Chapter 55

Nadia went home with Eliza that evening deciding that they should have an impromptu birthday dinner for her. 

But when they got back to the house and Eliza got a phone call from Romano telling her that he had to work late, Nadia grimly bullied Eliza into a pretty dress, called Ryan, and said that they were taking her and Lisa out to what she called a "fancy" restaurant.

Eliza was in no real mood to celebrate, and when they got to the restaurant, she dragged her feet to the entrance, where Ryan stood waiting. 

He looked quite dashing in a tuxedo and was well matched with Nadia, who was wearing one of the pretty corsets and a dress she had bought on their shopping expedition that afternoon.

"Look, guys, this is too much fuss," Eliza protested. "Why don't we just head back to my house and have a nice dinner or something?"

"Too late now, sunshine, we're here, so you're going to have to deal with it." Ryan grinned before wrapping a hand around Eliza’s shoulder and hugging her and then reaching over to take Lisa’s carrier from her.

"Happy birthday, Lizzy, you look stunning."

The knee-length silk slip dress was a little too low and made her a little uncomfortable in it, but Nadia had chosen it, saying that the ice green color did wonderful things for her hair and eyes.

"I mean, did you guys even think to make reservations?"

"Lizzzyyy, with your dad and husband being who they are, do you really think getting into any restaurant you want is ever going to be a problem?" Nadia scoffed, and Eliza wrinkled her nose, conceding the point.

 Nadia flounced through the door, and Ryan stood aside to let Eliza in.

The maître d' smiled and led them through without question. Surprised, Eliza followed him with a little frown on her face. 

She led them through double glass doors. The place was packed with people, and for some reason no one was sitting down.

Eliza squirmed uncomfortably when everyone turned to stare at her, not quite sure what on earth was going on.

"Surprise!" 

She nearly jumped out of her skin at the collective shout, and then finally noticed that she recognized most of the faces in the room. 

Ryan, who had stood outside of the room until after the surprise, in case it scared Lisa, moved to stand beside her.

"What's going on?" Eliza whispered in panicked confusion.

"It's a surprise birthday party, you ditz," Ryan teased, patting her head affectionately before heading off to find his wife in the throng. 

People were milling around Eliza, kissing her cheeks and shaking her hand.

Eliza recognized Logan and all of Romano’s Friday night buddies along with their significant others.

Ryan’s brother, Drew, came up and gave her an unceremonious pat on her head and a gruff "happy birthday" before disappearing back into the woodwork. 

The man hated crowds. Eliza could imagine this scene wasn't really to his taste, but he was here and Eliza was so utterly confused by that. 

Why was he here, why were any of them here? How did Nadia even know to invite Logan and that lot?

"Happy birthday, my love." A familiar pair of strong arms wrapped around Eliza’s waist, and she was tugged back against a broad chest. 

Romano dropped a kiss on her neck. 

Eliza turned in her husband's arms and stared up at him in bemusement.

"You did this?" Eliza asked in disbelief. "But I thought you didn't—"

   "Cara," Romano interrupted with infinite patience. "You are important to me, and I wasn't about to repeat my past mistakes. I love you and I wanted to show you how much."

"How long have you been planning this?" She asked.

"God, since before my father died. The plans were put on hold until after I returned, and then with Lisa’s birth they stalled a bit, but I wanted to do something special to make up for all the times your birthday was neglected or forgotten over the years." 

Eliza knew Romano meant by her father as well as himself and Eliza was helplessly touched by the gesture.

"Thank you." She smiled and stood up on her toes to kiss her husband. Romano cupped her face and kissed her hungrily.

"You look so beautiful," Romano said breathlessly.

"You don't look too bad yourself," Eliza said, stepping back to take in his tailor-made tuxedo.

"Hey, break it up you two." A brash male voice intruded into their intimate little cocoon, and they both turned to see Logan’s smiling face.

"Romano, it's like every time I see you with this gorgeous being, you have your hands all over her." He stepped forward to envelope Eliza in a warm hug.

"Happy birthday, gorgeous. We've missed you." Considering how they'd met her only once, months ago, she initially doubted the veracity of that statement, but the sincerity in his face led Eliza to believe that he actually meant his words.

"Thank you." Eliza smiled. "I'm sorry I never came to any of your other football nights."

"You had a difficult pregnancy, perfectly understandable," he dismissed with a careless flick of the hand.

 "And congratulations on your beautiful daughter, by the way. Romano has been flashing pictures of her to us for weeks. It'll be nice to see her in the flesh. Where is the little darling?"

"My cousin's husband has her." Eliza glanced around for Ryan and saw him showing Lisa off to his business partner, Vuyo, and his brother, Drew. 

The little group was soon joined by Drew’s business partner, Pierre de Coursey, and Pierre's wife, Alice. They were all fussing over the sleeping baby.

De Coursey and Drew Sullivan had recently offered her a year's internship at their prestigious company DDS Jewellers, after Eliza finished her jewelry design workshop. 

Romano had sent a copy of her portfolio to the men and they'd been impressed with her "raw talent."

It was yet another example of Romano’s commitment to making Eliza as happy as he could. 

Romano knew how much her designing meant to her and had believed in her enough to approach the jewelers on her behalf.

At first she hadn't been comfortable with the blatant nepotism, but both Pierre and Drew had convinced her that they genuinely saw value in her work.

"Looks like she's not wanting for attention, so I'll take her beautiful mother out for a spin on the dance floor in the meantime," Logan said, and whisked a laughing Eliza away from Romano before the other man could protest, twirling her around to some upbeat music.