Chapter 15 #3
“Orson is just a great friend.”
“Better that way. How many days off do you have?” I asked, because if she was planning to continue her leave, I was going to take advantage of it to spend quite a bit of time with her.
“Two weeks.”
“Then we’re going to make the most of those free days.”
“Do you have any idea when Alba is coming back?”
“She hasn’t told me yet. I’ll ask her as soon as I can. Now let’s sleep, my sweet doctor,” I suggested.
“Good night, William.”
“Good night, ‘Sweet.’”
I pulled her toward me and wrapped my arm around her.
I felt my chest swelling with emotion. I had never slept with anyone, and having her there was incredible.
Exhaustion overcame me because between the trip, the few hours of sleep, and the amazing sex I had experienced with Devon, I was also exhausted, but I fell asleep with a smile I couldn’t erase.
I woke up relaxed and rested as I hadn’t felt in a long time; I had slept wonderfully.
I looked over to Devon’s side and the bed was empty.
I would have liked to wake her up and make love to her, but given the hour and with Aurora sleeping in her apartment, it was better to leave it for another time.
I went to the bathroom and, when I came out, I thought I heard their voices.
I headed toward the bedroom where Aurora was, and the scene once again made me feel an indescribable emotion.
I stood at the door listening to the conversation they were having.
Devon was extremely sweet with my daughter, and it was clear that Aurora adored her.
“And did that little friend keep you company?” Devon asked, while showing her the stuffed animal I had seen my daughter sleeping with.
“Yeth,” she answered, and emphasized it by nodding her head affirmatively.
“That’s good, then we’ll let him continue to keep you company whenever you come to visit me. Now let’s have breakfast,” she suggested.
“Yeth!” my daughter said again, and stood up on the bed and threw herself at Devon, giving her a tight hug.
Once again I was astonished by that scene. I had never seen my daughter show such affection and with such enthusiasm. I don’t think she was even that demonstrative with me, but far from bothering me, it pleasantly surprised me.
“This princess nightgown looks beautiful on you.”
At that moment I decided to make my presence known.
“And isn’t there a hug and kiss for me?”
Aurora raised her face, looked at me, and smiled.
Devon immediately put her down on the floor so she could come to me.
I crouched down and stretched out my arms to receive her because I knew she was going to come to me with all that joy and energy that she always greeted me with.
As expected, she ran and we embraced in a strong hug.
“Daddyyy!”
“Hello, my love. How have you been?” I asked, and with her in my arms I stood up.
“Good. This is my bed,” she said, pointing to the bed where she had slept.
“It’s beautiful. Now you have two beds, one at home and another here for when you come to visit Devon.”
“Yes.”
“I see you have everything princess-themed, including this beautiful nightgown,” I remarked, looking at her with all the love I felt for her.
My daughter wanted to show me her toys, and we spent a good while looking at dolls, stuffed animals, and everything Devon had bought her, which was a lot.
When I looked over to where Devon had been, I realized she had left.
I assumed she wanted to give me this time alone with my daughter, and I appreciated it.
She always managed to surprise me with her generosity. She was an incredible woman.
When I realized that several minutes had passed and that Devon had said breakfast was ready, I took Aurora by the hand and we went to the kitchen.
As soon as she saw us arrive, she looked at us with a smile.
“I have Aurora’s breakfast ready. Would you also like breakfast, Mr. Cavaller?” she asked, and I didn’t like hearing her call me that. I knew she had done it because of Aurora, but I wasn’t going to allow that distance between us.
I sat Aurora in front of her breakfast, approached Devon, and looked at her seriously.
“There’s no need for us to speak so formally, I don’t like it. Call me William, please,” I asked, and I took advantage of our proximity to take her hand and caress it because I wanted her to be my sweet Devon again, then added, “I’ll stay for breakfast with you both. How can I help?”
“I have everything ready, sit next to Aurora,” she replied with a beautiful smile.
“I assume you’re having breakfast with us,” I said, looking at her seriously.
“Yes, of course.”
We sat down and breakfast was incredible.
My daughter was more talkative than usual and couldn’t stop telling me everything she had done in those days.
At one point, it was as if I was watching the scene from the outside, and what I saw amazed me.
It was the family I had always wanted to have, a family where laughter, harmony, respect, and above all, love reigned.
I didn’t know what I felt for Devon, but now I was sure it was something strong.
I wasn’t going to lose this woman; I wanted her in my life and in my daughter’s.
I noticed that she didn’t participate much in the conversation, so every now and then, I would caress her legs under the table and look at her intensely, causing her to become flustered and unable to hide it.
After breakfast came the difficult task of leaving, because I knew getting Aurora out of there wouldn’t be easy; my daughter was clearly very comfortable, especially with Devon.
As I had anticipated, Aurora hugged her and didn’t want to let go. It didn’t surprise me; I was sure that anyone who met Devon wouldn’t want to let her go either.
“Aurora, we need to go home, but Devon will come visit you or you can come back whenever you want. Right, Devon?”
“Of course,” she responded without hesitation and with that wonderful smile.
“Nooo, I want to stay with Divon.”
“Princess, you need to go home with your daddy. He missed you very much and wants to play with you,” she said with that sweetness she always used when speaking to her, which had the effect that you couldn’t deny her anything, though my daughter was another story.
“And we can go to the park or the beach,” I added, knowing that she loved those activities and it was a good plan to convince her.
“But I want to go with Divon,” she said, with no intention of changing her mind.
It’s not that I didn’t like the idea, but I was well aware that Aurora could be somewhat exhausting, and I didn’t want to take advantage of her generosity.
“Aurora, your dad wants to be with you because he missed you very much. He had to be away from you for work, and now he wants to be with you. In fact, he came early today to pick you up because he couldn’t be without you anymore.
Besides, now I have to go to work, but I promise we’ll see each other another day, and we can talk on the phone as many times as you want,” she said, but not even that convinced the little tantrum-thrower to change her mind.
In fact, to reinforce her decision, she burst into tears.
“My love, Devon has to go to work. I promise I’ll bring you another day and you can spend time with her.”
“Nooo, I want to stay here,” she stated, making clear what I already thought.
“Let’s do something,” I said, and Aurora looked at me with hope reflected in her little eyes, though she didn’t let go of Devon, “now we’ll go home because Devon has things to do, but later we’ll come visit her and the three of us will go out for dinner.”
I noticed that Devon looked at me surprised by my proposal, because it was clear that with this I was changing everything we had previously discussed, but now things were different and I wanted her to know it. Devon didn’t make any comment.
“Can we go home now?” I asked, stretching out my arms for her to come to me.
“Go with daddy. Do you need help with the bag?” she asked as she handed my daughter to me.
“No, thank you. And thank you sincerely for everything you did for my daughter... and for me,” I expressed my gratitude, because this incredible woman had only brought joy to our lives. “If you hadn't helped me, I would have had to miss some meetings that were very important for the company.”
“It was a genuine pleasure to share these days with Aurora.”
“Will we see each other later?” I asked, to assure her that my intentions were sincere and that I planned to pick her up so the three of us could go out.
“Let’s talk later. What do you think?” she responded, with such hesitation that I was left doubting whether she would accept.
She accompanied us to the elevator, and I kept looking at her until the door closed. At that moment, my daughter started asking for her again.
“Divon, Divon.”
“Don’t worry, my love, Devon is going to be part of our lives.”
And with that promise I made to my daughter and myself, I left her building convinced that I had to do everything in my power not to lose her.
As I had promised Aurora, that day we went to the beach for a while and then for ice cream.
I had sent Devon a message inviting her to dinner at our house because after all the activities, Aurora was very tired, but I still hadn’t received a response.
When we got home, I asked Delia to take care of Aurora’s bath.
Delia was the woman in charge of the kitchen but also of organizing my house and the employees, except for Alba who reported directly to me.
Before taking a shower, I decided to call Devon because she had read my message but still hadn’t responded, and I was an anxious person, especially when it came to her.
“Hello,” she answered, after it rang a couple of times.
“You didn’t respond to my invitation,” I said, sitting on the edge of my bed.