Page 106 of Arianna

Sebastian turns my way with Ella happily playing with his blue tie, ruining it with her sticky fingers. I watch as he drops a soft kiss on her forehead and breathes her in tenderly. “Que font mes files aujourd’hui?” What are my girls up to today?

“Daddy,” Ella answers by bringing her small chocolate-covered hands up to his face. “Wook, cubcak!” Then the little hellion smears chocolate all over her father’s chin.

Sebastian chuckles. “I can see that, my heart.” He smiles at her and gives me a stern look when I laugh at how ridiculous the man looks right now. Dressed like a million dollars, all covered in brown goo. Shrugging, not at all bothered, I walk around the kitchen, grab a clean tablecloth, and hand it to him. Once he is clean, he moves closer to where I am leaning on the kitchen island and hands me a medium-sized box.

I look down at his hands skeptically. “What is it?”

He hoists Ella up with a strong grip on her back and gives me a dull look, but he cannot fool me. There's heat in his gaze and laughter. So much laughter. “That is a stupid question, darling. If you want to know what it is, I suggest you open it and find out.”

“Tete de noeud.” I smile sweetly up at him while calling him a dickhead.

“Watch that mouth.” He snaps softly, not wanting to startle his daughter. Ignoring him, I open the box to see what’s inside.

A small globe.

Setting the carton box down, I hold the globe up towards Sebastian with a raised brow. Every gift he has ever given me has a meaning. A gesture of kindness. This one, though, I don’t get.

Sebastian looks down at Ella, whose busy playing with his tie, then back at me. His eyes hold many secrets, some I am dying to uncover. He no longer looks at me with empty expressions but with tenderness reserved only for his daughter. “Ellaiza’s third birthday is coming up. The day she came into my life, I promised to give her the world and show it to her as well.” His eyes become even more loving when Ella claps her hands and yells gibberish in that sweet baby voice I love so much. I can tell her father does too. “She can’t voice what she wishes to see, so I leave it to you. Spin.” He gestures down at the globe.

Is this man even real?

Swallowing hard, my eyes leave his and move to Ella’s smiling face. She is one lucky little girl. Her father is giving her everything she deserves. Good. Not wasting a second, I spin the glove and wait for it to stop and the needle to land on a country.

But that does not happen.

Instead, a tiny chocolate-covered hand reaches forward and stops the glove herself.

“Bu!” Ella screeches. Blue. She means blue. The color of the globe. I did say she is brilliant.

“Huh. Look at that.” Sebastian’s tone sounds mischievous, as if he knows something I don’t. It usually irks me to no end, but not now. Not at this moment.

The three of us look down at Ellaiza’s small hands-on top of the glove and see where it landed.

My heart stops in my chest.

Both elation and sadness are taking hold of me.

Paris, France.

Floods of overwhelming emotions, from grief to anxiety, attack me all at once while I think of what this means.

Grief because Paris is Mila’s one day and mine.

Anxiety because Ella will be leaving me.

She will be away for who knows how long.

Panicking, I open my mouth to refuse when I have no right, but then the sweetest little sound stops me dead.

Ella’s giggles.

She claps and giggles while looking at me as if she somehow could sense my change in mood.

My hesitation.

The tragedy that lives inside of me.

Her laughs and her enthusiasm make it all better.

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