Changing her dress once more, Hannah sighed and realized that even if she wore the latest designer dress she'd still not be happy with the way she looked. It wasn't the pregnant belly, it was the fact that she wanted to look nice, meeting her new family. Instead of going through her entire wardrobe she picked a simple short black dress with a white Peter Pan collar and short sleeves. She wore black tights underneath it and pulled her blonde hair up in a messy ponytail. Keeping her make-up simple, she spritzed on some light floral perfume and checked her bag to make sure she didn't forget her essentials. As she was locking up her apartment she ran into her mother who looked rather cheerful that afternoon.
"A car is waiting for us downstairs." Lillian announced, "You look great, Hannah."
Hannah glanced down at her dress and titled her head back to meet her mother's gaze again, "I couldn't decide what to wear so I went with the safe choice instead."
"It looks lovely on you." Her mother told her, walking beside her as they headed to the awaiting car.
Getting comfortable in the backseat of the car, Lillian told the driver directions to Nero's family house. When they dated Nero mentioned that he chose to stay at the hotel rather than the family house because it meant that he was closer to his office. Now she wondered if it had been a lie. He was struggling with his mother and sister not being there anymore, she had a feeling Nero didn't want to stay at the family house because it had so many memories of them. It pained her heart knowing Nero was running away from all of it. He always behaved very confident, in his business he made rather bold decisions. When things didn't work out he had the guts to own up to his mistakes. But when it came to her he didn't chase her to demand to know why she ran, he decided to let his anger boil deep within instead. When it came to his mother and sister he decided to keep the pain and the hurt in as well, not talking about it once. Nero always behaved like he had it put together, but in that moment she realized he was only pretending. Hiding behind his business to pretend that nothing could touch him.
"Where are you right now?" Her mother's voice snapped her back to reality.
"Hm?"
"I was asking you about Nero and his father, yet you didn't respond once." Lillian sighed, "Are you still thinking about that night?"
"How can I not?" Hannah asked her mother.
"You shouldn't push him to talk about it." Her mother warned her, "Some people break when you push them to face the things they've locked up tightly in their hearts. You don't know if they can bounce back or if they're forever lost. You should give him time and let him know you are there for him if he feels the need to share. If not, just support him. Let him know he's not alone."
She looked at her mother, seeing Lillian in a different light.
"Mom!"
Lillian frowned at her sudden outburst, "W-What?"
"You just said something wonderful." Hannah whispered, "Instead of running away I should have come to you."
"I'm glad you realize how much of a fool you were." Lillian sighed, "I've been married twice." Her mother reminded her, "I should have a bit of experience when it comes to men, more specifically men who are married to their company."
Her father owned a small jewelry store, every little piece he sold was handcrafted. The pieces were expensive, but the small clientele who did visit the store always gave the man high praises. When her father passed away her mother decided to sell it. Lillian's second husband wasn't an unkind man, but he felt like a stranger to Hannah. She avoided seeing him and was glad when her mother allowed her to attend college miles away from home. She figured Lillian wanted some privacy with her husband. Hannah wanted to say with confidence that neither one of them could have seen it coming, but that would have been a lie. He broke her mother's heart, but Lillian pushed forward. Showing Hannah just how strong a woman can be.
"I won't hesitate to come see you when I'm struggling with something." Hannah told her mother, "I might want to be independent, but once in a while it's good to have someone else's perspective on things."
"That's true." Lillian agreed, "His family house is a bit away from the city."
"Yes, but Valerio comes to see his son every day at the hotel. Not to mention the fact that he always comes to see me first thing in the morning."
"That's nice of him."
"I should be more grateful to him."
Lillian smiled at that, "You're learning so many new things today, Hannah."
Her mother was right, it were minor things about people she was close to, but it meant a lot to her. She'd treat Valerio even kinder knowing the distance he travelled to see Nero and her. She'd be nicer to her mother knowing Lillian became that way she behaved right now because of experiences in life. Losing her first husband to illness and her second husband to a bimbo. Starting tomorrow Hannah would treat them better.
***
Entering the house Hannah followed after Valerio who came to greet her mother and her. Lillian kept blushing, obviously she was taken by Valerio's looks and charms. Lillian chatted away with Valerio about the flowers which decorated his porch. While they were happily chatting away Hannah scanned the room, searching for Nero. She jumped when Valerio suddenly called out to her.
"Didn't mean to scare you." His tone told her otherwise though, "Nero is in the kitchen."
"Nero is cooking dinner tonight?" She asked, shocked by that little piece of information Valerio shared.
Valerio caught onto her surprise and laughed, "Nero can cook, he occasionally prepares me a meal."
"Interesting." She muttered to herself, her cheeks heating when she noticed the look Valerio threw her, "I'll check up on him." She announced, wanting to get away from the amused looks of their parents.
Rushing to the kitchen with directions of Valerio she quickly entered it, closing the door behind her. The noise she made while entering the kitchen caused Nero to look at her, a smile spreading across his face. As she took him in she couldn't help but to smile, he was wearing a casual outfit. He rarely wore a casual outfit since he preferred to wear suits as his business attire, that style also seeped into his every day wear. Today, however, he wore dark jeans with a white button up shirt. It still looked fancy, but different from his usual attire.
"Did I spill something?" He asked, glancing down to take in his shirt.
"You are wearing an eye hurting white shirt so, you know."
He chuckled, "Eye hurting, huh." He moved away from the counter and reached for his sweater which he had thrown over a stool by the bar, "Let me cover up then." He threw his sweater over his shirt and fixed his collar, "Better?"
She moved to him, dropping her bag on the bar and reached for his collar, trying to straighten it a bit more, "I liked the way you looked, but this is my favorite sweater."
"You remember."
She placed her palms against his chest, feeling the softness of the fabric she loved so much. She remembered the day he wore it while they were staying in his hotel room, watching a movie. They were laying on the couch with her on top of him, her cheek resting upon his chest. The fabric had felt amazing. She couldn't stop touching it. Nero's snicker told her he also remembered it. He covered her hands with his and held her hands gently.
"Even though your touch feels great, I do have to check up on dinner. I don't want to serve you guys burned food."
"Your father mentioned you occasionally cook for him so I doubt you'd serve us terrible food."
He smirked, gently pulling away from her. He walked around her and headed to the stove, checking on the nice smelling sauce which was softly boiling away. She stood beside him, taking everything in.
"Wow, it smells great."
"Don't compliment me just yet, you still need to taste it."
She glanced at him, "I think you're downplaying it. Something that smells that amazing will obviously also taste amazing."
"Not true." He told her, his eyes gleaming with amusement, "You remember that time we had that sweet smelling cake at that small coffee place we visited?" He smirked at her when she did remember what happened that day, "It smelled amazing, but it tasted bland."
"Like cardboard." She whispered, "I remember."
"And you added like four spoons of sugar into your coffee. To make up for the bland cake."
She snorted, "You're exaggerating, it was only two spoons of sugar."
Nero closed the lid of the sauce and turned off the stove. He made pasta with bolognese sauce. She didn't know what he planned for dessert, but she figured it would be anything but bland. Once everything was turned off they joined their parents in the living room.
***
After dinner they settled in the living room again, enjoying a hot beverage while they finally discussed what had been on all their minds. Her future with Nero. Nero sat beside her while Lillian had taken the one-seat at Nero's side and Valerio had taken the one-seat at her side. Nero was informing Lillian about an upcoming event at his hotel, a charity masquerade ball.
Her mother sounded excited about it, questioning Nero about his guests, the music and decoration. It was in three months so it didn't have his full attention yet, but he told Lillian that his event planner was setting things in motion. Valerio had mentioned a woman to her before, Audrey, who was Nero's current event planner he did business with. The old her would have freaked out knowing how closely Nero was working with her, but Nero didn't give her anything to worry about. So she didn't jump to conclusions about them.
"I'll make sure you'll receive an invitation." Nero promised Lillian.
"Of course Hannah and you need to join me." Her mother told him, "By that time Hannah should have given birth already."
"Mom, it would be very shortly after I give birth. I don't think I'll be able to attend an event like that when I just popped a baby out."
Nero placed his hand on her knee, he did it whenever he wanted to comfort or reassure her. He also did it that night at the hotel when that woman Brenda tried to question him about his personal life. She knew he had been out of it so she took over. She didn't think Nero had noticed, but he thanked her afterwards. Whenever he showed her kindness like that she couldn't help but to feel like she did when they dated. She wished she could hold onto that feeling forever, but her mind didn't allow it.
"I don't think we could join you at that time, Lillian." Nero told her, "Dad and I actually talked about it and he agreed to step in as CEO while I take some time off to stay home with Hannah and the baby."
Hannah couldn't believe it, yet again he showed her a side of him which confirmed he actually had a kind heart.
"It sounds like I have nothing to worry about when it comes to your future." Her mother told Nero, "You have it all figured out."
"I only want what's best for both Hannah and the baby."
Lillian narrowed her eyes on Nero, "What about the wedding?"
Hannah felt Nero's gaze on her face, she turned to hold his gaze. Nero gave her knee a pat and then pulled away, reaching for his tea. He took his time to answer her mother which made Lillian shift anxiously in her seat. Hannah didn't understand why her mother was that nervous, it should have been her, yet she felt rather calm. Maybe trusting in Nero made her behave like that, it felt great.
"I was thinking about getting the formalities out of the way first." Nero told her mother which made Lillian's eyes narrow on him, "And after Hannah has given birth and feeling up for it again, we could hold a reception."
"No wedding?" Her mother asked, the words sounding like an insult which she threw at Nero.
"I like that." Hannah told her, not wanting her mother to get in the way of that idea, "I'm actually not feeling up for a wedding the way I am now. Just a party afterwards sounds good to me."
"If he doesn't change his mind when that time comes." Lillian muttered, sipping from her coffee.
Hannah shrugged a shoulder, "It could also be me who'd change my mind."
"True." Valerio laughed, obviously trying to lighten the mood, "If that's what you two have decided we should just go along with it."
"Thank you." Hannah told the man who always behaved like a gentleman in front of her.
Nero placed his cup upon the table and turned to look at her, "Then I want to get that out of the way as soon as possible. Let's say in four weeks."
"Next month?" Hannah asked confused, "That's really fast."
"You're reaching your due date, I want our marriage out of the way as soon as possible."
She could understand that, it was a formality like he mentioned before. Them getting married so soon did make her face reality. After their marriage things would start moving full speed. They'd become a family before they were ready for it. She knew that things were civil between them, they occasionally remembered their feelings of the past and went along with it. But they weren't a couple. He referred to her as his girlfriend like he had to force himself to get the words out. They couldn't pretend they were fine when the familiarity they used to have was gone.
"Also to improve our relationship I want to move in together as soon as possible."
She had been thinking about their relationship, but that completely threw her off her game.
"What?"
Valerio and Lillian kept their thoughts to themselves for now, but she was awfully aware of their presence. It felt like this was a conversation they needed to have behind closed doors, but Nero didn't seem to think so. He kept going without looking away from her once.
"I was thinking you come live with me at the hotel first, and when you've given birth we both move into my family house." He gestured around the room, "This house."
"Nero-"
"The baby isn't going to wait for us to get ready, Hannah. We need to prepare for our future as a family and I'd say we start with getting back the time we lost before we took a break."
She liked the fact he called it taking a break, when it was clearly not that. It was her being stupid and Nero being proud. She knew his thinking wasn't wrong, he was planning ahead. It had been why Lillian sounded proud of him, but she wasn't sure she was ready for that.
"We need to take charge." Nero continued.
He wasn't giving her time to think about it, he knew she'd be living inside her mind and come up with tons of reasons why they shouldn't do it. It seemed like Nero finally caught onto her flaws and knew how to work around them.
"You're right." She told him in a small voice, "I'm not against your plans, it would just take up a lot of my time to travel back and forth from your family house to my coffee shop."
Valerio finally spoke, "That's true, but we can hire a driver. You shouldn't give up something you love doing. Becoming a parent doesn't mean you should give up on your dreams. If you're not against it I would like to offer my babysitting services."
Hannah laughed, "The baby isn't even hear yet, they're so lucky to already be this loved."
"You don't know if it's a boy or girl?" Nero asked her.
"I decided to keep it a surprise."
Nero leaned back in his seat, "I suppose we can go for neutral furniture and clothes, even though their mother prefers bold and bright colors. Aren't you holding yourself back by not asking for its gender?"
Her eyes widened as she realized that she couldn't decorate the room the way she wanted to, "Well, now I'm thinking about it." She told Nero, giving his shoulder a harsh shove, "At that time I thought it was a great idea." She muttered.
He rubbed the spot she shoved, "You could always add the bold colors later."
She glared at him, "You totally said those things on purpose!"
He grinned at her, he was obviously messing around with her so she wouldn't worry too much. She reached for her cup of tea and drank it all, letting the warmth comfort her a little. It helped to calm her chaotic mind.
"So when do you want to move in together?"
"Next week."
The cup she was holding nearly slipped through her fingers, but Nero caught onto it before it did. He saw that reaction coming. He placed the cup safely upon the table and faced her again.
"We're going to work on our future together, right?" He asked her.
She nodded, "Right."
"Then we should start as soon as possible."
It was like she was having an outer body experience, all she could do was stare and nod at everything he was saying. He wasn't slowing down once, not giving her time to think about things. He asked for her opinion often, but she just couldn't speak her mind. Her mind was totally blank. By the end of the night when she was sitting in the car on her way back to her apartment Lillian finally spoke up.
"That boy is good." Lillian told her, "He knew exactly how you'd react so he made sure to keep talking and sound reasonable about things which shouldn't be accepted that easily."
She faced her mother, "I should have protested more?"
"He is making all the decisions and you're going along with everything." Her mother told her, "Are you sure you're okay with that? I mean so far he hasn't said anything which should worry us too much. I mean I do understand why he doesn't want a wedding, but I feel like every girl should have a special day."
"He probably doesn't want it because his little sister could never have one." She whispered.
That alone made Lillian shut up. The ride to her apartment was silent, she took the time to take it all in. Nero might have waltzed all over her with his plans for their future, but she figured she could trust in him. He didn't want to hurt her, he only wanted what was best for their little family. With Valerio by his side she knew Nero would never make a decision which would cause her grief. She could let him take the lead this time.