Chapter Nine ~*~ Italian Men singing Garbled tunes ~*~

Raya came out of the shower wearing a terrycloth robe, drying her long hair, when Orlando came in breathing hard and covered in mud. Apparently it was a part of one of Billy’s schemes, and it involved Anaka. Normally, anything involving the harm of her close friends had been something she would immediately put a stop to. But seeing as Anaka had caused enough trouble, she found this to be karmically correct.

Spending twenty minutes successfully making Orlando’s alibi as believable as possible, he left her lying in bed quite pleased with herself. She slept for an hour before Orlando’s return, showered again, and made herself look quite presentable. Apparently Orlando had something planned for that night.

Orlando came in looking exhausted, but he managed a smile as he kissed Raya on the lips. “Love, go wait for me in the car, I’ll be down in a moment. And do put on some Frank Sinatra.”

“Sinatra? We’re not going to pull a Titanic and have sex in the car are we?” Raya asked following him into the bathroom, giving him a suspicious look.

“Not unless you want to.” He grinned cheekily. “Now, love, let me wash up.” Raya shrugged uncharacteristically and adjusted her low rising jeans. “Don’t adjust the top, I like the top.” Orlando said, in regards to her strapped black corset as she exited the condo.

She sat in the car with her spiked heels tapping impatiently. Orlando came down looking casual in a pale blue polo and khakis. Frank Sinatra was playing quite loudly in the car when he came in. He smiled at her, kissing her on the cheek. He drove her in complete silence to her favorite New Zealand hang out, of course, an Indian restaurant, but very high class.

“Raya, when I’m with you, I find that I learn more about myself than before.” Orlando said, looking quite relaxed but his voice telling another story. Raya smiled looking pleased with herself. “And, I’ve known you, and loved you for so long now, that I think we need our relationship to move ahead.”

“We’re not moving in together are we? Because you know how I don’t think that’s very traditional.” Raya said, looking at him seriously.

He took her by the waist and pulled her close. “Raya, every waking moment that I’m not with you hurts. Right here.” He said, taking her hand and placing it on his chest. “I don’t know about you, but whenever I look at you, when you’re sleeping or when you’ve dressed yourself up, anytime, I think to myself ‘I’m really lucky to have a girl like this love me.’”

“Orlando, you’re going to make me cry, just pop the question before my mascara runs.” She said laughing slightly. She put her forehead on his chin. “God, you always manage to smell good, don’t you?”

Orlando kissed her forehead. “That’s one of many reasons why I love you, Raya. I love you so much that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, have kids, grow old together. I’d die for you.”

“Well please, don’t.” Raya said, dabbing at her eyes.

“So, I know you’re a stickler for formalities.” Orlando grinned. He bent down on one knee. “Will you, Raya Scott-Spencer, marry me?” Raya was speechless and nodded as Orlando put the beautiful ring on her slender figner.

Orlando got up off of his knees and smiled at her. She swatted at his chest with mock anger. “You could’ve at least told me to wear waterproof mascara!” Orlando only laughed as he went behind the front desk and popped in their favorite CD, which by the way, was not Frank Sinatra, but some other Italian men garbling almost drunkenly.

Their engagement party, ran long into the night and into the hours of the early morning, seeing as it doubled as the end of the reshoot for Fellowship of the Ring party. Blissful, the newly engaged couple flew to England as soon as possible to begin plans for the wedding.

Orlando sat in Raya’s Fulham living room, the entire coffee table covered with small platters of different wedding cakes. Raya came back in the room, with two rather large glasses of milk. “Okay…this seems to me that it’ll be my favorite part. This first cake, right here, vanilla marble swirl with a hint of cinnamon.”

After eating half the table worth of cake, Orlando sat back. “God, way too much cake today.” Raya was still going, and almost done, letting Orlando have little nibbles as he massaged his belly.

“No rest for the weary. Come on, indulge me Orlando. I’ve gained about two pounds just sitting here. Two pounds that will get sweated out after Pilates tomorrow, but no matter.” She replied. “We have…as disgusting as this may sound it’s actually quite good, vanilla-mango cake with a layer of mango sorbet.” She spoon fed it to a rather unwilling Orlando.

He thought for a moment. “I think, that we have a winner.”

“Good.” Raya replied, checking it off on her list. “Okay…I’ve scheduled our fittings for two weeks from now. We can lose a few inches, at least I can. My hips are humongous.”

“Good for childbearing.” Orlando said, placing his hands on them. “Fruitful for bearing many sons and daughters.”

“Oh ha ha.” Raya said making a face. “Don’t fall asleep just yet, we have to pick the flowers. Come now! Our wedding is in two months…”

“Can’t we just go with orchids?” Orlando said, stretching out onto the sofa.

“Well of course we’re going with orchids.” Raya said, finding an empty spot by his legs and sitting down as the table was cleared for the plants. “But there are so many orchids to choose from.”

“I’m starting to realize exactly why we didn’t get a planner.” Orlando said, grinning up at her.

Raya’s father and mother, having finally taken a vacation together, came in to their living room. “Raya! What have I told you about arranging the flowers!” Her mother shrieked.

“Oh, mother, relax.” Raya replied, with a calm voice. “It’s for our wedding.”

“Wedding? Good lord, you two are getting married?” Richard asked, suddenly beginning to sweat. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“You didn’t tell them?” Orlando asked, suddenly alarmed. Raya gave him a scornful look and tossed her dark brown curls in his direction.

“Daddy, I told you when I got back from New Zealand. At the Spencer dinner.” Raya replied, reading the different cards on each respective orchid.

“Oh right, I knew that.” Richard replied. “Did you, Claire?”

“Of course I did.” Claire said, taking much interest in the other flowers, sitting in the sofa opposite her daughter. Richard sat in a loveseat, muttering something to himself as he watched Claire and Raya go through the flowers idly chatting about which color combination the liked more.

“Well imagine if this color would be in the hair of the flower girl?” Raya asked.

“Oh that’s lovely, is pale pink your theme?” Claire asked. “It does wonders for your complexion, not that you’d be wearing pale pink, you will be wearing white won’t you?”

Orlando, not wanting to doze off while Raya was selecting something for their wedding, sat up and positioned himself behind her, arms around her waist as she went through the numbers of flowers. Richard cleared his throat. “Orlando, may I have a word?”

He was taken into the kitchen. “Now, I know that you and my Raya are very close, and that you love her dearly. But do remember that she is a daddy’s girl. And if something happens between you and her, erm… well, you know.”

“Mr. Spencer, I told Raya this myself. I told her that I’d die for her.” Orlando replied quite willingly. “I can assure you that I won’t let anything bad happen between us.”

Raya came into the kitchen with a very lovely arrangement of orchids. Kissing both her fiancé and her father, she turned to Orlando. “This is what mother and I have agreed on.” She placed it on the counter in between Richard and Orlando. “And Orlando, I know that you’ve been dying to practice your lines for Pirates of the Caribbean, but please, stop using the same one.”

Orlando grinned cheekily at Richard after Raya had left the room.

The first family dinner with Orlando took place that night. Claire, a very proper woman who never lived anywhere out of London, though traveled throughout all the corners of the globe, scowled at Orlando’s southern Kent accent. “So, Orlando, are your parents coming up from Kent? I’d be, er, pleased to meet them.”

“Mother, do take that tone out of your voice. It’s not very flattering.” Raya said flatly, before taking in a spoonful of her soup. “And they’re coming up tomorrow so that they can get fitted for their own custom dresses.”

“Dresses? What about your father, isn’t he coming?” Claire asked disdainfully. She didn’t seem to have touched her salad. Or her wine for that matter.

“He died when I was four.” Orlando said, swallowing his food. “But my mum and my sister Samantha will be coming up. They’ve been looking forward to meeting you.” He caught Raya’s eye and distinctly saw the formation of a smile

Dinner, thanks mainly to Richard and his amusing quotes, was better than Orlando expected. Taking off his polo as Raya undid her curls, he gave her a whimsical look, toying with the curls that were already loose. “What are we doing tomorrow? Can we finally relax?” He asked, wrapping his arms around her slender waist.

“Orlando, love,” Raya said with a smirk, “your mum and sis are coming in, remember? We talked about it at dinner.”

”Oh right.” He said, in his boxers, settling into his side of the bed. “I actually wasn’t listening.” His hair, now longer than usual, was less curly but dark nonetheless. Raya was just about to settle into bed with him when there was a knock on Raya’s bedroom door. “I’ll get it. Oh, hello Claire.”

“Why are you in Raya’s room? We’ve got plenty of rooms in this house, you can take one across the hall from Richard and myself.” Claire said with a sickeningly sweet honeyed voice.

“Mother, stop being so old-fashioned.” Raya said, putting on her robe, coming to Orlando’s side. “At least daddy doesn’t..”

“And don’t go running to your father. You and Orlando must learn to exercise control. At least, in an offhanded manner, will have earned the honor to wear white.” Claire said in a dignified manner.

Orlando, whose hand was in Raya’s, felt her grip tighten. “Like you did.” She snorted in an unladylike manner. “Mother, go off and get your nails done.”

“I will not have you talk to me like that!” Claire yelled. “Get him into his own proper room unless you want to kiss your trust fund goodbye!”

Raya reluctantly let go of Orlando’s hand. “Well if you excuse me, I have to wish him goodnight.” Raya retorted. Claire stomped off as Raya took a deep breath and became her composed self. “Sorry you had to see that, I don’t really enjoy my mother’s company. She’s more enjoyable once she’s had more martinis.”

Orlando smiled. “It’s nothing. I find your dad a much more charismatic person anyway.” He gave her a kiss. “Will Raya and Orlando survive this two month ordeal? Tune in next week to find out.”

“You need sleep.” Raya smiled, putting a hand on his face.

As Raya turned into her room, Orlando said suddenly “Oh, Billy and Dom are coming over too. Something about our extra cake slices.”