Chapter 30: Chapter 30

EPILOGUE

“Mommy, mommy, mommy!”

Natalia smiled down at the raven haired, blue eyed girl that burst through the crowd in baggage claim to come barreling toward her.

Despite her expanding waist, she managed to stoop down and scoop her four year old daughter into her arms.

“Hi, sweetheart. Have you been a good girl for grandma and grandpa?”

Bria shook her head, and Natalia frowned as she let out an inward sigh, wondering what her precocious daughter had done this time to poor Barbara and Ted. “I haven’t been to grandma and grandpa’s yet. Daddy said I could come with him to pick you up before the renooonin.”

Natalia laughed as she placed a kiss against Bria’s forehead, her heart swelling with love for the daughter she’d conceived almost five years ago to the day. She hugged Bria tighter in her arms as she glanced

over her head, her searching gaze skimming over the crowd that bustled along inside Bayside’s tiny airport.

Her lips curled into a wide smile when she spotted him just a few feet away strolling toward her.

Good Lord, even after five years of marriage he still takes my breath away.

“Hello, gorgeous,” Brad murmured as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her with such a heated urgency that she feared she would catch fire right where she stood.

They would have stayed locked in each other’s arms had Bria not begun to squirm.

“Daddy, I can’t bweathe.”

He reluctantly tore his lips from hers, although his eyes promised he would finish what he’d started later, before he turned his gaze to his daughter and plucked her from Natalia’s arms.

“I’m sorry pumpkin. I was just really happy to see mommy,” he said as he grinned at his daughter before he once again turned his attention back to her, his probing eyes searching her face.

“How are you feeling?”

She knew what he was asking and she smiled at the concern in his voice. “A little tired, but I’m fine and the baby has been quiet all night.”

He wrinkled his brow as he shook his head. “I knew I should have put up more of a fight about you going to Rome—”

She placed a single finger against his lips, before he could launch into a tirade. “It was only for a week and this is my last trip so stop worrying, alright?”

He still wore a deep scowl, but she was grateful that he didn’t protest further and simply nodded his head.

Even though she’d cut back significantly on touring, she knew he still worried that she traveled too much with her now being four months

pregnant, but she’d tried to reassure him that she would never do anything that was beyond her limits or hurtful to their child.

She reached out a hand to stroke her palm against his cheek until his frown lines disappeared. “Are you ready to go?”

A knowing look twinkled in his eyes and he smiled. “Desperately.

The sooner we can get to the reunion, the sooner we can leave, which means the sooner I can have you all to myself,” he whispered close to her ear, causing a tiny shiver to slide down her spine at the thought of what awaited her later that night.

She returned his smile, clasping his free hand with hers. “Then let’s go,” she said as she walked with him and their daughter toward the parking lot. She couldn’t wait either.

*

Natalia straightened her dress from inside the stall for what felt like the hundredth time. She’d had to pee more times than she could count with the growing baby pressing down on her bladder.

Satisfied that her appearance was once again in order, she reached for the handle all set to twist the lock to the door and step out of her stall, but stopped when she heard her name. An icy chill of fury settled over her when she recognized the voices that came from the other side of the door.

“I cannot believe he married that tramp. And now he’s knocked her up again. Good God, men can be so dumb sometimes.”

“How is Brad dumb? It’s obvious that he loves her—”

“Oh, give me a break, Rebecca. Really, I don’t know what he could possibly see in her. He’s probably after her money or something.”

“Jessica, that’s ridiculous. Brad is wealthy in his own right. Besides, Natalia is a beautiful woman inside and out. Can’t you see that she makes him happy? Even back in school she changed him for the better after he started hanging out with her—”

Jessica snorted and she opened her mouth to say more, but Natalia had heard enough as she barreled out of the stall, pinning the spiteful woman with a hard glare.

Jessica’s eyes widened and she stared at her in shock as she backed away from Natalia until she bumped up against the sink.

She struggled to hide her smile as she stepped around the trembling woman to wash her hands. She took her time, letting the charged silence stretch between them for several tense moments. She finally turned her attention to Jessica as she was drying her hands with a paper towel.

She slid her disdainful gaze up and down the length of the woman, before she spoke.

“Jessica, as you can see I’m pregnant so I’m not going to risk the health of my baby by getting upset with you because you’re just not worth my anger. But I will say this,” she said in a chilly voice as she stepped closer to the woman to stand within inches of her. “You can either keep my name from your lips or hope the next time you’re insulting

me and my family that I’m pregnant again, because if I’m not then I swear

to God you’re going to see the old Natalia, and I can promise you that that Natalia will take great pleasure in kicking your ass just as much as she did back in high school.”

She stepped away from Jessica to toss her paper towel in the waste basket, before leaning over the sink to check her lipstick in the mirror. “Are we clear, Jessica?” She said icily, not even bothering to spare the woman another glance.

A small grin lifted the corners of her lips when the door banged shut behind the sniveling coward she knew Jessica to be, with Rebecca at her heels, mouthing a silent apology. She spent a few more seconds touching up her make up before she too left the bathroom. But as soon as she stepped outside she drew up short when she nearly collided with Brad.

“Are you alright?”

She smiled up into Brad’s worried face. “Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I just ran into Rebecca and she told me you had a confrontation with Jessica—”

“And as you can see I’m just fine.” She smiled sweetly at the skeptical look on his face, and then gently patted his cheek, before she locked his hand with hers.

“And Jessica. Is she alright?” He said slowly.

She chuckled at the look on his face. “I’m pregnant, sweetheart.

What could I possibly do to her?”

He narrowed his eyes as he studied her closely. “Natalia, what did you do?”

“Why would you think I did anything? We’re not in high school anymore.” She grinned, her eyes dancing with mischief.

He pulled her closer as he shook his head. “Yeah, but in high school we had a principal, rules and detention. There’s nothing stopping you now,” he muttered.

“You’re right, but lucky for her I’m pregnant.”

“Natalia!”

She shrugged as a wicked grin curled her lips. “Hey. That’s what reunions are for—rehashing old grudges, reconnecting with old friends— ” She lifted up on her tiptoes then to brush her lips against his before she said softly, for his ears only, “—and rekindling an old love that never died.”

THE END