The Italian's Baby

CHAPTER 1

"Paul, table two needs three hot chocolates and one black coffee." Lilianna instructed as she put some bills into the cash register.

"On it." He said and walked to the coffee machine.

Lilianna pulled a piece of her brown curls behind her ear and counted the money that the customer gave her.

After helping a few customers, she decided to take a break. She got herself a cup of hot chocolate and sat at a table by the window.

Many people have said that she is a very nice person. Many said that because they knew her mother. Aria named her only daughter, Lilianna Emily Guzman. Now at the age of 24 she owns a bookstore and cafe all in one building.

Her love for books made her open a bookstore. Many people like warm places that offer food so half of the building is an antic styled bookstore and the other half is a warm light modernized cafe.

She named it Aria, after her mother. She unfortunately died two years ago of breast cancer. Lilianna's only living parent is her father and he is ill with lung cancer due to many years of smoking tobacco.

She sighed and looked down at her now half empty mug. She pushed her long brown curls that she got from her mother, except her's were much longer and looked like the richest coco bean. She got brown eyes from her father, though now his color has faded and is nearly filled with grey and pain. She stood at an average height of "5'7".

A few days back, she had decided to cut her hair so now it reaches just below her bra strap and fortunately its growing back fast.

She pulled the sleeves of her long cotton sweater farther down her arms and pulled her arms closer to her body for warmth.

The rain always makes everything seem cold which isn't always a good thing because it at least rains every day and when winter comes, it gets even colder at below zero.

Her break soon ended, and she decided to walk around the bookstore. It was styled like a study in the 80's. It had a fire place in a far corner away from the shelves and books with big plush chairs for people to read on if they didn't want to read in the cafe. There were rows and rows of shelves filled with all kinds of books and so were the walls.

Tons of people come here to read and relax. Her cafe was known for making the warmest hot drinks and little munchies.

She fixed a few of the books that were left on a table. She practically had to take college classes in categorizing and other stuff in order to be able to make this bookstore.

Even though she was the owner of all of this, she still liked to help and make sure everything is running good. It's not like she has other better stuff to do. She has friends, but her closet and practically the only one she can actually call a friend and family is away on a business trip with her agency.

Five o'clock soon came by which was closing time, she let all of her employees leave and she busied herself by counting the day's inventory and tomorrow's equipment.

She made sure the cups were clean, the books were put back in their right places, left over cupcakes were put in the fridge for the employees, and the cash register was emptied. Her father always had a problem with banks so to please him, Lilianna had a safety box installed into her office which was hidden behind a book shelf with novels and biographies on it.

The safety box contained over half a thousand dollars which was divided to the employees and they got a good amount it also went to, tax, bills, books and equipment, and also her father's care money.

After she put today's money in it, she closed it and made herself a cup of Jasmine tea and sat by the fire place with audible playing Misery By Stephen King.

~~~~

Lilianna bolted up in her seat and realized that she had fallen asleep. It was around nine, so she turned off the radio and put out the fire. She grabbed her stuff for the night and set the alarm system. She looked around before closing the door.

It was raining cats and dogs, so she opened a small umbrella that she kept in her bag and hurried to her '67 mustang.

Her father was a car lover. He would be hired to fix cars and drive them. He passed his love for cars to his daughter since he didn't have a son.

She drove just below the speed limit as she got closer to the turn she always took for her house. There was a sign at the side of the road that she could barely see due to the heavy rain.

She was finally able to read the sign once she pulled up next to it. It said the road was closed because some rocks had fallen onto the road and wouldn't be removed until tomorrow.

She turned the car around and took another road which a detour was but would take her home. It became harder to see the road since it started to rain harder and her window shield wipers weren't going fast enough.

Suddenly, a bright figure appeared from afar and it seemed to be getting closer to her. She squinted her eyes and tried to make out the object. The closer it got the object began to come into focus. That was when she realized it was a car on fire and was speeding towards her.

She gasped and her foot accidentally came down the accelerator speeding the car up. She forced the wheels to the right and she felt the car scrape the burning car before she drove into a small field surrounded by trees. She slammed her foot on the brakes before the car went any further and sat frozen in the seat.

Once her breathing and heartbeat was back to normal, she glanced back to see that the car hit into a levee. She got out of the car and didn't bother covering herself as the rain fell on her. She jogged over to the car and it was still on fire even with the heavy rain.

As she got closer, she could feel the heat of the fire, but didn't stop. She investigated the passenger's window and saw two people in the front seat. A man was in the driver's seat with his head against the wheel and the woman's head was laid back and blood oozed out of her nose and mouth.

She took a quick glance to the back and noticed a baby car seat. She tried to look closer and saw something bundled up in a blanket. She tried opening one of the doors, but it was still too hot due to the growing fire that stood on the hood and top of the car.

Lilianna ran back to her car and opened the trunk and pulled out a iron bar. As she ran back, she stumbled a bit scared of what might happen.

What if the car blows which it will since the fire was still very much alive and was on the hood?

Her mind screamed at her to go and try and save them, especially the baby.

She smashed the back window and fumbled with the car door since it was hot, but the door finally opened, and she leaned and picked up the baby. She didn't waste time in putting the baby in the back seat of her car and run back to save the two people in front. Just as she got closer the car blew up sending her to the floor.

She put her hand over her face for protection and watched as pieces of metal flew back down from the sky. She got up and walked back to her car and decided to call the police. It would take them a few minutes to reach her, so she sat down and picked up the baby.

She held the baby in her arms and felt it squirm. She pulled the blanket down from its face and realized that it was a baby girl and she was awake. She stared up at Lilianna with big emerald eyes that seemed to have specks of blue in it, a mop of dark brown curly hair. She had a milky skin tone, and she seemed to be older than a year.

She stuck her small fist into her mouth and stared up at her. In the distance Lilianna could hear sirens, but her focus was on the little baby that nearly died in a car explosion.