Chapter 155

Chapter 155
Elena's POV

I leaned back from the mannequin and narrowed my eyes.

"No..."

I tugged gently at the waistline of the evening gown.

"Still not right."

With a sigh, I pulled the last pin free and stepped back again. The dress had been fighting me all morning. There was nothing wrong with it but  I was chasing perfection.

My phone, balanced between my shoulder and ear, crackled softly.

"What if we try the pearl beading instead?" Grace suggested.

I looked at the sketch lying open on my worktable. "No." A smile tugged at my lips. "The lace is telling the story, the beads would only interrupt it."

Grace laughed. "I've stopped asking how you come up with these things."

"I don't know if I come up with them, I think they just arrive."

She chuckled. "I'll let the girls know."

"And Grace?"

"Yes?"

"Tell Esther the sleeves were beautiful. I only changed them because this client wanted something different."

"I will."

We ended the call, and I placed my phone on the table.

The studio fell into a comfortable silence. Sunlight poured through the large windows, warming the wooden floor.

This room had become my second home.

Outside, I could hear Bella talking to herself. "...and Teddy sit here."

"No, Bunny."

"You sit there."

I smiled to myself. Apparently, today's tea party had very strict seating arrangements.

Mrs. Peters called from the kitchen. "Lunch will be ready in fifteen minutes!"

"Thank you!"

I picked up another spool of thread and returned my attention to the gown.

Just one more adjustment...

The sound of the front door unlocking drifted faintly through the house. I didn't look up.

"Adam?"

No answer. I kept pinning the fabric. "Can you check Bella's juice for me? I think she spilled it again."

Still nothing. I frowned, that wasn't like Adam. He usually answered before I'd even finished asking.

I straightened slowly. "Adam?"

Silence.

A strange feeling settled in my chest. But, it wasn’t fear. There was just something. 

I walked out of the studio and into the hallway. The front door stood open, a small cardboard box rested on the floor just inside.

And beside it… A man stood quietly in the entrance.

For one impossible second, my mind refused to understand what my eyes were seeing.

He looked thinner. His hair was shorter than the last time I'd seen him and there were new lines around his eyes. The kind carved by reflection instead of anger.

He wore a charcoal shirt with the sleeves rolled to his forearms. His hands hung awkwardly by his sides, as though he suddenly didn't know what to do with them.

Neither did I.

The world seemed to narrow until there was only the space between us.

"Dante..." His name barely escaped my lips.

He looked at me the same way I imagined a man stranded at sea might look at the shoreline. As though he wasn't entirely sure it was real.

"Hi..." His voice was quieter than I remembered. "I..." He stopped, then swallowed. 

Swallowed.

"I'm home."

The words shattered something inside me. For two years I had imagined this moment.

Sometimes he came home smiling, sometimes, crying. Sometimes I was angry and at other times, I couldn't stop laughing.

Never for once had I imagined standing completely frozen.

I took one hesitant step, then another. Every instinct told me to run, but every fear told me not to.

What if this was another dream? I'd had so many.

Dreams where he came home, dreams  where I reached him only to wake up before I could touch him.

I stopped an arm's length away. Very slowly, I lifted my hand. It trembled so badly I almost pulled it back.

My fingertips brushed his cheek and my breath caught.

"You..." A tear slipped free before I could stop it. "You're really here."

His eyes glistened. "I am." The smallest smile touched his lips. "You kept coming to see me."

"I did."

"Every week."

"I know."

"I wasn't always very welcoming."

A watery laugh escaped me. "No. You weren't."

"I'm sorry."

I shook my head. "Not now."

Not today. There would be time for apologies, explanations and everything we'd lost. But not now.

I looked at him for another long moment, trying desperately to memorize the face I'd missed for two years.

Then, without another word, I threw my arms around him.

For a heartbeat he stood completely still, almost as though he couldn't believe I was actually holding him. Then his arms slowly wrapped around me, tenderly, as though he was afraid I might disappear if he held me too tightly.

I buried my face against his shoulder. The familiar scent of him, different now yet unmistakably Dante, undid the last of my composure.

A quiet sob escaped my lips. His hand rested gently against the back of my head.

"I'm here," he whispered. "I'm finally home."

Behind us, I heard the faint sound of footsteps retreating toward the porch.

Adam.

He had quietly stepped back outside, closing the front door behind him, giving us the moment we'd waited two long years to have.

Neither of us knew who let go first. We simply drifted apart enough to look at one another again.

I reached up without thinking and brushed a loose strand of hair away from his forehead.

"You've lost weight."

A small smile tugged at his lips. "So have you."

"I've been too busy to remember lunch most days."

"I know."

The answer made me blink. "You know?"

"Adam told me. He told me about the business and how hard you've worked."

His eyes searched mine with quiet admiration. "I'm proud of you, Elena."

Emotion tightened my throat. "I didn't build it alone."

"No. You built it with every reason to give up."

Before I could answer, a tiny voice echoed down the hallway. "Mama?"

We both turned.

Bella wandered out of the living room clutching Teddy beneath one arm. Her curls were slightly messy, and there was a purple crayon tucked behind one ear.

She stopped halfway down the hallway. Her little eyes settled on Dante.

She frowned. I could almost see the wheels turning inside her head.

She had seen him in photographs, she had kissed his picture before bed but she had never seen him standing here.

She looked at me then back at him. Dante slowly lowered himself onto one knee. His hands rested loosely on his thighs, he didn't try to reach for her, he just smiled.

"Hi, Bella."

She blinked then took a long pause before she looked at me again. 

"Mama..."

I knelt beside her. "It's okay, sweetheart."

She pointed at Dante. "That's Daddy?"

A tear escaped before I could stop it. "Yes."

"That's Daddy."

Bella's gaze returned to him. Then slowly, she took small steps after another. 

Dante didn't move, his eyes had already filled with tears.

Bella stopped right in front of him. "You came home?"

His smile trembled. "I did."

"You not in the big building anymore?"

A quiet laugh escaped him. "No."

"I'm not."

She studied him for another heartbeat before breaking into the brightest smile I'd ever seen.

"My Daddy!" She launched herself into his arms.

Dante caught her instinctively. The moment she wrapped her little arms around his neck, his composure completely shattered.

He held her against his chest, closing his eyes as tears rolled freely down his face.

Bella pulled back just enough to look at him. "Daddy..."

Her tiny fingers brushed one of the tears from his cheek. "You crying?"

He laughed through it. "Just a little."

She tilted her head. "Why?"

"Because I've missed you."

"I miss you too."

She kissed his cheek with all the seriousness a two-year-old could manage.

"There."

"No more crying."

He laughed again. "I'll try."

She rested her forehead against his. "Uncle Adam say brave people cry."

I looked toward the front door, unable to stop the smile spreading across my face. That sounded exactly like Adam.

"He's a smart man," Dante said softly.

Bella nodded as though there could be no argument.

"I know."

The afternoon slipped by almost unnoticed. Bella refused to leave Dante's lap, she insisted on showing him everything.

"My Teddy."

"My Bunny."

"My horse from Grandpa."

"My princess crown."

She proudly dragged him from one end of the living room to the other, narrating every tiny detail of the past two years as though none of it could wait another minute.

"And this..." She held up a drawing covered in colourful circles. "I make you."

Dante stared at it as though it belonged in a museum. "It's beautiful."

"I have big hair."

She giggled. "You funny."

Mrs. Peters quietly wiped at her eyes before disappearing into the kitchen to give herself a moment.

I watched from the sofa, saying very little. I didn't want to interrupt, I simply wanted to remember.

This.

The sound of Bella laughing.

The softness in Dante's eyes.

The peace that had settled over the house.

At one point Bella climbed higher into his lap and wrapped both arms around his neck.

"Daddy?"

"Yes, Princess?"

She looked at him with complete trust. "You don't go away again."

The room fell silent. Dante kissed the top of her head and held her a little closer.

His eyes found mine across the room.

"I won't."

Bella smiled, satisfied with the answer. Within minutes, she had fallen asleep against his chest.

Neither of us moved. We simply sat there, watching the little girl who had waited so patiently for this moment.

After a long while, I reached across the space between us and our fingers found each other naturally.

Dante looked down at our joined hands before gently tightening his grip.

For the first time in two years, home finally felt whole again.

Maybe one day, Bella would understand the situation surrounding her birth but for now, home feels whole again and that's all that matters.