Chapter 24

Dinner was salmon with buttery garlic green beans and a kale salad. Lori was ravenous. She had taken Emilia for another checkup, her doctor had been monitoring her temperature and giving her medication. Her fever had come back early that morning, after a few days of them being absent.

Lori also noticed Emilia was getting bigger.

She used to be able to carry her with one arm before but now it seemed like she had grown a lot more faster. She knew it was typical for babies to grow, of course, Emilia was slowly leaving the newborn stage but it didn’t make it any less weird that she was getting bigger and longer. Her hair had also started to grow out, she had been bald for months, with not a hair in sight but Lori was excited to spot a few blond strands of hair on her head.

She didn’t know what Suzie looked like, but with the little she could see, Emilia would be blonde, like her mother probably, if her mother was blonde. Or maybe her hair would grow darker and she grew, it was still too early to tell.

They were doing a lot of tummy time now, Emilia love tummy time.

Lori was impressed.

“The food smells amazing!”

She said as she sat down, Emilia was in her hands, tugging at her shirt with her small fingers and gorilla grip. She no longer hid the fact that she breastfed the baby, nobody else in the house seemed to have a problem with it. Grace had walked in on her doing it and she had not said a word. She didn’t even mention it right after. Ever since that day Lori had been more comfortable to breastfeed in front of the staff.

Grace nodded.

“Too bad I won’t be staying for dinner.”

She said and Lori shook her head.

“You are! Why aren’t you staying for dinner?”

She asked. Grace was setting a plate for her while Lori raised up her shirt to breastfeed Emilia.

“I have to go. My sister is spending a few days with me, I have to go pick her up at the airport, Mr Gabriel already gave me a few days off.”

“Woah! Really?”

Grace nodded. She was beaming.

“Yes. He won’t be around either, I think he’s going on a trip.”

“Really?” Lori asked with worry lacing her voice.

Gabriel was going on a trip. Meaning he would be gone for a few days and Grace too. Ugh! The house would be so boring.

She liked talking to Jenny and Mr Gregory sometimes but they could be so boring.


“Yes. He’ll tell you all about it when he gets back. In the meantime, I have to go Lori.”

She said as she waved at Lori and blew a kiss to Emilia who was sucking ravenously.

Lori waved back, watching her leave.


Then she was left all alone in the dining room. They only used it for dinners and it was big and lonely and now Lori was considering moving to the kitchen to finish her dinner.

She stayed anyway, forking large pieces of salmon and green beans in her mouth. Oh she loved the salmon! She just loved the texture, the way it tasted and practically melted in her mouth. Growing up she never really ate salmon. At least not as much as she would have liked to. Mrs Wyatt wasn’t really a fish lover, but boy did she like chicken. Roast chicken, fried chicken, chicken pot pie and chicken casserole. She ate chicken every day all day!

The woman was a handful.


“Hello Lori.”

Gabriel’s voice said, startling her and Lori quickly pulled down the front of her shirt. Her cheeks went red. It was probably too late. He had seen them, although when she looked at him his gaze was averted. She subconsciously tried to smooth her hair, knowing she probably looked like a mess.

“Welcome! I didn’t know you’d be back so early.”

She said as she adjusted herself in her seat, pulling the baby closer to her chest.

Gabriel practically worked throughout the week. Even on weekends. He was always out on Saturdays too, dressed in casual work affair, Sunday’s too he was mostly out, but only for about three hours then he was back home.

He worked very hard, too hard in her opinion. He was CEO. Shouldn’t he delegate? She thought being in charge of a company would ensure that he at the very least had his own free time to do whatever he wanted.

“Well, me either. But I finished early.”

“Quick question, do you have a passport?”

He asked and Lori nodded.

“Yea. Why?”

Gabriel settled in the seat across from her.

“Because we’re going to Canada.”

He said with a small smile on his face.

“Canada?”

Lori repeated and he nodded.

“Emilia’s doctor is worried about her. She wants me to find out if her mother’s family has any history of genetic diseases.”

Lori’s eyes widened.

“You said she was fine.”

Gabriel nodded.

“And she is. It’s just a precaution. I promise you she’s fine.”

He reassured her and Lori nodded.

“Okay. Have you contacted her family?”

Gabriel shrugged.

“I have some addresses. We would visit them and check them out.”

“I originally didn’t want to bring the two of you along but I think it’ll be a good thing for Emilia to meet her grandmother.”

Lori nodded.

“Okay.”

“When do we leave?”

She asked and Gabriel shrugged.

“Soon. I’ll make all the arrangements, we should leave tomorrow.”

He answered.

Emilia was already full and looking away from her breast, more focused on her dad who was across from her, Lori quietly lifted her up and placed her on her shoulder to burp her.

“Let me take her.”

Gabriel said as he walked over to her side of the table with his arms outstretched. He looked excited to see her and she smiled when she saw him too, Lori quickly adjusted her shirt when he came over to her seat.

She handed him the baby and he left the dining room with her murmuring something about her enjoying dinner in peace.


Alone in the dining room, she finished her dinner quickly and cleared the plates. She washed them and cleared the kitchen, putting some bottles out for Emilia’s night feeding.

It was bath night so she would be giving the baby a bath before she went to bed.

Her new bed being Gabriel’s bed. The place she had slept in consistently now for the last three days. She had gotten past the awkwardness a night ago, she found her nights more peaceful anyways, the bed was large enough that they wouldn’t touch and when she woke up Gabriel already left.

Upstairs, Gabriel was changing Emilia’s diaper, while still in his work clothes.

“Let me help with that.”

Lori murmured and he shook his head.

“No need. Just pass me a wet wipe.”

He said as he furrowed his eyebrows, he was very focused, even though all he was doing was changing a diaper. Lori found it funny.

“Here.”

She handed him one and he murmured a thanks.

“I’m going to run a bath for her now..”

“Okay. I’ll bring her to you.”

She walked to the bathroom after turning on the water heater, setting the temperature on the taps for a perfect warm bath. She placed the supplies she would need nearby and a blanket over her shoulder. Gabriel brings her a naked squirming Emilia a few moments later and she gently set the baby inside her baby bathtub.

“You should go change and have dinner. I’ll take it from here.”

She finally told Gabriel who was towering over her and watching her intensely.

Gabriel sighed.

“Okay. I will see you later.”

It took over half an hour to finally get Emilia to sleep after her bath. She was exhausted after that and decided to go downstairs to drop some laundry.

She heard someone humming and found Gabriel in the kitchen. Fresh out of a shower with wet hair, blue shorts and a tight muscle shirt.

He turned and smiled at her.

“Don’t mind me. Just warming up dinner.”

Lori nodded.

“No problem. I’m just dropping off the laundry.”

Gabriel nodded.

“Headed to bed after?”

“Not yet.”

“Care to sit with me while I eat my dinner?”

He asked and Lori nodded.

“Sure.”

At the table, Gabriel brought out a bottle of Pinot noir. He didn’t offer Lori one, knowing her answer might be no, since she was breastfeeding, but he saw that she was staring at the bottle as he poured some into a wine glass for himself.

“Do you want some? I’m sure a little won’t hurt.”

He said and she finally caved.

“Okay. Just a little.”

Gabriel brought out another glass, pouring only a little of the wine for her.

“Is this okay?”

He asked softly and she nodded.

“Yes. Thank you.”

They sat in silence for a while, with nothing but the sound of Gabriel’s cutlery on the plate and Lori setting her glass of wine on the table after drinking it all.

Suddenly a thought crossed her head and she turned sharply towards Gabriel. After he talked to Elliot, she had not seen him. She didn’t even know if he was still in the pool house but she didn’t see any signs that indicated that he was. She wondered what Gabriel could have told him.

“Do you not like Elliot? I’ve noticed your conversations are always strained.”

She asked and Gabriel smiled.

“Was it so obvious?”

It definitely was, she could feel the tension in their glares the other day.

“Yes.”

“Well. I like Elliot. He’s my cousin, but he can be extremely annoying and out of line.”

“He doesn’t like to follow orders, pretty much does whatever he wants and thinks he can get away with it because we’re family.”

“I didn’t know he was like that…”

Gabriel nodded.

“Yes. He’s also pretty charming so when I complain about him it seems like I’m making a big deal out of nothing.”

“You should be careful around him though. I think he likes you.”

Lori’s eyes widened.

“Likes me?!”

“Yes. I can see it.”

Lori chuckled.

“That’s not possible. We’ve only met like three times and I doubt we had much of a conversation.”

Gabriel shrugged.

“I think that’s enough time for him to be attracted to you.”

Lori raised an eyebrow.

“Do you develop attractions that fast?”

She asked and he looked a bit surprised by her question but smiled anyways.

“I don’t think so. Although it didn’t used to be the case.”

“Hnmmm. What changed?”

Lori asked as she leaned forward and poured herself more wine. Gabriel eyed her, but he said nothing.

“You grow older. And you find out that there’s more to the surface.”

“Well. That sound profound.”

“It isn’t really.”

“What about you Lori??”

He asked her and she pointed to herself.

“Me?”

She asked and Gabriel nodded.

“Yes.”

Lori shrugged. She had never had a real relationship. Never been in one. Sure, it sounded very unbelievable but it was the truth.

“I never had a real relationship..”

Gabriel raised his hand, cutting her off.

“You’ve never found yourself attracted to anyone?

He asked and Lori looked away. The question was a setup. Because she knew the answer.

Of course she had found herself attracted to someone before, the only problem was that he was sitting in front of her.

“I think everyone has. I mean it’s normal…”

She stated lightly.

“Yes. It is normal.”

Gabriel said as he dropped his fork and leaned towards her, his piercing blue eyes staring at her intensely.

His voice was low, husky and the room was heavy with tension as he said.

“I have to confess, I’ve been attracted to you since I laid my eyes on you.”

Lori gasped a bit.

“Gabriel…”

He shook his head.

“You don’t have to say anything. You don’t even have to act on it, I just wanted to let you know that.”