Aurora's Italian Billionaire

Aurora was sitting in the library of her father. This was a place where she had always liked being. The smell of the mahogany wood racks and the shelves filled with books. Old and new volumes everything made her feel at ease. She felt at home here. After her nursery this was probably the only place that she really did like. Only she had the exclusive access to all the books in her father’s library.

Row after row of neatly lined up books with their spines facing outward, colour coded with dots, fiction section arranged in alphabetical order, young adults section, children's section with low shelves and floor cushions, comfortable leather arm chairs, tables for quiet study, muffled stillness, it was all of this that made her feel at peace in this huge mansion.

She was reading one of the books on the history of the Second World War. Her father told her the stories of the men in their families who had made their fortune during the war and they were the ones who had to uphold their family values and tradition. Aurora was the eldest daughter of Samuel Kingsley Lawrence and she knew that she had the responsibility of the entire family upon her. Aurora had two other younger sisters, Isabella and Esmeralda…their mother was English and one of the blue blooded families. So she had given her daughters names which would be helpful in maintaining their dignity and prestige in the upper echelons of the English society.

Isabella and Esmeralda were identical twins whose natures could not be more opposite to each other. But their stories we can come to later on.

Suddenly there was a commotion in the drawing room or the living room and Aurora came out of the library with the book in her hand. She was girl of eleven where her two sisters were seven years old.

Their father had come inside with a beautiful woman who was heavily pregnant. She was wearing a white dress, and there was a wreath on the top of her head. Samuel Lawrence was in a tuxedo with a white rose pinned to the lapel of his suit. The woman saw the girls and smiled at them.

“Ahhhh! My girls! Come here….meet your new mother Annabelle….we just got married today,” said their father and Isabella dropped the doll on the floor with a thud which she was carrying.

Aurora looked at Anabelle and found that she was extremely beautiful woman and was quite young. To her it did not seem that this was a marriage which she had whole heartedly supported by her choice. Rather it seemed forced on her. But before Aurora could go towards her and say anything, Esmeralda spoke out.

“It has not been two years since Mom has passed away and she has probably not even turned in her grave and you have brought a young bimbo in her place!”

Aurora gasped at the language spoken by her sister and she turned towards her and said,” You are going to go back to your room Esmeralda and you are not going to come down until you have decided to apologise for your behavior and the cheap language you have just uttered.”

When her sister started saying Aurora glared at her and said,” I know I am not Mom and I am not taking her place but never forget that I am your elder sister and until you are old enough, I am going to decide what is correct for you. And you are to behave accordingly.”

Samuel just looked at his eldest daughter and he smiled. His heart soared and chest filled up with pride that his daughter had really grown.

Esmeralda stomped her feet and ran upstairs while Aurora came forward towards the pregnant girl who was blushing beetroot red of embarrassment.

“Father, I think you should have at least given a heads up before marrying so that we would be ready,” said Aurora and then she turned towards the girl and smiled warmly,” I am Aurora Sophia Lawrence and you are welcome in your new home. You seem to be in a state when you should be resting and taking care of your little one. So come with me and I shall see that you are comfortable.”

The girl smiled at Aurora and she looked radiant.

“Thank you, really I did not want to impose on all of you like this and I understand that this looks really bad but trust me, it is not what it looks like,” said the girl as Aurora caught her hand and pressed it.

“Don’t worry. I understand that dear.”

That was the day that Aurora took the responsibility of keeping her family together which had cracked since her Mom passed away.