Lover

Chapter Twenty-Six

Y/N

With shaking hands, I dialed the number that Stefania had saved in her phone. God, what would I do without this woman?

"Stefania? Is everything okay?" Ashley answered.
"H-Hey. It's Y/N." I said with a shaking voice.
"Y/N, hi. Is everything okay?"
"Do you want to come to mine and Stefania's house for dinner? I want to apologize for how I acted earlier and I want to talk."
"Nothing would make me happier. What time?"
"Do you want to come over in an hour?"
"Yes. Sounds good. Oh, and Y/N?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you."
"Bye." I hung up and sighed.

"Bella? Are you going to join me or am I going to take care of this myself?" Stefania called out from the bathroom.
"Coming baby." I smirked as I walked to the bathroom.

Stefania
One hour later

"What wine do you want? Wait, we can't have wine. She's a recovering addict. Or can we have wine? We can't, right?"
"Bambina, calm down. You're nervous." I soothed as I took the bottle from her hands.
"We'll have water for tonight." I whispered as I kissed her forehead.
"God I'm so nervous I feel like I'm going to barf." Y/N said with a shaky voice.
"Hey, it'll be okay." I reached down and squeezed her hand.

The doorbell rang, causing her to jump slightly.

"Do you want me to get it?" I asked.
Y/N nodded and leaned against the counter, taking a deep breath.

I walked to the front door and opened it, greeting Ashley with a smile.
"Ciao, come in." I stepped to the side.
"You have a lovely home." She said with a smile while picking at her fingers. Y/N must've gotten that from her.
"Thank you. Can I get you something to drink?" I asked as I led her into the kitchen.
"Just water please."

"Ashley. Hey." Y/N gave her a soft smile.
"Y/N. You look lovely."

Y/N glanced down to the station 19 shirt and the jeans she was wearing.
"Uh thanks. You too." She rubbed the back of her neck nervously.
"You don't look anything like your Dad." Ashley said with a tilt of her head.
"Yeah. Dad always says I'm your twin. Ang and Becca look more like him."
"How are they?"
"Uh they're good. They're good..." She trailed off.

I nudged Y/N gently with my foot and she glared at me out of the side of her eye.
"Uh, I just wanted to apologize for how I acted today. I should've given you an opportunity to talk and explain. It was just over whelming. But, I realize that I was wrong. I'm sorry."
"Thank you. But I should really be apologizing for just showing up after thinking..." Ashley trailed off.
"Where we're you? You've been gone for thirteen years."
"The first two I was in a sober living facility in Kansas. Then I was in charge of that specific facility for three years. Then I came back here and decided to open my own sober living place, 'Liberum Ad Finem'."
"Free till the end." I smiled.
"Yes. Free till the end, sober till the end."

"That's impressive..." Y/N trailed off.

"In eight years, we've helped over 3,000 people achieve sobriety. A few of them come back and help work, some of the speak, but to my knowledge, all of them are still sober."
"That's amazing. You should be proud of your achievements." I complimented.

Ashley nodded and took a sip of her water.

"So you managed to accomplish all that, but you haven't reached out before now?"
"Bambina-"
"No. I wanna know why now. Why did you decide that we were finally good enough for you. Ang and Becca were sixteen and twelve when you left them. Sixteen and twelve! They were children! I don't care what I was going through, I would never leave my daughter."
"Y/N, until you're an addict-"
"Guess what! Done checked that one off. I was a fucking addict. Guess that's one of the great traits I got from you." Y/N scoffed and stormed out to the back deck.

"I should go-"
"No, just... wait a second. I'll go talk to her." I gave her a soft smile and followed my fiancé outside.

"Bella?" I called out.
"I knew this was a bad idea." She mumbled from her seat at the patio table. Y/N took a long drag of a cigarette and exhaled, letting the smoke roll off her lips.
"Bambina, you need to give her a chance." I knelt down beside her.
"How? How can I when every time I look at her I'm enraged. I'm just so pissed off."
"She's trying. She's sober. She wants a relationship with you. With us. With our bambina."
"I know, I know. Do you know how long it took me to get over the fact that my own biological mother didn't want me?" She looked up at me with tears in her eyes.
"She did want you. She just made a choice that she thought was best for you all." I gently kissed her forehead.
"Keep holding my hand. If I start to say something out of line just squeeze it." She sighed as she put the cigarette out in the ashtray.
"Vieni qui bambina." I whispered as I held my hand out and helped her up.

We walked back inside to see Ashley sitting at the table, her head down playing with her hands.

Y/N

"I'm sorry." I sighed as I ran my free hand through my hair.
"It's okay. I understand. I deserve it." She looked up at me and gave me a forgiving smile.
"Do you uh, do you want to see pictures of Aurora?" I asked.
"Please." This time, it was a genuine smile.

I moved to sit next to her, and Stefania took the seat next to me and rested her hand on my leg.
"Here's when she was born. A whole nine pounds six ounces." I smiled at the chubby baby on the screen.
"God, she looks just like you when you were born." Ashley whispered as she stared at the pictures.

We sat there for about thirty minuets, going through majority of the pictures on my phone.
"So... where is she tonight?"
"At our friend's house." I said plainly.
"Ah... And, how long have you two been together?" Ashley asked.
"Seven months." Stefania said as she smiled at me.
"Oh I thought Aurora was Stefania's too?" She asked.
"She is." I kind of snapped. Stefania immediately squeezed my leg.
"Sorry. She is. Stefania is her Mamma. I'm Mom. She doesn't have a Dad." I shook my head.
"Oh. Okay." Ashley smiled at me as the timer went off on the stove.

"Lasagnas ready!" Stefania said cheerfully as she skipped over to the oven.

"Is she always like that?" Ashley whispered to me.
"Like what?"
"Like a unicorn is about to pop out of her ass."

I leaned my head back and let out a big belly laugh, startling Stefania in the process.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing baby. You're perfect." I flashed a smile at my fiancé.
"I see she makes you happy."
"Happier than I've ever been."
"You deserve it. I'm really sorry I haven't been there the first part of your life. But, if you let me, I'd love to be a part of your life from here on out."

Stefania turned to me quickly, waiting for me to say something rude.

"Yeah. I think we can do that."