Chapter One Hundred and forty four

Ariana's POV;

"Oh no!" I palmed my forehead whilst shutting my eyes tightly.

"Still can't find it?"

I shook my head in the negative.

"I can't believe I forgot to pack it."

"Shit babe! Why would you forget something so important?" He actually looked like he had seen a ghost.

Was he that scared of us having babies?

"I'm sorry, it's just, I-" I didn't know what else to say.

"Tell me, you're safe please." He clasped his palms together in plea.

I swallowed. I wasn't sure cause the contraceptives had been messing with my cycle ever since I started using them so I really hadn't been keeping track of it. But I couldn't tell him that, it would ruin our entire trip. S, I lied.

"I'm safe, I promise."

"You're sure?"

"Uh huh." I nodded. "You said you have something to show me?" I quickly changed the topic, reminding him of the reason why we were in Madrid.

We ditched the after party at the ceremony and got on the jet where we made love for hours. By the way, I still had no idea where we were headed at the time

As usual he had surprised me and brought me to my motherland after several years of not being here. He had an idyllic little apartment prepared for us in a homely neighborhood, the kind I would have loved to live in if I had settled down with a simple man.

"Well yeah, but that would be later. We need to rest, it's been a long trip." He said.

"Okay."

****

"She's so cute, my heart can't take it." I gushed.

I was currently doing a video call with Tracy while situated in the kitchen of our temporary home.

I propped my elbow, on the table and smiled at the little cutie whose eyes, barely focused, stared at the screen.

"Thank you Ari." Tracy grinned. "Where's Damien?"

I looked around briefly.

"He's probably around here somewhere." I waved dismissively.

"How's your honeymoon going? This doesn't look like a hotel."

"Oh it's not actually. He got a small apartment for us here in Madrid. For once we're actually living like normal people." I said.

"Aww that's cute. Sure you two are doing it all around the house now that you have enough privacy."

"What? No! We haven't actually done anything since we arrived."

"That's strange."

"Well, I forgot my pills back home and now he's scared to touch me." I huffed, palming my face again just like I did when I first realized the silly mistake.

"What about condoms?" She said actually shutting Sky's ears like she could understand what we were saying. I laughed at that.

"He doesn't like condoms."

"That's cause you two are married." She snorted.

"Really?" She piqued my curiousity with that statement.

"Yeah, you could literally see boxes of condoms in the old Damien's pockets all the time but now all of a sudden he doesn't want to use them." She laughed.

"Well he was a playboy." I shrugged.

"Yeah."

"I really want to have a baby though." I sighed.

"Then why aren't you trying?" She asked.

"Damien doesn't want kids."

"Does he know that you want them?"

"I've never told him." I said.

"Well, I think you should."

"I'll try to tell him, soon." I assured, not sure that I actually would.

"Do it quickly okay, Sky needs a cousin." She said, waving Sky's little hands.

I giggled.

"Sure she does." I commented making kissy faces at the adorable little angel.

We went on to talk about random things for a while, before ending the call.

"Hey babe." I said when he walked into the kitchen.

"I heard you talking to someone, who was it?" He pulled out a chair opposite me.

"Oh it was Tracy. Sky is so adorable." I said with dreamy eyes.

"Yeah she's cute." He said absentmindedly.

"Babe, what do you think about having babies?"

That was what I planned to say next before we were interrupted by the shrill sound of his ringtone.

"I have to take this." He stood up and walked into the medium sized brown themed sitting room.

My eyes followed his back until he was out of my sight and I heard the front door shut.

Some few minutes later, I heard the door open and a bunch of footsteps. I sat up as a familiar rhythm of calculated steps approached me.

"Babe?" I called out, meeting his sullen gaze. "What's wrong?"

"There's some people I'd like you to meet."

"Who are they?" I asked, getting on my feet.

"Come with me." He said.

I took his outstretched hand and followed him, no questions asked.

I got into the sitting room and found two strange faces seated looking anxious.

I glanced at the tan skinned woman who seemed to be middle-aged. She had almond shaped eyes and a button nose, oddly similar to mine with short brown hair that fell on her shoulders, her slender fingers stayed intertwined with the Asian looking brown skinned man seated next to her.

"Uhh hello?" I waved awkwardly.

They both got on their feet.

"Irma?" The woman said.

I took a step back. I hadn't heard anyone call me that for the longest time. My father stopped calling me Irma for some odd reason when I was little. And, no one knew me as Irma, only Papa did. My brows furrowed.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I'm Karla and this is my husband, Raj." She gestured to the man who gave me a curt nod.

"With all due respect ma'am," I shook my head. "That doesn't answer the question."

I watched her release a shaky breath before looking up at Damien.

"Babe I think you should sit down for this." He said.

I didn't know what that meant but I sat anyways. All of us did.

"I don't know how to say this but, I, oh dear Lord." She sighed, unable to complete her sentence without shedding a tear.

"I'm your aunt."

I chuckled.

"I don't have an aunt. My father didn't have any relatives. He was an only child." I crossed one leg over the other, folding my arms across my chest. My father came from a long line of people who usually had just one child for some odd reason, so I was so sure about this.

"That's true. I'm your mother's sister." Her words dropped like cold water on me.

I sat up, dropping my hands back at my sides.

"I don't believe you." I said blankly.

"I understand that it's hard for you to believe us because you never actually knew your mother." She sobbed.

"My mother died during childbirth and I never met her , yes. But if she had a family, how come I never got to meet them?" I asked as calmly as I could.

"Your father took you away while you were still an infant."

"Don't give me that cock and bull story. If he actually took me away as you so claim," I said making air quotes with my fingers.

"Why didn't you show yourself ever since? Why are you just showing up now that I'm a full grown orphaned woman who's trying to get my life together?!" I was already up on my feet, walking menacingly towards her.

Damien pulled me back.

"Babe calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down." I gritted out. I hated being told to calm down. Why was he even in support of the bullcrap this woman was spewing?

"Who put you up to this? Is this a ploy to-" Damien put his hand over my mouth to stop me from saying something rash.

"Ariana sit down and listen!" He raised his voice at me for the first time in a long time and I flinched. I sulkily sat down quietly.

"Go on ma'am." He gestured to her.

"I understand how hurt you must be feeling and I'm really sorry for being the cause of that."

I quietly listened to her.

"Maya, your mother was my younger sister, you're the exact replica of her. So beautiful." She sniffled.

"She was young and I was really protective of her cause we were abandoned by our parents and left in an orphanage. We never got foster care so we just had to wait till we were legal so we could go fend for ourselves. She was nineteen and I was twenty two, when she brought Juan home, your father. I didn't approve cause I saw him as a spoiled rich kid who had nothing to offer her. I was wrong. They eloped and got married against both his parents' and my approval."

Her husband handed a handkerchief to her and she subtly blew her nose into it.

"His parents disowned him. I had no choice but to take them in cause they fell on hard times and soon found Maya was pregnant with you. It was fantastic news. Things were beginning to fall in place, Juan got a job and planned on taking you and your mother out of the country in due time."

"Then the day came when you were born and Maya went into labor. She went into the labour room, had you, and bled to death due to some complications. It was so devastating." She practically wailed that part and I found myself crying too.

"Maya named you Irma for some reason but your father chose Ariana as your first name. I hated him, I blamed him for Maya's death. I wanted to keep you as a reminder of my sister but he blatantly refused. He took you away and months on, I received a mail from him letting me know that you were safe and I didn't have to worry about seeing you ever again. He sent letters from time to time on very rare occasions and eventually stopped."

"I lost all hope of ever finding you. That was until your husband reached out to us, months ago after Juan's death. He didn't want you to be without family."

I turned to Damien even as tears blurred my vision.

What would I do without this man?