Bought For A Baby, Kept For A Lifetime-Chapter 298: Wishes

Anne leaned forward, her face illuminated by the candlelight to touch his face.

"Happy Birthday, Andrew." She said again with unbridled tenderness in her voice.

The shock in his eyes shifted as he moved to sit up, his gaze moving down to her hand where she held the familiar looking simple cake that carried a single candle.

He seemed speechless for a long time, processing the strange emotions surfacing within him.

In her eyes he saw love, tender and deep as she stared at him. When had anyone ever genuinely looked at him like this before?

He recalled a twelve year old boy who looked at a cake with so much hatred in his heart, the boy who pretended to no longer care about a day other kids anticipated, a day other kids shared specially with their parents showering gifts and loving words on them. That boy pretended not to care anymore until he truly no longer cared.

This day could have as well been another random day to him, just like Andrew had made it every year in his life, but he could see in her eyes that she saw this day as special, saw him as special and that caused a well of sweetness to grow in his heart.

"I wanted you to start your day with this, not just the cake but...I want you to know that I really love you, and whatever happens, I will always be with you." 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

His eyes suddenly grew suspiciously bright, glimmering with an emotion so deep and intense. For a moment, he couldn’t move, and he stared at her with a look she had only seen a handful of times. The raw, unshielded and almost fragile look in his normally cold eyes.

"Make a wish." She brought the cake forward and whispered.

"A wish?" He asked, his voice hoarse as he looked to the side quietly swiping off the tiniest hint of a tear that almost slid down his face.

Anne felt her own eyes well up with tears she didn’t shed, she knew he would call her a crybaby again if she cried happy tears.

"Yes, have you never made a birthday wish before?" She asked, cocking her head to the side curiously.

Andrew hesitated for a second as if thinking back, then slowly shook his head.

Even though elder Sterling threw birthday parties for them since a long time ago, things like birthday wishes were never given any importance, perhaps it was because a Sterling son was assumed to have everything his heart wished for.

"It’s okay, you can make one right now." Anne said brightly not wanting him to dwell on the past for too long.

He raised his hand to her face, caressing the baby hairs on the side of her face with a loving look in his eyes.

"If you could wish for anything in the world, what would it be?" He asked.

"If I could wish for anything, I’d wish for you to always be happy, I’d wish that you never get to be in pain again like you used to, and I’d wish for us to always be together, forever. What about you?" Anne had asked before immediately changing her mind a second later,

"Wait, don’t tell me. You can’t tell your wishes before making them. First, close your eyes, make a wish and blow the candle, then tell me what you wished for."

Wishes...

They were things he never believed in before. Fickle things people tell themselves to make life easier, to give themselves false hope, but this bright look in Anne’s eyes, the way her eyes sparkled as she spoke of her wishes, he felt touched by how her wishes included him, and also the notion of something as simple as making a wish didn’t seem so fickle or false anymore, and suddenly he found himself hoping for a wish as well.

Forever!

Andrew did as she said, closing his eyes to quietly think of something he truly wanted, then opened his eyes to blow on the candle. He could picture that twelve year old boy now, instead of hatred in his heart, he felt warmth, the warmth of this love Anne showed him, and that little boy was no longer bitter or deeply resentful, that little boy, was happy.

When he looked up, he met Anne’s expectant gaze.

"Now you can tell me what you wished for."

Andrew smiled, tugging her closer and turning her around where her back leaned against his chest while he hugged her like that.

"Do you believe that wishes come true, Sweet wife?" He asked instead.

"Hmm, sometimes they do." She replied.

"Sometimes?" He queried and she went on to say,

"Here’s how they work, sometimes you get exactly what you wish for, it comes true just the way you asked for it, but other times, your wishes might not actually come true. It makes some people lose faith in wishes, but the truth is, the wishes we make become shields to protect us from bad things that might be coming our way. So wishes are never wasted, if the universe doesn’t immediately grant your wish, it might do so several years later, or your wish is exchanged for protection from bad things about to happen to you, so there are no wasted wishes."

Andrew chuckled as he heard her explanation. He found it adorable that she believed in this. If it were his past self, he would have laughed at such a notion, but right now, he would believe in something if she did.

"So, what did you wish for?" She really wanted to know. What would the great Andrew Sterling wish for?

"You Annelise, a lifetime to love you, protect you, and make you the happiest woman alive because that is what you deserve."

Hearing what he wished for made her smile, a ticklish tingle spreading in her heart.

"What you wished for is related to me, didn’t you wish anything for yourself?"

"These wishes are for me, if you’re with me, I’m complete, if you’re happy, I am too, if you’re safe, my heart is at ease."

He also didn’t know that a day would come and his whole heart and soul would belong to one person, but his heart belonged to this woman in his arms, his wife...she was everything that mattered to him, and even if time came to a stop, he would still love her this mindlessly.

Andrew’s arms around her tightened as he buried his nose against her neck then kissing her there briefly before pulling back.

"Thank you, Annelise...for coming into my life."

He was grateful that she existed, grateful that he found her...no, she found him. If he knew someday she would be this precious to him, he would have treated her like a queen from the very first day he met her, if he knew his breath, his life would all depend on having her near, he would have held her really tight from the first moment he saw her and felt something stir in his heart.

Maybe his heart had tried to tell him then that he would care this deeply for her someday, and maybe his past self hadn’t known what to do with those types of emotions that would lead him to fall in love with someone hence he had showed her terrible sides of himself to push her away. Deep inside he hadn’t believed he could be loved, but she loved him now and he wanted to have that for the rest of his life.

"Then I’ll make your wishes come true Andrew, I’ll make sure to keep myself safe no matter what, I’ll be happy because I always am whenever you’re here, and I will always be with you."

He smiled at her words before kissing her three times on the cheek making her giggle.

"Andrew."

"Hmm?"

"Will you go somewhere fun with me today?"

He didn’t even ask where as he replied, "I’ll go anywhere with you, Annelise."

Several hours later, Anne took him somewhere...