Aella

XXXVII

I spent my day finishing the book I brought with me on the plane, and exploring the different rooms in the house. The library has tons of books I'm definitely going to read. The kitchen is filled with mainly Italian snacks, but I can ask for whatever I want that I miss from back home.

Aella has been very busy all day, making calls, sending men out to do the dirty work, and yelling at others to pretty much get their shit together. I saw her for a quick minute during the afternoon, but I understand she's busy, just like Papa always is at home.

Once again, Aella has planned a date for us, but doesn't tell me where, just to tell me what to wear. She told me to be ready by 7, so that's what I'm doing. I've decided to do a messy half bun in my hair, curling the rest and turning them into waves.

For my outfits, I chose a maroon midi dress made of thick lace, I put a black wool sweater over the top because it's starting to get colder at night. I match it with black heels and some gold bracelets and earrings.

I grab my black purse and shove my phone inside, then leave our room. I head downstairs and knock on Aella's office door. "Enter", I hear her yell.

I walk into her office. Aella sits at her desk staring at her computer, her hand typing fast on the keyboard. She looks over at me and stops her fingers. "Darling", she smiles. "You know you don't have to knock."

"What if you were on a call, or busy with someone else.", I counter. "I don't want to disturb your work."

Aella rolls her eyes. She gets up from her chair, readjusting her shirt and pants. "You look beautiful, Topolina."

"Thank you, Darling", I mock, but I also feel odd for never calling her pet names, so I thought I'd give it a go.

Aella chuckles. "Leave the endearment to me, Lovely." She walks over to me and places her hand on the small of my back, holding me against her. "Are you ready to go?"

I wrap my arms around her neck, slightly pulling her lips down to meet mine. We kiss for just a moment, slowly. And then, as release, we let go of each other, and we walk out of her office.

Together, we make our way out of the house, and in the driveway, sits a bright red vintage Ferrari. "Holy shit", I mutter.

"She's beautiful, isn't she?" Aella chuckles. "She was my first love."

I give Aella a fake angry look. She smirks at me. "A nineteen-fifty-seven Ferrari two-fifty GT California convertible. Got it when I was still over here in Italy. My first real car."

"This car is stunning." I walk over to it and run my hand down the side of it. The roof is up, because it's getting colder out. The two seats are jet black leather, the middle of the steering wheel a mirror-like silver. A stone cross hangs from the rear-view mirror.

Aella comes up behind me and opens the passenger side door for me. I sit down into the seat and adjust my skirt, Aella closes the door hard, then walks around to the other side and gets into the driver's seat.

The car roars to life and hums before Aella puts it in drive. We both buckle ourselves in and Aella starts to drive. We turn sharp around the fountain, then down the drive to the main road. We take a right, opposite the way we came in, heading even further north of Rome than we already are.

Aella hits the gas pedal and shifts the gear to get us to probably 60 miles per hour. She drives over the rolling hills and around curves. It's a beautiful night, the sun starts to set over the far hills on Aella's side of the car, outlining her in golden rays.

Aella truly is beautiful in everything that she does, from how she talks, to how she takes on challenges like running this house on her own, to just being herself. In just these couple months, I have grown to love her more than I thought I could have loved anyone, more than I ever loved Ace. In these couple months, I've found myself daydreaming about starting a family with her, growing old with her, traveling to every corner of the world with her.

Aella suddenly grips the steering wheel with one hand, and throws the other out over my chest. In a split second, I turn just in time to see head lights in our lane.

And then, darkness.