Love, accidentally

Chapter 57

E L E O N O R A

"Tristan." I came in the door, my mind still in shock.

"Yes, honey?" He looked up from his laptop, frowning after seeing my expression.

"The day I saw Dani for the first time," I breathed, coming closer to him, "The whole reason I was there in the first place...Oh my god!" I widened my eyes, the reality settling in once again.

"Vera, what's happening? Talk to me, honey." He grabbed my hand, looking at me and smiling after seeing my smile.

"I came there because of a client," I said, my heart hammering, "One who refused to meet in my firm and chose a specific location. One whose name sounded familiar and was so famous my lesbian assistant fawned over him." I spoke with a passion, disbelieving of the whole situation.

"Who is he?" His voice had that possessive tone, getting irritated at the way I was describing him.

"Rafael Luciano," I breathed the name, seeing his jaw clench, but I continued quickly, "He just sent me this message. Look."

You can thank me later, little Nora. Tell that douchbag he needed a push or else he wouldn't have done shit.

"Little Nora?" He frowned, ignoring the whole fucking message.

"Calm down, caveman. That message literally proves he initiated our meeting after all. He fucking brought me there. Rafael Luciano." I shook my head, a smile forming.

"I would have come to you, Vera." He huffed, grumpy as hell.

"Well, a little catalyst was needed." I raised my eyebrow, daring him to argue.

"Whatever." He crossed his arms, his lips in a little pout.

"You're ad..o..ra..ble," I grabbed his face, "Also, I'm inviting him and your aunt to the wedding."

"Great," He said, surprising me, "So he can see who you'll be bound with forever." Yeah that was more like it.

For a while after that, I couldn't shake the thought that this was Rafael's way of making it right after all these years. It made me hold a kind of respect despite his actions. I understood it all too well.

***

Later that night, we were having dinner. With Will. And I wasn't the slightest bit surprised that Dani was absolutely smitten with him.

If I'd thought Nessa was her crush before, I was thinking Will would be her one true love now in every toddler's way.

"But I think it's green." Dani insisted, eating her dinner and nodding to herself in agreement.

"Then it's green, bambi," He replied, addressing her with his newfound nickname as soon as he saw her big blue doe eyes blink at him.

She did look like a cute little doe with her caramel dress and piggy tails.

Dani has been associating a color to each of us for the past twenty minutes, agreeing that Tristan was a baby blue, the color of her favorite practice dress, I was purple like Ariel's bra, and Will a forest green like one tree in Tangled. A specific one, she insisted.

We were the luckiest.

"And what color are you then?" Will asked, giving her his signature smile and making her ears flush.

"Yellow." She smiled, looking down at her plate before looking at Tristan and I.

We already knew.

She was yellow.

"Like sunflowers? They're my favorite." He said.

"Settle down, honey," Tristan interrupted, "You're gonna make my daughter combust."

"Daddy!" Dani squeled, "What does combust even mean?" She sighed.

"It means you'll glow." I reassured her, giving both of them a hard look to leave my daughter alone.

"So, you popped the question after all," Will turned to Tristan with a raised eyebrow, "Took you long enough."

"What is wrong with you people butting in our business?" Tristan replied, his tone light with amusement.

"Did you tell him the five page speech as a yes, love?" Will switched to me.

"Zip it or I'll open mine, William." I challenged him back.

He raised his hands defensively.

Tristan's phone ringed before he could say anything, his face scowling.

"What does zip it mean, mamma?" Dani fiddled with her fingers.

"To close your mouth and not say a word," I told her, side-eyeing Tristan as his whole demeanor changed.

He straightened, getting up with his hand fisted and the other almost breaking the phone over his ear.

"Stay the fuck outside. You better."

My stomach dropped. No.

"Dani," I looked at my daughter, my expression calm despite the turmoil inside, "Can you go wash your hands, patatino? Show Will your skates afterwards. We'll clean the table and follow you, okay baby?"

"El?" Will stood up, his hand going to hold my daughter's even though his eyes told me he wanted to stay downstairs, but he understood that she was my first priority.

I shook my head, pleading with him to go upstairs because if my gut feeling was on the right path, I wouldn't want her anywhere near right now.

"Let's go, Willy." Dani tugged at his hand, going to the stairs.

He nodded seriously before turning to her with a smile, making me release a relieved breath.

"He's here, Vera," Tristan was stoic, his eyes hard as he braved himself to see the demon who's been haunting him since the very beginning.

His father was here. The nightmare of this whole family. The one who took them away from me, but never again.

I'd burn him before he so much as thought of it again.

"Together." I grabbed his hand, ready to do whatever it takes to fight for this new life we were building together.

He breathed, and I knew it was hard for him, bringing me into this when it's everything he fought to prevent. Then, he nodded at me and squeezed my hand.

"Together."

I just hoped it would be enough.