The bath was oddly less embarrassing, probably because Emma had her eyes closed to make me more comfortable. I was almost done, just to wash my hair was left when Jacey came back but stood at the other side of the bathroom door.
"Hurry up! They'll be here soon."
"In a minute." Emma answered. She quickly washed my hair, rinsed it up and gave me a towel before she finally opened her eyes.
"Better?" She asked with a smirk.
"Yes, thank you."
"Any century now!" Jacey said from the other side of the door.
A few minutes later, I was in my denim shorts as Emma helped me dry my hair.
"Remind me to add hairdryer and body lotion to your shopping list." I nodded to Emma; she had to borrow a hairdryer from one of the staff that lived in the mansion.
"They're here!" Jacey suddenly sprung up from her position on my bed.
"How can you tell? Do you hear voices?" She rolled her eyes at my questions.
"Will you just come already?" She grabbed my arm and we ran down the stairs, the same time the front door opened to reveal a much older looking Jacey. My Aunt Luciana.
"Claire!" She walked towards us, her hands were outstretched to welcome an embrace; I went in instantly.
"Oh love, I'm so happy to finally meet you."
"Me too, Aunt." She pulled away to look at me, brush my cheek and hug me again.
"I've waited so long to meet you. I'm glad you're alright."
"Lucy!" Dad was right behind me as he pulled Aunt Luciana in a side hug, burying a kiss in her hair.
"Hi Matt. Abigail!" Aunt Luciana finally get go of me as she and Abigail shared a really friendly hug. James and Reggie came down the stairs then.
Aunt Luciana didn't need an introduction before reaching for James to hug him and blow raspberries on his neck. He squeaked in laughter.
"Where's Grandma?" Jacey asked her Mom.
"Oh, who knows? She decided to use a different suite this time, we didn't wait to find out which one."
"We who?" Jacey smirked, clearly amused. Her mother looked around for a moment, somewhat confused.
"Antonio and I. Where is he?" She put James down and headed out, returning almost immediately with a teenage boy. He shared the same looks as his Mom and sister, same face features and same brown hair like his Mom; only Jacey had black hair. His expression was bored and drained; it was as if he was watching a very boring movie.
"Hi." He muttered but I heard him. It didn't matter though, someone else came in behind them. The moment I've played over and over in my head was finally happening. I was finally going to meet my Grandma.
She had an almost blank expression on her face but it quickly vanished when her eyes rested on me. Her dark brown hair and very blue eyes just like mine, her sharp eyes and her nose in the air; she looked sophisticated, not to mention her dress that looked like it could sponsor James education even up to college.
"What are you waiting for? Say hello to your grandma." Her voice was crisp and cool, it sent shivers down my spine.
"He--Hello." Too much for imagining that moment, I couldn't even speak properly.
"Don't be silly, child. Give me a hug! You haven't met me all your life and that's how you greet me?" I didn't need to be told twice. Something about her told me that I didn't want to be on her bad side. Her hug was just as I imagined; homey, warm and genuine.
"Let me look at you..." She pulled away instantly and turned me this way and that as she studied me.
"You're almost as tall as Abigail was when she was your age. You have your Dad's hair and my eyes; that's good. It's a relief you look nothing like..."
"Mom!" Dad snapped, interrupting her. She didn't bat an eyelash.
"Claire, why are you so skinny? Don't you eat? There's hardly any flesh on your body and what happened to your hands?" I looked down at my bandaged hands; we'd been careful not to get them wet.
"I had a little accident in the kitchen." She turned sharply at Dad, looking really angry.
"You let her into the kitchen? Don't you have enough staff to prepare meals?"
"Wait, it's not his fault. I was only making cookies for..."
"Claire, you should not do anything. Your Dad has hired people to do whatever you want. I'll have to get an insurance for your hands... and your legs; in fact, every part of you." Uhm, excuse me? What now?
"This is her first day with you after four years and you can't even take proper care of her. Look at her, she has been deprived for so long! Whatever that sl... woman couldn't do, you have to do it times a hundred." Everyone was silent, I couldn't even think of anything to say. Dad looked really pale as if sick; Abigail was standing too close to him as if she was holding him.
"Where is James? I hope he isn't missing a leg." Jacinta giggled, she was the only one who found that funny. James didn't come forward, in fact, he leaned closer to Reggie, looking scared. I couldn't blame him, Grandma was terrifying. Now I understood what Dad was saying; she loves her family... to a fault! She must have taken the hint that James wouldn't approach her, so she gave up and turned to me.
"I'll see you again before I return to my hotel." I nodded, still tongue-tied. She pressed a kiss to my forehead, then released me.
"Matthew, Luciana, a word please. Abigail you're welcome to join." With that, she walked off to a different room.
My eyes locked with Dad's, he looked worried; not to mention that he still looked pale.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"Yes, I'm fine." He walked towards the direction Grandma followed, Abigail was behind him. Aunt Luciana first patted me on the shoulder, as if assuring me everything will be okay, before she joined them.
I was left with Jacey, Antonio, Nanny Reggie and James.
"Nanny, can we go back now?" Reggie nodded to James question and they both went up to his room.
"That went well, right?" Jacey grinned from ear to ear. I couldn't understand what was amusing to her; everything was confusing to me. Grandma seemed so caring and... and...
"Terrifying?" I nodded to Jacey's suggestion.
"Terrifying. How can anyone..." I stopped immediately as I realized that I wasn't saying my thoughts out loud, yet Jacey just completed them for me.
God! What is she?!
MattI couldn't tell what my Mom was thinking; trying to call Doris names in front of the kids. Sometimes, she can be really hard to understand, it's no wonder James stayed away from her. Just when Claire's beginning to warm up to me, she wants to ruin it and take me back to square one again.I wasn't even one to vent my anger, I always leave the arguments and the harsh words to Luciana."Could you be any less impossible, Mom? What was that back there?" Luciana began as soon as we got into the green house. Abigail and I sat down at the tea table and watched Mom and Luciana yell at each other; it was getting old."Can't you at least buy a heart? It's barely two weeks since those kids lost their mother and now they are turning to their Dad's family for support, you want them to find out that you hate their mother? How terrible is that?""Luciana please be quiet, I'm not going to argue with you right now." That was new! Mom never misses
"How's that possible? He's so little.""Well, that's what the doctor said." Claire snapped at Abigail. I could see that it was a hard topic for her, hell; it was hard for me too."It just started one day; he had a fever so I went down to the pharmacy to get him some drugs, when I got back, Frank and Mom were fighting, right in front of him. When I took him away to his room, I noticed that he wasn't moving at all, it was as if he paused in time." She stopped and looked at me. "That was two years ago. The doctor said it's really rare for kids, yet here we are."Damn! Why does everything have to be so wrong? Schizophrenia? Isn't that just too much?"He's coming back." Claire muttered under her breath so that only we heard her. James blinked twice, then stretched."Claire!" He sounded cheerful. "There are so many pictures of you here and none of me.""Sorry, Buddy. It's just that Dad doesn't have any of your pictures.""What about t
ClaireAs much as Jacey couldn't stop talking, Antonio couldn't even say a word. All day, I've tried different ways to get him to talk to me but it was as if I was talking to a rock. He never responded and I couldn't take it personal because he didn't speak to anyone else either. Maybe it was his thing, the deep melancholy. But I couldn't give up on being great friends with him; it made more sense since he's only a few months older than me.The next morning, after I had gotten ready to leave for my old home, I decided to ask Antonio to join me. Even though I told my Dad I would go and was very stubborn about it, it spooked me out to go back there. I would have easily asked Jacey but she's just ten and she mentioned going somewhere with Grandma. Dad had insisted that I take a bodyguard or he'd ask some cops to escort me but I turned him down flat; I made him promise to let me do it myself.He would have kept pestering me if Abigail hadn't interve
I put my hands over my mouth to suppress the frightened cry that left my lips. I was looking at him, I was looking at my mother's killer. I pressed my eyes closed to calm myself down, and when I reopened them, Jason was already making his way towards Frank with a kitchen knife. I didn't know what was going on in his head; was he about to commit murder? I turned to Antonio, he had his eyes fixed on Jason but he made no attempt to stop him."Jason, stop!" I screamed, going after him. Frank opened his eyes immediately and in a flash, he went for the knife, fighting to get it out of Jason's grasp. I stopped in my tracks, unable to do anything. I turned to Antonio, only to find out that he was gone! Gone to where?! I just couldn't imagine Antonio running away, more like fleeing and leaving me to deal with the situation myself.Jason successfully pushed Frank away from him as he stood beside me, reaching for my hand."Clary? Who's this brat?" Frank was panting hard, m
MattIt was bad enough that I couldn't discourage Claire from going back to the murderer's house; I also had to deal with my jackass business partner Nathaniel, who just wouldn't stay away from Abigail. Don't get me wrong, I know she doesn't belong to me and she's a free woman; yet it's so annoying to see him all over her.Abigail doesn't even like him! I mean, she's definitely not entertaining his flirting.But, it would have been a whole lot better if she was speaking properly to me. Forget about speaking properly, she was clearly avoiding me; speaking formally to me, barely touching me. In fact, she only made physically contact with me when she pushed me out of Claire's room, every other time, she either looked away from me or spoke with monosyllables.I didn't know what her deal was and she also refused to tell me. I felt I did something wrong, but how do I apologise for something I don't even know about?
As expected, Abigail focused solely on James and I didn't get any chance to talk to her at all. I didn't want to say anything in front of James but I needed to know what her problem was. When she wouldn't give me even the tiniest attention, I left them alone and stayed in my study room burying myself in work.I called Antonio again and asked how Claire was doing. She was still unconscious. It worried me but since Antonio assured me she'll be fine, I had to wait for morning; no matter how tormenting it was. Usually, it's times like this I have Abigail beside me. Now, I'm alone and Abigail somehow hates me. We've never argued before so seriously, never. It felt as if we're just going around in circles.I couldn't remember doing anything wrong, so why did she want to break up? Why am I saying breakup? We're not dating, right? Do I want to date her though? Yeah, definitely. Forget about dating, I want to marry her. She's the only person I want by my side every second.
ClaireWhen I awoke, rays of sunlight were already peeking through the curtains. I sheepishly yawned and stretched on the bed, absentmindedly reaching for Antonio. He wasn't there."I might as well get up." I turned to the bedside clock, it was already past 7 am.I went to the bathroom to wash my face or maybe shower, but I didn't want to wear my old clothes on a clean body. Luckily for me, there were clean clothes on the bathroom sink with a sticky note on it. It wrote: 'It's a good thing we're the same size. You won't mind me lending you this, right? Tyler'. How sweet of him! I held up the tee-shirt and skinny jeans; definitely guy fashion but they would do. With little touch ups here and there, no one would guess they belonged to a guy.I took a quick bath and dressed up; I knotted the tee shirt at the side to fit me more and pulled up my hair in a loose ponytail. For all it's worth, I looked ready for a jog at the park.
I was so thankful when we pulled into my Dad's house. Dad stopped the car at the entrance and turned to me. "James believes you spent the night at your Uncle's because you missed Tyler. Nick dropped by with the stuff you got from..." He didn't finish that statement and turned to Antonio instead. "Lucy's here, she knows about yesterday. What did you see?" Antonio quickly put up a hand to his cheek, looking down. "She's in a bad mood, I'll definitely get slapped." "Then I guess I'll try to slow her down while you make a run for it." Dad said with a grin. I was like, totally confused. What were they talking about? "Too late, she's coming." I looked up at the entrance and Aunt Luciana was really coming towards us; James was behind her. That wasn't important; what I wanted to understand was, how could Antonio know that when he's been looking down?! "Seriously, Claire, not now." He snapped at me. Uhm, excuse me? "I didn't even say anything."