Tuscany Trip

"That's already arranged," Brian said. "I have an agenda that will give you two plently of time alone with each other. I think you need it. And Khaat needs to feel free again. Like she doesn't have to look over her shoulder. That's my job. I want you to enjoy your time w/ Ronata and let me look out for Khaat. I think I can handle it," he smiled. "I want to. It's important to me. She and Robert and Katherine are, basically, the only family I'm close to anymore. I just have sunk myself so far into my work that the only family i have now are them. And if anything happened to Khaat, I don't know what I would do."

steven pulled himself back at the sound of Brians voice talking he smiled "thats good she'll like that and its not good to do that , you need to balance both " he said and chukled "ow boy listen to me and all i have done is think about family over work " he sighed "I guess because I almost lost my first family " he said " I am guerssing you knoiw about the dragon icident that put me in a coma all those months ago, ewll my wife was killed , but what nobody knew was she was carrying out second child when she died, we'd just found out that morning she was pregnat, I guess it explains why im kinda over protective of Ro. right now" he sighed and sat back against the seat he didn't want to dwell an the past and he though he had put it behind him but now with Ro being the way he was he worried.

"I do," Brian said, "It was part of your dossier that Robert sent to me. I have to know what your weaknesses are so that I know where you might be tempted to 'slip' or miss the mark. If I don't know your vulnerabilities, you aren't very useful to me. You should know the drill. Any law enforcement agency needs to know their men's shortcomings so that they know how effective they may or may not be. I wasn't trying to pry into your private life, and that's why I've never brought it up. But until I had had the chance to test you, I didn't know whether I could rely on you or not. And I am hoping that you can prove to Robert that you can, as he said, keep your head in the game. I would not like to lose you to your being distracted."

steven looked at him "its why i choose to speak to you about it, so that i knew that you did and I would not worry about it as much" he smiled softly "don't worry Ro made it perficly clear no more cotten wool" he said and rubbed his jaw "god she can't half hit" he said now relaxing a little though his eyes still searched around for anything that could be a threat but seeing none at that time he sighed "at the moment the only distraction I have is to make sure Ro eats well all she's wanting at the moment is anything with mangos in " he said scrunching his nose up.

"Well, that's normal to a certain extent. Ronata may get over that if you start to expose her to other flavors that might interest her. The baby will crave other things that it needs for nourishment, so if you surround her with a wide variety of things that might interest her, you'll have a better chance of getting her to eat. You might have to experiment with taking her out to eat to a lot of different places until she finds someplace where she can almost always find something she enjoys eating.

"Khaat had that struggle with Abbey. Khaat lost so much weight during her pregnancy that Robert thought she was going to lose Abbey for sure. Robert had secretly been well prepared that she was actually going to lose Abbey at any given time. He was not surprised in the least when she delivered so early. He was deeply relieved that Abbey was far enough along that she could survive outside the womb.

"When it came to eating, Khaat was only interested, really, in either cheesecake or anything that Rob would prepare for her, which, apparently he didn't do as much of as anyone would have wanted. She also could not give up her french roast, which i know does not come as any surprise, but that didn't help her. As you remember, she was so paperthin after Abbey's delivery that she nearly died. I blame Rob for that. He was responsible for getting her pregnant, apparently made her all sorts of promises he didn't keep about being there for her, and she went through the pregnancy alone, basically. She spent most of her marriage to him grieving for him because he wasn't there, and she deserves better than that.

"I intend to be sure that beautiful woman does not ever go through that sort of heartbreak ever again. Don't think I haven't wanted to rip Rob Dent apart, because I have. I've wanted that more than I've ever said. I don't think Robert ever wanted to, really. I think he, basically, just knew Rob was too adolescent for Khaat and sort of mentally tossed him. He didn't think Rob was worth the energy.

"But I want Khaat's life to be filled with light and love and laughter, if that means I need to screen every man who dates her. And if she starts to fall again for some loser, I'm going to take her and run as far away from England as possible until she has him out of her system," he laughed.

Steven nodded and looked back at the stars his mind now clear and he was happy he had a plan of what he wanted to do in venice.


NEXT MORNING......


Ronata streached adn woke smiling as she felt Steven next to her she lightly kissed his cheek adn slipped out eh bed to the barthroom as she looked into teh mirror she smiled , washing she dressed adn headed for teh kitchen "first up again" she said smiling "got to brake this habit " she chuckled as she flicked on the kettle and waited she knew breakfast would be in awonderful place as such didn't move to make any but her craving got teh beter of her and she picked up a fresh mango biting into it as she sat waiting , she sighed as it's juice ran down her front to sock the white tee shirt she wore "ow drat" she said but knew she'd have time to change.

Brian heard Ronata moving in the kitchen. He knew she had gotten the clear impression she was the first one up, but actually, he had been up for hours. He had packed for him and for Khaat and had showered, shaved and dressed. He had reduce all their things so it fit into one shoulder bag that he could throw on his shoulder. He didn't want her to think about a thing.

He went to her room and saw her sleeping. She was relaxed this morning, and he was glad to see it. That was the way it should be. He browed her closet. He wanted her to be comfortable but he he also clearly knew what he wanted. He chose a beautiful sundress for her and a pretty pair of dressy sandals for her. It would be hot in Venice today, and he wanted her to be comfortable ande beautiful. He browsed the jewelry she had left in her jewelry box and found nothing suitable. So he went to his room and brought back a pair of gold hoops with emerals, to match the green stone necklace she wore.

One he set out what he would ask her to wear, he conjured one beautiful coral colored rose and went over to her and sat on the bed. he woke her slowly with a soft kiss on her forehead. She woke slowly, and he handed her the rose. She frowned sleepily.

"What's the occasion?" she yawned.

"I have a surprise for you today. Can I ask you to wear that beautiful dress just for me?" he said, brushing her hair from her face.

"Of course. Where are we going?"

"I'm not telling. How soon can you be dressed?"

"Um..20 minutes?" she asked.

"Perfect. I'll bring you coffee in the meantime."

"Okay."

She rose and showered and dressed. She did her hair in an updo to get it off her neck. She found his wonderful gift--the earrings. They were beautiful. She didn't know what he had in mind, but it obviously meant a lot to him, so she decided to just go along with it.


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Ronata moved back to the bedroom and chuckled at steven still sleeping slipping out her teeshirt she slipped on a plain white sundress and flat sandles she felt qabit more comfortable in them and knew venice would be hot that time of year , she took a deep breath as she rubbed her tummy and smiled as she suddenly saw Steven looking at her from the bed smiling.

"morning, you look beautiful " he said slipping from the bed and kissing her as he slipped his arm around her "Humm coffe tastes better on you " he grinned.

"well its ready Brians up I think he was up before me so now scoot and dress rember where we're having breackfast so smart" she said kissing him lightly adn moving away from him back to the living room.

Khaat came downstairs, and Brian smiled. "You are absolutely beautiful," he said.

"Will it do?" she asked.

"Absolutely," he said. "You'll be a princess everywhere we go."

"But what if I just want to be me?" she laughed.

"You will be. You'll be perfect. "

"Do I have time for more coffee?"

"No. We'll be late if we wait much longer," Brian smiled. Khaat looked over and saw his largest leather shoulder tote sitting on the sofa.

"Should I have packed something?" she asked.

"No. You're fine just as you are. Quit trying to find out what's going on. Let me surprise you.

"Can I at least get my purse?"

"No," he said, not willing to tell her he had it in his bag already. "Stop it. Relax. As soon as Steven and Ronata are ready, we'll go. Relax for a moment."

Ronata walked in to the living room and smiled "morning Stevens just dressing , nice dress Khaat " she said smiling at Brian knowing he had a hand in chooseing it for her.

Steven walked down wearing loose trousers and a light shirt his beard was trimmed and his hair brushed "morning" he said and smiled as he wraped his arms around Ronata "well , were ready" he said smiling at Brian as he waited for him to be ready.