Page 76 of Dirty Money
“Might I hold her, peach?”
He took a seat beside her as she handed the baby over to him. “Hi there, you precious little girl. I’m not sure what you’d call me. Not uncle.”
“She’ll probably come up with something on her own when she’s old enough,” Aulora said as she ran her hand over the cute tiny head of her sister. “Probably something like, Bubba.”
“Bubba?” he asked with a frown. “That sounds hillbilly, don’t you think?”
“It does,” Clara said with a nod.
“Well, I like it,” Aulora said. “It’s so not him, you know?”
Clara smiled and so did Aulora. Then Clara pushed it a bit as she said, “So, when will you two start trying?”
“To do what?” Aulora asked without a clue as to what her stepmother was talking about.
“To do what,” Clara said as she laughed. “Trying to have yourselves a baby, Aulora. What else?”
“I think we should be married before we even begin to discuss such a thing,” Aulora said.
Weston got up and took the baby to Clara. “Hold her for a sec, will you Mum?” She took the baby then they watched him as he opened the door and left the room, leaving them wondering what the hell he was doing.
“Did I offend him?” Clara asked.
“I don’t think so,” Aulora said as she got up to go after him. “I have no idea why he’d react like that. It’s not as if he’s never thought about us getting married and having kids.”
Before she could get to the door, her father came inside. “What did you do to the boy, Aulora?” he asked her as he gently pushed her to go back and sit down. “He walked right past me and got into the elevator.”
“I… I didn’t do anything. Clara asked us when we planned on trying to have a baby and I said something about being married first and he left,” Aulora stammered.
“Well, you shouldn’t have put him on the spot like that. Take it from a man who took a long time to believe in the sanctity of marriage, it’s a real game-changer when a woman starts thinking in those terms,” her father told her.
“But I wasn’t. I really wasn’t. I’ve never tried to force the marriage issue. If he wants kids, though. Well, I’m not doing it unless we’re married. I saw all too well what can happen when there’s no real commitment.”
Her father cast his eyes to the floor, guilt written all over his face. “You should follow him. I’m sure he went to the lobby. Maybe he’s planning on calling a cab or something.”
“Maybe I should follow him. I never saw this coming. What the hell should I say to him, Dad?” Aulora asked as she got up.
“Whatever you feel in your heart, honey.” He pulled her into his arms and rocked her back and forth, leaving a kiss on top of her head. “Whatever you feel in your heart is what you should always say.”
He let her go and she left the room, feeling more than a bit confused.
When the elevator doors opened, Aulora stopped walking just as she stepped out of it. The lobby was dim. Only candles lit it up. Tons of them.
She saw no one as she stood perfectly still. Then the sound of men humming filled her ears. One by one, men dressed in tuxedos stepped out of the shadows, still humming a soft and tranquil tune.
An acoustical version of John Berry’s ‘Will You Marry me’ was what the men started signing and out of the darkness, emerged Weston, also clad in a tuxedo. Holding out a black box and making his way to her.
Aulora stood, trembling, her hands covering her mouth and her heart pounding so hard, she was sure everyone could hear it even over the singing.
When the song was over, Weston was in front of her on bended knee. He opened the black box, exposing a diamond the likes of which she’d never seen. “So, will you, Aulora?” he asked her with a smile on his lips and a gleam in his golden eyes. “Will you make me the happiest man alive and become Mrs. Weston Calloway?”
Would she?
