La Serenissima (Venice)

Chapter 4: 'It's Easy To Fall In Love With Me Is It?'

I was sitting in the back of the car a nervous wreck. It didn't help much that I let Bobby convince me to wear a pair of strap wedge sandals that I could barely walk in. He insisted that they'd go perfectly with my cream colored halter sundress. As gorgeous as they were, I hated them. Christian curled my hair and did a gorgeous backcombed ponytail. Bobby as I always requested, kept my makeup simple, bronzed eyelids, short winged eyeliner and applied a tinted lip balm. I felt as though I just walked off the set of The Notebook.

"We've arrived Ms Hier." Sean's deep voice sounded, breaking the silence of the car. I exited the car and did a quick take on the house. It was nothing less than I'd expect from William's family but I couldn't help but widen my eyes in awe. The house looked like a palace with its gorgeous wrought iron balconies. A grand stair case extended from where I was standing to the front door, made of pristine glass and accented with a gold frame. There was a large Plainfield of lush green grass and a fountain as a round-a-bout.

Charles walked me up to the entrance where I was greeted my two primly attired butlers who lead me inside. I couldn't help but admire the high ceilings and grand double staircase as I entered. As usual, I felt naked and vulnerable without Charles. What if Victoria and Bill haven't arrived as yet and I was forced to awkwardly introduce myself as being apart of their family. I put nothing beneath her.

The butlers lead me to a large living room where everyone was seated. Everyone had already arrived, Jen, Matt, Bill,  Victoria, Annette, Dimitrius and two other strange faces who I assumed to be Andrew Kelsher and Dimitrius' wife. Everyone I expected to see was sitting in this room, everyone except William. 

Annette's eyes landed on me first. Her expression was bewildered. "Alexandra?" she asked, standing from her seat and walking towards me. She stopped and turned to Bill and he let out a small chuckle.

"This is your niece?" she asked and he nodded, seemingly amused by her expression. Her mouth was agape and she had no idea where to turn. The entire room erupted into fits of laughter at her expression as she pulled me into a hug. She looked gorgeous in her black dress pants and dark polka dot ruffled blouse.

"Seven billion people yet such a small world." Dimitrius chimed in and I glanced at him and his wife sending them a small smile. She was beyond beautiful with thick dark curls and beautiful brown eyes. She looked to be at least fifteen years younger than her husband.

"Where's William?" I asked and she slapped her palm to her forehead and groaned.

"I'm so sorry love he couldn't make it, he has a photo shoot in Milan tomorrow so he was resting up before his flight, if I'd known you were coming I would've-"

"Its fine," I began with a small smile. "It's nice to know that he's taking his job seriously for once." I added reassuringly and she laughed and patted me softly on the back.

"You look absolutely gorgeous by the way." She said and I grinned.

"Thank you, I seem to be learning from watching so many of your movies." I teased and she laughed. Her bubbly personality warmed the room and I almost forgot that I Victoria was sitting a few feet away.

"Well now that everyone has arrived we could get started on brunch." Victoria chimed from her seat and I mentally rolled my eyes at her attempt to break up our unification. One of the butlers returned to lead us out to a large table, set with ceramic plates and cutlery inside a large gazebo in their lovely garden.

"Your home is beautiful." I said turning to Andrew and Annette and they smiled and thanked me. The order of seating was Annette, Dimitrius' wife who I learned was named Melissa, Dimitrius, Andrew, Bill,  Victoria, Judy, Matt and yours truly. I snuck a picture of everyone at the table and sent to William with the caption 'they seem nice'. Just because I couldn't mess with him here doesn't mean I couldn't do it at all. I was surprised when he read the message and didn't reply. Maybe he was trying to wrap his head around the photo. I smiled at the idea.