The Italian's proposal

Chapter 31

Chapter Thirty-one

Timothy

Timothy walked next to her, feeling her warmth, her comforting presence, even when his heart was beating fast and his hands were like icebergs, for the first time, he would see the man who was with Melody before him, he was not a man to feel jealous of anyone, he has never been and he intended never to be, but that did not prevent him from feeling a little jealous of someone he have never seen in his life.

When he began to investigate whether Melody stole the three-million-dollars from his company, it never even crossed his mind to investigate the man who got her pregnant, because, after all, she didn’t touch that button and he wasn’t interested in knowing more about her, not at the moment when he believed Melody was a shrew, a scoundrel, and a freeloader.

Now all that remained was only the memory of the sin he committed, because Melody’s big heart was enough to forgive him and help him forgive himself. He would never get tired of telling her how much he loved her, even though all his life he had tried not to be so expressive, being with her it was easy, it was simple for him to tell her affectionate words, to tell her how much he wanted her, how much he loved her, and he wanted to continue spending the rest of his life with her.

They took the elevator, she was still silent, though calmly walking beside him, he knew that, knowing her, she must be a nervous wreck inside, she was going to see Richard for the first time, after months as she told him, and this surely terrified her and made her stir the past slightly.

He didn’t know on what terms that relationship ended, although Melody said that it was a one-time thing, he couldn’t get over the fact that, maybe, before having sex, she was in love with that man, and no matter how hard Melody tried to reassure him, until he saw what kind of man was the father of the

child Melody was carrying, and which he would gladly and happily raise as his own, he wouldn’t stop thinking about that man, with his hands on his wife’s body.

“Ready?” she asked him as the elevator beeped to open the doors leading to the parking garage of the building.

“I don’t think I’m ready, but I don’t have a choice either,” he replied.

“You always have a choice, even if you think there isn’t one, you will always have more than one choice, even if you think you only have one. I don’t want to torture you, let alone hurt our relationship, not after all we have tried and suffered to get this far, if you want to go up to the penthouse, I can work it all out. I want to ask him what he wants, and I’ll tell you myself, there’s no need to make a fuss about all this.”

She was right so he took a deep breath and let the air out, the man was a disturbance, he was trash and useless, well he was one hundred percent sure that, when Melody realized that she was pregnant by him, surely, she approached looking for his help and consolation as a young mother-to-be she, and he turned his back on her. That’s why he felt that rage rising from his feet to the blond strand of his hair, because he had extraordinarily strong and peculiar desires, desires to hit him, to hit the man who hurt Melody and left her alone.

“I’m all right. Whatever he wants with you, he’ll have it with me too. Besides, I’m not going to leave you alone with the man who got you pregnant and didn’t care if you ate or if you slept, or even if his child was okay.”

“It’s not that he didn’t care, it’s that he didn’t even care that I was pregnant, he just told me to get rid of him. To him, this baby I’m carrying here,” she placed her hands on her belly, “doesn’t exist, that’s why I don’t understand why he came.”

She hugged him for an instant wrapping her little arms around him and Timothy felt in heaven.

“Have I told you how much I love it when you hold me and give me all this affection?” he asked her as he hugged her back and the elevator doors finished opening.

“You’ve said it many times, but it never hurts to hear it again. I love when those words come out of your mouth.”

“Come on now. I need to have you all to myself again.”

They approached the gate leading to the parking lot, where Clark stood next to the man, he immediately knew was Richard.

Richard without a last name, as he didn’t know him yet.

“Good morning Mr. Giannato and Miss Melody, forgive me for keeping this gentleman here but...”

“Held against my will, as if I were some kind of criminal, can’t you see that’s my son’s mother in there?”

Melody immediately tensed up and her whole body spoke, not needing to use the words in her mouth.

“She’s my future wife anyway and this is the building where I live, the house where I live with my future wife. So, these are my rules, and I don’t care who you are or what relationship you’ve had with Melody, if you come into my space, you behave and do whatever I feel like and it seems best and safest.”

The man was a little shorter than Timothy, like his father and cousin, they were of tall, slender stock, characterized as imposing men, who made their presence known without needing to open their mouths.

The guy watched him with shrunken eyes and an angry look, he shoved his hands in the pockets of his worn jeans, his shoes were slightly dusty, and he was wearing a sweater, which had certainly seen better days.

“Mel! Won’t you talk? Won’t you say something?” Richard stared at Melody with his eyes fixed on her belly. “How’s my son?”

“Clark, you’re dismissed. Thank you for sticking to the rules,” he listened as Melody spoke relentlessly, but still gave Clark a sincere smile for doing his job.

“I’m for you, miss. It’s my pleasure, my pleasure that you feel safe and comfortable. I’ll be around if you need me,” he said this, as he gave one last glance at the insolent individual father of Melody’s baby, and then looked back at Timothy.

Timothy nodded so Clark understood that everything was in order and under control.

“What do you want Richard?” she asked without moving an inch from Timothy’s side.

“I wanted to see you. To know how you were doing,” he ducked his head, pretending to be embarrassed.

Timothy wasn’t buying it, though.

“We’re fine. Just fine without your help actually,” the assurance with which Melody said it amazed him and filled him with pride. “If that’s all you came for, I’m sorry you spent your time and money looking for me.”

His woman was a straight shooter and always truthful and telling it like it was.

No spin or tambourines.

No dabbing to avoid hurting the other.

She told it like it was.

“You left and no....”

“No,” she interrupted him, as she folded her arms. Timothy stayed by her side, as she kept silent.

The two of them needed to work things out, only if Melody needed him to, he was going to intervene.

He didn’t want her, for any reason, to feel that he was coercing her.

“You don’t want to know how we are. Because if you wanted to, if you cared, you wouldn’t have treated me the way you did when I told you I was pregnant. You turned your back on us!”

“Honey...”

“Don’t you dare call her that, if you want to leave with all your teeth in your mouth,” he couldn’t help but cut in.

To hear him call her that, to address her by such an affectionate and personal appellation, had almost given him a stomach ulcer.

“You can’t tell me what to do rich boy,” the man replied, as he clenched his jaw.

“It’s my house, my space, my woman. I think I can tell you and do whatever I want to as long as you’re on my property. So, I’m suggesting you behave yourself, address her by her name and keep your damn distance and respect.”

“What do you want Richard? How the hell did you find me?”

“I spoke to Lucy.”

“What do you want?” she asked again.

“I want to be involved in my son’s life.”

“My son,” she corrected. “He’s mine. The instant you told me to abort him because you didn’t care for him, that very instant, you lost the right to be his father.”

“Tell that to a judge,” the offended man growled, lifting his chin arrogantly.

“I’d tell him. But it’s not time yet. I have for sure that from the moment he’s born you won’t see him, because you’re not fit to be a father, and you’ re not worthy. You’re not going anywhere near my son, or my family.”

“I’m going to see him as many times as I want,” the man said without looking at Melody. Instead, raising his eyes at him, as if challenging him.

Then he understood.

“How much do you want?” he asked gesturing for Clark, to come over to them.

That was why he came and there was no doubt in his head, in his heart. His instinct told him, this man was only looking for an advantage over Melody, over the bond that weakly held them together and would keep them that way for the rest of their lives, even the three of them because he had no intention of walking away or splitting up with Melody, because in her he found a loyal partner, a partner who loved him no matter how much money there was in his bank account.

“What makes you think I want your money?” the man pretended to be offended and spoke louder than necessary.

Well, they were close enough, close enough to see that the man wore a beard more than a week old, his nails bitten and ragged and his eyes a little dilated and yellowed.

“Let’s stop with the bullshit, let’s set the record straight, you didn’t come here to act out your right as a father. You didn’t come here to tell Melody that you are interested in seeing your son, you came here

because you ran out of money and you found out that she is going to marry me, and you decided to take advantage.”

He spoke in a hurry and took two steps towards Richard who in turn took two steps back intimidated by his size and closeness.

“That’s nonsense, that’s stupid.... I didn’t come here to...”

“Shut up already and stop the fucking charade! You think I don’t know you? You think I’m still stupid enough to believe whatever you tell me?” this time it was Melody who intervened.

She placed a hand on Timothy’s shoulder to stop the urge to hit him.

She knew him even better than he knew himself. She noticed there, as she felt his warmth, that he had his fists clenched and was going to punch Richard at any moment.

“Is that how cynical you’ve become to think I’m only interested in money?” he muttered without taking his eyes off the threat that lay dormant in front of him. “Just because you’re marrying a guy with money doesn’t mean you have money. You’ll always be the same Melody who was short on attention and didn’t have any friends.”

Timothy was that if he blinked in a way that was wrong or offended Melody, he would come in for a beating no matter what happened next.

So, upon hearing such derogatory and offensive words, he squared his shoulders to hit him, but Melody held him back.

“What do you want? Do you want me to invite you for coffee? Do you want me to invite you to my house? Do you want to sit down and talk for a couple of hours about how the birth will be and about the things I need? Well, I don’t need anything, and I don’t want anything from you or anyone else! Because

I have everything I need, everything I want. Because I have the only one, I want and need in my life and that is this man who is here by my side. So, spare me the peroration and tell me immediately how much you want so you can leave us alone.”

Clark walked over, he had been listening to everything, checkbook in hand he handed it to Timothy along with a pen.

“Name your price and get out of our lives forever. Just know that you will not be allowed, for life, to go near Melody or our son ever again.”

The man seemed to think for a moment the reaction they were having, both, he and Melody, he looked at them both intermittently put his hands back in his pockets and shifted the weight of his body from one foot to the other, a movement that denoted how nervous he was at the moment.

“I want half a million dollars. Half a million and that bastard Melody has will be all yours. You can raise him any way you damn please, desire and wealth.”

Timothy couldn’t take it anymore, rage swept over him, blinding him completely. He lunged at Richard delivering a full blow to his face itself, the man fell to the floor stunned, not knowing what the hell had hit him. He heard Melody’s gasp, and turned to look at her, expecting to find disapproval and hatred in her gaze, knowing he acted on impulse and had gotten carried away in anger.

“Don’t you ever dare say again that my son is a bastard or that he’s a thing!” shouted Melody startling him. She walked over to him and held the hand with which he threw the punch at Richard, while she stroked it delicately, trying not to hurt him. “Now get the hell out of my house. We’ll see you in court when my son is born. You’re not getting a dime out of us. Get the hell out!” she yelled at him.

Clark walked over to the man and lifted him off the ground as if he weighed the same as a feather.

Richard was stunned.

His eye began to turn a dark shade of purple.

“I think the young lady has spoken enough. Allow me to open the door for you.”

Timothy slipped an arm around Melody’s shoulders and planted a kiss on the crown of her head.

“You were very brave. I’m sure he won’t bother us for a long while.” Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“I hope so, and if he does, we’ll take care of it,” she said, wrapping her arms around him. “Thank you for standing up for me today. I think it would have been better if I hadn’t come down alone.”

“No, tesoro, it was for the best. Now you know what to expect from that guy and we’ll know how to deal with him.”

“I love you Tim....” she whispered.

“I adore you more than life,” he replied.

Within minutes, Clark approached them and cleared his throat, to get their attention.

“You’re under strict orders not to let that man near Melody. Tell the others. Wherever you see him if he offends her, or mistreats her, you defend her.”

“That goes without saying, sir. With me your wife will always be safe.”

“Thank...” Melody went to utter the thank you, but her voice trailed off.

Timothy watched her turn pale.

“Mel... What’s wrong? What’s wrong?”

“It... it hurts...” she stammered. “It hurts.”

She put her hands on her belly and Timothy went cold for a moment.

“My baby...” she said looking up at him, as her body fainted, and he managed to reach her before she fell to the ground.

She had passed out from the pain.