Somewhere Only We Know

“So, what do you have planned thus far?” Isabella beamed as she sat down with Ariana. It had been a couple of days since she had apologized and she had been thrilled when Ariana had asked for her help with planning the wedding. It meant a lot to Isabella to be involved with her little girl’s wedding and she wanted to make it as wonderful as she could. Ariana deserved a day that she could look back on and smile about.

“Nothing” Ariana admitted with a little shrug.

“Nothing?” Isabella squeaked.

“Mama, we’ve not been engaged that long. Iker and I were planning on taking some time before we started making concrete plans” Ariana smiled. She was excited, the idea of planning a wedding was tempting to her, but she didn’t see the need to rush right into it. Iker and her had only been dating a matter of months and could afford to wait a little while before they started making definite plans.

“Well, have you two got a date in mind?” Isabella posed.

“Yes” Iker’s voice interjected as he padded into the room, three cups of tea balanced carefully in his hands “I was thinking January 2016” he mused.

Ariana tilted her head. “January?” she posed. It seemed a little short notice, they would have barely been dating a year then, but Iker seemed certain. He had that authoritative tone about his voice and Ariana knew better than to argue against it.

Iker smiled and sat at his fiancée’s side. “A year on from the best night of my life” he mused as he took hold of her hand softly, squeezing the pale extremity softly.

“We met in December” Ariana corrected.

“I know” Iker smiled “But I don’t want our wedding to be overshadowed by Christmas and New Year. I want it to be special” he added.

Ariana rolled her eyes as Isabella cooed. “You two are adorable” she enthused.

Iker chuckled. “I like to think we are” he mused as he wrapped his arm around Ariana’s shoulders.

Isabella smiled. “Your parents must be thrilled” she enthused as she set her notebook on the table. She doubted that they were going to get much work done and instead wanted to get to know the keeper that had stolen her daughter’s heart. She hadn’t spent much time with him since he and Ariana had started to date and she was curious. Iker was going to be family one day and if he had his way, it would be sooner rather than later.

Iker nodded. “Ma loves Ari. She always wanted a clever girl for me and was thrilled when I told her that I was seeing a doctor” he grinned.

Ariana nodded her head timidly. She had been terrified, meeting Carmen and Jose had scared the life out of her, but it had gone along a lot better than she had thought it would, so much so, she had used Carmen as a confidant whilst she and her own mother weren’t on speaking terms. “Seeing as you two are talking, would you mind terribly if I went and did a little work?” she mused. She doubted that they would do much planning, they still had over eight months until the date Iker had in mind, and she was sure her mother wanted to talk to Iker. They had never spent much time together and she could already see that her mother was curious. She clearly wanted to know more about the man her youngest daughter was going to marry.

Iker shook his head. “Of course not amor, your mother and I will be just fine” he enthused.

Ariana flashed him a timid smile before she pecked his lips, excusing herself from the room.

Isabella watched after her little girl before she flicked her eyes to Iker. “Iker, I want you to know that I am sorry for the way me and my husband behaved before when we tried to force Lucia onto Ariana. We’ve always had trouble with our older daughter and the only one who ever managed to get through to her was Ari. They were so cute as little girls and I thought that Ari was the best thing for her” she explained gently.

Iker nodded. “Your older daughter is a vicious girl Mrs Costa. I admit, I didn’t know her very well, but just seeing the emotional scars she had left on Ariana makes me sure that I can’t have her around. I want to make your youngest daughter very happy and I can’t do that with Lucia around. Ariana lives in her shadow and takes every word she says literally” he explained gently.

Isabella nodded. “I am sorry that I suggested that you were less important that Lucia to Ari” she explained “You’re quite easily the best thing that has ever happened to her and I am glad she stood up to me like she did. She’s never been so happy before and all of that is on you Iker, you’ve made my baby very happy and for that, I thank you” she smiled as she moved to take his hand.

Iker shook his head modestly. “It’s easy to be with Ari” he admitted with a grin “She makes being in love easy” he added.

“Do you think you two will ever have kids?” Isabella announced after a moment of silence.

Iker startled, but allowed a crooked grin to spill across his face. “I would like to. Two boys and a girl would be great” he admitted impishly. He had never even told Ariana about his desire to have children.

Isabella nodded. “Iker, I need to know that Ari is the one. She’s head over heels for you and I would hate to see this end in a mess. I don’t know how she would cope with losing someone like you from her life” she admitted shyly. Iker was the first, the only man that Ariana had ever loved, and Isabella dreaded to think about what could happen if Iker changed his mind about her. The keeper was what Ariana’s life had started to revolve around and Isabella doubted her daughter would know how to cope with losing him from her life. Ariana had never had to deal with a break up before.

Iker stared at the ground for a split second before he turned to look at his fiancée’s mother, his dark brown eye staring directly into hers as a firm expression filled his features. “Mrs Costa, Ariana is everything that I have ever dreamt of. She’s clever, attentive, shy and that is all without mention how beautiful and loving she is. I wake up every morning and the first thought on my mind is about her. I go to sleep at night thinking about her and about the future I hope we are going to have. Mrs Costa, there is no one I love more in this world than your daughter. She’s everything I want and more” he insisted, his voice authoritative as his eyes stared strongly into hers.

Isabella listened to his word and smiled. “You’re going to make a wonderful husband Iker” she giggled “Welcome to the family” she grinned. Iker returned her smile and leant over, pecking her cheek. “Thank you for having such a wonderful daughter” he smiled.