LI

Comfortably seated on the plush, velvet seats adorning the sleek floors of the all-purpose fashion salon, the three beautiful women laughed and joked, chattering animatedly as two of them got their nails done while one of them instead opted for a much needed haircut.

It had been two weeks since Jordan's and Emerald's passionate reconciliation and a week since the baby shower of the family's oncoming child.

Emerald, Armani and Maggie had decided to make today their girls' day out since their fortnight had been stressful, overwhelming yet very eventful. Their matching smiles were blinding as they reflected in the mirrors sitting screwed to the wall in front of them, giving the other customers in the shop the perfect and well lit view of the stunningly gorgeous mother and daughters trio.

Even the heavily pregnant woman seated in the middle looked stunning regardless of her pregnancy or age and the coruscant smile dancing on her lips only went further to add more to her appeal. To the onlookers, they seemed more like sisters than mother and daughters.

The trio were currently gushing on and on about the event that had taken place the day before, the energetic vibe still very much alive and fresh even since the previous day as they continued to converse, oblivious to the stares they received from other patrons of the salon and even the workers themselves.

The week before — particularly on Wednesday — had been the time scheduled for the baby shower of the family's oncoming baby. The happiness Emerald had felt when she saw the tears of joy flooding her mother's eyes as she had squealed excitedly when Emerald had pulled the string, setting the dozens of blue colored balloons free from their spot on the ceiling the moment her parents had walked into living room, was palpable.

Not minding the now huge baby bump resting on her, Maggie had pulled her daughter into a bear hug, squeezing her tightly albeit awkwardly against her side before doing the same to Armani while almost knocking down the similarly blue layered cake in her hands.

With the same excitement, Maggie had hugged Jordan and the others — Logan and Oriana, who had taken their parts in managing to drag the couple out of the house long enough for Emerald, Jordan and Armani to decorate the house and get everything ready.

Emerald laughed as Armani recollected the memory of their father shedding tears. Luca had been so moved, even he had cried and when he had been caught by his daughters who didn't miss the slightest opportunity to tease him about it, he had tried to salvage what was left of his manly dignity, especially since the embarrassing sight hadn't gone past Jordan who — much to Luca's dismay — had also laughed.

Armani chuckled, gently wiggling her fingers to check out the worker's handiwork on her nails. Nodding contentedly at the iridescent nail polish glistening as it caught the light illuminating the salon, she passed the young worker a grateful smile — one which received a similar expression in return.

“I still can't believe I'm having a baby boy,” Maggie murmured, a smile of adoration on her face as she fondly caressed her huge belly, careful to keep her head upright in order to not hinder the hair stylist from doing her job with her hair.

“Congratulations to you, ma'am. I wish you a safe delivery.” The hair stylist chimed with a grin, having heard their conversation. This action of hers prompted the other two workers — who were busy doing their jobs on Armani's and Emerald's fingernails — to also quietly mumble their congratulations.

“Thank you so much, darlings,” Maggie appreciated, smiling widely at the young ladies, who reciprocated her expression. Her daughters also expressed their gratitude before they went back to conversing about the previous week's events.

Emerald, after little to no coaxing from her mother, finally succumbed to giving her mother her mobile phone, which had all the photographs and videos taken from the previous week, right from when the surprise had been revealed to her parents' teary scene all the way to the point where Jordan had chased Emerald around with the cream from the cake covering both his hands and almost half his face.

He had attempted to get revenge on her for smudging his face with the cream icing and after a little chase here and there, he had finally caught her before covering her entire face with the icing.

All the while being completely wrapped up in their own little bubble, the couple hadn't been aware that everyone had seen their little display and Logan had even recorded their entire romantic scene even up until the time Jordan had kissed Emerald's pouting lips when he had tried to ease her bogus expression of sadness at being caught.

The couple had only discovered that someone, if not the entire family, had been watching their little display of affection when Logan had sent all the pictures and videos he had taken to Emerald's phone and now that said phone was in her mother's grasp — being happily tapped away as her mother viewed all the photos and played all videos, even going as far as happily showing the young workers — Emerald could only grumble under her breath with flushed cheeks as her mother and sister teased her relentlessly about her man.

▬▬▬▬▬

“Did I tell you how much I love your nails, Gem?”

Emerald rolled her eyes with a small smile stuck to her face regardless. He had mentioned it to her countless times since they got back from the salon, earning quiet giggles from Maggie and Armani, who were busy with the task of preparing dinner — well, more like Armani and Luca were busy with dinner while Maggie just sat on the comfortable wooden seat with a foamed, pillowy backrest and bottom — one Luca had bought specially for her — occasionally stealing pieces of the meal.

“Yes, Cal. You already mentioned it — countless times, might I add,” Emerald answered, sidestepping Jordan, who hadn't stopped hovering around her like a bee while always taking her hands in his to stare at her nails every chance he got, yet Emerald couldn't bring herself to view him as overbearing.

She had chosen to get her nails painted in the shade of her newly favourite colour — chocolate brown, one she had come to fall head over heels in love with, so without a millisecond of hesitation, she had immediately picked a matte chocolate brown nail polish, the exact same shade as Jordan's eyes.

Seeing as his chocolate orbs twinkled everytime he eyed her hands — which he had been doing more times than she could count after their girls' day out — Emerald knew then and there that she had made a right choice choosing that exact nail polish if she got to see her man this happy as he shamelessly doted on her.

Passing the diced tomatoes and onions to Luca, she turned back just to collide face first into Jordan's chest. Maggie giggled, watching the scene as she stole a piece of bite–sized rotisserie chicken, plopping it into her mouth quickly as she passed a sheepish smile and shrug to her husband, who only sighed and shook his head before going back to what he was doing.

That was his punishment for insisting that she didn't cook tonight.

Emerald raised her head to meet the guilty look on Jordan's face as a sheepish pout latched onto his lips. Letting out a sigh, she placed her hands on his chest, drumming her fingers against the broad expanse of clothed skin before rising on her toe to place a kiss on his jaw.

“Truthfully, I did choose this particular nail polish because it is the exact same colour as your eyes,” she tilted her head slightly, a gentle smile taking up the space on her lips as she stared up at him. “Have I ever told you how much I love your eyes? They're like molten chocolate,” she whispered, unable to shift her gaze from his scintillating ones.

Lost in her emerald green orbs, Jordan leaned towards her to capture her lips in a kiss but the couple was interrupted — very rudely, might I add — by Luca, who deliberately walked between the two, subtly bumping his shoulder against Jordan's.

Armani simply rolled her eyes at her father's antics while Maggie exaggeratedly gasped from where she sat and before anyone could speak a word, Luca had an onion ring dangling from his pointed nose, stunning everyone but the perpetrator behind the act. The perfectly round ring of sliced onion hung off his nose for a few seconds before dropping to the ground.

“Lu!” Maggie exclaimed, after having thrown the round bulb ring at her husband. “Why would you do that? That's so rude of you.” Quiet chuckles escaped the lips of Armani and Emerald as they stared at their father's stunned expression while their mother further threw chopped olives at him.

“Yeah dad,” Armani chuckled, her tone a teasing one. “Why would you do that? Jojo and Sis looked absolutely cute together,” she cooed, wiggling her brows at her sister whose cheeks were tinted in a slight shade of pink. Jordan pulled her closer to him, hiding her face in his chest as he bent slightly to place a kiss on her hair.

“Awwn,” Maggie cooed, “see that, Lu? Don't ever interrupt them again, you hear me? Ever!” she warned, ending it with a dash of grated parmesan tossed at her husband's forehead. Armani burst into loud laughter as Jordan and Emerald quietly chuckled against each other.

Luca grumbled under his breath before going back to what he was doing. “Armi, is the pasta ready?”

“Yes, dad,” she responded, passing him the huge bowl of parboiled mostaccioli pasta.

“If you two are done cuddling, can you please pass me the marinara sauce, Mera?” Luca grumbled out, earning a slap on the butt — courtesy of his wife.

“Like you and I don't do more than just cuddling,” Maggie snickered.

“Mom!” Emerald and Armani exclaimed simultaneously whilst both men laughed at a blushing, hormonal pregnant woman. Maggie only shrugged at her daughters, giving them a bashful smile before quickly snatching more broiled chicken and stuffing her mouth.

The whole family continued with their handed tasks — the two sisters and their father majorly handling dinner, Maggie busy chatting everyone's ears off, occasionally whining and singing while also stealing meals and toying with the left over blue colored balloons she had tied to her special chair from the baby shower, while Jordan alternated between chatting with the parrot of a pregnant woman, passing ingredients to the three chefs, setting the dining table and stealing kisses from Emerald, who was more than happy to succumb to him.

Armani was in the middle of faking a gag at yet another shared kiss between the lovey-dovey couple who couldn't seem to keep their hands and eyes off each other, when the doorbell rang, its chime failing to bring a halt to Maggie's chatters.

“Expecting any visitors, il mio amore?” Luca interrupted his wife, who tapped her chin in thought before shaking her head.

“None that I can remember.”

“I'll get it,” Jordan was quick to volunteer. He shot Emerald a wary glance — of which she wasn't aware — before approaching the door with clenched fists and a stoic expression. Just as the doorbell went off again, Jordan flung the door open, eyes widening at the sight of the person, or rather, people, on the other side.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, still in shock at seeing his sister, her husband and his best friend standing behind Oriana and Logan.

On hearing Jordan's voice, Emerald abandoned her work to see what was happening. “Cal, is something wr—” she trailed off, stunned into silence when the faces of the people standing at the door came into view.

For a few seconds, no one spoke a word and if a cricket would pass by, its chirps would be very audible enough to be heard over Maggie's chatters, which didn't seem to have an end.

Appearing to finally snap out of the trance of muteness and stillness, Jordan asked again. “How did you three get here?” His gaze moved over the intruders.

“That would be Ori's doing,” Logan finally spoke, snickering at Oriana's deer–caught–in–headlights expression. “Now, if you'd excuse me, I smell food. Lu, my man!” he called out, walking past Emerald and Jordan, who were still at the door. The couple turned back around to face a bashful Oriana, whose lips were stretched into a sheepish smile.

Emerald stared at her friend, her green orbs going down and up her frame before doing a double take at the sight of Keelan's hands encasing Oriana's. Her one eyebrow rose before she met gazes with Oriana, who was quick to detach her hand from Keelan's, but it was already too late.

Emerald smirked at her friend's reaction; seeing as Oriana refused to meet her eyes, Emerald made a mental note to corner her and squeeze the gist out of her later.

Oriana cleared her throat before looking at Jordan, who was still awaiting her response. Her sheepish smile grew wide as she shrugged, her shoulders almost touching her ears and her palms upturned.

“Surprise?” she squeaked.

▬▬▬▬▬

Clad in another one of Jordan's shirts with only her panties on, Emerald stood before the foggy mirror of the bathroom, constantly running the already damp terry through her wet hair. She stared at her reflection, recalling how the night had gone since the unexpected arrival of Carol, Leonardo and Keelan.

Carol had been more than happy to babble about how Oriana and Keelan had discovered that they both had something in common, their friends — Emerald and Jordan. Apparently, Oriana had also managed to let it slip that she knew where the couple had disappeared into and similarly babble–mouth Keelan hadn't been able to withhold such information from Carol, who had begged him to convince Oriana to take them to the couple.

This came to that and Oriana was able to persuade Logan, resulting in both friends arriving with the whole calvary. As usual, Maggie had been overjoyed to receive more guests and her reaction had been very akin to that of a kid in a candy store.

Taking into consideration how tonight had gone, Emerald couldn't have been more grateful for her family's peculiar trait of always preparing every meal as though it were for a feast. Her parents had always preferred having leftover meals to having their family or guests left unsatisfied and that particular quirk of theirs had come in handy tonight.

Returning the towel to its rack, Emerald ran her fingers through her mildly damp hair, staring into her own eyes with the smidgen of a smirk playing on her lips. She thought back to how cozy Oriana and Keelan had been at dinner and although she had planned on cornering her best friend, the sneaky little thing had managed to escape her grasp.

‘But only for tonight,’ Emerald decided before walking out of the bathroom to meet with the sight of Jordan's dorsal view facing her from where he stood by the sliding glass doors leading to the little balcony Emerald had installed in her teenage days’ bedroom.

“Cal?” she called out, frowning slightly when he doesn't respond. His posture was tense and stiff as he stood with his muscular arms buried in the pockets of his sweatpants. His upper body was bare, Emerald noticed as she approached him.

Gently placing her hand on his forearm, she tried again. “Cal?” He jerked at the sound of her voice and quickly, his head whipped around to face her. Emerald frowned when she noticed the barely evident look of relief that shadowed his countenance for a millisecond before dispersing.

“Are you okay?” she asked cautiously as he wrapped his arms around her frame, pulling her into his chest. She felt his head drop to place a kiss on her forehead before he mumbled a response.

“I'm fine, love.”

Emerald looked up at him, trying to gauge his expression but was only met with a small smile dancing on his lips. “You sure?” she pressed on, to which he nodded before turning her around so her back could rest against his front. His arms wound tightly around her and she, in return, rested hers on his forearms.

They both continued to stare out the balcony, allowing the chilly night air wrap around them like a blanket as they dwelled in the comfortable silence the night provided. Few moments passed before Emerald spoke up, her voice only an octave higher than a whisper.

“If this is about your family's unexpected visit, then you have absolutely nothing to worry about. My parents were absolutely glad to have such august visitors,” she assured, remembering how he hadn't seem to have taken their sudden appearance quite well.

“No, that's not it, Gem. I promise,” he sighed. “I'm actually glad they came, albeit unexpectedly, I was already planning on introducing them to your family. I'm happy it happened soon.”

Emerald looked up at him to find him already staring at her. He leaned down, still holding her gaze, before taking her lips in his for a slow kiss. They pulled away and unconsciously, Emerald bit her bottom lip, absentmindedly tracing the apex and nadir of Jordan's abs while Jordan could only continue to stare at her lips.

Just as he managed to pry her soft, pink and slightly swollen lower lip from the confines of her teeth, Emerald breathed out. “Cal?”

“Hmm?” he hummed distractedly, his eyes still trained on her lips as he gently ran his thumb along the incredibly soft flesh, delineating and committing to memory, the lines which gave life to her perfect cupid's bow shaped lips.

“I've been meaning to ask you something,” she whispered, appearing to hesitate to ask.

“What's that?” he whispered in return, deliberately letting his breath fan her face. The baby of a smirk graced his lips when he heard her sharp inhalation; he was loving the effect he had on her.

Emerald hesitated for a bit before putting her thoughts to words. “Why do you seem to hate Leonardo?” she finally asked.