“I…” I didn’t know what to say, so I hugged her tight, praying and hoping that this guy, whoever she was with now wouldn’t treat her that way. I could see now that she was vulnerable too, that she had walls just like me, and I wanted better for her.
“So I know how you feel, okay?”
“Yes,” I answered quickly, realizing that this moment of brutal honesty would change us forever. I already felt like we were closer, and that maybe… just maybe, we might start working on the same team.
If a better relationship with my sister came out of all of this mess, then there would be at least one silver lining.
“Just forget about him, okay?” she offered me one final piece of advice, and I nodded agreeably, even though I knew wouldn’t be quite that simple…
*****
Enrico
Bella had stopped trying to call, and I couldn’t help but wonder why. Sure, it was understandable because I hadn’t been answering, but it stung all the same.
I just couldn’t. I couldn’t deal when I wasn’t sure where my future lay.
Of course, I knew what I wanted to do, but this wasn’t just about me. I had so many expectations weighing on me, and that was the killer. Boris and the rest of my dad’s men were on my back all the damn time, trying to get me to take his place. They kept promising me money and power, which wasn’t tempting me, but the fact that it would kill my dad if I didn’t follow in his footsteps, was.
My dream was to be with Bella, to be an artist, but I didn’t think I was good enough for it. I thought that the Abattelli name dictated my future, and I wasn’t sure that I could escape it.
I was being torn in a million different directions, and I had no idea which way I should turn.
I wished I had someone that I could turn to for advice. Someone that could help me. Without a mum or any siblings it was difficult, and my dad had ensured that all of my friends were his friends. Looking back, even when I was in high school, he’d pushed all my friends away, leaving me with no one.
He’d manipulated me my entire life, and now I was a byproduct of that.
But even as I knew that, I didn’t know how to shake it off. It was maddening.
*****
Bella
It had taken me a few weeks, but I’d finally gotten to a place where I could get out of the house and act like normal. I’d been utterly floored by Enrico, but now I was moving past that.
Sure, I wasn’t over him – I didn’t think I would be for a very long time – but I was moving on, and that was something.
As predicted, myself and Pru were becoming increasingly close. We could both see how huge the walls were that we’d built around ourselves, and the effect that had caused on everything else, and we were trying to break them down, to be more for one another.
I hated everything that had happened, but I was glad for that one reason.
“Shall we go to lunch today?” Pru asked me, in a routine that was becoming increasingly common for us.
Our parents didn’t know yet, but she’d dumped her latest fiancé – herself this time. She realized that he wasn’t right for her, and that she’d only been staying because she was afraid of another failed engagement.
Luckily they were distracted anyway. Dad had found someone else to merge his business with – someone genuine this time – and that was keeping them both very busy, leaving me and Pru to sort out our own lives once more. The only difference was this time we weren’t alone. We had each other.
“Sure,” I grinned. “Where are you thinking? The Italian?” We generally always went to the same place, so I wasn’t sure why I was asking really.
“Um, no.” She seemed oddly distracted. “I think we should go to this new little bistro…”
“Sure, whatever,” I replied, checking my appearance in the mirror. Even that looked different these days. The pinched expression, the too much makeup, the prissy pinned up look… it was all gone. I was a new, freer, more casual me, and it was kinda nice to look at.
I was even starting to write. Just a little bit, but that was enough to make me feel happier.
Of course, I’d kept this to myself. I hadn’t even told Pru. I didn’t want anyone to know in case I failed. I would tell the world once I was certain that it was something I was good at, something I could actually succeed with. But I still had it all the same.
As we walked along, we chatted effortlessly, making me wonder why we’d wasted so much of our lives at one another’s throats. It was so silly looking back now.
But by the time we arrived at the restaurant, I couldn’t help but notice that Pru was acting increasingly weird.
“Okay, what’s up?” I eventually asked. “Do you have a new boyfriend or something?” I was suspicious; there was definitely something on her mind.
“No, of course not!” she exclaimed, far too dramatically. “There’s nothing.”
I stared at her for a few seconds, trying to make her crack, but she refused to meet my eye. In the end, I turned my attention back to the menu, deciding that she could tell me in her own time.
If she had someone, then I was happy for her.
“Okay,” she finally conceded. “I’ll tell you…”
But before she could get her sentence out, a familiar masculine voice broke out, grabbing our attention. “Bella?” he asked.
I turned to face him, taking in a sharp breath at the sight of him. It was amazing how deeply he could affect me, even now after I thought I’d begun to move on. He was just so damn gorgeous; he was almost painful to look at.
“Enrico?” I gasped, shooting Pru a look. Her guilty expression told me that this was what she’d been going to say, that she knew about this and was a part of it. “What’s going on?”
“I have something for you.” He smiled at me, sending my heart fluttering wildly. That smile would always get me, no matter how much I hated him.
He handed me a piece of paper, and as my eyes fell to it, my entire foundation shook. It was the painting of me, the one that he’d done all those weeks ago, finished, and it was beautiful.
All the arguments that I’d stored up for this exact moment, fell off my lips as I gazed at his work.
“Wow,” I finally said. “I love it.”
He’d captured something gorgeous in me, something cute and vulnerable, something I hadn’t even known was within me. It was the exact way that I wanted him to see me, and I couldn’t believe that he did.
It was almost too much.
Tears sprung up in my eyes, which I tried to blink away, but unfortunately this made them start to spill out.
“Bella?” he asked again, drawing my attention back to him. This time, when I went to meet his eyes, he was on one knee on the ground in front of me.
“Oh my…” I threw my hands over my mouth in shock.
I glanced over to Pru, looking for some help, but she was nodding enthusiastically at me. I could see in her eyes that she was trying to communicate with me that this was right. That it didn’t matter that it was quick, or that things had gotten messed up, and from her that was hugely important. She knew more about love than anyone I knew, and if she felt it was right… and if deep inside I knew that it was right, then it was probably right.
“Bella,” Enrico started once more. “We’ve been through more than most, and we’ll go through lots in the future I’m sure. But we’re strong. Together we’re strong, and I believe that we can do it.” He sent me a teary grin, and I felt my cheeks growing increasingly wet. “I think we can make each other better people. I think we can give each other the world. So I guess what I’m asking is will you make me the happiest man alive? Will you be my wife?”
His words touched me deeply inside, and I could feel myself melting. “Yes,” I gasped. “Of course I will.”
Then he picked me up and spun me around as we all broke out in a mini celebration.
*****
Epilogue
Enrico
One year later…
To s
ay that our journey had been difficult was a massive understatement. Bella’s parents were angry that we’d eloped, my dad was furious that I didn’t want the business, and because of that we’d faced all kinds of financial struggles… but we were getting there.
Together.
“When are we meeting Pru and Brian?” I asked her from the other room in our tiny apartment.
A lot of things had changed for all of us. Pru had finally found the true love of her life, I had gained some success with my art career, and Bella had received a five book publishing contract for her romance series that was loosely based on us and all that had happened.
We were getting there, slowly but surely.
“In an hour or so,” she called back, causing me to hop up from the sofa where I was sitting to go and join her.
“That gives us plenty of time…” I strolled up behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist and placing kisses down her neck.
“Oh yeah?” she replied, rolling her head to one side. “For what?”
“For more baby making.” I murmured against her skin. We’d decided to start our own family a little while ago, and we’d been doing plenty of trying ever since!
She spun around to face me, pulling me in for a deep and passionate kiss. I immediately picked her up, wrapping her legs around me so that she could get a good feel of just how excited she made me. Even after a year of marriage, the honeymoon phase hadn’t passed. I still wanted her just as much as I did on that very first day.
“Oh God, you feel good,” she groaned against my lips, showing me that she felt just the same way about me.
That was enough to make me toss her backwards on the bed, before hovering over her.
“I love you, you know,” I said seriously. I wanted to tell her every single day, I never wanted her to forget how deeply I felt for her. After such a confusing road to get here, I needed her to really understand that I’d always be there, no matter what.
“I love you too,” she smiled sincerely.
Then, I began tugging at her clothes, needing her naked, and she was pulling at the material covering me too, just as needy.
As I plunged into her, and I watched her arch her back in pleasure, I couldn’t believe how lucky I was, she was the most beautiful woman on the entire planet. And she wanted me.
“Enrico?” she panted beneath me as I moved. “I have something to tell you.”
“What?” I moaned, wondering if this was essential to tell me right now, right in this moment, just as I was getting into it.
“I did a test today. I’m already pregnant,” she announced, with an excited edge to her voice.
“What?” I screeched, stopping what I was doing. “Are you serious?”
She flushed eagerly and nodded beneath me. “I’m serious. Our family is going to be complete at least.”
“Oh my God.” I pulled her tightly in for a hug. “That’s amazing. Just think… all from that one date…”
And then we burst into laughter, remembering the bizarre way that we’d met, and all that it had led to.
“To the future.” I smiled and kissed her.
“To the future,” she replied.
THE END
Bonus Story 16 of 40
The Keibence Murder
Anyone who knew Andrea Garvey, even people who didn’t know her: strangers who glimpsed her across the quad, the students in her class, visitors to the library, could sum her up in one word—bookish. From the round-framed tortoise-shell glasses balanced on the end of her button nose, to the brown leather oxfords and argyle socks peeking out from the upturned cuff of her sensible, high-waisted tan work slacks, she was just bookish. This is not to say that she was frumpy. She was as prim and elegant as a graduate student in the library sciences could be. She had a slender build that made even sweater vests look chic. Long brown eyelashes that fluttered against her lenses, and thick hair pulled back and always secured with a pencil. It was no secret that half the men in her program had crushes on her. Even some of her students had made cautious advances during her TA office hours, but she had never once accepted an offer for a cup of coffee or a glass of whiskey.
Never accepted, that is, until one night in late May. Andrea sat, flustered, over a desk stacked high with undergraduate papers. Professor Neal, her boss and the head of the Library Sciences Department, had already gone on his summer break, leaving her to muddle through his corrections without so much as a thank you.
She had planned to go to the Keibence Library to work on her PhD research on the importance of symbols of violence in northern European medieval manuscripts. The Keibence was the rare books and manuscripts library on campus. The envy of any student looking for primary sources. She was privileged to have unchaperoned access to the stacks. There she would wander along the corridors of mysterious spines—bindings of books whose titles had long since worn away. The smell of dust and ancient paper made the air thick and pressed against her body comfortingly in the silence of the library. It was the most soothing place on campus; utterly tranquil, and yet alive with the lives and words of thousands of authors throughout the history of the written word.
This is where Andrea’s mind wandered as she reread the same sentence of sloppy undergraduate prose over again, failing to absorb its contents for the tenth time. It had been an hour, and the stack of papers hadn’t gotten any smaller. She was considering giving up entirely when, blessedly, a knock on her office door interrupted her tedium.
“H-hello?” she cleared her throat, glancing at the dark wood of the door. “Come in,” she said, almost in a whisper. Who could it be? Graduation had passed. All of the students were supposed to be long gone.
“Prof Garvey?” The door pushed open, and in stepped the lanky form of Jack Deluc.
“What are you still doing here?” they asked each other in unison.
Andrea took him in, allowing the smallest of smiles to cross her lips. She liked Jack. Or at least, she liked his writing. He was the only student who seemed to take the time to form his own academic opinions, rather than regurgitating the words of Professor Neal. Nineteen-years-old and oh-so precocious. She liked how he leaned against the doorframe, his long body relaxed in a loose t-shirt and jeans. He surveyed the room with his sleepy blue eyes, always like a summer day.
“Wait I can answer for both of us,” he said. “You were grading papers, but now you’re going to say yes when I ask you to come join me for a drink at the Raven…” he finished, sounding somewhat unsure, with the air of someone who had lost confidence in their ability to be amusing halfway through the joke.
“I must say that’s a bit… precocious of you, Mr. Deluc, isn’t it?” Andrea pushed up her glasses and straightened the stack of papers in front of her.
“Yes I know, but it’s spring, and everyone else is gone, and come on…” He approached her desk, looking pleadingly at her. “Besides, you’re my favorite TA!”
“Oh come on now.” She was a bit flustered at that. She had never been very good at saying no, and she had to admit to herself that it was a bit flattering for a nineteen-year-old to ask her—a plain old librarian a decade his senior—for a drink. And of course she did want to break from the heap of work in front of her.
“Pleaaase…” He leaned forward and looked at her over the papers, brows knit in an overly-dramatic pleading expression. He even managed to make his lower lip tremble. “Besides, aren’t we both in Scroll and Snake?” What was the point of becoming a member of a secret society if he couldn’t get a date out of it?
“Oh… Oh, very well,” Andrea said exasperatedly, getting to her feet and sending a pile of papers cascading to the floor. She had forgotten that this young punk had just been inducted. Her pale cheeks flushed slightly. Maybe a whiskey would make the grading more tolerable, and then she could go to the Keibence later, when she could be alone with her books. “But you have to call me Andy out there, or someone will think…” The last thing she needed was to be part of some tawdry campus scandal. At lea
st Professor Neal was already gone, so she could escape without catching his disapproving glare.
“Okay Andy,” Jack replied, sweeping the door open for her with a flourish and a grin. “You won’t regret it.”
As they passed through the hallway, neither of them noticed a shadow move behind the frosted glass of the door of Professor Neal’s office.
They went to the Raven, a dimly lit bar, hazy with cigar smoke a few blocks away across the city’s Green. As they crossed the lawn, the night air was soft and heavy with the scent of lilacs. They sat outside, though the place was empty, all of the students having already fled campus for the summer holidays. Jack bought her a bourbon, and then a scotch. They talked about class. About Jack’s archival ambitions. About Andy’s research. As the evening wore on, he pulled his chair closer to hers so that their knees were touching just barely under the table. What he wanted was simple, and obvious.
“You know, Andy… You really are my favorite TA…”
“Is that so?” She looked at him.
He was resting his cheek on his hand, dark hair curled over his brow and around his ears. His skin looked soft, and his lips full, almost feminine. He was almost pretty, but for the sharp angles of his shoulders. She let out a small chuckle.
“What?” He looked slightly offended.
“N-no… I wasn’t laughing at that… I was laughing because, well…” She took another sip of scotch. “I just thought that you might actually be prettier than I am.”
Jack sat back from the table, crossing his arms in mock indignation. “Should I be flattered? Besides, that's not even possible… You’re the prettiest thing for miles, duh.”
“Hm,” Andy replied with a shrug. Professionalism dictated that she put a stop to this idle flirtation. She looked at her watch. 10:00 pm already. “Oh no, I have to go, really…” She stood up from the table abruptly.
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