Stefano comes over to me, grabbing my face in his hands. “Hey,” he says softly, his thumbs rubbing my cheeks.
“This is—” I start to say without letting the lump in my throat bother me, but the tears come anyway. “This is too much.”
“No.” He smiles as he kisses my tear from my cheek. “It’s never going to be enough.” I look up at this man, who was just a memory to me not long ago, but now the man is reality and he’s everything you could wish and hope for. Maybe even more than I wished for. “Now, let’s go. There is one more surprise.”
“Please, I don’t think I can take it,” I say, putting a hand on my stomach. This is all more than I have ever dreamed of. I get in the truck and look out the window, taking everything in. We pull into the hotel, and I look up when I see the name. I close my eyes, not even trying to think about how much this is going to cost him. The door opens on both sides, the man holding out a hand for me to help me out. “Thank you,” I say, stepping down and walking around the truck to see Stefano with Avery. His hand is always holding hers.
“Mr. and Mrs. Dimitris.” The man comes up to us, and I don’t correct him and neither does Stefano. “Welcome to the Fairmont. We are honored to have you.”
“Excited to be here,” Stefano says to him.
“If you will follow me, I’ll take you to your floor,” he says, and I look around seeing the hustle and bustle of people. We walk up the four steps toward the brown doors that are opened for us. My mouth hangs open as I walk into the lobby. The beige marble floors are shiny, with the ceilings high, and the molding looks like artwork painted in gold, and pillars are all over the room. It’s the prettiest hotel I’ve ever been to. I don’t even hear what the man is telling Stefano as we walk to the side, going straight to the elevator.
“Don’t we need to check in?” I ask him, and he just shakes his head.
“Already done,” he replies, getting into the elevator after the man. I watch him press the eighth floor out of nine. “Also, my parents are in town.” My mouth hangs open. “Or will be. They should be arriving shortly. They will give us tonight.” I tilt my head to the side. “They probably won’t because they want to see Avery.”
I don’t say anything because the elevator doors open and facing the car are two brass doors.
“Welcome to the penthouse suite.”
stefano
. . .
I watch her face when we walk into the suite. Her eyes roam the living room with the baby grand piano and I have to roll my lips to stop from laughing. “You okay?” I ask her when I walk to her.
“We are going to have a conversation,” she hisses under her breath, “a serious, serious conversation.”
“I look forward to it.” I nod as I slide my hand in hers.
The concierge is still giving us a tour, but Avery is the only one talking to him. “I’m not kidding,”
she says in a whisper, but her tone is stern. I lean in to kiss her, seeing that Avery has her back to me.
“Did he say this has three bedrooms?”
“Not sure,” I say, looking at the man whose name I didn’t even catch because I was too worried about Addison freaking out.
“How many bedrooms?” Addison asks the man, who smiles at her, and I want to throat punch him.
Even though he’s close to his sixties, it’s stupid since I’m holding her hand, and it’s clear we’re together.
“There are three,” he says. “If you go through that door right there.” He points at the glass door.
“It’s the outdoor patio.” He puts his hands in front of him. “It has access to the library and the formal dining room.”
“Library?” Addison asks, shocked, and he nods proudly.
“I think we are good. I don’t want to keep you,” I tell him. “We will have a look around.”
“I will have everything set up for the tea in a couple of hours.” He looks at us. “The clothes are already away and hanging.”
“Thank you,” I say and watch him leave the room before turning toward the door. The minute the door is closed, Addison folds her arms over her chest and glares at me.
“Avery,” I call her name and she sticks her head in the room. “Grand-mère sent you a couple of things.” My eyes look at Avery, who jumps up. “I think it’s in one of the closets.” She turns to run out of the room.
“You left your mother in charge of buying us clothes?” she grumbles between clenched teeth.
“I did,” I say softly, “but in my defense, I don’t think I gave it enough thought.”
“Really?” she retorts, making me chuckle, but the chuckle leaves when I see how pissed she is.
“Listen, you were in the shower,” I start to tell her, “and then I wanted to surprise you, so I called Sofia. Then I didn’t know how much time I had, so I called my father.” I hold up my hands.
“Obviously, I didn’t know he would go to the extreme.”
“Extreme?” she screeches. “A three-bedroom penthouse suite with a library.” I roll my lips to stop laughing. “With a baby grand piano.” She points over to the piano. “I’ve stayed in my share of suites before”—she looks around—“but even this is a little bit out of my comfort zone.”
“Momma, Momma!” Avery yells from somewhere in this place, her voice echoing. “Look at this,”
she says, coming into the room dragging something blue and sparkly behind her. “Look, it’s Cinderella’s gown.”
“Oh my,” she says as she picks up the dress that is bigger than her. “Oh my,” she repeats as she grabs the dress from Avery. “This is…” She holds out the dress that literally looks like a replica of what Cinderella wore.
“Can I put it on?” Avery asks, jumping in the same spot, her hand flopping up and down. “I want to wear it today.”
“This is,” Addison says as she looks at the dress. “This has to have cost—” She doesn’t get anything out because there is a knock on the door.
“You should answer that, it might be Princess Kate to have tea with us,” Addison deadpans and all I can do is kiss her lips. “We are having a conversation.” I kiss her again. “This is over the line.”
It’s at that moment we both look down and see Avery looking at us. “Um,” I start to say, “I like your mom.” I close my eyes, thinking how dumb I sound right now.
“Aunt Sofia and Uncle Matty kiss all the time,” she says. “Do you like her like that?”
“I do,” I confirm, looking at Addison, who is staring at me and not saying a word.
“We are having many conversations tonight,” she grumbles between clenched teeth.
“Noted,” I tell her as the person knocks again. “But in my defense, have you met my mother?”
“Stefano,” she seethes as I walk away from her, going to the front door, pulling it open, and seeing my father and mother standing there.
My mother just smiles big at me. “Bonjour.” Hello, she says, coming in and hugging me.
“I tried to stop her,” my father says, “but well.”
“Grand-mère!” Avery shouts with glee, running over to us. My mother quickly lets me go to scoot down, opening her arms for Avery. She runs in them, and my mother just kisses her head.
“Ma puce.” Beauty, she says. “I missed you.” She covers her in kisses. “Tu as grandi.” You grew, she says to Avery, who just looks at me.
“You got bigger,” I translate for her.
“Where is Addison?” my father asks me as we walk into the living room. Addison is still looking at the dress.
“Momma, look,” Avery says to her and she looks up at my parents. “Momma and Daddy kiss,” she tells them, and when I look over at Addison, it looks like she wants the room to swallow her.
“Is that so?” my father says, trying to hide his smile. My mother’s eyebrows just shoot up.
“Yeah, on the lips like Uncle Matty and Aunt Sofia,” Avery elaborates, and Addison just closes her eyes.
“This is fun,” I say sarcastically.
“Why is this room so small?” my mother complains, walking into the room. “Markos, did you not book them a suite?”