Chaos In The Darkness; Salvatores's Salvation-Chapter 207: A Donna’s toss - I

"Everything is a bargain, my love. You get your daughter and I," he tapped her nose, "get my wife."

Evelyn closed her eyes again. The words kept on spinning in her mind and now it was the next morning.

She was ready to go down stairs for breakfast but instead of going down stairs, she was sitting in front of a vanity mirror with the words he said to her last night repeating in her mind.

Get his wife?

She shamefully blushed and lowered her head. With her thighs gently pressed against each other, Evelyn bit her lip.

Why was she even thinking about it? Of course, he wanted something against her daughter. Arabella was something that only belonged to her, making her top perfect opportunity for Salvatore to use for his advantage until he gave her his name.

She sighed before getting up from the vanity table and moving towards the door and out of the room. Any more delay would not look good on her part.

"Good morning," she heard his voice the moment she entered the living room.

"Good morning," Evelyn wished back and silently moved to the chair on his side, settling in.

He was reading the newspaper while Evelyn was nursing a cup of coffee. Salvatore was dressed for the day but at the moment he was only wearing his waist coat with his jacket folded and hanging behind him on the chair.

Not even a single crease on his shirt and not to mention a stain. It was like he wore new shirts everyday with how pristine he looked.

"I am handsome," His eyes flickered to hers, "aren’t I?"

"Arrogant," she muttered under her breath. "You forgot to be arrogant."

He chuckled, shaking his head at her before folding his newspaper and keeping it on the side.

Salvatore then directed his focus on her. "About arabella," he began, "today, you will go to the orphanage. You will meet her and arabella will not call you mother,"

Her eyes welled up with tears but Salvatore shook his head.

"Why?"

"Because it is necessary that they understand the fact that Arabella is not a blood child," the calm voice of his gave her a hint of what he was trying to protect her from.

"Since Arabella will not be a blood child, she will have the choice to choose her husband until someone comes with an alliance which will not be frequently given head linkage." Salvatore reached over and covered her fist with his own. "It is a plan and you will go accordingly with it. If you want to protect your child, this is necessary."

This might be one of their moments where her heart swelled and not last but love. The moment where she realized that this time he was on the same page as her and the bargain that she was supposed to hold up on her side, did not matter as much as getting her daughter back did.

"Okay," she agreed.

****

"You are pretty," Arabella fumbled with her hands and looked down on them shyly. "I like your yellow hair."

Evelyn chuckled at first but ended up laughing. "Thank you." She sobered up finally before repeating the words again with a big smile on her face. "Did you like the event last night? I realize that it must be late for you all."

Evelyn really did. It was way past the bedtime of her child and it was a wonder to how Arabella was not fussy at the moment.

"No, I’m a big girl."

"Yes?"

"Uh huh," she bobbed her head. "I grow fastly."

Fastly, she chuckled again, smiling at her child. Bella had definitely picked up a vocabulary with so many kids around her.

"How long have bee—" shit.

Clearly her throat, she quickly changed the question and covered it with a cough, "How long have been inside the orphanage? Do they take you out to a park?"

It was a narrow slip and she was just about to ask Arabella how long she had been in this particular orphanage, that would cause problems and they had ears here as well.

"Umm," Arabella scrunched up her nose, "I think I like the inside. I will get the tv then."

"The TV?" Evelyn repeated in astonishment. "You get a whole TV yourself?"

Arabella nodded. "I love cartoons! I even get all the crayons when no one is here!"

The crayons?

Her smile faltered for a second. If no one was here and Arabella was using crayons, how was that safe? Someone had to supervise the child.

She would make a mental note to tell Salvatore about this and make sure someone keeps an extra eye out for her child on this particular matter.

Arabella nodded and her dimple became prominently in on the chubby cheeks. She kept babbling about the new cartoons that she had started to binge on and Evelyn nodded to every word, trying to retain it as much as she could.

By the time she was done and Arabella as a toddler was supposed to go for her nap, Evelyn felt recharged and happy.

She had a little bounce in her steps out of that happiness but stopped when she saw Alexis at the reception.

If she did not make contact now, It looked like she was running away or worse, sneaking around.

Slowly walking towards the reception and standing beside Alexis, she tapped the elderly woman on the shoulder, "Hey."

"Wha—oh hey!" Alexis grinned when she saw Evelyn and immediately went to hug her and kiss her cheeks in greeting. "I was not expecting to see you here. We could have come together."

They could have. "I was here to see a child. Arabella is her name and she was at the party last night."

"Ah yes," Alexis nodded, "do you remember you talking to that green eyed girl and her head full of black curls." She sighed dreamily, "I remember once I had luscious black hair and now I am stuck with the Bob cut."

The bob haircut was a little past her shoulders, maybe an inch or two but still looked wonderful on her.

"I have never seen you with long hair, show me a picture sometime soon?"

"Yes, yes," A bright eager smile came on her face. "Definitely and about...um..Arabella?"

Evelyn, for a moment, felt her heart stop. What about arabella?

"What about Arabella?" She remembered after a second remembering that she had to voice it out.

Alexis tilted her head toward her side as she pinched her fingers together like she was trying to remember something. "I heard that your mother was called Arabella. Is that true?"

That was spot on. Alexis hat called the meaning behind the name arabella that Evelyn had given her child.

"Yes," Evelyn agreed. "That was her name." Quickly trying to steer away from the conversation that might turn controversial she glanced at the file in her hand before asking, "what are you doing here?"

"Oh," Alexis closed the file and showed her the title on it. "The ladies and I made a huge donation and I always try to make sure that the money is going where it’s supposed to."

She shook her head as she pushed the file away. "One of the few things you can do when you are a housewife."

Huh, Evelyn nodded absentmindedly. Since Arabella had gone to sleep there was no use of her staying here.

"Why did you have to just meet the child?"

Evelyn nodded, eyes flickering to Alexis.

"Why?"

Staring at Alexis a small theory came to her mind, could it be possible that Angelo has started to rub off on Alexis?

Evelyn answered after thinking carefully, "I just felt.. I missed her?" She shrugged her shoulders as if she was not able to explain what she felt.

"How so?" Alex appears to be genuinely confused. "You just met her last night?"

"I did." Evelyn agreed without missing a beat. "But to be honest, if I had a child, like a girl of mine, how would I imagine that girl as my daughter? It’s a bond established in one night when Salvatore was talking with the warden of the orphanage. I just feel like I could talk to her on a daily basis and never walk away from her."

Realizing that she had spoken way too much, Evelyn turned her eyes to Alexis who was staring at her already. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"What?" Evelyn muttered a bit defensively.

Alexis nodded slowly before she said anything. She then looked away and picked up the file before turning to Evelyn. " I understand the bond that you have established with her but you have to remember that she is an orphan and one day someone is going to adopt her."

Placing a comforting hand on Evelyn’s shoulder, Alexis continued, "it’s okay to come and meet her but you have to keep a grip on reality. Yes?"

The reality was that Arabella was her child and she was her child in the true meaning of it. But she still nodded.

"I understand." She touched the comforting hand on her shoulder by Alexis. "I do."

She did, which is why it was the perfect opportunity to pester Salvatore. He was the key and it was about time she made it public.