Chapter Sixty-One
Dinner at Rossi’s Mansion that night was a serious affair. The dining area looked as if there was a huge sort of celebration. The entire Montgomery Mansion was in attendance. It looked as if it wasn't just dinner.
What is Alless planning? What's going on? Scarlet was so lost that she looked at her husband from the sides of her eyes.
Alless just continued walking, smiling and nodding at everyone who greeted them on the way.
“What's going on, Alless?” Scarlet asked in a whisper. “Why are there so many people here? I thought we were just having a simple dinner with only the family members''
“ Nothing. I mean nothing much. These are just a few of my acquaintances, Scarlet." Alless told her, unfazed. Scarlet looked up at her husband in disbelief.
“A few acquaintances? This here, my dear husband, looks like a society party."
Alless laughed. I wondered whether he had gone overboard.
Just then, Carla Rossi saw the couple and left her husband's side to go to them.
“Hi there, my beautiful children; you are finally here; everyone has been waiting for you." She greeted, relieving Alless of Elizabeth.
"What took you so long?” Carla asked them, touching her grandson's cheeks.
"Hello, mother, you look beautiful." Scarlet complimented her mother-in-law, who indeed looked beautiful in her floor-length dinner gown.
She looked too young for her age. Scarlet thought and remembered that they did not age like humans. With a smile, she hugged her and whispered, "Mom, what's happening? Your son won't tell me anything. Is this really a simple dinner, or is there something else going on?"
"Don't worry, my dear, everything is as it should be. Come, let me introduce you to some of my friends."
Carla whisked her daughter-in-law away, and Alless remained alone with his son in his arms.
"Have you seen that, James? Your mother just ditched us."
Alless spoke to his son with a forlorn expression, and James smiled, his mind linking to his father.
"Don't worry, papa, we are good. Let them go so we can go do our own thing."
Alless was so shocked at the voice of his son in his head that he nearly dropped him.
"Careful there, Papa, so you don't drop me." James laughed at his father's shocked expression.
"James, you can do that? How old are you, for heaven's sake? I am scared."
James laughed out loud and delightedly.
"Why are you surprised, Papa?" He asked his father, puzzled.
"But you can't talk clearly, son, so how can you do that? And can your sister do that too? Alless asked, still in disbelief.
"No, not yet, Papa; it's our secret. Don't tell Mama," James said.
"And why should I not?" Alless asked his son, wondering if he was hearing things.
"Papa, let's keep the secret for now. I will let her know in due course. For now, only you and I. Promise ?" James demanded in a high-pitched, childish voice.
"I promise, but so you know, I don't keep any secrets from my wife." Alless reluctantly accepted. Is my son a freak?
"Yeah, I know, love, love, love." James concluded in a singsong voice, and Allessed looked at his son and laughed out loud.
Antonio's attention was drawn to Alless and his grandson, who were just looking at each other intently.
So what was so funny that made Alless laugh that way? He would never have guessed the conversation that just took place between these two.
"Hello there, son, what's so funny?" Antonio asked his son and made him tweak James' nose, which made the little man frown.
"Father, you would never guess what just happened." Alless told his father.
James chose that moment to look pointedly at his father, reminding them of their secret.
Alless just shut his mouth and told his father it was nothing, and they should just go ahead to the main event of the day.
"You are quite the little tyrant, son, aren't you?"
"Yes, I am." James responded, looked at his father, and laughed.
Alless became shocked and scared again. No one in the two clans had been able to read his thoughts except his son, a one and a half-year-old boy who had not started talking properly.
What was this? I can't remember ever doing that when I was younger. Forget reading minds; did I even know who I was? Alless wondered. Was it because I went through a rebirth?
"Okay, I get the point, but no mischief. This night is for your mother, please. I want to give her a pleasant surprise. You will help me with your sister, won't you?"
"Okay, Papa, relax. I am a good boy, and I love you and Mama and will never trouble you." James promised in a serious tone.
"Thanks, son, I love you." Alless hugged his son tightly to him, almost weeping with joy.
"That's enough, Papa; I get you. Let's get the show on the way."
Alless laughed again and moved to where Scarlet and the rest were waiting.
“My love, what have you been doing just standing there? I have met everyone.”
Is that so? Where is Nana?
"Here, your Majesty, Nana appeared and collected James from his father.
Alless looked at his son and told him, Remember, be good.
"You don't have to worry, Papa; I will." With that, James obediently followed.
Nana, acting like a usual one-and-a-half-year-old baby, no one could ever guess.
Edwardo had spotted Alless long before he saw him, and just as planned, all the lights went off and only a soft glow remained.
Soft lights came on, giving the room a romantic ambience.
Soft music filled the room, and the spotlight suddenly was on Alless and Scarlet, with everyone surrounding them.
A romantic tune played in the background, and suddenly there was a hush in the room. All eyes are on the couple in the spotlight.
"Alless, what is this?" Scarlet asked in a hush, suddenly feeling uncomfortable with the attention on her.
Alless looked at this woman who had given him so much love, so much happiness, and the greatest of them, the perfect gifts, Elizabeth and James. His heart was so full. Finally, he was content with life.
“Dr. Scarlet Elizabeth Montgomery Rossi, you have filled my life with happiness, a kind of happiness I never dreamt of in this lifetime.”
“Our marriage was arranged before we were even born, and we got married under very unusual circumstances. I did not have time to show you my world; the choice of the kind of wedding we wanted was decided for us.”
“What I had in mind was to take you to a romantic dinner and propose to you in a way all girls love according to social media: balloons, friends, family gifts, etc.”
"But today, in front of all our family and friends, I am asking you from the deepest part of my heart: Will you marry me again? This time, not in secret, but publicly and in front of the whole world."
After the lengthy speech, Alless got down on one knee and brought out a huge diamond ring, holding it up to Scarlet.
Scarlet had been weeping since Alless said the second sentence. She was so emotional that she could not say a word.
Nodding her head, she held out her hand, and Alless put the ring on her finger and said “Yes!“
Going on her knees, she hugged Alless tightly, and the whole room erupted into applause. And the guests were commenting—these two were really made for each other, indeed. The fathers of the couple looked at them with pride and felt very fulfilled.
Carla, Sabrina, and Nana were weeping openly while the twins, who were now sitting on their high chairs, were shouting, “Papa, Mama,” and clapping their chubby hands.
The sight of Alless and Scarlet in each other’s embrace, moved everyone to tears. They had never seen such love as this.
They blindly accepted their engagement, got married to each other, and then fell irrevocably in love. What a love story that came to filial children!
Alless, who could read most of the minds of those thinking such, smiled and turned to look at his son, James.
“So how was my performance, buddy?”
“You did great, Papa. So let’s get the wedding plans rolling; at least I got to be present this time around,” James said with a laugh.
"Yes, you do, son. That, you definitely do." Alles replied with a laugh.
Alless turned his attention back to his wife, who was still kneeling with him.
Extending his hand, he asked, “Care to dance with me, Princess Helena?”
“Yes, Prince Alexander, very much.”
As Scarlet and Alless took the dance floor, the guests continued the merriment, and Alless, looking at everyone while dancing with his wife in his arms, could not help thinking: What would they all do if they knew that this love story did not begin today but a century ago?