A/N: Thanks for reading. Enjoy!
"Dad, it's six o'clock on a Saturday morning. Why are you up so early?" He finishes pouring his coffee, sets down his cup, and then holds up an empty cup, asking silently if I'd like some. "Sure."
"You know I'm always an early riser no matter what day of the week it is.", he smiles as he places my cup in my hand. "What about you?"
"I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. Is Rebecca still sleeping?"
"Yeah. She was sound asleep when I got up. You should have seen the smile she had when she went to bed last night. She really enjoyed getting to know you and Christian." My dad originally arrived solo for his visit after receiving a letter more than likely from Elena. Not wanting Rebecca to see the confrontation, he concocted a fib about me having an emergency at work which was going to take most of my time, thus me not being able to get to know Rebecca as well as I'd liked. Once things settled down, my "emergency" was over, and Christian arranged to have Rebecca flown here. The four of us went to a late dinner and spent the evening getting acquainted. Rebecca is every bit as charming as my dad described. It was nice watching the two of them interact with each other.
"I enjoyed getting to know her too. She's wonderful Dad. I can see why the two of you are so smitten with each other." I glance behind me at the stove. "How about I make some breakfast?"
"Thank you for offering, but I'm not hungry yet. Besides, Christian mentioned something last night about us going to breakfast."
"Ok. We can go once he and Rebecca wake up." Steam hits my fingers as I run them around the rim of my cup. "Dad, I'm sorry you got that letter. Elena is nothing but a vile human being who likes dragging innocent people down. She's tried multiple times to do so with me, but Christian and I are determined not to let her win.", I say full on confidence. Elena's manipulations in the past have left me shook me briefly, but the bitch barked up the wrong tree when she involved my dad in her scheme.
"I like to think of myself as a calm and collective guy, but when it comes to someone causing trouble for my daughter, all bets are off. Case in point, yesterday. I went off on Christian for that letter, not even taking into consideration his side of the story. So you can only imagine how livid I am by this woman's actions. Maybe I should pay her a visit to let her know all she did was waste a stamp on postage."
"You'll do no such thing. I refuse to have you even more embroiled in this than you already are. Elena's eventually going to regret every single thing she's done."
"It's way too early to be talking about Elena Lincoln.", a sleepy Christian mumbles while staggering into the kitchen. His hair is tousled all over his head and making even more irresistible. He stops by my chair and kisses me passionately.
"Could you not sleep either?", I ask once we've pulled apart and he's getting coffee.
"I woke up and you were gone so I thought I'd see where you were."
"Hopefully Rebecca's getting enough rest for all of us.", my dad laughs. He stands with his cup. "I'm going to go and check on her. Christian, are we still on for breakfast?"
"Yeah. I was thinking we could let Rebecca rest a while longer and then have a late breakfast unless you'd like to go earlier."
"A late breakfast is fine with me, and I'm sure it'll be ok with Rebecca." He goes out of the room, leaving me and Christian alone.
"I had a dream last night. Both of us were in it, and it was one of the best dreams I've ever had." A warmth hits my body at imagining what he dreamed about. He bends and wipes the corner of my mouth. "You had a bit of drool Miss Steele."
"Only because you made me." He sits down as I prop my chin on my hand. "Why don't you tell me about your dream?"
"We had a house.", he smirks.
"What were we doing in this house?", I ask, wiggling my brows.
"Living in it. My dream was very PG, but it was incredible. I woke up from it with an idea. Ana, we're about to start a new chapter in our lives, and I want to make every detail of it memorable. I guess what I'm trying to say is I want us to get a house." Although the idea of him having a naughty dream about us was nice, hearing him talk about his actual dream is even better.
"A house. I like where you're going with this. Continue."
"This penthouse is a good place to live, but it's not a place to start a life together. I want us to have house with a yard. I want it to be where we start a family when the time's right. Do you agree?"
"I one hundred and ten percent agree."
"Rebecca, I've been wondering how did you decide you wanted to be a teacher? Was it something you always wanted to do?", I ask during our late breakfast at Lowell's Restaurant.
"I originally wanted to be a singer, but I was told my singing stunk.", she sighs. My da places his hand on top of hers and gives her a comforting smile. "
"That's not a very nice thing to say."
"Eh. Several people said it, and they were actually right. I was under the impression sounding good in the shower meant a recording career was a shoe in. I decided to go with my second choice, teaching. I was taught by some of the most inspiring and talented teachers who worked with each student not because it was their job but because they genuinely cared. I wanted to be able to do that."
"She's been voted teacher of the year two years in a row.", my dad beams proudly.
"I've always had a great respect for teachers and what they do. They help shape the faces of the future.", I say as I see Audrey and Daniel walk in the door. It looks like Audrey took my advice to talk with Daniel. The server leads them to a table on the other side of the room. "Would you excuse me for a second? Two of my friends and co-workers just walked in, and I need to speak with them."
"Sure sweetheart."
"Tell Audrey and Daniel I said hi.", Christian smiles.
I push back my chair and walk to their table where the waitress has finished taking their drink orders. Daniel is making what appears to be a rose out of his napkin, something that has Audrey grinning in adoration.
"Hi guys.", I say. They break eye contact with each other and bring their attention to me. "I saw you come in and thought I'd say hi." Audrey leans back in her chair and glances towards my table.
"Is that your dad's new girlfriend Rebecca?", Audrey asks.
"Yeah. She's really nice and a great fit for him. How are you two?"
"Good." They laugh at answering the question in synchronicity. Daniel adds the last touch to the rose and hands it to Audrey who holds it to her chest.
"We're making progress.", she replies. "You were right when you said not communicating would only make things worse. Things aren't going to instantly go back to the way things were, but at the end of the day we love each other and are committed to making us work."
"And that is what I've been wanting to hear.", I say. "I'm going to get back to my table and let you two get back to working things out. I'll see you at work on Monday. Bye."
Following our breakfast, Christian arranges for Sawyer to take my dad and Rebecca around Seattle to do some shopping while Christian and I go back to Escala. We're making out like two teenagers on the sofa when we hear footsteps in the foyer.
"Someone's here.", I murmur against Christian's lips. His hand continues moving under my blouse until I slap it away. "Pause." We're in the process of adjusting ourselves when Grace enters the room.
"Mom, hi.", Christian says. Both he and I get up and greet Grace with a hug. "Ana and I were just um...watching some tv." Grace's eyes go to the tv which is turned off. "I turned it off."
"I'm sorry for interrupting your tv viewing, but I was on the way home when I got a call that I thought you two would like to know about. It's about Elena Lincoln."
"Is it possible to have at least one day where her name isn't mentioned? It's bad enough that she's now taken it upon herself to involve Ana's dad." Grace places her purse on the coffee table and sits down in the chair across from the sofa. "She sent Ray a letter telling him I was trouble for Ana and that she had Ana's best interest in mind."
"My dad wasn't very happy with Christian when he arrived yesterday for his visit, but Christian explained things. I hate that he ws forced into revealing his history with that vulture, but what's done is done. Grace, you might as well go ahead and tell us what Elena has done now."
"She died.", Grace blurts out. "I was almost home from my parents' house when I got a call from Linda Abernathy. She's the president of the garden club which Elena and I both belong to although Elena rarely went to the meetings. Anyway, Linda's daughter-in-law Kimberly is a nurse at the hospital. Elena called for a medic this morning when she was having chest pains. They arrived at her house, but she stalled them by insisting that she put on makeup and change clothes before getting into the ambulance. They finally left, but then the ambulance by another ambulance as it was about to turn into the hospital. It was a minor fender bender, but by the time they got the back doors open, Elena was having a heart attack. She died before they got her to the exam room."
"I don't believe it.", Christian mutters. "In order to have a heart attack, you have to have a heart."
"It's true. She's gone. Linda was crying, but I have no tears to shed." Christian tightens his hold on me while it starts to sink in that Elena is gone, unable to cause any further harm in lives. We're free from her.
"No tears will be wasted on her."