"Wow. How?" Alphonse was not calm at all, his heart was racing. The three women he had been searching for stood before him as one. "I am of Italian descent. My mother was Italian from Sicily. My middle name is Heidi and Colette was her middle name. I played around with D'amelio, which is my grandfather's name. It was fun using my alias for a while" Charlotte said with a lazy shrug as she played with her hat. "I never knew, I..." Alphonse stuttered "You never knew anything about me" Charlotte said in a very plain voice, not depicting emotion. "Oh, uh right" he nodded "Your hair. Is this... what did you...?" He pointed at her red hair. "Left it to grow out, I always dyed it before, I'm a natural redhead. Any more questions?" The chandelier above them flickered to a low light and Alphonse, not knowing what to say or having any more questions to ask, glanced up and at that moment he could not be more grateful for what he saw. “I met you under the mistletoe,” he said and looked ba

"Good morning to you all, Elena, please get me my coffee. The marketing team can go ahead with their presentation. Remember one more mistake and in trashing it, your only saving grace is today. Please proceed" Alphonse said and an intern started to set out the plans in front of him. The head of the marketing team stood up and went to the front of the projector. She turned down the lights and was about to begin before she stopped. "Don't start!" The small sing-song voice filled the room. All eyes turned to the source of the voice and Alphonse looked up from the presentation plans. She had been on his mind all these while but today was the last day he was expecting to see her, but she had a new habit of arriving when least expected of late. "Getting the party started without the host? That's corny Alphonse, you plan on betraying me again?" Charlotte said, smiling prettily as she came inside the boardroom, standing at the other end of the table, directly opposite Alphonse. "Charlot

"Happy married life man. Look at you now a husband and an expecting father. At least you have something to calm you down now" Alphonse said loudly and a little tipsy as he and Paul shook hands and hugged each other happily."I'm just blessed man, I am a very blessed man. My mother is with me, I've got a stable job, a happy family, a baby on the way and a Mrs Warner. I can't count my blessing enough" Paul said cheerily."I'm happy for you man" Alphonse said.It was Paul and Jillian's wedding today. Paul had married the nurse he had hired to take care of his mother and a romance story blossomed from there.His mother was happy welcoming guests and the whole hall was happy as they enjoyed the after party.Alphonse was so happy for Paul that he had taken way too much alcohol than he was supposed to and right now his blood was warm with excitement."So, my mother asked to give you this as a wedding gift since she could not be here." Alphonse said and handed him a wrapped box."Oh Hannah,

"Hey""Hey""What are you doing here?""I was not expecting to see you," they both said in unison."I think we both know the answer to our questions, " Alphonse said and Charlotte chuckled."Yeah," she said, smiling."I called after you left mine that morning but you never answered" Alphonse said and Charlotte nodded slowly."I was away in Greece, for business. With Dante" as she added the last part Alphonse nodded quickly, wishing he had not brought up that line of conversation."Right. No alcohol today?" He said as he pointed at her glass and both of them laughed, they both understood the inside joke."I do not want to end up in your bed again" Charlotte said and Alphonse laughed but something witty came to his mind at that exact moment."Yeah, imagine what Dante would say if he found out." He said and Charlotte almost choked on her wine."Shut up you fool" she said to him through gritted teeth."Say I tell him now, I walk up to him and say "sup man, did you know your girl was in my

Eight fifteen, the time read. Alphonse checked his wristwatch, she was fifteen minutes late, but that was typical of women so he sighed and came down from his car. She would be here any time now. He stood staring at the restaurant he and Charlotte used to frequent when she was with him, two years ago. One day he had decided to visit the local market for a little stroll and on his way home, he saw that the small restaurant was closing down. When he inquired, he was told the owner had lost his wife and was running bankrupt after clearing their mortgage since they had no children. Alphonse wasted no time in buying the place and offering the man times two of the money and clearing off the rest of his debts. He sighed and looked inside the restaurant he had renovated to his taste, on some days the food was free to the public and on the days it was not, he made sure every food item sold to people was very cheap so every one could afford it and the manger could pay the workers when he