"Sari, forgive me for how I spoke to you earlier, I have no right to interfere in your life or pressure you to make a decision you don't consider appropriate, will you forgive me?" She got up from the couch with Tristan in her arms and smiled at me from ear to ear, as she always did when she wanted to apologize.
I looked at her with a raised eyebrow and took Tristan carefully, making sure not to wake him up, earning her confused and sad gaze. I was sure she thought I was so upset that I couldn't forgive her, but I would never be mad enough at her to not do so.
"It's fine, I forgive you, but with one condition," I said, gathering Tristan's and my things to leave with my parents for lunch, after finishing talking with Abby.
"You tell me, should I kneel? Oh, I can't, I'm wearing a skirt. Do you want me to be your slave? Well, not that, it would ruin my manicure. It doesn't matter, tell me, I'll do whatever."
I suppressed a laugh as I saw her acting like the refined girl she had always been.
"You're going to travel with me," I said without a hint of humor on my face, although inside, I was dying of laughter at Abby's expression when I told her that.
"Really? Wow, that's much better than kneeling and being your slave. A girls' trip! You don't know how much I've been waiting for this invitation. How long has it been since we last traveled together? Oh yes, since we were seventeen, remember? When we visited New York for the last time and I made you go to an illegal car race and your bodyguard kicked us out after half an hour." Abby laughed, recalling our trip thirteen years ago, and I couldn't hold back the laughter, just remembering that night and the furious face of my bodyguard for us having escaped from him.
Thank goodness we managed to convince him with our best innocent face not to tell our parents about our little mischief, although it was Abby's idea. That was where I saw Alexander for the first time... Forget about memories.
"Those were the days, too bad we couldn't even see the race that was about to start."
I rocked Tristan, who squirmed in my arms because of our laughter, and he settled down again, falling back asleep.
"Well, what do you think about going back to the last place we traveled together?" I asked in a low voice, and Abby looked at me with a puzzled expression. Her face told me she didn't understand a word of what I was saying or what I meant.
"You mean, go back? How? Go to the illegal car races in New York?" She responded with another question and I raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to figure out the answer herself. She spoke quietly to herself as if she were trying to find some logic in attending a place like that at this stage of our lives, then her eyes widened and she looked at me in disbelief.
"No... no... Don't tell me, tell me you're joking me." She whispered, not wanting to wake up Tristan, and I knew she had found the answer.
"I'm joking you." I whispered to her amused, obeying her request.
"Sarah, I'm not in the mood for games, don't tell me... Damn. Don't tell me you're going to New York Fashion Week, because I swear I'll faint." She shouted again in a low voice and fanned her face with her hand in the most dramatic way.
"Well, no. I'm not going. We are going to New York Fashion Week because you're going with me, even if I have to drag you. " I corrected her words, and she ran to the couch to grab a cushion, put it on her face, and let out a muffled scream.
I laughed silently at Abby's exaggerated reaction and looked at Tristan's relaxed face while he slept, holding back the laughter that was about to escape.
"You're going with me too, my love." I whispered to my son as if he could hear me and placed a kiss on his forehead.
"Wait, wait, stop. Hold your cowboy horse." I looked at her when she calmed down, although her cheeks were still flushed.
"We're going to New York, right?" She asked, and I nodded in response.
"To Fashion Week, right?"
I nodded again in answer, and her calm gaze changed to one of concern.
"Okay, everything's fine until there. But have you lost your mind?! Going back to New York, and specifically to such a fashion event, is a sure encounter with the unspeakable, are you aware of that?" She asked exasperated, and I understood her concern perfectly well because it was mine too.
In the same way, I reacted when my father gave me the news, but after speaking alone, where he expressed his point of view and how much they trusted me and what he was willing to do for his family, the security and courage that I lost for a few seconds came back when I panicked just hearing him say:
-We will travel to New York.
It wasn't the best idea in the world to go back to New York, but it was a great opportunity to make myself known, not just as Leonardo's daughter, but for my potential.
"I am very aware of that, and believe me when I tell you that I care very little about Alexander. I am going for business reasons and on behalf of Doinel, the Lancasters are irrelevant, they are strangers to me, and if they dare approach me or my son, they will meet the Sarah they never had a chance to know." I said, determined and feeling stronger and stronger to confront this situation.
I was going to prove to myself that I am immune to the Lancasters.
"I'll go to the end of the world with you if you promise me that you will give a taste of their own medicine to Mrs. Lancaster, that snake. I hate her, she's like a punch in the stomach." Abby said with evident disdain towards Amelia, and I let out a silent giggle.
Although I would love to get back at Amelia and her daughter for everything they had done to me, I preferred to avoid their presence at all costs. They were the last people I wanted to see in my life. However, if they happened to cross my path, they would be in for a big surprise if they continued to think that I was still the passive and submissive Sarah.
"If they come across me, they will regret it. I will have no mercy for anyone."