Chapter Thirty-One

 

Nobody seemed to react much when Anna rejoined the household. Nobody seemed all that surprised. For Anna, though, it was all very strange. All very surprising.

There had been a time, a long, long time, where she'd wanted nothing more than to be back here. When she'd wanted nothing more than to have the chance to be back in Mitch's life.

That time had passed. That time had been before she'd settled into her new life, with her new baby. It had even been before the contractions began, and that was a whole exciting time by itself.

The fact that she now had what she'd wanted so desperately through March, through April, through May… it was in her hands, now. It was completely within reach. Not only within reach. She had it.

It boggled the mind. She couldn't imagine having what she had now. And yet, she had it, nonetheless. The entire future that she'd hoped for, the future that for a long time she'd done nothing but dream about.

She smiled down at Ava. It was about time that she had another day with her daughter. It had been a long day of phone calls for Mitchell. He'd done it for her, though. He'd done exactly like he promised.

He said he'd get Ava back, and back she was. Right there. With her. In her arms, in her lap. Anna smiled down at the girl. Ava smiled back, almost totally unaware of the world around her, outside of her mother.

She gurgles happily and reaches out, and Anna scoops her up, holding the baby against her shoulder. There was nothing else that she'd ever wanted more. Nothing that she could possibly have asked for.

Everything she needed, everything she wanted, was right there in her arms. Smiling at her. Anna laid her head back and looked at the ceiling. Nothing was ever going to separate them again.

Not for… oh, say, twenty-two years. She's not going to let Ava start dating until she's forty, of course. But at twenty-two, she can start doing small things. Maybe a little part-time job. To prepare her for the outside world in little ways.

A soft giggle escapes Anna's lips. She doesn't want to stop herself this time. The entire idea that she had an open future ahead of her, that things aren't going to go completely wrong… it's all a big fantasy, and she's got it. Why shouldn't she laugh? Why shouldn't she be overwhelmed by the magnitude of it all?

Ava makes a little giggle of her own, on her Mom's shoulder. Anna pulls her back to look her in the face. She tries to look serious, but she can't keep the smile off her face.

Her daughter is back in her arms again.

She does a little dance with the baby girl, who laughs at the face that Anna does while she's moving the little one around. What a perfect little girl. What a perfect time. What a perfect day.

Nothing could possibly go wrong. No matter how wrong things could possibly go, they can't go wrong enough to ruin Anna's mood today. Not unless a bunch of armed men burst through the door and take the little girl away again.

Because that's what it would take. No more government people coming and Anna letting them take her. No more falling asleep and having the little bundle of joy taken from her. There's no way.

She's not going to let anything like that happen again. They're going to have to come in, and they're going to have to take Ava out of her hands. They're going to have to kill her. Nothing else is going to do the job. She's not going to let anything else happen. No matter what.

Mitch comes back in. He's got his phone to his ear. The thought flashes through Anna's head that maybe he shouldn't have come into the room with her and the baby, if he's on an important phone call. In either case, she can't exactly say anything.

After all, it would be rude to interrupt him if the call is important. If he wanted to be here with the baby on an unimportant call—if he was calling his Mom, for example, who…

Anna tries to remember. Is she in Italy right now? Or Spain? They're real close to each other, and she's never been to either. But Mrs. Queen is in one of them. She's been away for a long time, so it's easy to forget where she's at right now.

Anna certainly knows, though. They told her. She just can't remember. In either case, if he wants to be close to the baby, then he wouldn't like being told that he should leave. He'd be pretty upset about it, in fact. So she keeps her thoughts to herself. After all, it could be any number of things, and she'll have to keep her concerns to herself.

Ava gurgles in her arms, and then transitions seamlessly to whining and fussing. Anna doesn't need to look up to see Mitch's head whip over to them. He's not happy about the noise.

Important phone call, then. Not 'here, let me put the baby on the phone' type of call. Mitch knew that they were in the library. He knew it. He shouldn't have come in if he wanted privacy. If he wanted quiet.

Babies don't know about people wanting quiet when you're on a phone call. Mitch has to realize that. He couldn't possibly be that foolish. And yet, here he was.

Anna doesn't say any of that. If she does, it will only make it worse. She mouths, 'I'm sorry' and stands up from the sofa with Ava and leaves the room. It's no big deal, after all. She can afford to move around a little.

Besides, Ava's hungry. She ought to go to the bedroom now. It would be inconsiderate to just pull her breasts out in the middle of the house. The staff might see, after all. And then she'd have to have another lecture from Mitch.

He'd have to remind her how it is that his guests in the house act around the staff. They don't do silly things like that. Either carry a blanket—a blanket that she wasn't currently carrying—or go into private. It's much more polite that way.

Mitchell really can't stand it when people aren't polite. And for a while, Anna didn't have to worry about what Mitchell could or couldn't stand. Those times are gone, now.

She's got to keep all of that in mind, or it could turn into trouble.

Anna doesn't want any trouble. She doesn't want to have any fights. She just wants to be left alone. Alone with Ava. The rest of it doesn't matter. As long as she can have her daughter, not a whole lot else matters, so Mitch can get mad at her if he has to.

But otherwise, she'll follow his rules, because it's not hard to figure out that if she breaks them, it won't be 'talking-to's forever.

Eventually, when he really wants her to learn a lesson, he's going to do something that will make sure that she learns it, and it won't take long for a guy as smart as Mitch to figure out how to teach her that lesson.

Hell, never mind 'taking time.' He'd already taught her a valuable lesson. A lesson that she'd learned time and again, but one that she could always use a reminder on, no matter how many times she learned it.

She was too dumb to learn properly the first time, so she had to be reminded over and over. Eventually, maybe, if she was lucky, she'd finally learn her lesson, and it was a simple one.

Don't question Mitch.

It's just easier that way.