Aella

XXXIII

I wait for a moment, alone, in my new room. I stare at myself in this dress until a knock comes from the door.

I take one deep breath, then I walk over to the door, and slowly open it. When I walk out, Aella has her back to me, she is looking at the fireplace. Hearing my heels clack on the floor, she turns to me.

From the back, her suit was all black, but on her front left side, are gold embellishments that match my dress. She also wears heels, similar to mine, that shine the same gold.

We both stop in our tracks and stare at one another.

"Santo Cazzo." Aella mutters under her breath. Holy fuck.

"Same to you", I let out a breathy laugh. "You look-"

"Breathtaking", Aella cuts me off.

The party is loud in the living room below us. People talking in fast Italian, and laughing at jokes that probably aren't that funny. But, at the same time, everything around us is silent, capturing each other in a mental image. 

Aella walks over to me, and I take a few steps to meet her. She wraps one hand around me to hold the small of my back, pulling my pelvis against hers.

"I have never seen a woman more beautiful than you."

I wrap my arms around her neck, pulling her down to me. "You, though. You look absolutely perfect."

The music downstairs starts to quiet, giving Aella and I our cue that it's our time to shine. "Come on, Darling. The sooner this starts, the sooner it will all be over."

Aella lets go of me, presses a kiss to my forehead, then grabs my hand. We walk down the walkway above the living room. Women are in beautiful dresses, and men are in their finest suits. Everyone is so wrapped up in themselves, no one notices us above them. 

I hear a utensil clink against a glass, everyone goes quiet. I turn to look. In front of the fireplace, Mari and Angelo stand side by side. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen", she starts. "It is my absolute pleasure to be here tonight with all of you. My father, Marcello, is very sad he cannot be here tonight with us, so he's sent me to introduce the guests of honor."

Aella and I stop at the top of the stairs. I adjust the train of my dress, and Aella adjusts her coat. Then, she holds her arm out for me to wrap my own around. I wrap my arm over, and my hand lays on top of hers.

"It is my greatest pleasure to welcome your new Head of House, Aella Ricci, and her partner, my sister, Penelope Costa."

As Mari introduces us, we start to step down the stairs as one. When we turn on the landing half way down, I look up. There are hundreds of faces staring right back at us between those in the foyer and the entrance of the living room. I turn to look over at Aella. She looks back at me and winks her left eye, the one people can't see.

When we finish down the stairs, a pathway through the crowd opens for us leading to Mari and Angelo. Vaguely familiar faces smile in at me and Aella. Faces I had probably known when I was a very small child.

Aella and I make it to the front of the room where they are. She drops my arm off of hers. Mari takes me into her arms, we each place kisses on each other's cheeks. Aella shakes Angelo's hand firmly, and then Angelo leads Mari off to the side.

We turn to face the mass of people standing in our house. I hear Aella take a deep breath beside me, but I hold in my own.

Aella clears her throat. "I want to thank you for all coming, on behalf of me and my partner, Penelope."

I look into the crowd, and see a face I never wanted to see again. Ace stands in a grey suit similar to the one he wore at my house a few weeks ago. A woman stands at his side, wrapped around his arm. His eyes meet mine, but there's no anger. He nods his head to me, an extremely small smile on his face. I nod back at him.

"It's an honor to be the first female Head of House in our family's history. I am grateful for Marcello to put me in this position, and I intend to take it extremely seriously. I have every intention of fixing this house to bring it back to its full glory for the good of the Family."

Mari and Angelo have extra glasses of champagne. Aella steps over towards them, grabs the glasses, steps back and hands one to me. I take the tiniest of sips. Aella raises her glass to the crowd.

"Here's to the family, and my beautiful partner, who will be learning along with me for these first few weeks."

The crowd raises their glasses, and I raise my own. And then, every one starts talking to each other again. I turn to Aella, tugging on her hand. She turns to me, placing her hand on my waist. "Yes, Darling?"

"Ace is here."

She looks into the crowd, finding Ace, then turns back to me. Ace is talking with an older man, the woman stares around the room in boredom. Her dress is beautiful, it fits her perfectly. She's blonde, making her look very Barbie-like. 

"I figured he would be here", Aella takes a deep breath. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah", I sigh. "He smiled at me, while you were speaking."

"That's good", Aella gives me a small smile. I take a sip from my glass.

It's at that moment that I see Ace shake that man's hand, and he turns to start walking towards us. "Aella", I mumble, nodding my head in his direction.

Ace stops a few feet from us. His companion stops a step behind, clearly still bored out of her mind. "Penelope, Aella. May I have a word with you? It should just take a minute."

Aella and I look at each other, and then we look back at Ace. "We can step out onto the back patio, if you would like", Aella answers for us. Ace nods.

Aella and I start walking towards the back door, Ace and his companion follow close behind. We go out to the back patio, closing the door to give us privacy.

"You two look amazing together", Ace tells us.

"Thank you", Aella once again answers, clearly trying to stand her ground against him in case he chooses violent words, as he did a few weeks ago. 

Ace's companion simply walks over to a wicker chair near the unlit firepit and plops herself down.

"I just wanted to say that I am sorry", Ace looks me in the eye. "For being unaccepting of you two."

"We-" Aella starts.

I cut her off. "It's okay, Ace."

"No", he counters. "It was not okay of me."

Aella clears her throat, readjusting her stance next to me.

"After I called you... that name, I instantly knew it was wrong." He gestures to his companion, "Sofia made me realize that I said that because I was mad, not because I really think that. I am very happy for you both, and the only thing I have ever wanted in life is for you to be happy, Penelope."

"Thank you, Ace." I stare down at my glass, then look back up at him. "That means a lot."

"Aella", he looks over to her. She stares blankly at him. "I think you are going to be a great Head of House, and I am always here to help. I also hope that you will take great care of Penelope."

Aella's hand grabs my opposite hip, pulling me into her side. "I will forever do anything in my power to protect her. She is my partner now."

Ace smiles. "She's a handful," He jokes. "Be careful".

Aella chuckles. "You're telling me, she keeps me up all night."