Daughter-in-law Strikes Harder

New Orleans

Grand Isle

“Getting so occupied with Adriana has made me so busy. I will meet you at the event,” Ariana apologized to her sister on the phone, as she turned to face her tiny little child who had spilled the jug of milk again for the third time.

“Come back here, naughty,” she called and tried to catch the little child who ran off so fast, the moment she realized that her mother was about to get to her.

“She is so fast. The last time she came over, the rack that holds numerous stacked books in the dining room came tumbling. I didn’t see her afterward, and feared so greatly that she was probably under the huge rack,” Aria sighed so hard over the phone. “I started crying while calling her name, because she is just so tiny. Guess what? I found her when I heard a loud sound in the kitchen. She had climbed the kitchen stool and gotten her little fingers on my bowl. It was so hectic.”

“Oh, dear. I am sorry she made you go through all that,” Ariana groaned with a chuckle, as she walked away from where she was standing real quick to go and see what mischief her child could be up to again, “She must probably take after me. I have not been so easy to deal with,” Ariana bit her lips.

“Yeah, yeah. So I thought from the beginning. She is even more cute and pretty than you. I see some great genes working effectively on the child,” Aria paused the moment she said that, realizing that she had just reminded her sister about someone she rarely talked about.

The very few times Ariana talked about him was when she woke up from coma, after her baby turned two months and saw the cute little child. She cried so much and talked about how she missed her child’s father, Dalton.

Aria once asked her sister if they could not call her lover over, and she told her that their love was too sad and complicated to continue. She also talked about how they hated one another from the beginning, without mentioning too much about the fact that she actually lived as his wife.

More than anything, she was glad Aria’s memories wouldn’t let her recollect anything.

She also remembered how the doctors wanted to ensure that she was now stable enough to take care of her child, and tried so hard to rehabilitate her, so that the little girl would not suffer from a Mum that wasn’t healed yet. They wanted to be sure she didn’t self hurt anymore.

The days had passed too fast into weeks and months, with years that had passed, and yet she was still missing one person somewhere in her heart. Even after they moved from Italy to New Orleans, it had not gotten any easier. She still checked to see if there were any new pictures of him from the paparazzi.

‘He looks better and great. That is all that matters,’ she muttered every time she checked his pictures.

………………

“How is Collin? Is he doing well?” Ariana asked her sister as she made her way into the bedroom.

“It is barely three months after the wedding, and I think he wants a baby already. I am so scared!” Aria shrieked.

“Babies are more adorable than you think. Are you scared of getting a troublesome one?” She chuckled, as she opened the door to the bathroom to check for her child who was not there.

“Not, at, all. I told him that I was still doing a great job of raising my niece, and he said that he was okay with whatever I wanted.”

“Haah!” Ariana laughed, “That is hilarious. I am sure Ana would be much welcomed to have an adorable aunt like yourself.”

“Are you still hearing from Anna? She called Collin a thousand times after you fell into a coma. She said it was hard reaching you, and it wasn’t easy getting Collin’s phone number either,” Ariana reminded.

“Yes. We video-chatted last week, and it was fun. She said her new family is the best.

“You are so warm-hearted. I am proud of you. And the maid girl you talked about?” She asked further.

“She is doing fine in Singapore. Well and good…..”

“Got you!” Ariana caught her baby by the arm, who was in her room while rummaging among every one of her clothes in the closet, “I am grounding you. No cartoons. No ball dresses,” the mother threatened.

“Mom… I. I am. Sowiii,” the little girl whose head was raised up while looking at her mother so apologetically, with her cute eyes bulging out because of the tears that seemed to want to stream from her eyes.

“Mummy is not angry anymore. Now come here and give Mummy a kiss,” Ariana, who couldn’t handle the vulnerability of her child, picked her up from the floor and pulled her closer to herself.

“Now let’s go get you dressed up. Mummy has an important meeting.”

“I’ll take to you later, dear. Don’t forget to get Mum’s favourite flowers for the memorial,” she reminded.

~`•°•`~

“It is funny how she can differentiate us, even when others cannot,” Ariana chuckled as she drove behind the wheels, while Riana sat on her aunt’s lap and put her chest on her chest while watching her favorite cartoon. Aria had cut her hair short a few months ago to look exactly like her sister, which were now growing back to its original length while Ariana kept hers.

“Of course, she would. You are the mean one, and I am the nice aunty,” Aria smirked at her sister through the front mirror, and turned to give a little child a kiss on her forehead. She reciprocated the action immediately.

“Hunh. Says someone who is scared of her own little version,” Ariana mocked.

The two sisters continued to chit-chat as Ariana drove the car to the airport, while Aria scribbled some ideas down on her notepad for the new book she was writing. She had become a rookie best-selling author in over two years, and was planning to write her next book as an anonymous author she preferred to remain as.

“Are you sure it is going to be fine? Taking you along with her this time around?” Aria asked her sister as they stood in the airport together.

“I should be,” she smiled, “I just have to oversee the affairs of the store again and come back. It shouldn’t be so hard to take care of her by myself.”

“Okay, dear. Have a nice time,” Aria smiled and hugged her sister tightly for a few seconds.

“I’ll call you when I arrive.”

~•`•`•~. ~•`•`•~.

The department store was still the same even after months since she last visited, with a difference of more new spaces for new designer brands that wanted a space in the store. It sure was satisfying to know that her ownership over a company was a stronghold, but was heart-wrenching to know that she had never run into Dalton even once since she started visiting.

She didn’t visit the old places that she frequented in the past, and neither did she visit anywhere near his companies, vacation houses, or the mansion. Collin had told her what happened later after she woke up from coma, and she didn’t want anything that would bring her pain again.

“We are shopping at the mall now. I am picking clothes and shoes for her. I should pick one for my nephew too,” Ariana teased on the phone.

“What? What nephew?” Aria asked in surprise, because she wondered if her sister was making a mistake somewhere.

“The one that is curling up to your belly,” she taunted with a mischievous smirk, which made Aria chuckle so loudly over the phone.

“Gosh,” Aria hit her head in disappointment. “You should be a comedian.”

“I’ll surely try putting it into con…… “Oh, dear. That tiny girl has run off again,” Ariana announced in anxiety, the moment she realized that her daughter who was admiring a toy a few seconds ago was gone.Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

“Oh, dear. Check the nearest places immediately before she runs to another section in that huge place,” Aria cautioned, as the scared mum ran off without the shopping trolley to look for her daughter.

“Adriana! Adriana!!” She called loudly, not minding the people that were looking at her weirdly.

She scowled at anyone who glared at her with so much anxiety that she didn’t show, as she kept looking around like someone that was about to lose her mind calling her daughter’s name frantically.

She didn’t cut Aria off the phone, who kept telling her to check the likely places that kids could hide in such a huge place. Frustrated, Ariana called the attention of the mall security that was around that she was looking for a little girl after she explained her features, and one of them offered to help her go check through the CCTV room.

The young girl that ran off happily waiting for her mum to chase her, soon realized that she was lost after running for a while as she stood in a spot. She looked left and right to see if she would see her Mum, and soon realized that she was left alone with really tall people walking around her.

“Mom…” Her tiny voice called with a frown, thinking her mum was playing hide and seek with her by not coming to get her. “Mommy……..” She called and, and hiccuped a soft sob as she walked around to see if she could find anyone that looked like her Mum.

And sitting on the floor was the frustrated kid that had walked for many minutes, without seeing anyone who had the cute smile and really short hair her Mum had. Not until someone came closer to where she was sitting and smiled at her.

“What are you doing here, little girl?”

A few minutes later, he carried the girl in his arms whom he noticed was probably lost away from her guardian, and asked his assistant to check around and contact the security if there was anyone looking for their child.

To calm the agitated girl down, he purchased a big bar of chocolate in one of the shops and handed it over to her.

“Thaink you…..” She dragged with a smile.

“Adriana,” she answered, when he asked her for her name.

~•'”°”’•~

“Adriana….” The scared mother called again and again while trying to hold herself from crying already, because she could imagine losing her child just because she looked away for a moment.

“Riana…” She walked around still calling upon the child, who had held her name from afar, and told the stranger who carried her that it was her Mum calling.

“Riana…….”

“Mommy…” She answered as loudly as she could and waved happily, when she sighted her Mum coming from afar.

“Can you hear me,” Aria called from the other side of the phone, when she noticed that her sister wasn’t saying anything again. “Can you hear me? Hello. Ariana….”

Shock overwhelmed Ariana’s body with her mouth left dumbfounded, as she walked closer, and stared at her daughter in the arms of the man she least expected. She would have thought that she was hallucinating when she saw the pretty figure stand before her, looking so manly in his suit and fatherly with the child in his arms

Reality hit her brutally. The resemblance was too striking between the man standing, and the child that he was carrying in his arm.

She was trying hard to contain her tears as her feet stuck stubbornly to the ground, refusing to move from the spot as she continued to stare at him. The tension from looking for her child was banished from her body, and all she could feel was intense heartache.

He saw her too. His body trembled.

“Mummy….” The happy child called at her Mum again and again, as she laughed so happily while clapping her tiny hands together.

Her lips trembled nonstop on the spot as she turned away from his sight, so that he would not see the tears that slipped down her face as rest followed suit. She couldn’t stop herself even if she tried. Her heart was hurting too badly.

‘How could she meet him at the time she least expected?’

“Are you by any chance, Ariana? Your daughter here says she is Adriana and wants to go to her Mum,” she heard the baritone voice call unto her, which made her body weaker at the hearing of his voice.

She had to close her eyes so tightly and suck in breath, before she turned to face the man that was looking at her. He was too close. His presence was evading her senses that she couldn’t stand it anymore.

He was looking at her face too and he was smiling. Their eyes locked for a moment, and he looked so calm and natural while her own eyes trembled. She could see pain in his eyes. Emotions that held intense pining.

“Dalton,” she called his name slowly under her shaky breath, and he pulled her into a tight hug before she could even do anything as we went weak into his arms. It was too much for her to handle.

She still loved him so greatly and seeing him after so long confirmed.

“Hi, Adriana. Say hello to Daddy,” he smiled at the mini version of him. He didn’t need to be told.

It was a happy and great reunion for them, filled with pain and bitterness at how things had seemed. They tried to heal through the sad past, and built on the new love and future they had.