She didn’t recognize the man, though. “You’re new to me, sir. Do you mind telling me what I should call you?”
“I am Stanley,” came his stoic response. “Follow me, please.”
Aulora’s eyes were everywhere. The floor, the staircase, the enormous chandelier that hovered high above the entrance room. “It’s just the same,” she mumbled to herself.
Up the stairs, they went and she hesitated once they came to the door of the bedroom that had once been hers. She wanted to stop and look inside of it but the guy kept walking, so she decided not to fall behind.
Only three more doors down and they stopped and she found her father inside the empty room with his arm around a very young woman. A woman who looked very close in age to herself. “Miss Aulora has arrived, Master Wohrl.”
They turned back to look at Aulora. Both wore huge smiles. Her father held out his hand in a gesture for her to come to them. “Aulora, darling, come meet your new mother.”
Aulora laughed as she went to them. The young woman was gorgeous. Tall, thin, tan, and blonde. Deep blue eyes were framed with thick lustrous lashes. Her full lips were stained deep red to match her dress. She had on black flats and her stomach looked as if a basketball was under the tight dress.
“I’m Clara, Aulora. But it would make me very happy if you’d call me, Mom.” The young woman extended her hand.
“Mom?” Aulora asked with another laugh. She shook the woman’s hand. “I’m sure you and I are close in age. Mom might be a bit weird.”
“Your father told me you were twenty-two. Is that right?” Clara asked as she let Aulora’s hand go and rubbed her round belly.
“That’s right. And you are?”
“Twenty-five,” she said. Then she looked up at her husband and grinned. “But Charles tells me I’m much more mature than that. Isn’t that right, baby?”
“Much more mature than that,” he said and kissed her cheek. “Now, Aulora, don’t let the age thing get in the way of making this woman your mother.”
Aulora choked back her words. She had a mother, after all. She wasn’t in need of another one!
She decided to change the subject. “When’s the baby due?”
“In two months. And we’ve not yet done a single thing to make this nursery a place for her. Did your father tell you what we’ve decided to name her?” her new mom asked.
“He did not,” Aulora answered as she gazed around at the large room, trying to envision what could be done with it.
“I so love your name that we’re naming her that too,” came her stepmother’s insane words.
“What? My name? That’s going to be confusing. Don’t you think?”
Her father quickly shook his head. “No, not at all. You see we’re going to call this one Aulora and you’ll earn the new nickname, Old Aulora.”
Her heart sank as she thought about being called something like that. “No. No, I don’t like that at all.”
Her new mom’s hand ran over her shoulder. “You’ll get used to it. Now, about this room. Your father and I are at an impasse. I want to use pastels and he wants to use bright colors. We’ve decided to let you pick.”
“In that case, I like bright colors. They stimulate the senses,” Aulora said as she looked around. “If she’s anything like me, she’ll like the bright colors too.”
“Then it’s settled,” her father said. “And now on to other things.” He took out a small catalog from inside his suit pocket. “Here are the baby cribs we’ve been looking at. We’d love it if you’d pick one for our little Aulora.”
With a quick glance through the small booklet, she picked one out. “This one will work and I’ll paint it.”
She noticed the frown on Clara’s face as she walked over to the window and looked out of it. “You certainly can make quick decisions, can’t you?”
“I generally do make decisions very quickly. If you don’t mind my asking, how long did you two know each other before you got married?” Aulora joined her new mom at the window.
The view was of the huge swimming pool that she’d learned to swim in. The tennis courts were off to one side and the riding stables were behind that. The place she’d played in her younger years.
“We met last year and hit it off right away,” she told her.
Aulora looked stunned. “And the baby is due in a couple of months. You two wasted no time, did you?” She laughed a little but it was more than a bit unnerving that her father could move so fast.
“When you know, you know,” her father said as he came up behind them, putting his arm around his wife. “Do you think you can have this nursery up and ready in only a couple of months?”
“Sure. Anything for New Aulora,” she said with a smile she didn’t really feel. “For now, I’ll go back home and work on the whole idea. I’ll sketch it all out and maybe use map colors to fill in the shades. How would that work for you two?”
“Great,” her father said.
“Would it be too much to ask for me to have some input into this?” Clara asked. “She is my first child after all.”
“It’s not a problem at all,” Aulora said. “It wasn’t me who asked to do this after all.”
The tiniest of twitches moved Clara’s brow. “I know that. Your father and I can’t seem to agree on a single thing to do with this room. That’s why I said you’d be the tie breaker. Only, I thought you’d see things my way. You know, being women and all. I was mistaken.”
“Dad, let her design this room,” Aulora said as she exhaled. She had no interest in being a tie breaker.
He ducked his head and said, “Clara, of course, you can design the nursery.”
The grin that moved over her stepmother’s face let Aulora know it was all a ploy. A ploy to let Clara know how far she could push them both. “I’d love your help on it, though,” she told Aulora. “The Old Aulora’s stamp on the New Aulora’s nursery would be appreciated.”
“I could paint a mural on one of the walls if you’d like. But I’m much more of an abstract painter. I could send you some photos of what I’ve done.”
“But you are an artist, so that means you can paint anything I want, doesn’t it?” Clara asked with a sweet smile. The kind of smile the super-rich have that lets other people know they’re not really asking you for something, they’re telling you that you will do it their way.
“Send me pictures of what you want, Clara.”
“Mom,” she reminded her, still wearing that sinisterly sweet smile.
“Mom,” she said then sighed. “So, I’m going to take off now. You have my cell number. You can text me the pics. Later, guys.”
Aulora left the room with expectations that had become a lot lower. When she got to the door of her old bedroom, she pushed it open to find it wasn’t a bedroom at all but an office.
Closing the door, she went down the stairs with her head hanging. She wasn’t getting her father back. He was replacing her and her mother with newer versions of them. Right down to the new baby’s name.
Making her way to the front door, she found the butler jumping to open it for her. She let him. “Good day, Miss.”
“Yeah, whatever,” she said as she left the home she had high hopes of making hers again. But that dream was history. She knew she’d love her baby sister but the idea of being one, big, happy family was gone.
Dustin opened the door of the car for her.
“You don’t look nearly as happy as you did when I let you out of this car.”
“Reality set in. Bummer, huh?” she said as she got in.
He nodded and closed the door without adding to her words. She figured he knew more about Clara than he’d ever say. The fact was, Clara nor her father, were anything Aulora should be worried about.
Aulora had to find herself. She’d been a poor art student who moonlighted as a waitress. Now she was a rich woman with a rich boyfriend and a couple of walls to fill with new artwork in a gallery. If she wanted to. She didn’t have to do a damn
thing if she didn’t want to.
The drive back to New York was long and she found her head falling back on the headrest and her eyes closing. The exhaustion had finally caught up with her and she fell asleep.
Chapter 3
Weston rolled over and then over again, it became clear he was alone in the large bed. “Aulora?”
He sat up in the bed and looked around the room that was dimly lit by the outside sunlight.
She was gone!
His heart stopped and his mind went blank. They’d made up. Why would she leave?
Getting out of the bed, he got dressed and looked around for a note or something that would tell him where she’d gone. He went to the bathroom to clean up a bit and laughed at himself when he heard the bedroom door open. “West?”
Stepping out of the bathroom, he found Aulora and scooped her up. “I was afraid you’d left me.”
She ran her arms around his neck and laid her head on his wide chest. “I’m not about to do that. You’re the only thing I have in my life right now I’m certain about. I went to visit my dad and his new wife. A woman who’s around my age. She’s a real piece of work from what I saw.”
“That had to be rough. So, it went kind of badly?” he asked as he took her to the bed and sat down, holding her on his lap.
“I wouldn’t say that. There was no drama, so that’s good. But all my hopes of having my family back have been dashed. And the fact they’re naming the baby my name is a little upsetting.”
“Your name?” he asked her then chuckled. “That’s weird.”
“It is,” she agreed. “And I am to be called, Old Aulora. So can’t wait for my little sister to call me that.”
“I bet,” he said then kissed the top of her head. “How about you strip and so will I and we can climb right back into this bed and love the rest of the day away?”
“If you think that’ll help,” she said with a giggle.
“Oh, it will. Believe me!”
She got off his lap and pulled her clothes off as he took his back off and then they climbed into the bed and covered up, settling into each other’s arms. “I feel so comfortable with you, West.”
He ran his hand up and down her arm with gentle strokes. “Me too.” With a kiss to the side of her head, he whispered, “We need to make some decisions, you and I.”
She groaned and turned in his arms to face him. “Why do we have to do that? So much has changed, West. It’s all a bit dizzying. Making more decisions right now would stir an already overflowing pot.”
“I can see why you’d think that but I’m talking about making decisions about what it is you want. I can see that I’ve pushed you to do things maybe you weren’t ready for and now your parents are too. I want to stop doing that and I want you to know I’m in your corner and here to help you be you.”
She sighed and kissed his plump lips. “And that’s why I love you so much. No one has ever looked at me the way you do. You can see right into my heart and soul, I think. You can tell this way of living just isn’t me, can’t you?”
“You’re so uncomfortable here,” he said with a chuckle. “This place doesn’t look like a home you’d make for yourself.”
“Because it’s a home my mother put together. I do have one member of the staff who I really like. The head chef, Laura. She’s all about getting to know me and what I want. And I can see keeping her on. I don’t need the tons of other staff. The butler isn’t necessary. The place is huge, so a couple of maids should be kept on. Other than that, I see no need to keep the rest.”
“What about finding another place. A place where you’d feel at home?” he asked her then kissed her forehead. “A place we could call our home, peach.”
She shivered with his words. “Our home, West?”
“I want you and I to move in together.”
She took in a breath and held it as she thought about what he wanted.
Did she want that too?
She felt at home in his arms. She felt whole when he was around. To have him in her life, really sharing it, would be more than nice. “What kind of place do you seeing yourself living in?”
“Anywhere you are,” he told her then kissed her with a deep kiss that told her he wasn’t lying about that. “I could live in a ditch as long as you were with me, Aulora.”
“Well, we won’t have to go that far,” she said then giggled. “I could sell this place, couldn’t I? I’m not stuck here. As if anyone would consider themselves stuck in a Fifth Avenue penthouse. You know what I mean, though.”
He trailed one hand up to cup her chin and looked deep into her eyes. “I can see you do feel trapped. I don’t want you to let that happen to you. Why not think about some place that will help you be the artist you want to be? We could get a vacation place anywhere in the world. And we could get a place near New York too. That would be a necessity for my work and your artwork to be sold.”
She nodded and sighed. “You’re so level-headed, West. So, on top of things. I think I could be happy right here in this place. I just need to change the décor, you know. We could keep this place and get a vacation house somewhere. Maybe Paris.”
“I like that idea.” He kissed her again, this time with a fervor that told her their discussion was over. Their plan had been made, now to consummate their new arrangement!
She felt it too. The shift in what they would be to one another. They were going to move one step forward and live together. He’d help her to push away the things that had been tossed at her and replace them with things she wanted and liked.
Aulora had no idea that anyone could do that for another person. Step in and help them be who they longed to be. She had always wanted to be an artist. The loss of money got in the way, slowing that goal down for her. But the money was back and she could use it to help her move ahead in her career much faster than she’d been doing.
When their bodies connected, she felt a heat surge through her. They locked eyes as he moved slowly, letting her feel every inch of him as he made his strokes. He took her breath with his beauty, inside and out.
“I love you more than you will ever know,” he told her.
“I think I do know. Because, I love you that much too,” she said then took his handsome face between her palms and pulled him in for a kiss.
Their tongues danced as their bodies bid the others to move rhythmically to a song only they heard. Long, sensual movements had them sharing more with one another than they ever had before. Things were different.
They were now a real couple with a real commitment!
Chapter 4
The mural, done in soft pink pastels, oranges, and lilacs, had been done in her baby sister’s bedroom. Her father and stepmother were at the hospital, delivering the New Aulora.
Weston came into the nursery with a grin on his face.
“It’s beautiful, peach. Well done!”
Aulora stood back and looked at the wall she’d created for her sister. A unicorn, not an ordinary one, one with fairies embedded in its long, pearly mane, was the focal point. But there was so much more in that mural.
A couple of princesses hid behind tall trees with pale purple moss growing up their massive trunks. Aulora meant it to be the two of them, playing in a fairy forest. She knew they would never get to play together like real siblings, so she made up a fantasy childhood where they both could pretend they had known each other forever.
She couldn’t say she’d grown fond of her stepmother, Clara, who never wavered on her calling her mom. A thing she was finding humor in rather than aggravation. Clara was an odd woman. Though only a few years older than Aulora, she was ancient in many aspects.
Formal dinners were held every Sunday evening. Weston always attended them, with Aulora. Her family had accepted him and their living arrangement, though Clara often told Aulora she needed to get something more permanent with Weston. A ring should be on her finger, in Clara’s opinion.
Aulora was fine without one. She knew she and Wes
ton had something special. No ring was necessary to prove to her that he was the other half of her.
His arm ran around her as they left the room. “I suppose we could go to the hospital now,” Aulora said as they walked down the massive staircase. “I’d like to be there when New Aulora is born.”
“Then we shall go,” Weston said then kissed the side of her head. “I too would like to meet her. I have a confession to make about her name, though.”
“And that would be?”
“I intend on coming up with a cute nickname for her. New Aulora isn’t doing it for me.”
She laughed and nodded. “I was thinking about doing that too. We can come up with something together and make it stick.”
Weston and Aulora were good at things like that. Getting together to make things more tolerable for one another. Life is seldom fair, one needs a cohort to help smooth out the ridges of unfairness.
The two had settled into a comfortable existence together. Aulora was only six weeks from graduating, and Weston was preparing her a surprise party, even though she’d told him not to.
He’d found she never wanted attention focused on her and he was determined to get her to accept a little attention now and then. When he’d asked her what kind of a wedding she’d dreamt of, he was astonished when she told him, she’d never dreamt of one.
Aulora wasn’t exactly a person who gave everything she had to others and expected nothing in return. She was more of a person who did what was necessary for others and never thought about asking anyone to do anything for her.
Weston had stayed true to his word. He didn’t try to fix things for her. He let her make her own way and she was selling her art to others without his help. But he was having a hard time with not giving her anything.
The ride to the hospital was made in silence. He knew she was in an odd spot with it all. She’d been an only child forever. Now she’d have another person in the world who shared her genetics.
“You know, it has run through my head more than a few times that my father could do to my little sister what he did to me,” she confided in Weston.
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