Dinner at Vergers de Pommes

"What do you think?" Celeste asked her niece as she turned around and showed Zoraida the new dress she had finally chosen for her date that evening, feeling a bit anxious and nervous, and wanting to look good, nice, maybe sexy even, Celeste wasn't sure of the look she was going for anymore.

Glancing at the pile of clothes on the bed, Zora tried not to laugh, "Estás esplendida, tia," she said grinning, telling her aunt she looked amazing as Zora leant against the door jam, glass of white wine in hand, and observed her and the bedroom - which truthfully looked like a tornado had hit her closet and flung clothes everywhere... It was rather funny to see her normally self-assured aunt so worked up about a date. Roldan must be very special Zora mused while taking a sip of her wine.

"You think?" Celeste asked looking at herself in the mirror again.

"I know, not think." Zora said as she walked into the room and handed Celeste a pair of heels to go with the dress, "You look like a dream in that dress, he'd be blind not to see that," Zora stated as she handed Celeste her shoes.

Glancing gratefully at her niece, Celeste took her shoes and slipped them on. "Thanks for babysitting by the way."

"I am happy to do it, I - ..." here she faltered, unsure of what wanted to say, "I... estoy cansada de estar sola, y ..." Zora said switching to Spanish finding it easier to express herself. "I am tired of pushing people away," she admitted. Tomas's death had been a big eyeopener for her, and she began to realise just how much she had been pushing people away over the years.

"Oh, Zori, " Celeste said softly, slightly concerned, not expecting that from her, but glad also to hear it.

"It's okay, we can talk later." Zora shook her head, "You can tell me all about your date, and about this wonderful man who's swept you so obviously off your feet," Zora teased, pushing away her aunt's concern, not wanting to ruin her evening.

"Let's go downstairs, say goodnight to the kids," Zora said and gestured to her aunt she should be getting ready to leave soon.

@Kada

Zora actually heard the door first as Celeste was busy saying goodnight to Ebviony while telling Azure and Shale that they could stay up late if they wanted, but they needed to be in bed by midnight.

Looking at the time, she cleared her throat to let Celeste know Roldan was here, then went to open the front door to let her aunt have the extra moments to get ready.

"Good evening, Officer Drakenhardt," Zora said warmly, taking in the very handsome younger man as she opened the door. "My aunt is just getting ready, she'll be here in a second," she added, noticing the flowers and smiling inwardly at this. "Come ..." here Zora was interrupted by the sound of high heels.

"If you'll excuse me," Zora said with a grin, "Have a nice time by the way..." she added quickly before disappearing into the house.

"Roldan..." Celeste smiled when she saw him at the door, blushing suddenly when Zora walked by and whispered to her something in Spanish and winked before walking away and asking the kids who wanted to watch a movie and then play video games.

"Hi there," she said very happy to see him, taking in his outfit in and thinking he looked very handsome indeed, glancing down and seeing the flowers. He had also remembered what flowers she had liked. "For me?" she asked with a smiled.

Seeing Roldan's reaction, Celeste smiled somewhat shyly and in pleasure. She had hoped he'd like the dress, been a bit hesitant about wearing it though. It was a bit different to dresses she'd normally have chosen.

"Thank you, and yes the other flowers are quite wilted, I was going to toss them soon," she admitted now while accepting the flowers from him. She had in fact probably kept the first flowers longer than she should have. She had just found they were a nice reminder of him to have around.

"Let me give these to my niece and we can go," Celeste said as looked down at the bouquet for a second and then smelled them. They didn't have too much scent, but that was okay. They were still beautiful. Walking over to the kitchen, the sounds of the kids chattering and telling Zora about which games were best, made her smile. "Hey there, could you put these in water for me?" she said to Zora.

"Of course I can," Zora said as she got up from where she was and came over to take the bouquet from Celeste. "Sabes qué? Es un cielo**... I am really happy for you," Zora said as she looked at her aunt and then towards the door, "And don't rush home, we are fine here. Enjoy your evening, I sense he's a good man," Zora said having got zero bad vibes from him. (**You know what? He's a sweetheart. (Cielo is heaven btw).

"Thanks, Zori," Celeste said giving her niece a quick hug.

"Vete, go.." Zora laughed. "You can tell me more later."

Celeste then nodded, and went back to the door, grabbing a small clutch and wrap as she headed to the door where Roldan was still waiting. "All ready, shall we go?" she asked him as she stepped outside with him and closed the door behind her.

"You drove?" she then asked him questioningly as she spotted a very nice looking vehicle, but wasn't sure if it was his or not since there was someone in the car waiting, and this threw her off somewhat. However, it was the only vehicle on the street that she didn't quite recognise.

Taking his arm, Celeste walked towards the waiting car with him, surprised at the driver, butler, car comments. "Alex? Your brother? Has a butler?" she remarked somewhat awed by this. She was used to butlers and staff, the Del Bosque's all had them. Well, almost all, Zoraida didn't, which she now realised was out of the norm. But she hadn't expected Roldan to have them either, in fact, she hadn't thought he was from money for some reason. Hadn't actually clued into the Drakenhardt thing at all.

Getting into the car, holding on to Roldan's hand for support, Celeste greeted Marduk with a polite "Hello" and waited quietly as Roldan got in the car with her.

"I did not expect this, at all," she confessed as she looked at Roldan and then around her at the car and shook her head. "You keep surprising me, I expected, well, I don't know what I expected," she said truthfully, "but definitely not this," she admitted with a smile.

"No, not at all, you are fine," Celeste said reassuringly, turning her hand upwards and squeezing his gently when he placed his over hers. "I am also sort of from wealth, but my mother wasn't into the whole life of being a kept woman, mistress actually, and well, I grew up rather normally, if you call normal a four-bedroom apartment just off Saint-Germain-des-Pres," naming a rather exclusive neighbourhood in Paris.

"I guess I should actually tell you, I am a Del Bosque, just from the non-official, not quite magical line" she explained, not wanting to say bastard but, in effect, that was what she was.

"I really hope that's not a problem for you," she told him, knowing that some families were weird about purity and stuff, and she had no idea where the Drakenhardts fell regarding that.