Page 68 of Dirty Money
She didn’t recognize the man, though. “You’re new to me, sir. Do you mind telling me what I should call you?”
“I am Stanley,” came his stoic response. “Follow me, please.”
Aulora’s eyes were everywhere. The floor, the staircase, the enormous chandelier that hovered high above the entrance room. “It’s just the same,” she mumbled to herself.
Up the stairs, they went and she hesitated once they came to the door of the bedroom that had once been hers. She wanted to stop and look inside of it but the guy kept walking, so she decided not to fall behind.
Only three more doors down and they stopped and she found her father inside the empty room with his arm around a very young woman. A woman who looked very close in age to herself. “Miss Aulora has arrived, Master Wohrl.”
They turned back to look at Aulora. Both wore huge smiles. Her father held out his hand in a gesture for her to come to them. “Aulora, darling, come meet your new mother.”
Aulora laughed as she went to them. The young woman was gorgeous. Tall, thin, tan, and blonde. Deep blue eyes were framed with thick lustrous lashes. Her full lips were stained deep red to match her dress. She had on black flats and her stomach looked as if a basketball was under the tight dress.
“I’m Clara, Aulora. But it would make me very happy if you’d call me, Mom.” The young woman extended her hand.
“Mom?” Aulora asked with another laugh. She shook the woman’s hand. “I’m sure you and I are close in age. Mom might be a bit weird.”
“Your father told me you were twenty-two. Is that right?” Clara asked as she let Aulora’s hand go and rubbed her round belly.
“That’s right. And you are?”
“Twenty-five,” she said. Then she looked up at her husband and grinned. “But Charles tells me I’m much more mature than that. Isn’t that right, baby?”
“Much more mature than that,” he said and kissed her cheek. “Now, Aulora, don’t let the age thing get in the way of making this woman your mother.”
Aulora choked back her words. She had a mother, after all. She wasn’t in need of another one!
She decided to change the subject. “When’s the baby due?”
“In two months. And we’ve not yet done a single thing to make this nursery a place for her. Did your father tell you what we’ve decided to name her?” her new mom asked.
“He did not,” Aulora answered as she gazed around at the large room, trying to envision what could be done with it.
“I so love your name that we’re naming her that too,” came her stepmother’s insane words.
“What? My name? That’s going to be confusing. Don’t you think?”
Her father quickly shook his head. “No, not at all. You see we’re going to call this one Aulora and you’ll earn the new nickname, Old Aulora.”
Her heart sank as she thought about being called something like that. “No. No, I don’t like that at all.”
Her new mom’s hand ran over her shoulder. “You’ll get used to it. Now, about this room. Your father and I are at an impasse. I want to use pastels and he wants to use bright colors. We’ve decided to let you pick.”
“In that case, I like bright colors. They stimulate the senses,” Aulora said as she looked around. “If she’s anything like me, she’ll like the bright colors too.”
“Then it’s settled,” her father said. “And now on to other things.” He took out a small catalog from inside his suit pocket. “Here are the baby cribs we’ve been looking at. We’d love it if you’d pick one for our little Aulora.”
With a quick glance through the small booklet, she picked one out. “This one will work and I’ll paint it.”
She noticed the frown on Clara’s face as she walked over to the window and looked out of it. “You certainly can make quick decisions, can’t you?”
“I generally do make decisions very quickly. If you don’t mind my asking, how long did you two know each other before you got married?” Aulora joined her new mom at the window.
The view was of the huge swimming pool that she’d learned to swim in. The tennis courts were off to one side and the riding stables were behind that. The place she’d played in her younger years.
“We met last year and hit it off right away,” she told her.
Aulora looked stunned. “And the baby is due in a couple of months. You two wasted no time, did you?” She laughed a little but it was more than a bit unnerving that her father could move so fast.
