Chapter 3 His Family

Penelope

Throughout the drive, all I could think of was the tears on Oliver's sad face as we said goodbyes to each other. It ached my heart to be the reason for my brother's tears, but I comforted myself with the fact that he wouldn't be able to bear the loss of our grandpa neither would I so I had no choice but to do what needed to be done. 

The drive was silent all through none of us spoke to each other, even though I was glad I was starting to think that aside from the fact that Tyrell was disabled, he was also mute or maybe was he just a man of few words or rather no words at all. I could only hope that it would continue that way at least then I won't have to deal with talking to him.

"Ma'am, are you okay?" The man who was driving asked making me cock my head and I noticed he was looking at me through the rear mirror. 

Ma'am? Why was he calling me that? I realised it was going to be rude to not give him a response so I did. 

"I'm okay. And please don't call me ma'am, my name is Penelope. What's yours?" Not that I cared to know his name. I just wanted to ask so he wouldn't feel like I wasn't interested in talking to him. 

"Luke ma'am. I'm sorry but I'm sure my boss wouldn't like me addressing you by your name."  

Boss, that should be Tyrell. I glanced at him hoping he would say something but his eyes were fixed on his phone and he didn't bother to turn his attention to either of us. He just acted like he couldn't even hear us.  

That was the last conversation in the car until we reached our destination. The enormous gate opened as soon as we approached it, it was automatic.

My jaw dropped and my eyes widened in surprise when I beheld the huge beautiful mansion in front of me after we drove in. Didn't Oliver say that this man and his family were bankrupt or were we at the wrong address? That wasn't possible. To be frank, I knew no bankrupt person could afford this kind of house only a super wealthy person could afford this. I drifted out of my thoughts when I realised that Luke had turned off the car and opened the side of the back seat where Tyrell was and was now helping him out. 

I reached for the door handle opened the car and got out taking a better few of the mansion which was painted in white. It fascinated me even more. Each corner of the walls was beautifully carved, and the designs were fabulous making the place look like a fairyland. 

A thought crossed my mind and I scolded myself for it, I was thinking about what Mireya was going to say when she saw a house like that since she was always bragging that our house was the most beautiful in the city. My Dad was wealthy, I mean he was the CEO of the biggest Company in the city yet I lived like a pauper.

"Let's go, ma'am," Luke spoke up and got a hold of myself jolting out of my reverie. I almost looked away in embarrassment when I realised they had been watching me all this while I was awestruck by the beauty of the mansion, but I ignored it after all it wasn't like I committed a crime but the look in Tyrell's eyes made me feel otherwise. Good thing I couldn't even see his facial expression so I wouldn't be even more embarrassed.  

I nodded. Tyrell started to wheel himself and I noticed Luke didn't try to help him even earlier when we were leaving my house he wheeled himself out. Luke walked behind him and I trailed after them. 

When we finally got to the porch, I saw a beautiful young lady standing there her face full of smiles as she saw us. She had brown hair that matched her big doe eyes and small lips that complimented her oval face. 

"Welcome, back Tyrell. Luke."  

Luke answered with a smile but Tyrell yet again said nothing but the girl appeared unbothered by it. Her eyes shifted to me and her smile widened, she took steps toward me and before I knew it, she hugged me. I was taken aback. She noticed my stiffness and pulled away still smiling. 

"I'm sorry if you were comfortable with the hug. I've been waiting to meet you and I'm really excited to welcome you to our family." She rushed her words with happiness laced in them without pausing, she finally stopped and tapped herself on the head before she continued. 

"I'm Layla, Tyrell's cousin. Nice to meet you." she extended her hand for me to shake but before I could take it, the door in front of us opened and a woman stepped in with an older man by her side. 

"What are you doing, Layla? Come here." The woman cautioned with a frown on her face but Layla just smiled. 

"I was just welcoming my sister-in-law, Mom." 

The woman was her mother no wonder they had similar facial features except that the woman's had black hair.

 Penelope withdrew her hand and then went to stand in between her mother and the man. 

"Grandfather, can you believe how gorgeous your granddaughter-in-law is in person?" She giggled holding onto the man's hand and he smiled. 

"She is very gorgeous." 

Going forward to greet them was the right thing to do so I decided to do it. I couldn't afford to give them a bad first impression of myself.  

"Good evening sir. Good evening ma'am." I greeted them when I got closer.

"Sir? Please don't call me that, just call me Grandfather. You are a part of our family now." The man smiled putting a hand on my shoulder. 

"OK, sir... Grand...father."  

"Don't worry, Penelope. Why don't we just take this slowly? You'll get used to it with time." He chuckled patting my shoulder lightly before taking his hand off. 

This man reminded me of my grandpa, and they had one thing in common, both of them loved smiling. I could say it was a thing in Tyrell's family his cousin and grandfather loved to smile but I couldnt say the same for Layla's mom who kept staring at me with frosty eyes but she faked a smile whenever I caught her glaring at me, and I was yet to see Tyrell's face to know if he smiled or not. 

"You are welcome." Layla's mom spoke for the first time. Her lips curved into a smile but I knew very well that it was a forced one, the woman didn't seem to like me very much unlike her daughter. Seemed like I had gotten another Avery which I had to deal with, but that was the least of my problems. 

"Thank you, ma'am." I smiled back at her.  

"Luke, welcome back." Tyrell's grandfather mumbled. 

"Good evening grandfather," Luke greeted with a smile. 

"Ty," Tyrell's grandfather called moving his gaze to Tyrell. 

"Good evening grandfather. For a moment I thought I was invisible," Tyrell answered, his voice deep and thick. 

Finally, he spoke! So he could speak.  

His grandfather laughed taking his words as a joke. 

"I was just so excited welcoming your wife, my granddaughter-in-law, don't blame me." 

Tyrell didn't say anything again he just went back to being mute and then he looked at me, there was a look in his eyes that I couldn't decipher, but he averted his gaze from me and that stopped me from thinking about it. 

We entered the house and the interior was even more beautiful. One thing I deduced was the part of the information about Tyrell's family being bankrupt was a huge lie. Or did going bankrupt now mean being insanely rich?

Tyrell's grandfather asked a maid to help me take my suitcase which Luke had brought in and then show me to my room. She took the lead while I trailed behind her till she stopped in front of a room and opened it. 

"Ma'am, come in. This is your room and your wardrobe. I'll help you unpack." She mumbled placing my suitcase on the bed and started to unzip it.

"Thank you, but I'll do it myself. Also, my name is Penelope and I would like it if you address me by that. What's your name?" I strolled to her and took the suitcase. 

I figured I wasn't going to hurt knowing the names of people around here since this was my new home. 

"I'm Marie. I'm sorry but I can't call you by your name, the boss sounded a warning to us before you came." She informed bowing slightly. I nodded since there was nothing else I could say. 

The boss! One thing he was good at was giving orders. He was definitely one bossy boss. 

"Ma'am, I would like to return to my work now. If you need anything let me know." she bowed again before leaving the room.

I sighed taking some clothes out of the suitcase before walking over to the wardrobe and starting to unpack my things. It was a good thing I didn't have that many clothes so I finished quickly. I was putting my shoes in their place when the door screeched open revealing Tyrell who wheeled himself in and then fixed his eyes on me watching me keenly. 

What was he doing here? And why was staring at me like he was suspicious that I had plans to steal something from the room. I decided to act oblivious of his presence but when the stares got too much I decided to speak up. 

"Excuse me. Why are staring at me? And why are you here? Did you miss your way or something?" 

He scoffed and his glare intensified. 

"This is my room. You are the intruder here but it's all my grandfather's work so now I have to share this room with you." His deep husky voice came, his tone lacking warmth of any kind.

Huh! I scrunched up my face at the thought of living in the same room with this man. I wasn't even done taking in the fact that I was married to him and now we were going to share a room. I was probably going to be the one who would assist him to do things since he was stuck in a wheelchair and I just wasn't ready to take up this responsibility.  

"I'm not going to share a room with you," I stated with finality. 

From how big of a house this was, there should be a lot of rooms available, why then did I have to share a room with this man? 

He shrugged and nodded his head, "Good. Then you can take your things and go outside the house, I'm sure you will love it out there. And you can set up a tent if you like." 

This time his voice held mockery and made my stomach twist in anger. 

Giving me one last frosty look, he turned his wheelchair and wheeled himself out of the room. 

I watched his retreating figure with annoyance rising from my belly to my chest. It was better if he just kept mute rather than saying insensitive things to me but he didn't seem to care. From his choice of words, I honestly would prefer the mute version of him.