Touching the Heart of Ace novel Chapter 48

??Some of my friends are coming. Bring the baby down after fifteen minutes. They will be joining us for dinner. Make sure she does not vomit or piss in front of them. This is an important business meeting.??

I nodded, if Lia was uncomfortable I could take her away to greenhouse.

??Where is she??? Janice asked tying her hair up in a beautiful ponytail. No wonder Robbie married her. She was elegant, beautiful and charming. We got along just fine, much to my surprise. I thought she hated me always but she was warming up to me.

Which made me feel bad because I... I could stop anytime I wanted as long as he did not follow me.

Janice followed me to her nursery. She gave her child a boop on the nose, making her giggle.

??This is kind of a family business dinner; could you please excuse us after introducing the child.??

??Oh! Sure, sure. No problem.??

??Good and wear a suit if you have one. Preferably black.?? She added and then went downstairs.

??Okay.?? Why should I wear a suit? I had several ones, should I not blend to the background? Wearing a suit was asking for attention but Janice wanted this to go smooth.

As long as I did not have to see husband and wife being so cosy together, I could manage.

??Come on, baby love, let us get ready.?? I picked up the baby who was finding her fingers so amusing. She thrusted it to my face to show me. I pecked the drool covered finger making her coo.

I went through a lot of options before settling on a Versace one without tie. Not too catchy I guessed. Instead of making me more manly, suits made people confused about my gender, but this was Janice??s event, I should not meddle in.

I could hear loud talks from downstairs and deduced Robert was home.

Yes, Robert.

My Robbie was nowhere to be seen. Except when we found ourselves alone and I was hiding from him.

I had only one person in this whole home I cared about and she was not happy to wear this frill frock. ??Just for a few moments. Your mother bought it for you. It is so pretty, sweetheart.??

She scowled but when I put on her favourite shoes, my baby was so happy, she started kicking me in merriment.

I was so nervous wearing this suit, hearing the voices downstairs rapidly increasing and then I could hear Janice talking to her friends about the beach house she loved so much.

??What do we do, Princess??? She gurgled at me.

??Yeah, you are right, we wait for some time, go downstairs, smile and come back to our room before dinner.??

6.15 pm

I could do this. I could do this. Robert was there and my baby girl was also there. This was not my party where I had to be overly polite. They were strangers but they were not for me. Everything was fine.

I carried my baby girl secure on my hip and walked down the stairs, when the voices calmed down a bit.

Crap!

They were all staring at me now. Well, at the baby perhaps. Of course at the baby. I had nothing to worry. Robert was nowhere to be seen and I was panicking a tad bit.

My eyes searched for Janice and I exhaled the breath that was burning my lungs. Why were they still staring?

Someone helped me at the last few steps of stair by holding my hands.

??Thank you.??

??Pleasure is all mine.??

I smiled politely and went to Janice. She was glaring at me and I felt the familiar sense of deep hatred coming off her. I thought we had moved past that.

Then there was a murmur among everyone as I handed the baby to Janice.

I wringed my hands when she snatched Lia of my hands and went to the centre. ??Thanks everyone for coming. My husband will be here soon, though he is really forgetful of time.?? She giggled so beautifully. She was so charming holding her baby close like that. Even my sweetheart was enthralled by her mom??s beauty.

Her friends were not too bad, considering they all came to talk to me, midst Janice??s welcoming speech.

??Honey, why are not wearing the suit I had laid out for you??? Janice asked cheerfully to her husband. I refused to look at his general direction.

I excused myself when the doorbell went off and Janice asked me to get the door. The late coming friends of all group.

??Did we get to the wrong address???

??You are not Janice.??

??Are you her husband???

??Do we get free food???

??Is there beer???

They were all talking at the same time and I squeaked a ??please come in?? before rushing out of there. I missed Frankie so much.

I found myself a corner seat and watched the people mingle and occasionally found Janice giggling with her daughter in her arms. They were cute together.

I knew from where the burning stare was coming from but I refused to acknowledge that look.

??Hey... why are you sitting here alone??? I politely smiled at the man who had a bright green beard. Not many people could pull that look off. His whole body was tattooed and his hair was blue. It was not bad, just unique.

??Davidson, take her.?? Janice announced from somewhere in the middle of the crowd and I almost ran to her in relief.

Jesus!

Too many people. Janice was scowling at my baby who was sucking on her fingers drooling.

??I told you not to let her embarrass me.?? Janice hissed at me.

What did Lia do? She was ignoring everyone in favour of sucking her own fingers. That was not embarrassing anyone.

??Stop standing here and take her away. Gross.??

??Drool makes me gaggy. Spit is in mouth for a reason. You should teach children to behave well.?? Some guy with a stuck up attitude was lecturing Janice to stop letting her kid to get away with bad manners!

What the hell!

She was a baby; she should be taught nothing except hurting others was not okay. Then who was the ill-mannered dumbass here?

I expected Janice to stand by her child but she accused me. ??When you let others to take care of your child you expect them to do a good job. Why is she drooling? Couldn??t you do something about that? With my business flourishing I can??t focus on everywhere. Robert was begging me to...??

??You could always leave if my child??s drool makes you ??gaggy??. No one has chained you here.?? A calm and stern voice replied behind me.

Robbie.

I did not know I was panicking and close to crying until I felt his strong presence behind me.

??Excuse me??? The snotty rich man asked Robbie after looking at Janice.

??Honey! Let me introduce you to Mr...??

??Gaggy. Why are these people here???

I tried to slip out of there, but a firm hand on my back demanded me to.

??Hah.. hah... Did you forget honey, I told you about last week? You must have forgotten; this is a charity event for my health-drink campaign.??

What? How was this a charity event? This was a party; charity event was when... never mind!

??Oh really? What charity???

??We will discuss after you donate the money, honey.??

??Who???

Janice was steadily becoming uncomfortable. ??I had asked you to fund this, remember???

??And what did I tell you???

??Please don??t embarrass me in front of others.??

Robbie snorted and took Lia from me, letting her drool over his black shirt. ??You don??t need help with that, I think you will manage to embarrass yourself just fine. One more thing, drooling kid and Davidson Truscott will be here all night. If it makes you uncomfortable you can always leave. The gate is open.??

Why was Janice glaring at me? What did I do?

??Truscott? I have heard...?? Mr. Gaggy thought for a minute.

??Please excuse me, Mr...?? I should not call him gaggy, right in front of his face.

I caught up to Robbie who was busy playing with his child on the sofa, not caring about various stares pinned on him. Why was I not that comfortable around strangers?

??May be we should stay upstairs.??

??No.??

??Robbie... this is supposed to be good for her business.??

??Dear sweet Angel, are you that stupid to believe that she has a business? If these people are real fools, they will fall for her scam, if they are smart, they will get free dinner.??

??How do you know? They seem like loaded people to me.??

??Half the people here wearing branded clothes still have tags on them.?? I looked around and he was right! Mainly girls, they still had tags which was poking up their neck, or the silhouette showed the rectangular pieces inside when they stretched. ??The other halves are wearing fake ones. The emblems are at wrong sides or too many at places where they do not belong.??

??You are so fudging smart, Mr. Brantley.?? I turned around to him and got scared at the immensely lustful gaze he was giving me in front of all these people.

??Stop.??

??What??? He lowered his voice a few octaves lower.

??Daddy and baby sit here and ??I??... am going upstairs.?? People were staring at us and he had no shame at all, to look at me like that in middle of a party his wife was hoisting.

??David.?? He called out when I stood up to leave. Why was he calling me David? I frowned and leaned down to his mouth. ??Ace, you will sit here with me and bear this with us, or I will fucking spank that sweet tempting ass later at night and you will not sit well for several days.??

Did he just?

??Don??t you agree, Davidson???

??You are right...?? I obediently sat next to him and I glared at him when he looked expectantly at me. ??... Mr. Brantley.??

??All is good, David.?? He purred. Goddamn this man and his sexy voice.

Lia was having an amazing night by switching between our laps, giggling and patting our faces.

She ignored everyone though many came and said hi. She was her daddy??s daughter, not least bit bothered with all the attention.

There were people who came and talked to all three of us frequently, though I forgot all of their names, which was rude of me.

Dinner was served by catering people Janice had arranged. They set up everything by the beach and Robbie tried to make a scene by choosing to have dinner at his normal dining table eating my spaghetti.

Janice was trying hard to save her face but he was not budging at all. It was only then; did I notice he was behaving as if it was a normal day for him. He did not care about this party or people. We were sitting on the sofa like we did most of the evening chit chatting about nonsense.

The difference was he was wearing clothes which was a good difference.

Robbie would have skipped dinner all together if not for a snide comment from Janice herself he was needed there and I should take Lia to her nursery because she did not want her daughter to drool in front of the guests.

So, what happened?

I was currently sitting next to him in the make shift dining table at the beach, holding his baby as she fell asleep on my chest; drooling.

Robbie was truly a trouble maker.

??Aww she is so cute. Are you sure the wind is not bothering her??? A handsome guy asked me smiling. ??Thank you, she is fine. I have covered her ears.?? He leaned down and checked her ears.

The cap looked more like a headband, it was a must because we lived near a beach. Too much wind was not good for a tiny baby.

We talked a bit before everyone started filing up. Were there only twelve people? I thought they were a crowd inside the house.

A beautiful curvy lady came and sat next to us. ??She is a cute baby. Cuter than her mother, must be from her dad, right??? I smiled, not knowing if I should thank the lady or not. She did not seem to notice though, as she went on to Robbie asking his ethnicity.

??What does that supposed to mean??? Janice asked a bit angrily.

??Ethnicity means...??

??Not that! About the baby being cuter than me???

??Learn to laugh at jokes. I was giving your baby a compliment.??

??Did not sound that way? You are always...?? Janice and this lady were not good friends, with the way this was escalating to out of proportion.

??Guys, chill out. It is not a big deal. The kid is sleeping. We do not want to wake her up.?? The guy who asked me about wind smiled at me and I smiled appreciatively. ??Call the nanny down, I think they are about to serve the appetizers.??

??Nanny???

??Janice said she had a live-in nanny. Will you be able to eat with her sleeping on you???

Robbie looked like he would pop a vein. What was going on?

??I am fine, she always sleeps around this time and I am used to holding her while eating.?? Robbie would help me if I had bigger chunks of food in my plate.

??That is remarkable of you, I have two nephews, who I babysit all the time but I still cannot, with them sleeping on me. But she sleeps like an angel, not wiggling around. You can always call me for babysitting Janice. I will not mind.??

I smiled again, was I supposed to say anything because he was looking at me though he was asking the question to Janice?

??I am sure you would not.?? Robbie told him with a definite edge on his voice and I felt his hand clutching my thigh. I rubbed his palm because Robbie was fuming and I did not want him to cause a scene.

??What is your baby??s name Janice? I cannot call her kid or baby if I am going to babysit.??

??What??? Janice asked serving herself some salad.

??Name of your baby.??

Janice took a big bite of her salad and kept everyone waiting. Why was she glaring at me again? I looked at Robbie who was looking a lot calmer now. Was it a good thing or a bad thing?

??Is that a horrendous name? Is that why you are stalling? Any name will be better than Janice.?? That lady who was not a good friend of Janice asked while laughing.

??Her name is... name is... Amanda.??

What?

Who?

Was that the name Janice wanted to name her kid? Was that why she told them Amanda? Robbie started chuckling and started eating happily.

??Well, I call her Amanda.?? Janice spat.

??Uhh, pretty sure that is not how name works, what is her official name Janice, so we could call her not-your-special-name??? The lady really had some kind of bad blood between Janice.

Robbie stood up throwing his fork to his barely eaten salad. ??Excuse me everyone, the salad is a disaster, if you haven??t started eating it, be thankful. Save your appetite, I strongly recommend it. Now, my daughter ??Amelia?? looks a bit cold, so I am taking her to bed. Davidson Truscott, I will make you some canned soup, please follow me.?? He started walking and obediently followed him not knowing what to say to stunned guests.

??Oh, and one more thing,?? Robbie turned around after taking the baby from me. ??I am not endorsing celery juice as an after-gym health drink. I suggest you try pick pocketing if you want to have some dignity for the work you do. Then again I know certain people are already professional in that field. Good night folks.??