Mia
I looked at the men sitting in the living room like they had three heads. I was surprised to see them. I was more than surprised. I hadn’t seen them in years and didn’t think I was ever going to.
I knew who they were, even though we didn’t have a relationship. Even if I didn’t know who they were, their uncanny resemblance to my dad would have jogged my memory. I wanted to cry at the sight of them as I remembered dad. Why did they have to come here and open my wounds? It was hard living as if I didn’t miss my father and now, they were here and bringing tears to my eyes as I looked at every of their faces – faces that were at the moment staring at me as if they were happy to see me.
I snorted. As if they were. I wouldn’t believe that nonsense. They should have continued to keep the distance that they kept during the time of my father’s death. They had left me and my mother alone to deal with the aftermath of his death, and now they were here smiling at me as if nothing had happened.
What were they looking for? How had they even found us? I believed mum had gone to stay with her family when we bid ourselves goodbyes the other day. How did she meet them and end up coming home with them?
I sighed as I moved into the living room, walking deeper even as I kept my eyes on them. What an odd timing. I was expecting mum to be back and having some blissful moments with her and not this.
I caught them glancing at the living room and smirked. Even though dad was rich and had a title that he barely used because of his numerous cousins who could lay claim to it, Albert was a guy doing okay as well. His home was beautiful and enough to make royalty jealous.
I hoped they weren’t thinking that mum had latched on another rich man. If they were, I wouldn’t ever forgive them. Dad might be from a home with a title but mum wasn’t broke either. She was from a wealthy home and no one dared to trample down on her or think less of her.
I still wondered why they were here. I hoped they weren’t here to check on how we were doing. They didn’t have to, when they never bothered all this while. They had no idea of how I had lived, how we had lived, how I had struggled through school and survival, trying to make ends meet. The distance they had kept when dad was alive, it would be appreciated if they could keep on doing that now.
Mum stood up when she saw me, her eyes smiling at me as she spread her arms wide open to engulf me in a hug. I stepped into her embrace, feeling good as I wrapped my hands around her. I had missed her. I missed the familiar scent of her cologne and her hair shampoo.
“Dear,” she chuckled in my ears. “It’s good to see you again.”
“I missed you, mum.” I said, wrapping my hands tighter around her waist and leaning into her embrace. It was good to be back with her.
“You don’t know how much I miss you.” She chuckled. “I miss you more.”
“I believe I do. I couldn’t wait for Albert to call me that the house was safe and I could come home to see my pretty daughter.”
I snorted. “I don’t think that I was the one you missed more. I bet that you missed Albert more.”
“I missed you more, love.” She grinned.
I rolled my eyes to show that I didn’t believe her. She laughed and grinned at me, hitting me playfully on the arm.
“I missed you though, darling.” She smiled.
“I know.” I smiled back at her. “I’m glad you are back home, mum.”
“Me too.” She grinned, looking into my eyes and her eyes hovered on me.
I blushed, knowing what she was doing. She always did that whenever I came home for the weekends. She would look at me, assessing my body and trying to see if I had lost weight. I always found that funny because she acted as if I would never have eaten well if I wasn’t with her.
“Mum, I’m fine.” I smiled, waving off her concerns.
“You always are.”
Albert cleared his throat. “Are the two of you done because I doubt that your guests want to be kept waiting for so long?”
I pulled mum closer and whispered to her. “What are they doing here?”
She smiled. “You will find out soon enough. You don’t have to be nervous, they are your father’s relatives after all.”
I hissed silently. “Relatives I don’t know.”
She sighed. “Let’s sit. You will find out soon enough why they are here.”
I narrowed my eyes at mum. She knew what was going on and hiding it from me. I didn’t know how I felt about her holding secrets from me and keeping me in a state of suspense. I felt horrible about it though.
“This better be good.” I whispered and scowled at them as I moved to a chair.
“Welcome home, Vanessa.” The boys said after me and my mum were done with our show of love.
“Thanks, boys. It’s good to see you all again.” She smiled at them. “Did you go clubbing all night? I asked of you all when I got in and was told that you weren’t around since last night.”
I blushed and turned my head. I couldn’t afford for mum to see me. I felt embarrassed. I realized that she wasn’t the only one keeping secrets and felt bad that I was as well. I feared the day I would tell mum that I was going out with her three step-sons. I feared what her reaction would be when she learned the truth and hoped that the day would go on well. I couldn’t imagine what mum’s expression would be. Hopefully, she wouldn’t kill me. I remembered Albert’s furious expression when he had found out about us. He had been mad at his sons. I realized that I was being silly for expecting my mum to be different.
“Yes, we did.” Quinn nodded, breaking me out of my reverie.
Oh no! Another round of blushing. I didn’t think I would raise my head up anytime soon. We had gone to a club but we hadn’t been clubbing though. I blushed as I remembered what we had been doing instead.
“Okay. I hope you guys had fun.” Mum said.
We had more than fun. I hoped we could move on and over this conversation. Mum was making me uncomfortable without knowing. I cleared my throat and smiled. “Mum, I had a long night and would love some sleep at the moment. Can someone tell me what is going on so I can get to my bedroom faster?” I yawned for emphasis, laying my hand on my mouth as I opened it widely in a tired show.
“Your father’s family would like to talk to you.” Mum said.
I nodded. That wasn’t hard to guess, was it? Seeing how they were here when they had never bothered to and I had been told to rush back home, I knew it had to be important. What the important thing was was what I couldn’t wait to know.
I gasped as I thought of the other options that could have made them to want to see me. I hoped that grandmother hadn’t died and they were trying to invite me for her funeral. I wasn’t interested.
I hoped they weren’t trying to invite me to a family get together. I wasn’t interested. I skipped through many options in my head and told myself that I wasn’t interested. I scowled at myself, hating myself for being forward. I didn’t know what they were there for and I was already moving beyond myself. I needed to calm down. I didn’t know why they were here but it might not be anything that I had thought of. I forced myself to calm down and listen to what they wanted to say.
“Mia,” one of them began and I assumed that he was the oldest of them all. I looked at him but didn’t respond. When he was ready to talk, I believed he would.
“You have to claim your father’s title and estates.” He blurted out suddenly.
I blinked, staring at him in surprise. Was he kidding? What happened to the girl they didn’t bother to think of when my father died? Why would I be asked to take over estates that weren’t mine to have in the first place? My dad had older brothers and that meant I had older cousins, those who were more eligible to the properties than I was.
The way it worked was that the oldest of the children took charge of the family’s estates. Even if my dad was alive, he wouldn’t have gotten a claim to the estates. I wondered why I was getting what wasn’t meant to be mine.
Mum was smiling at the offer and her eyes sparked with delight but I wasn’t moved. I believed there was a story in here that they weren’t telling me. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to have possession of the estates but I didn’t want to be part of someone’s game. I didn’t want to be someone else’s pawn in a game that I had no idea of.
It would ne an added advantage for me if I owned the estate and me and mum wouldn’t have to worry about the future. We would be set for life. I snorted. It wasn’t as if I had worry about our future before. We had always been good since we had met Albert. He took care of mum and me as well. Now that I was the mate of the boys, I had no doubt that I was in safe hands and money was never going to be a problem.
“What?” I asked in disbelief.
The man chuckled. I was amazed at how they didn’t bother to introduce themselves assuming that I already knew their names. I scoffed at how big they were on assumptions. That was what they were doing now too. They had assumed that I was going to be fine after my father’s death and now they were assuming that I was just going to say yes to their proposal of being the heir to the estates my father’s family had left behind.
“What is going on here?” I asked. The confusion on my face and in my voice was apparent.
They all smiled at me. “Congratulations, Mia. You are the new baroness.”
I looked at them in surprise and blinked. They had to be kidding me. The new baroness? They were funny. I thought and walked out of the room.