Chapter 44

Faith sat in the backseat of the car, reliving the day in her head. Richie and the girls had woken her with breakfast in bed and then she had been whisked away to the spa where she had been waxed, plucked, buffed and polished to within an inch of her life. She had loved every minute of it. She had never been more relaxed.

She walked into the house and heard laughter coming from somewhere. Following the sound she found Richie and the girls on the living room floor playing Clue. They hadn't heard her come in so Faith watched from the doorway. She rested her hand on her still flat stomach, watching the present in front of her and thinking about what may come in the future. This could be what she would come home to everyday. Her and Hannah, Richie and Ava, a family. Faith smiled at the thought. Family. She had done her best with Hannah, but she needed a father figure. Her gaze settled on Richie and then shifted to Ava. He was a great dad. He would be a great dad to the little one she was carrying. She looked back over at Hannah, he had been wonderful with her the last few days. Faith thought back to the conversation she and Richie had had when they told the girls about the baby. Someday. She sighed and looked over at them again, maybe she wanted someday to be soon.

Pulling her thoughts back to the present, Faith moved into the room, "so, who's winning?" Three heads looked up at the sound of her voice. "Mom!" Hannah jumped up and hugged her mother. Faith laughed, "having fun baby?" Hannah pulled back, "yeah. You smell good." Faith laughed again, "thanks." Hannah sat back down. "Its my turn." Faith eyes moved to Ava. "Hi Ava, you're not letting your dad win are ya?" Ava smiled at her and then looked at Richie, "nope, we're kicking his butt." Faith had to laugh as she turned to Richie; he was doing his best to pout and not laugh. "They're cheating." She looked at the girls and then back at Richie and laughed, "yea, I don't think so. This is Hannah's favorite game. She hardly ever loses." Just as the words came out of Faith's mouth, Hannah voiced her guess, "Miss Scarlet in the Ballroom with the Revolver." She pulled the three cards out of the envelope and was right. "I win!" Faith nudged Richie, "told ya." Richie looked over at Hannah, feigning exasperation, "that's twice for you and Ava won once," he threw his hands up, "that's it, I'm done." They laughed as they picked up the game and the girls ran off to Ava's room.

Richie led Faith into the kitchen and she poured them each some iced tea. She turned from the refrigerator and found herself caught up in Richie's embrace. "Hi darlin' did you enjoy yourself today." This is how he had meant to greet her, not sitting on the floor with the girls. She hugged him and planted kisses up his neck and across his cheek. "It was fabulous. I felt like, I don't know, a princess or something. I haven't ever been treated like that before. Thank you." He pulled back slightly so he could look at her, "you're welcome darlin'. I'm glad you enjoyed yourself. He studied her face, her skin looked dewey fresh and her hair was different. "Did they cut your hair?" She nodded her head, "yea, a little and they added some highlights." He took a step back and held her hands at arms length and looked at her. He let go of her hands and motioned for her to turn around. When she was facing him once again he took her hands again, "I like it. It's very sexy." She looked up at him, "well enjoy it now, tomorrow it will be up or back off my face for work." He stroked her hands with his thumbs, noting their softness. "Well, how about you let me take you out and show you off?"

"You want to go out tonight?" She knew he only had one more night before he left again. She had figured he would want to stay home and spend time with Ava. "It's your birthday, I want to take you out." She was unsure, "what about the girls?" He let go of one of her hands and stroked her cheek, "okay my little worrier, Jenna is here tonight. She is going to make dinner for the girls and keep an eye on them for us. I made us reservations at 8, so what do you say?" He seemed to want to do this, "well since you have everything under control here, I guess I can't say no. I just have one question." He smiled at her, "what's that?" "Where are we going?"

Richie shook his head at her, "nope, not telling. It's a surprise." Faith balked at that, "well if I don't know where we are going, how am I supposed to know what to wear?" Richie led her out of the kitchen and up the stairs, "I took care of that too. Don't worry." She stopped on the stairs, "so I am just supposed to go along with this little escapade and not ask any questions?" Richie took her hand and tugged her up the last of the steps with a smile, "yup, got a problem with that?" She started to answer him but stopped when they stepped into his room.

Laying across the bed was a new dress and there was a shoe box next to it. Wordlessly Faith moved to the bed to take a closer look. The dress was pale peach in color and had skinny spaghetti straps. The bodice looked like it would fit close to the body and then the skirt floated away from the waist. She opened the shoe box and found a pair of metallic sandals that had a single strap across the top of the foot and one that came up around the back of the ankle. She hadn't even noticed, they were Manolos. She looked over at Richie, tears clouded her eyes, "its all beautiful Richie, you really didn't need to do this, but thank you."

He crossed the room to her, "You're welcome. I know I didn't need to do this, I wanted to. Besides, when I mentioned to the girls that I wanted to take you out they both said you needed a dress, so we went shopping. I have to tell you, your daughter has a flair for fashion." Faith laughed through her tears, "I know she does. She can put an outfit together better than I can some days."

Richie grabbed a tissue and wiped Faith's tears from her cheeks, "what do you say you put on the new dress and we go to dinner?" She stopped his hand and looked up at him, "you're spoiling me you know that right?" She leaned up and kissed him. He smiled at her, "I know. I told you I was going to. Didn't you believe me?" She shook her head, "I guess I should have." She took the tissue from him and wiped her nose. "Let's go to dinner."

While Richie was in the shower she got herself ready. She had just slipped on the dress when Richie came out of the bathroom. The dress that had looked just ordinary on the hanger, looked spectacular on Faith. The pale color against her tan and with her dark hair was amazing. Faith looked up and found him staring at her. "What?" He didn't say anything right away, he just looked at her. "Richie?" He brought his eyes up to hers, "you're stunning darlin'." She blushed as she smiled, "thank you." She sat and put on her shoes as Richie got dressed.

They said their goodnights to the girls and were on their way a short time later. They drove out the Pacific Coast Highway and again Faith asked were they were going. Richie took her hand "we're almost there, you'll see." When they pulled up to the valet at the BeauRivage Faith didn't know what to say. Richie got out of the car handed over his keys and went to help Faith out of the car. The expression on her face spoke volumes to him. "Surprise" he whispered to her as tucked her hand in his arm and they headed inside. Once inside they were led to a table on the Patio.

Richie ordered a glass of champagne for himself and poured just a splash into Faith's glass. She looked at him with a question, "champagne?" He picked up his glass, "we're celebrating, happy birthday darlin'." She clinked her glass with his, "thank you." She took a sip and then caught his gaze over the flickering candle light, "I love you Richie. Thank you for a birthday I won't soon forget." He reached across the table and took her hand. "I love you too darlin'." He watched as she looked around taking in the view of the ocean and all the plants and flowers on the Patio. While she was distracted he pulled a small box from his pocket and set it in front of her.

Faith turned her attention back to Richie, "it's so beautiful here. I always wanted to come here but never had the chance. Thank you so much." He squeezed her hand, "you're welcome darlin'." She reached for her water glass and noticed the box. Her eyes flew to Richie's "what's this?" He smiled at her, "open it." It was small enough to be a ring box but she didn't think it could be that. Could it? She didn't want to think about it. She swallowed and opened the box.