yeah, yeah, love you too Dad" before fleeing upstairs but he was certain she caught his meaning.

Keeley couldn't hold back her laughter anymore as soon as Violet was out of earshot. "Did you have to tell her to use protection? Her face was beet red the entire time you two looked at apartments!"

"How was I supposed to know that wasn't a concern?" Aaron demanded. "And even if it isn't now, it will be later! The twins were an accident, as you well know. I don't want her to have to end her career or get married before she's ready because of that."

The twins weren't stupid; as they got older, they realized that their parents' anniversary was only a few months before they were born. Keeley never told them the truth. When they asked, she said she and Aaron were already engaged when it happened. She didn't want them to think they had trapped her into a marriage she didn't want.

Yes, she had felt trapped at the time, but once Lacy was dead and she didn't have to worry about being attacked anymore she never once regretted marrying Aaron. Breaking her children's beliefs about their parents' happy marriage was unnecessary.

Keeley sighed and shook her head. While there was definitely fatherly concern in his tone, there was a trace of guilt as well. She wrapped her arms around him from behind and nestled her head on his shoulder.

"Violet's a big girl; she'll be fine. And if something happens, it happens. Everything happened for us exactly the way it was supposed to," she said soothingly.

Without the twins, she wouldn't have given Aaron a real chance at her heart. And the past twenty-six years of happiness never would have happened. Keeley didn't regret the way things went down at all. Fate knew what it was doing when it brought them together.

Aaron already knew she didn't regret her life with him because she really wasn't that great of an actress. If she had been resentful, he would have seen it. He had every reason to believe she was genuinely happy and in love with him.

Still, it was nice to hear it from her own lips. He reached up to grip the arms that were wrapped around him.

"I know. But as her father, I'm obligated to give her the speech. It's the same one I gave Kaleb when he started showing an interest in girls. You know none of Violet's previous boyfriends were ever serious enough to get past basic kissing," Aaron pointed out.

Keeley rolled her eyes. Oliver was too busy building things to care about girls but Nathan, no doubt, had gotten the same speech from his father when he was in high school. She couldn't deny that it needed to be done but Aaron could at least try to be a bit more tactful. Or subtle.

Subtlety wasn't exactly his strong suit anymore. Once he started showing his emotions, she realized he was actually pretty straightforward. Violet got her bluntness from him.

Keeley peered over his shoulder at the laptop screen. There were a bunch of saved listings on the real estate page. "Are you taking her to see these tomorrow?"

Aaron nodded. "Yes. Noah has family in town so she wants to get it done while he's busy. I've never met someone so devoted to a single person in my entire existence."

"I wonder where she gets that from," she said sarcastically.

He shrugged and grinned at her. "No idea."

The casserole timer went off and Keeley rolled her eyes as she went to go check the oven. It looked like needed a few more minutes. She leaned against the counter and sighed, her mind wandering back to the problem of what to research now.

It had been bothering her for weeks and she hadn't been able to come up with anything solid. Everything had either been done or was in progress. She needed something else groundbreaking.

She had been toying with the idea of trying to eliminate carrier genes for certain diseases but wasn't sure if it was possible. Thus far, people who were carriers were able to get eggs extracted and tested to make sure they didn't have the genes but then had to do IVF in order to get pregnant.

If it was possible to use modify the carrier genes within the body, bypassing IVF, people could get pregnant naturally without having to worry. It sounded like something out of an old science fiction movie from the late 1990s Keeley had seen in middle school but technology had come a long way since then.

Over forty years' worth of new technology might make it possible. At the very least, it was worth looking into. She should check the scientific literature and see if there was anything usable within it. Every research idea had to start by going over what had already been done.

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