ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-NINE

SHIMMER'S POV

Iris seemed very shocked to see me making some tea in the kitchen. I could not blame the woman, for I hardly ever made anything in the house. Cooking was never my thing; I had neither the time nor interest for it. Four or five of my staff stood by and watched me, with shock and great anticipation written on their faces. Of course it was a rare morning for them all; seeing me making some tea. Iris dismissed them, leaving only the two of us in the kitchen.

I set the cup and teapot neatly on a tray. I added a teaspoon and some sugar. Gently, I lifted the tray and headed towards Arianna's bedroom. We were already near her bedroom, for I used a kitchen in Arianna's wing. Iris knocked a bit before pushing the door open. Looking very pale and sad, Arianna was walking out of her closet. She must have just taken a shower.

I placed the tray carefully on the table and asked Iris to excuse us.

"Arianna, my child." I called her. She looked at me and walked towards her bed.

"It's ok. I am here for you." I assured her.

"You're not mad at me?" she asked with a hint of shock.

"Well, I did not expect you to get pregnant before marriage, but you are my child. It has already happened. I will stand by you," I answered her.

She came to me and hugged me, and she cried a bit. Her swollen eyes told me that she had been crying for a while, and I really felt sorry for my child.

"Here, have some tea," I poured tea in the cup. I added some sugar and stirred on it a lot; for I wanted to make sure that everything would dissolve; everything. The sugar and everything else.

"Take some tea," I handed the cup over to her.

She took it and held it with her palms covering the cup, as if to warm her hands up with the cup.

"Are you feeling cold?" I asked her.

"Yeah; it's a bit cold," Arianna laughed a little.

"Why do you set your air conditioner so low?" I quickly adjusted it and urged her to take the tea.

"So who is the father of the child?"

"Mum please, I don't want to talk about it now" she made as if she was going to cry.

"Arianna, we need to know. Who is this person? Does he know that you are pregnant? What is he saying about it?"

"He knows. I told him everything, and he has been urging me for a very long time to come clean with my parents. I just did not have the guts to do so. If I had listened to him, I would have told you about it the very day that we took a pregnancy test." Arianna said.

"You took a pregnancy test? You and him together?" I asked.

The man was starting to sound as if he could be trusted. If he had gone to the extent of standing with Arianna and taking the pregnancy test; and also urging her to tell us, then maybe he wasn't that bad, was he? But then I still needed to know…

"Who is he?"

"Mamma please, not now." Arianna would reveal the man's identity.

"Does he love you? Or more importantly, do you love him?" I inquired.

"I love him with all my heart. My whole being loves him." Arianna's words sounded very sweet as she spoke about the man that she loved so dearly.

She went on; "He didn't want to pressurize me, but has been talking to me over and over, that I must tell my parents about the pregnancy. He said he will tell his family as soon as my family knows. And he wants us to proceed with the formalities. The marriage. The plan is for us to get married before my bump shows," she stroked her tummy.

"He wants to marry you? Who is he?" I asked.

Who was the mystery man? He was willing to marry Arianna? Why was he in such a hurry to marry her? I mean…he even planned a marriage before we knew him? Was he not someone taking a chance with the intention of worming their way into the de Milo family? I could imagine a huge monster with claws, trying hard to dig into the de Milo wealth. No! I could not allow that…

"Who is the man?" I needed to know.

"I already told Dylan. I can't say it. Please go ask him."

"You told him? He said you did not." I was surprised.

"Well, when he came here I put a paper in his jacket pocket. That leather jacket. The name is there in his pocket. I failed to say it to him, so I just wrote it down."

Oh! I could not believe my ears. The name was written down!!

"Drink up your tea! I'm going to meet Dylan now!" I urged as I ran out of the house. I had another worry about the tea which was getting cold. I feared that once it got cold, Arianna was not going to take the tea.

Once out of Arianna's room, I dialed my son's number and jumped into my limousine. A driver readily sped towards the de Milo children's hospital, at my instruction. In a short while, Dylan and I were seated in the back of the limousine as it sped towards his house.

"She put it in my pocket?" Dylan asked for the millionth time.

"Yes. That is what she said!" I was also seriously agitated.

The journey seemed to be unending to me. If it were possible, I would have taken a private jet; or better still, I would have hired some wings to fly over to Dylan's place. Finally we came to his mansion, and the guards opened for us. I ran inside and Mrs Silva must have said something to me, but I did not hear it at all. Dylan and I ran towards the elevator and into his bedroom. The jacket! The leather jacket! Where was it!!

Dylan quickly rang for Mrs Silva and she appeared in a short while. "I left a leather jacket here on this sofa. Did you take it?"

"Yes, sir Dylan. I thought it needed to be cleaned."

"Well then where is it?" I shouted at the woman, and I could see that I greatly startled her.

She brought her hand up to her chest and said, "it's downstairs in the utility room, ma'am. I meant to send it off for cleaning this afternoon."

"Go get it!" I screamed in anger.

For some reason, I was starting to feel very angry. Who was that man? Who was trying to join our family? Was the person even worthy? And…I hoped Arianna had already taken the tea by that time.

Mrs Silva ran back in about a minute later and handed the jacket to Dylan. He fumbled through the pockets and sure enough, pulled out a folded paper. With his hands shaking, he unfolded it while we both looked closely. My heart raced wildly as I looked on, and I felt my breathing becoming heavier and heavier. I felt like I was going to faint. I had anxiety, but I also had a ray of hope. What if...what if its someone we all know and love….but no. It was impossible! Why then would Arianna hide his identity? Arianna seemed ashamed of the guy, so there was no way he could have been someone decent. Who was he? Who was he? Who was the man?

Written using a bright red mighty marker; the words were unmistakable. It was right there in front of us to see clearly, the name of the man, in huge capital letters.