Hello Romance readers and apologies for gate crashing your category with this final instalment of a thing that has so far lived in non-consent/reluctance.
To Andi and Stephano fans, I'm sorry about the delay to the arrival to this short piece, it should have come along a lot quicker than it did but tragedy struck in my small literary world.
My beloved beta reader Lexi (vmc123) suddenly passed away a few days after the final chapter of The Maid was posted. She was living with a chronic illness and her passing had always been a very real risk, still it came as a shock to me. Despite living on different continents we'd grown close in the short time I'd had to know her, we were in contact almost daily and she had become a very integral part of my writing process.
My initial thoughts were not to write the epilogue at all but to leave the story as it was; I felt it would be wrong to complete it without Lexi as really this was much her tale as it is mine, but on the other hand there are many lose ends left untied and eventually I decided it wasn't fair on you, the readers, or respectful to Lexi's memory to leave it at that. Instead as a final tribute to her I am using a suggestion she made; unlike the rest of the story -which was told from Andi's perspective, in this final part will be from Stephano's point of view.
At this rate the 'authors note' is going to be longer than the epilogue but I still have to thank the many friends I have made through Literotica for their unwavering support, I don't want to mention you all by name, because that would be very convoluted and I might forget someone, but you know who you are. The exception to this would have to be Apple_of_Eden whose friendship and support was indispensable to me in those first few weeks.
And of course thanks to misternik, who managed to do some editing, before I got impatient and uploaded it without giving him the chance to finish!
~
Stephano gazed out towards the horizon. He hadn't looked at the time yet, but it must have been early; the sun was low in the sky and the sand still felt cool beneath his feet. Sophia's excited cries reached him from where she played at the water's edge, and he watched her hop up and down as the cold water lapped at her feet.
She loved the sea. Every morning when he woke she would already be throwing her night clothes off, pulling on her swimming costume on and sprinting down to the beach as fast as she could run. Andrea would be stumbling out of bed and rushing to dress so she could follow her out into the bright morning, calling admonishments to her for going outside unaccompanied. Every time her words fell on deaf ears because each new morning yesterday's entreaties would be forgotten in Sophia's excitement to get back to the water.
It had been almost a year since Andrea had finished working at the hotel to start her PGC, and it had been surprisingly easy for him to arrange things so he could work more from London. The three of them had fallen into a comfortable routine, which would occasionally involve him collecting Sophia from afterschool club. Cautiously he entered this new unfamiliar world, filled with curious glances and unspoken questions. When Sophia saw him she would launch herself into his arms, presenting him with her latest artistic creations and photocopied letters on colourful paper and he found himself oddly touched by her enthusiastic welcome. Andrea would return everyday from university or her class placement, exhausted but her eyes were bright and she was always smiling. Often, he would cook them dinner as she regaled them both with stories about her young charges and the mischief they got up to or the funny things they would say.
Her apartment was too cramped for the three of them; the kitchen was tiny and it was damp in the poorly ventilated bathroom. She insisted it was fine and that she loved him being there, but he didn't want to overstay his welcome. He wanted to buy a property in London; a bigger place which they could all live in, so they could make a home together. As always, he was impatient to take it to the next level, to commit to her, to make their relationship more permanent, but when he broached the subject of moving he noticed Andrea seemed to withdraw a little. She didn't disagree but she wouldn't look at him either, instead her eyes seemed to skirt around the room as she fiddled with the hem of her jumper. He knew he was pushing her. He'd learned to read the signs and it was still too soon, she wasn't ready for that step yet.
He wondered why he was so impatient. What was it about her that affected him in this way? He'd never felt this urgency before. He had this yearning to take care of her, to take care of both of them, and it seemed to consume him. This had never happened to him before; normally he was the one who panicked about commitment, as soon as there was talk of moving in together, of marriage or children he would be the one to clam up or run away. He smiled to himself at the irony of it. Maybe he was just too used to always getting his own way? Andrea never made those kinds of demands of him. Instead she was fearful of giving up her independence, reluctant to allow herself to be looked after. It was hardly surprising given her history, he supposed. He scowled, as he always did when he thought about Joe and how he had walked out on a pregnant teenage Andrea. He realised he had tensed up. Unclenching his fists, he focused on a small boat that was bobbing up and down in a distant cove and tried to calm his breathing.
