My Father's Friend
My Father’s Friend – Chapter 42:Epilogue

Two months later…

-Are you sure you want to do this, Serena? -Casey held her friend’s hands tightly as she questioned her.

-Relax, I’ll be fine.” The brunette smiles openly at her.

-But….” Casey looks over her friend’s shoulder and notices the masculine figure of a man leaning against an extravagant car. Do you think he wants something serious with you? -She looks back at the brunette.

-Mark’s not a bad guy, yeah well, he went to the club, but he never mistreated girls. And well,” she smiles as if embarrassed, “I really like the way he treats me.

-That’s one thing, but going with him to Italy is a lot Serena. We don’t know what his intentions are for you.

The brunette smiles at her friend, ever since she met Casey she knew that the girl was really cute. She cared a lot and she appreciated that, since she didn’t have anyone to do it for her.

Don’t worry about me, I promise I’ll call you every day to tell you how I’m doing with him, does that reassure you?

-A little, yes, but please don’t stop calling me.

-I will. Besides, how can I not, if you’re my best friend and you’re carrying a very important person here,” Serena touches Casey’s belly, which makes the red-haired girl smile. You must take good care of this baby, I promise to come for the birth.

Casey tilts her head slightly, looking at her friend’s hand on her belly, the redhead smiles as she remembers when she realised she was expecting Cauther’s child. A missed period and poor sleep for two months led the CEO to take her to the doctor where she was told she was two months pregnant.

The news took the parents by surprise, Casey wasn’t sure how Cauther would take it, but as soon as she saw his expression she knew she had nothing to worry about. Her father was also taken by surprise by the pregnancy, because he realized that his daughter was no longer a girl but a woman who would soon become a mother. In the end, he rejoiced at the news of being a grandfather.

And even if he didn’t want to admit it, he was clearly happy about his union with Cauther. Casey let him know that she loved the man with all her being, and that she wasn’t willing to part with him. For Cauther’s part, he didn’t intend to let her go either, and now that she was expecting his child, even less so. He might appear to be a little apathetic, but the truth was that he was very excited about becoming a father.

And that was enough for her?

-All right, I’ll be quiet.

-Thank you, you’re a good friend,” Serena turned her face to look at Mark’s lifeless expression. I have to go now, his plane is waiting for us at the airport.

-Yes, take care of yourself.

The girls give each other a tight hug and then separate. Still holding his hand, Serena starts walking towards Mark’s car, who was already waiting for her with the door open.

-See you, girlfriend, thanks for everything.

Casey watches her friend get into the car with Mark, then they drive off and disappear through the front gate. The black-haired girl folds her arms and lets out a sigh.

-You don’t have to worry about her,” Cauther’s arms wrap around her waist. Mark’s not a bad guy, I know what he does for a living. She won’t have to do any work.

-I’m glad to hear all the girls ended well.

Santino set about taking each girl home, what he knew about Erika was that her parents never gave up looking for her and when she turned up on their doorstep they couldn’t contain their excitement at seeing her alive. On the other hand, Lucilda’s grandmother was waiting for her and when she saw her, she almost fainted.

The rest of the girls returned home safely, bringing happiness to their relatives who thought they were dead.

-All are well.

-Grace to you.

-I don’t think I’ve done much.

-I know you don’t like thank-yous, but I really want to thank you for… -I don’t think I’ve done much.

But Cauther didn’t allow his wife to finish thanking him, as he turned his face to take her lips by surprise.

-You know I don’t like it when you do that,” she takes his chin hard.

-But…

-Casey,” he warns in a serious voice.

She smiles broadly, nods, then turns and throws her arms around her husband’s neck. She presses her lips slightly to his.

-You are a very strange man.

-I’ve heard no complaints at night.

-You don’t always make love to me at night.

-Is that an invitation? -He frowns.

-Maybe!

Cauther’s eyes glowed brightly, he had business to attend to at the company, but he wasn’t about to leave his wife wanting.

As the months passed, Casey’s belly grew by the day. Serena called her every day to tell her of her progress with Mark, it turned out the man was not a ruthless psychopath. After they left for Italy, Serena discovered she was pregnant as well, which meant she couldn’t travel for the birth of her daughter. Her due date was also scheduled to be around the same time as Casey’s.

By the time the redhead went into labour, both Cauther and Rafael were excitedly awaiting the arrival of Cauther’s first child, whom they decided would be named Lance Ayrton Acrom.

Within hours, Casey was out of labour and her family was finally allowed in to meet the new addition to the family.

A month later, Serena notified the redhead that she had given birth to a beautiful, healthy baby girl. And that when they were able to travel they would both go to visit her.

-Lance, where are you going? -Casey calls out to her son as he makes his way to the door.

-Mother, I told you I have to meet with some college friends.

-I don’t remember you asking my permission, or your father. We’re familiar with these kinds of meetings.

-How long with that, I’m eighteen now.

-Not for that reason, you’ll do whatever you want,” the black-haired girl crosses her arms.

The young man rolls his eyes, grabs his black leather jacket, grabs his car keys and gets ready to open the door of the house… when he does so, the first thing the boy sees are a pair of huge greenish eyes, appetizing and fleshy pink lips by nature and an extraordinary cinnamon skin so striking and desirable that it made his mouth water.

-Charlotte! -Lance exclaims in a surprised voice.

-Hello Lance,” she replies indifferently.

-Charlotte, girl…” Casey shouts from inside the house. Come in, where’s your mother? I had no idea you were coming this afternoon.

-Hi, Aunt Casey.” She greets the redhead with a tight hug, which stuns Lance. Mum is saying goodbye to Dad, she has an important meeting and she has to leave quickly. She’ll be back for dinner.

-Well come on in, let’s get something to drink. Lance, son please receive your aunt Serena.

Receive her? But he didn’t want to greet her, he wanted to greet the brunette his mother was holding in her arms. It had been a long time since he’d seen Charlotte, the last time he’d seen her when she was only 14, but now she was nothing like the little girl he remembered.

Shit, she really made him break out in a cold sweat…

-No one in this house welcomes anyone? -Lance turns around to see his mother’s friend. Boy, you look handsome… Surely daughter hasn’t seen how handsome you look?

he thought. It was irritating that she treated him that way and all because of what she had put him through when they were 14. It had been silly, why couldn’t he forget it?

-We said hello a moment ago.

-I see, and where is your mother?

-In the kitchen.

Serena walked forward without looking back… Lance stayed behind with the car keys in his hands, now he wasn’t sure whether to leave or stay in the house. Suddenly he sees Charlotte coming out of the kitchen with her headphones in her ears and her eyes on her phone. He follows her path leading him out into the garden. He looked at his watch and realised that he was already running late for his meeting.

But Charlotte…

-F**k -He denies, taking the path she chose.

He went outside looking for her with his eyes, until he found her under the huge tree planted in the middle of the garden of his house. The brunette was sitting on the lawn, amused by her mobile phone, and he wondered what she was doing with it. Against all odds, Lance went to her.

-Entertained? -He said, stopping in front of her, which made her take off her headphones.

-What do you want?

-To talk to you.” She stands up and faces him.

-After our last conversation we have nothing more to talk about. So just tell me nothing, Lance.

Charlotte stares at Lance angrily, remembering what he had done to her that afternoon in front of her stupid friends… it still bothered her that he pushed her aside just because she was with his cronies. They were such good friends, he did everything together, and overnight he treated her like a dirty rag. Lance became so arrogant that it drove her crazy, her mother told her that’s what her father is like, she thought.

-You can’t forget, that was four years ago.

-I don’t care what you say, now if you don’t care leave me alone.

-What if I don’t want to? -He moves a little closer to her.

-In that case I’ll leave, I didn’t even want to come to avoid having to see your stupid arrogant face.

The young woman makes an attempt to leave, showing him that she wasn’t happy with his presence, but an unexpected outburst from Lance led him to grab her by the arm, pulling her towards him… The brunette was inches from Cauther’s lips, both surprised and anxious to give away what she was hiding.

-What if I don’t want you to leave?

END…