Dangerous Love Affair

Monalise and Rafael

I sat back and smiled at all of the joy around me. The baby shower was a success thus far, and although I was in it for personal reasons before, seeing Sophia so happy made me feel happy. She had so much family in attendance that it made me jealous. They were all excited about the bundle of joy that was going to be introduced to the world in about a month. I wanted that big of a family surrounding me.

"Cara?"

I peeled my eyes away from Sophia opening gifts to see Rafael with his phone glued to his hand, waving me over to him. He was standing in between the doorway. I got up and tried to make as little noise as possible while walking out.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me outside with him as soon as I was about an inch away from him.

"What's wrong?"

He covered the speaker part of the phone, "I need to go take care of something. Santiago will be here to take you home after this is all over."

Why wasn't I surprised he was leaving early? There was no point in him showing up to anything anymore if this is what he was going to do all the time.

Trying to not look too upset, I nodded my head, "Okay. I'll see you later."

I turned to walk back inside but before I could take a step away from him, Rafe pulled me back to him and kissed my forehead.

"Ti amo, mi amor."

"I'll see you later, Rafe."

I stepped out of his embrace and walked away before he could try to say anything else. I took my place right by Sophia's loud cousins. They all resembled each other even though they told me they weren't siblings earlier. All tall, and beautiful, with the highlighted blonde hair.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out of my romper pocket to see I had a text from Levi.

'Did your mom give you the ring back?'

I had been avoiding asking her about the ring. She still wasn't talking to me for what happened with Levi a week later, and I didn't want to further upset her by asking for the ring back.

'Haven't had the chance to get it from her.'

I tucked my phone in my purse under the table after I sent the text. I didn't really feel like texting another man while I wasn't really happy with my husband. There was too much chance for something that would lead me being unfaithful to happen. And besides, I wanted to enjoy the very thing I had spent hours decorating.

"I told Soph I wouldn't do this, but I'm her father and I couldn't resist." Sophia's dad looked really young for what I assumed his age to be. Contrary to most of the family, he had dark hair and dark eyes. He was also really tall and darker than most of the family. His skin tone was closer to mine than to his families. He was standing next to Dominic with a microphone in his hand although I could tell he probably didn't even need it to project.

He turned to face Sophia and got down on his knees in front of her. He took her hand in his hand and began speaking, "Sophia Gianna Amato, my first born, my heart, I love you with all of my being and I couldn't be prouder of the woman you've become. Ever since you were a little girl, you took to taking care of your little brother and sister. Even when your mother and I made sure you knew it wasn't your responsibility, you still did so because of how caring you are. Arlene is going to be lucky to have you and Dom as parents. Your mom and I love you so much and we wish many blessings on you."

He kissed the back of her hand before getting up and shaking Dominic's hand. The room erupted in awes when Sophia got up and hugged her dad for a solid two minutes. She did the same to her mom next. There wasn't a single dry eye in the place after that, including mine. I hardly knew that much about her, but I knew she came from a humble background and that family was everything to her. To see her have this moment was purely emotional for me.