Chapter 156

“Hi, Daddy.  How’s Mama?”

Allegra smiled absently at Richie as he curled his hand over her thigh with an affectionate squeeze.  They were in the private lounge at the airport, awaiting their flight to Philadelphia.  It was the first minute she had to breathe in the last two weeks. 

Between Jon’s injury and wading through the Tweets and Facebook posts wishing him a speedy recovery, she’d barely had time to finish up her classes and get the next set underway.  She’d had to bypass a lot of sound checks and shows to keep on track, but the one thing she hadn’t missed was Baby’s debut at the New Meadowlands.  Richie started the show with it, giving Allegra a wink from the stage as he rapidly ran his hands over the neck in the high energy opener, “Raise Your Hands”. 

She frowned, wishing that the show had ended as well as it opened.  They’d all just about swallowed their tongues when Jon clutched at his calf during “Glad All Over”.  And, of course, now she was worrying about him all the time since he was being stubborn and not resting his leg enough – in her opinion anyway.  But, as he kept telling everyone, he was the boss. 

Michael Castanelli breathed a huge sigh.  “Better.  Finally.  It’s been the longest two weeks of my life, but I see the woman I’ve known for the last forty-five years coming back to me.  My biggest challenge now is finding a way to convince her to stay the full thirty days.  She thinks since she’s feeling better, she should come home.”

“I’m so, so glad to hear that she’s more like herself.  I’d like to see her when she’s feeling up to it, but please encourage her to finish her treatment.”

Her phone vibrated in her hand, signaling an incoming text message as her father assured her that he would – on both counts.

“Okay, Daddy, they’re getting ready to board our flight so I’m gonna go.  Give my love to Mama and I’ll call you if the baby decides to let us know if it’s a boy or a girl.”

“I’ll be anxiously awaiting the news,” her father said with a smile in his voice.  “I have to know whether to get football jerseys or cheerleading outfits.”

She laughed and rang off, tapping directly into her text messages.

“What’s up?” Richie asked at the immediate grin that consumed Allegra’s features as her fingers flew over the touch screen in reply to the mysterious message.

“Ava just sent me Bug’s middle name.”

Richie had been warmed that Allegra asked Ava to help name their baby, and his grin matched her own as he tried to take the phone from her.  “Lemme see.”

“No.”  She put as much distance between it and him as she could, at the same time flapping him away.  “I want to read it to you.” 

He grumbled, but stopped lunging for the phone and lifted his chin in grudging acquiescence. 

“For a boy, she picked…”  She knew he was going to get misty eyed over his baby girl’s choice.  “Adam, after her Poppy.”

And Richie didn’t disappoint her, blinking rapidly to clear his watery eyes.  “Is that okay with you?” he asked gruffly, clearing his throat.

With a soft smile and softer eyes, she cupped his cheek , brushing his mouth with a kiss.  “It’s more than okay, it’s perfect.”

He sniffed loudly and clearing his throat again.  “What if Bug is a girl?”

Allegra directed her attention back to the little screen.  “Well that one kind of threw me for a loop, so I asked her why she chose it.  Now that I know why, I think it’s perfect too.”

“Are you gonna tell me what it is?”

“Yes, Mr. Impatient, I am.”  Her index finger tapped him lightly on the chin.  “She picked Aurora.”

His brow furrowed and she could see he shared in her confusion.  “Okay, why?”

“And I quote ‘Well, you and Dad said you’re getting married at dawn because that time of day is special to you, but Dawn is a really boring name.  Since Bug will be three-fourths Italian I got online and looked up dawn in Italian.  Aurora.”

She lifted her eyes from the screen.  “You do know what an amazing young lady your daughter is, right?”

Richie pulled Allegra into a tight hug.  “Yeah, I do.  I’m glad you feel the same way.”

“So Caleb Adam and Faith Aurora?”

One masculine hand slid down to curl over the tiny human being protruding from his fiancee’s belly.  “Hear that Bug?  Your big sister finished naming you.  ‘Course you’ll always be Bug to Daddy.”

“That’s our flight,” she told him as the announcement came over the loudspeaker for first-class ticket holders to board.  They picked up their carryon bags and made their way toward the gate.  “And I think your time of calling the baby Bug is probably pretty limited.”

“Hey, I can embarrass my kids as long as I want.  It’s one of the perks of being a parent.”

She laughed as he put a palm at her back and ushered her down the jetway, onto the plane.

Four hours later, they were holding hands with carryon bags slung over their shoulders as they exited the plane.  Following the signs to ground transportation, they made their way toward the car that waited to whisk them away to Dr. Shively’s office.

“Richie, this way!”

Oh great.  Here we go again.

“Just smile, Sunshine.  They only want a few pictures,” he mumbled through his own practiced smile.

Turning her grimace into some semblance of good humor, Allegra did as he asked, nodding politely to the photographer.  She then murmured her thanks to the driver, who took their bags and stowed them in the trunk.

“Keeping it all in the family, Rich?” the voice persisted as its owner clicked away.  “Jon doesn’t approve of your girlfriends, so he offered up his cousin?”

Motherfucker. 

Allegra’s eyes flew wide and she whipped her head around to Richie, whose smile tightened.

He knew it was only a matter of time until they put the pieces together, but he thought they still had time.  Apparently their New York date had kicked the bloodhounds into action and they’d found Allegra’s identity. 

The question was, how much had they found out?  He glanced quickly to find that Allegra’s denim jacket hid her inconspicuous baby bump.  If they didn’t know yet, he wasn’t willingly handing that part of their lives over to the media circus.  After they were married would be soon enough.

“Happy coincidence, man,” he popped off with a skillful nonchalance.  He’d learned long ago to keep it blasé, even if they were pissing him off.  The implication that Jon had to pick his women definitely pissed him off.

It was time to get out of here.

He nudged Allegra toward the open back door of the town car, the driver patiently waiting to the side.  As she stepped from the curb, she placed her left hand on the door frame for stability in her low-heeled boots .

“Jesus, Rich.  Nice rock.  When’s the wedding?”

Allegra froze for an instant, and then crammed the tell-tale hand into her pocket. 

“Too late, Allegra,” the photographer taunted.  “Already got it.  Congratulations, though.  What’s it feel like to snag one of the most eligible bachelors in rock and roll?”

Silently swearing, Richie scrambled for the best way to spin their engagement to this guy.  He didn’t want any negative light cast on it, but hadn’t had time to craft a pat response.  Living with his head up his ass, evidently, he thought they had time before the media crap would start. 

Richie continued to push her into the vehicle, but Allegra resisted.  “Can I say something to him?” she whispered, cutting into his mental frenzy.

He hesitated.  It wasn’t that he was trying to keep her under a gag order, but she was still a babe in the woods when it came to these guys.  She didn’t yet realize that anything she said would ultimately be taken out of context by someone at some point. 

Then again, she had to get used to these encounters.  Eventually, she’d have to find something that worked for her when dealing with the media. 

God knew he didn’t have anything better to say…

He nodded and stepped back so that she could turn toward the photographer with her dazzling Bongiovi smile in place.

“You have me at a disadvantage, I’m afraid,” she spoke to the guy, stepping back onto the sidewalk as she did so.  “You know my name, but I don’t know yours.”

The short, stocky, balding photographer lowered his camera with a look of amusement.  Richie had seen him around, but didn’t know his name either.

“Paul.  Paul Harding.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Paul.”  She extended her hand and he wrapped it up in his meaty one for a brief clasp.  Propping that same hand on her hip, she quirked an eyebrow at him.  “Now Paul, I’m just wondering why you’d ask me that question, automatically assuming that I was the one doing the snagging.  You don’t think you might need to ask Richie instead?”

The photographer’s bark of laughter caused heads to turn as far away as fifty feet, and onlookers began to take an interest.  Richie watched them try to make a celebrity connection to the woman standing at his side, chatting so casually with the paparazzi.  They were coming up empty, from the varied looks of bewilderment they were wearing.

Richie covered his mouth to hide a grin behind his hand. 

“My apologies,” Paul offered through his laughter, turning to Richie.  “Rich, how does it feel to snag such a beautiful and witty woman?”

Allegra beamed at the question and nudged Richie with her elbow.  “Answer the man, honey.”

“Fantastic, man.  Fan-freaking-tastic.”  With that, he handed Allegra into the car, unable to miss the smug look of satisfaction on her face. 

“See ya around, Paul,” she called as the driver closed them in the darkened back seat. 

Allegra leaned back against the cushiony fabric seat with a sigh and a smile.  He looked down his nose at her until she finally said, “What?  Did I screw it up that bad?”

“No.  You didn’t screw it up at all.  As a matter of fact, I couldn’t be more impressed.  I’m just trying to decide if you’re real or not.”

She wrinkled her nose, eyebrows knitting together in consternation.  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It kinda seems like you’re out of some dream or something.  A real woman couldn’t possibly be so flawless.”

He was only half-kidding.  One brief encounter with the paparazzi under her belt and she was already befriending and dazzling them?  It was nothing short of astounding.

She snorted, pulling his arm around her shoulders so that she could cuddle up against his side.  “Flawless, huh?  I’ll remind you of that the next time you’re trying to stuff a credit card down my throat.”

“Oh yeah.”  He sighed, adding his other arm so that she could use him as a human Snuggie.  “I forgot that you’re truly an impossible bitch.”

Her giggles echoed through the car and he slipped a hand down over her belly.

“But you’re my impossible bitch, so that makes me one lucky bastard.”