Her Venice Affair (The Albury Affairs)

by OW, Christina

  She cuddled into his side and Allan wrapped his arms around her in a hug. He would never get over the fact that he had her in his arms again. Just remembering…he shuddered and he held her tighter.

  Riana looked up at him. He’d bet she was about to ask if he was cold but something in his expression must have told her otherwise. Then he saw a look in her eyes that he recognized and he knew she understood.

  She kissed his chest, right before she pressed her ear to it, right over his heart.

  Melody squealed, rounding the couch. “I’m so happy you guys are back together again.” She plopped down next to him, rubbed his clean-shaven chin, and ran her fingers through his short hair. “My brother is back.”

  Allan felt the familiar lump in his throat at her emotional whisper. Melody’s smile wobbled, tears running unrestricted down her cheeks.

  Allan wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him. She pressed her face into his shoulder, her hand fisted in his shirt as she sobbed quietly.

  “I’m so sorry I put you through hell, Melody. I didn’t mean to. I just…life just didn’t seem worth living without Riana and Aurora and I know that’s selfish to you because it used to be you and me…but…God, Melody I don’t know how to explain it!”

  She pulled her head back, exposing her face. She smiled at him as she wiped her cheeks dry. “I understand. Remember dad?”

  Allan let out a shaky sigh. “Yeah. I finally understand.”

  Riana placed her hand over Melody’s on his chest. “Still. We are really sorry to have put you through…all of it. You too, Loraine.”

  Loraine waved the apology away and sat down on the carpeted floor across from them. “Hey, as long as my best friend isn’t depressed anymore, I’m cool. Especially now that she’s happy. Reno on the other hand is worried sick—happy everything turned out great, but worried, especially since he can’t come see you.” She jerked her chin at Allan. “He wants to meet the man who put his sister on crazy watch.”

  ‘What?” Allan turned to Riana.

  Riana shrugged, tilting her head down, trying to hide from him. “So I didn’t go anywhere unaccompanied, big deal. Let’s move on.” She kicked at Loraine. “And when did you speak to my brother?”

  “He called to check up on you last night and I told him you two were catching up.” She wiggled her brows.

  Riana groaned, shyly hiding her face in Allan’s side.

  Allan pinched her waist making her jump. “And why are you changing the subject?”

  The room suddenly fell silent and Allan felt an uncomfortable feeling creep up on him. He released Melody, cupped Riana’s chin with his hand and turned her face up to him. “No matter what Riana, Aurora comes first. Do I make myself clear?” he demanded, sternly.

  She swallowed hard, blinking back tears. “That’s easy for you to say,” she whispered. “You didn’t have to look at her, listen to how she spoke, watch her facial expression and see the face of the dead man you love. You weren’t the one who was going to explain to her why and how her daddy died. The guilt of her never knowing you was drowning me as much as the pain of losing you was.”

  Allan didn’t think he could ever feel worse than he did at that moment. He leaned down and brushed a kiss on her wobbly lips. Then he moved back and looked into her eyes. “I’m not going anywhere. Not for a very very long time, if I can help it.”

  She nodded then placed her head back on his chest. “Just…don’t travel for work for a while…I need to be able to believe that before I can rip myself away from you for longer than a minute at a time.”

  “I think you two should see someone,” Loraine said, adding to the tension in the room. “You’ve both gone through an unimaginable nightmare and you’ll need someone who’ll help you get through this.”

  Melody nodded her agreement. “Yeah, a shrink who’ll make you both feel okay being separate from each other. Put things back to normal.”

  Allan chuckled. “Normal for us was separation for not more than five hours.”

  Riana punched him in the arm, giving him a stern look. That made him laugh even harder. It was great she was still so shy.

  Loraine snorted. “At that rate, it would have been impossible to not get pregnant.”

  “Well I’m glad. I have a wonderful, beautiful niece.”

  Allan felt his chest puff with pride at Melody’s praise. “I made your wonderful beautiful niece. Pretty good job if I do say so myself.”

  Riana jerk up, “Excuse me? You made her? All by yourself, I’ll bet.”

  He grinned at her. “You helped some.”

  Pig, chauvinistic male, ass, and so many other insults were thrown at him by the three women. Allan knew it was time to bail and find his daughter.

  He disentangled himself from Riana. “I’ll just go find my daughter…”

  Loraine raised her hand to stop him when he went to stand up. “Sit down breeder, she’s coming.” She leaned to the side. “Hellion, what are you dragging?”

  “Loraine,” Allan warned.

  “Oh. You won’t Loraine me when you see the home videos.”

  Riana laughed next to him. “She does have a point.”

  Allan had to watch those videos and see what earned his daughter that reputation. Surely, she couldn’t be that bad…she was a girl!

  Aurora came into view, a pale blue shirt tucked under her arm as she pulled a large book that looked like an album backward into the room.

  Riana gasped next to him then she quickly turned her face away.

  What’s wrong with her? “Riana?”

  “She does that when she’s hiding her tears from Aurora. I usually distract her until Riana is done,” Loraine offered.

  Allan nodded, giving Riana’s thigh a squeeze before he sank to the floor. He pulled Aurora onto his crossed legs and she squealed and giggled in a voice that he was growing to cherish. He blew raspberries into her neck, making her squeal and giggle louder as she squirmed.

  He had no idea that would tickle her so much. He just did it on instinct.

  Three years ago if someone had told him one day he would be sitting on the ground, tickling his daughter and listening to her laugh…he would have recommended a psych evaluation.

  “Okay, show daddy what you have there.”

  Aurora thrust the shirt she held to his face. “Dada.”

  Confused, Allan took the shirt and froze when he caught the scent. It was his scent.

  He turned around to look at Riana. She leaned back far enough on the couch that his upper body blocked Aurora’s view of her. She just sat there, tears in her eyes, and a hand over her mouth.

  Allan turned back to his daughter. “This is daddy’s shirt, honey.”

  She nodded vigorously then struggled to pull the album onto her lap. Allan helped her, lifting his knees in a way that would support the heavy book. Aurora’s tiny legs looked like they could be crushed under the weight.

  “Picas.”

  “Pictures?” he guessed. He felt proud he’d understood that without needing a translator when she nodded and smiled up at him.

  She pushed the cover open and began flipping the pages, as she talked. Some words he understood, others were just a babble—like her mother, but unclear—but he endeavored to give her his full attention.

  The pictures were of Riana and him in Italy, with little comments and captions under them explaining where the picture was taken and Riana’s thoughts and memories. It looked like a diary with pictures. She documented each of their experiences in Italy in detail.

  Allan got emotional just reading the words. They were so full of emotion.

  He looked at the likeness of Riana and him and for a moment they looked like different people. Just a few hours ago, he would have sworn that they were.

  They were happy and carefree in those pictures, and to Allan’s amazement, he saw love, not on Riana’s face, but on his own. No wonder Riana was so sure he loved her. He was the idiot who didn’t notice it.

  They
would become those healthy, happy people again; he was going to make sure of it.

  He felt his chest tighten when he saw news articles and pictures of his parents and Melody.

  Riana had really set out to make up for Aurora not having a father. It stunned him how much his daughter already knew about him. She would have always had him, going back to this album when she felt like she was forgetting him…or if she just needed to see her daddy. And the shirt that carried his scent…

  He felt his love for Riana swell.

  His family’s lives were in this book, with as much detail she could find. All Allan had to do was fill in the details of what she missed.

  He turned around and placed his hand on Riana’s knee and squeezed. “Thank you for making sure she’d always know me and my family.”

  Riana just nodded, more tears spilling.

  * * * *

  “Are you okay?” Allan asked for the hundredth time that night as she crawled into bed next to him.

  She nodded, placing her hand on Aurora’s back as she slept on her father’s chest.

  God, she came so close to not having this…

  Riana took a deep breath to ward off another bout of crying.

  She had cried for what felt like hours, seeing Aurora and Allan go through her memory album.

  Allan laid his hand over hers on Aurora’s back. “I don’t think I’ll be able to thank you enough for what you did. Aurora would have known me if I had—”

  “Don’t say it,” she interrupted. “Let’s just treasure this moment with our daughter.” She placed her head on his shoulder, close to Aurora’s.

  “She looks so beautiful and innocent when she’s asleep you wouldn’t believe she is as destructive as a bulldozer!” Riana chuckled.

  “Well, I’m still not convinced,” Allan commented defensively.

  Riana smiled. He was going to defend Aurora no matter what. She loved him for that.

  Loraine had brought her laptop with ‘the proof’ into Riana’s room when she settled Aurora’s sleeping form on her bed during dinner. Melody had stayed over and even Matthew had joined them. He’d wanted to meet the woman who’d bewitched his best friend. Matthew was a wonderful man, with the looks to match. She may be in love with Allan, but that didn’t mean she was dead. He stood at the same height as Allan but he was wider and he rocked a muscle shirt and jeans. Loraine had whistled when he walked in, followed by a ‘damn my stupid luck’ when Melody held up his left hand.

  Riana reached for the laptop and turned it on, making sure to keep the volume on mute. Aurora got really grumpy if she was woken up when she wasn’t ready. “There is only one way to make you a believer.”

  For the next two hours, she fought laughing out loud at Allan’s stunned expression. He kept on shifting his gaze between the tornado on the screen and the sleeping angel on his chest. When it was done, he whistled shaking his head.

  “You are lucky she wasn’t born a boy.”

  Riana snorted, setting the laptop on the bedside table. “That’s the exact same thing Reno said.”

  Allan went quiet as he stroked Aurora’s back. The creased brown and thin lined lips worried her. “Allan what’s wrong?”

  He stayed silent.

  Riana wasn’t sure what to do or say. They’d only been together for a little over twenty-four hours and she didn’t want to push. They still had some remnant issues from their ‘mourning’ period.

  He sighed. “Is it weird that I’m jealous of your brother?”

  “What?”

  “He held her before I did, saw her smile, heard her cry and her laugh before I did…”

  She could hear the anguish in his voice and it broke her heart. “Allan…”

  “I bet he was there for her first steps and picked her up when she fell, comforted her when she cried, encouraged her, and set her on her feet to try again. I bet he supported her until he was sure she wouldn’t fall, and then reluctantly let her go to do it on her own but stayed behind her to catch her just in case she fell again.”

  He turned to her and Riana pressed down a sob when she saw tears in his eyes. “Those were my moments, Riana, and they were stolen from me.”

  “You can do that with the next baby,” she choked out.

  He shook his head. “It won’t be the same. He or she won’t be my first-born. They won’t be my Aurora.” He quickly caught the tears before they fell. “I’m not trying to make you feel bad for letting your brother step in for me…but I just…I feel cheated.”

  Riana moved closer to him. “He didn’t just step in for you. He stepped in for me, too. I was such a mess, I paid more attention to keeping her close so that I wouldn’t lose her too that I missed most of her firsts. My mind wasn’t present enough to register that they were happening until it was too late.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “We’ll make it up to her.”

  “I know how we can do that.” Riana kept her head low on his shoulder to hide her smile.

  “How?”

  “We can let her lose in your office. That’s bound to make up for all our short comings for the past twenty-two months of her life.”

  Riana felt Allan’s body shake as he chuckled. She was glad the tense moment was over.

  “You’ve become such a comedian.”

  Riana shrugged. “I try,” she said dryly before she giggled.

  “I have an idea. Not that terrorizing my employees isn’t a good one, but mine’s better. We could celebrate her second birthday in the country where she was conceived.”

  Riana pushed up onto her elbow. “Don’t you think that’s a little extravagant?”

  He shook his head, turning his attention back to Aurora when she sighed, clenching his T-shirt in one small fist while the other arm hugged her ‘dada’ closer under her chin and turning her head to face Riana. She’d slept with Allan’s shirt since the day she was born and it was now the one thing the toddler wouldn’t willingly be parted from.

  Riana always wished it was Allan she did that with when she was a baby, and not Reno.

  Riana cleared her head of those depressing moments and smiled at Allan. He didn’t just want to do this he needed to do this to make up for the twenty-two months he wasn’t around.

  “We could go back to L’Archeologia? It doesn’t have to be a big affair. Loraine, Melody, Matthew and his family, Dante and maybe Tony—”

  Oh damn! Riana wanted to slap herself for mentioning him. She saw Allan’s jaw clench and a muscle twitch. Yup, she shouldn’t have mentioned him.

  “I’m sorry—”

  “Mr. Torino died of a heart attack when he found out what Anthony did, well supposedly did, to you.”

  “Oh no!” Riana sobbed, covering her mouth.

  Allan’s hard expression softened. He cupped the back of her head and pulled her down to his shoulder. “Hey, don’t cry.”

  “He’s dead because of that idiot.”

  She felt Allan’s warm lips on her forehead before he spoke. “The way I see it, he’s back together with Mariana. The best way we can honor them is to respect his wishes. Maybe you can add a few of your own to the collection.”

  Riana chewed nervously on her lower lip. She hadn’t touched a paintbrush since finishing NYU. Could she still do it?

  She felt Allan’s thumb on her chin as he pulled her lower lip free of her teeth.

  “Stop sweating it. You’ll do great.”

  Riana turned to stare at him. “It’s been a really long time since I painted.”

  His lips lifted in a loop sided grin. “I have a feeling you’ll be painting until you can’t stand it.”

  Riana chuckled shaking her head. “That’s never going to happen. I’m always going to love painting.”

  The other side of his lips lifted to form a full scale I’m-so-sexy smile that made her breath catch.

  “Maybe you can open an art school and a gallery for the students through the foundation Melody started in your honor.”

  Riana excitedly jumped o
nto her knees. “Yes! That would be great. We could do a summer school kind of deal for students who couldn’t get into good art schools. Or…or we can be like the middleman. They get their skills tuned in Cora’s Art Institute then we can offer scholarships to any art school anywhere in the world…but mostly Europe.”

  She tapped her fingers at her temples as she tried to get her thoughts in order. She had so many ideas!

  “Oh, oh! How about using the gallery for both promising students and great artists out there who haven’t—” She yelped when Allan cupped the back of her head and pulled her down. “Wait I’m not—” The rest of her words were stopped by his lips, and the kiss evaporated every thought she had running around in her head.

  His lips were hard and oh so sweet. She could feel the tingles rush down her back to the tips of her toes as he made love to her mouth. She sighed, leaning into the kiss. She whined when he ended the kiss.

  “I’d love to continue this, but we have our baby in the room,” he brushed his thumb on her lower lip and she pulled it into her mouth, including his thumb.

  He let out a shuddering breath and pulled his thumb out of her mouth, moving a few inches away from her. “Your rambling still turns me on.”

  Riana sighed flopping down onto the bed. “I would suggest putting Aurora in Loraine’s bed…”

  “…but you know I want to hold my daughter for the night.”

  She sighed with disappointment again. “Exactly.”

  Allan chuckled, clearly laughing at her. He gathered her closer to him and kissed her forehead. “I love you,” he pressed another kiss, “My heart,” kiss, “my soul mate,” kiss, “my life,” kiss, “and soon…my wife.”

  Riana froze, replaying his words in her head. “Did you just…did you just propose to me!”

  “Ssh, you’ll wake Aurora,” he chuckled. “And when I do propose, you’ll know.”

  Riana turned in his arm and leaned up to kiss his lips. “You are really bossy, you know that.”

  “I know. Now come here. I want to hold my family in my arms all night.”

  Riana settled on his shoulder, weaving her fingers with his on Aurora’s back. It felt wonderful just laying together, just the three of them. This was her family…she rested her free hand discreetly on her belly…and maybe, just maybe, they’d already added one more member to their family.