His Heart's Mistress (Book 1 in His Heart's Series)

Chapter 5

Ally

"How are the chickens doing?"

"Much better. The vet has cleared all of them. Everything is under control now señorita," Bernardo said.

"That's great. I know that what happened was a set back for us and the farm, but we've pulled through much worse circumstances. I believe in you and everyone here at the farm. This is our farm. Our lives. I have every faith that we can pull through this and bring L'Amore back to its former glory. And I promise to do my part, as well. I promise that I'm going to do whatever it takes to keep the farm."

Bernardo smiled and nodded in agreement.

"You are much like your mother señorita."

I smiled.

"Your abuelos and madre would have been so proud of you."

Tears welled in my eyes.

"Thank you," I said.

"No, señorita. Thank you. Me and everyone here at the farm will always be grateful to you and your family."

I smiled and hugged the old man to me.

***

Later that day, I decided to head back to LA for my meeting tomorrow at noon.

My best friend Carly offered to let me stay with her while I'm in LA and I said yes.

Carly is the only person I trust and she's the only one who knows everything and where I've been for the last ten years.

"Hey, I'm so glad you're finally here," she said as she hugged me tightly.

I hugged her back and said, "Me too. I missed you so much. Thanks for letting me stay with you."

"No problem. I love the company. I missed you so much Ally. I just..."

"Hey... No sad talk okay? None of that. I'm okay now. Really," I said.

She sighed. "I'm glad. It's been ten years Ally, and I'm glad that you're doing so much better. After everything that you have been through, you deserve to be happy. I just can't believe your father would do this to you," she said.

I looked at her and raised my eyebrows.

She chuckled. "Okay. Fine. So I can believe it. After everything that he has done. I can believe it."

I nodded. "I just hope whoever this man is that is supposedly interested in L'Amore listens to me and gives me the chance to buy it back from him."

"If there's anything I can do to help just say the word."

I smiled at Carly gratefully. "Thanks."

She smiled and hugged me. "Welcome back Ally," she whispered.

***

The next morning, I woke up early and got ready for my meeting.

I chose a simple black dress that's just perfect for a formal meeting and paired it with a nude pair of heels that Carly let me borrow. I decided to let my hair fall in its natural wave. As for makeup, I've always believed that less is more. I put on a little bit of powder and blush just to bring some colour to my cheeks. I put in some mascara as well, and lastly, I applied some gloss to my lips.

I look at myself one last time in the mirror.

"This will do."

"You can do this. Do this for L'Amore and its people. Do this for your mama and abuelos," I told myself in the mirror."