Authors: Rebecca Rohman

Uncorked (57 page)

A prison guard was also sent to
prison for assisting Aaron with the escape that allowed him to get to Chella
and Mitch’s house.

Charlotte and George were parents
to a new baby boy. Emily was so excited to have a new baby brother to whom she
could teach new things. Chella maintained a great relationship with Charlotte,
and they always made time for a special lunch together when Chella visited
Santa Monica.

Emily was becoming the ultimate
well-rounded young lady. What she excelled at the most was her role of older
sister to both her mother’s new son, Eric, and her father’s newborn daughter, Michella.
When Mitch and Chella found out they were pregnant and finally told her, she
jumped for joy. In the months leading up to the birth, she came over frequently
to help her dad and Chella prepare the room across from hers for the arrival of
her little sister.

Since the delivery of Michella,
Emily had been helpful all round. She asked Chella to teach her how to make
Michella’s bottles, how to feed her, and Mitch even showed her how to use the
baby bottle sterilizer. She read her little sister bedtime stories and sang
lullabies that put her to sleep. Overall, she had top marks in her big sister
duties.

Mitch continued to be the perfect
dad, brother, son and husband. In a way, fatherhood was new for him, too,
considering he and Charlotte divorced soon after Emily was born. Waking up to a
crying baby at three in the morning was quite an experience. Thankfully, the
sleeplessness lasted only a few weeks after returning home from the hospital.
Michella quickly adapted to her surroundings and slept straight through the
night.

Mitch had been so supportive and
really happy for his mom when she finally told him she had serious feelings for
Ethan–Jason’s father. They had met at Chella and Mitch’s wedding. When Ethan
asked for Mitch’s blessing to marry Liz three months earlier, Mitch was beyond
ecstatic. He had seen how happy his mom was since the day they met and as their
relationship progressed. It was nice for him to see his mom in a loving, happy,
healthy relationship. Liz and Ethan were wed in a small ceremony at Pigeon
Island by the water that summer.

Chella was happy. Now that Liz
had her own life, she was less involved in theirs. After she had apologized to
Chella and promised to make things right, Liz really had made a huge effort and
their relationship had improved.

Simone, Olivia, and Mitch had
developed a special bond. They were now regulars at all family events, and for
those times when he wanted Chella all to himself, Simone and Olivia were the
best baby sitters they could ever ask for. Unfortunately, they were not able to
get the time off to join them on this summer trip, but there was some talk
about a Christmas vacation.

Mitch continued to fall deeply in
love with his wife. After the horrific incident with Aaron and Chella’s
subsequent recovery, Mitch and Chella grew closer as friends, lovers and
partners. When she gave birth to their daughter and her blood pressure began to
rise, the fear of losing his wife resurfaced. Thankfully, Dr. Suarez was able
to quickly stabilize her. He had a healthy baby, a healthy wife, and a happy
life.

In the three years since she had
met Mitch, the quality of Chella’s life had changed in ways she could only
dream.

At Sheyenne International, her
department outperformed all others. From time to time, Craig asked for her
input and ideas with issues he had in other divisions of the company.

During her surgery recovery and
while on maternity leave, Chella managed to keep on top of her staff, ensuring
there were no adverse effects during her absence. Since the birth of Michella,
she worked a couple days a week from home, and she had still managed to
increase her monthly sales.

Her husband had made things easy
for her, too. One weekend after they returned from a trip to Santa Monica, he
surprised her by having the bedroom opposite his study converted into an office
for her. It was professionally decorated all in white, the way she loved it. Of
course, it was convenient for him, too, to have her across the hall from his
study. That office had become the location for a few hot-and-heavy work
sessions between them.

Since Aaron’s death, Chella
realized how much of her life she had lived in fear. She made a daily,
conscious effort to do something that took her out of her comfort zone and
erased habits and behaviors instilled in her because of that man.

Being a mom was everything she
had hoped it would be and more. It had been a time for many firsts in her life.
The look and smile Michella had on her face when she saw her mom first thing in
the morning was priceless. The first time they introduced her to the swimming
pool, she loved it—screaming, and laughing and splashing. The first time she
tasted cold ice cream, or the time when Chella came home and found Michella
fast asleep on her daddy’s chest while he slept—they were all an amazing bunch
of firsts, and she and Mitch had made every effort to document them with photos
and videos.

After all the new changes and
additions to their lives, they had managed to enhance their lives and not
complicate them. With every day that went by, Chella realized how lucky she was
to have met her husband. She thanked God every day that Vicky and Jason had set
them up three years ago.

Together, they had decided one
baby was enough, and they were thankful for her. Chella’s body had a difficult
time coping with the pregnancy. They had had enough life-threatening moments in
their lives together. They would be happy if they did not experience that
anymore.

Sometimes Mitch would whisk her
away to some sexy resort a half an hour away. Other times, the journey would be
somewhere much further in California, but they never crossed the state line.
Until Michella was older and she was able to talk, they would put on hold their
exotic weekends to places like Monte Carlo or Tahiti.

So they’d come to the end of
their St. Lucia vacation. On that last night with their family and friends,
they had a big dinner party out by the pool at their Mount Du Cap villa. There
was music, laughter and most of all, joy. After all their guests had either
returned to their homes or gone to bed, Mitch and Chella snuck out quietly.

Mitch uncorked a bottle of
champagne and poured them each a glass. In the midnight blue waters, he circled
her in his arms, her body entwined with his. He looked into her eyes and kissed
her, a long, enduring and passionate kiss.

He gazed deep into her brown eyes
and smiled. “So, Mrs. Mariani, was this what you envisioned when you got this
house?”

“It’s exactly what I envisioned.
We’re happy, we’re still crazy in love, we have our very own baby, Michella,
Emily is here with us, and we’re on vacation on the beautiful island where I
was born with our family and friends. Like this bottle of champagne, our life
is overflowing.”

“That’s because you’ve been
uncorked.”

She giggled at his words then
replied, “I don’t think I could ask for more, except that I wish this could
last forever.”

“Well, Mrs. Mariani, as long as I
am alive, I will try to ensure that this—what we share right now—lasts forever.
I love you.”

“I love you, too, Sweetheart.
Always …”