Life could be funny, coming at you in directions that you never expected. What got into their heads that they decided to come all the way here and assume that I was going to jump at their offer?
Asides being mad at their sudden presence, I was shocked at their offer. I could have dealt with being the inheritor of the estates. I just had to sign, find someone who was going to be in charge of them as a caretaker. I might even rent them out and make money to make me and my family comfortable but staying there as the baroness was out of it.
How could I accept to be a baroness just like that? They had to be delusional if they thought that I was going to say yes to their offer. They must have thought that I didn’t have a life here if they thought that I was going to pack my bags and leave with them to earn a title. I wasn’t sad to to inform them that they had thought wrong.
I had a life here and I wasn’t interested in leaving it behind as if it didn’t matter to go live a life I knew not about. I wasn’t about to leave the people I loved to be with people I didn’t know at all until few minutes ago. They had to be delusional if they had thought that was what I was going to do.
I heard a knock on the door and later it was pushed open. I didn’t have to move my head to know who that could be. It was mum. She knocked for formality sake and moved in without waiting for my response. She was the only one who did that. The boys would never knock before walking into my room as if they owned it. The maids would have waited for a response and never walk into my room without one. I didn’t think Albert had ever been in my room.
I sighed. What a nice family we had in here that we knew the characteristics of everyone of them. How did they expect me to leave all this behind and throw myself into a maze of loneliness and forcing new memories with people that I didn’t know before? It was never going to work. It wasn’t.
I saw the expression on mum’s face and knew what she was here for. I wanted to tell her even before she say anything not to think of what I knew she was thinking of. She would only get hurt if she raised her hopes up.
“Mia, darling.” She cooed as she sat on the bed beside me.
“Don’t patronize me, mum.” I said to her.
“Why don’t you think of the offer?”
“There is nothing to think of that, mum. I’m not leaving to live among strangers.”
“Ouch, dear. These are your father’s people. Moreover, nothing stops strangers from becoming friends. Your friends were once strangers to you.”
“Yes, they were but it was my choice to be friends with them. I wasn’t being coerced into becoming friends with them. Why are they trying to pass down the estate to me when they never bothered about me all along?”
She sighed and I knew she had no answer for that as well. She was only thinking of the inheritance and not the reason of it.
“Does it matter, dear?”
I snorted. Of course, it did. I nodded instead of talking. I didn’t think I was going to be able to keep my voice cool and under restraint from shouting at mum if I didn’t do so and I never going to shout at her when those I really wanted to get to would be were in the living room. I wondered what they were doing there.
“Yes, it does. For years, I didn’t exist to them and suddenly, I mattered enough to be asked to be baroness. Where are the others? What of them? I knew I had cousins who were next in line for the title before I was considered.”
“They also had their estates which were meant to for their fathers but you are the only one fit for the position.”
“Why?” I snorted. “Because I’m sassy? How would they know that when they don’t know me? Were they trying to make up for their negligence all those years? They might as well know that it doesn’t matter, mum. I don’t care what they do so they didn’t need to bribe me.”
Mum sighed. “I know you are angry and you have every reason to be.”
I sighed. “I’m wondering why you are not angry, mum. Come on, you are making me feel like the evil one here for being so angry.”
She smiled. “I know you are angry, child and have every reason to. I choose not to be angry not because I am not or didn’t think that I deserved to be, I just decided to let go of it.”
I snorted at her, wondering if she would have decided not to be angry as she claimed if there hadn’t been an incentive to make her daughter a baroness. I doubted if she would have been this calm if it wasn’t because of that. She wasn’t funny for trying to act as if it wasn’t because of this reason in my presence.
I smirked at her and said nothing. She took my smirk for consent and continued. “It’s none of those reasons that you are being considered to be the baroness though I must confess that the options you thought it were were very interesting ones. Your cousins are married and didn’t want to be titled. They didn’t want the shift that it was going to cause their family and so it was decided that someone who wasn’t married would be the next baroness. The title wouldn’t affect her relationship, she can make connections with the other titled lords in the area and marry one of them and she would have money from managing the estates.”
Mum was filled with excitement and she clapped and giggled as she talked, her eyes sparkling. I was almost sorry to break her heart but I was going to do that. “Don’t you think that it is a perfect position for you? I know that you are not in a relationship, girl which makes all this perfect for you.”
I sighed and rolled my eyes. I had always thought that being in a relationship wasn’t going to make me be myself as I would have to think another person. I didn’t ever think that there ever was going to be a day when being single was going to be my undoing. I thought of telling everyone of my relationship with the boys.
They didn’t want a baroness with a relationship. I wondered what they were going to do when they found out that their choice was in a relationship with three brothers. I shook my head. That would be a scandal. I couldn’t do that to mum just to get out of this hassle that I didn’t want. I couldn’t say that out loud when she didn’t know anything of it yet. I couldn’t spring that surprise on her like that. That would be cruel to her.
She mistook my silence for having thought of the idea and found it acceptable. “You can see it’s a good deal, daughter. I’m sure you won’t be single for long. You can find people out there you would be interested in, other than the guys you have been meeting and hadndt been interested in.”
I sighed. “You can believe what you want, mum.”
“I believe that you would make a good baroness.” She smiled at me. “Come out when you are done thinking of it. I’m sure they are all still waiting for you.” She said and moved out.
I sighed. What a beautiful dilemma I had been thrown in. I heard voices outside and I strained my ears to listen to the conversation as one of them sounded unfamiliar to my senses.
“What are you looking for?” I heard my mum say. “The restroom?”
“No, your daughter.” I heard the other voice that was unfamiliar say. “I thought that she might want to think more of the offer if she knows of all she has to gain. I was told that her room was here. Forgive my manners, ma’am. I’m the lawyer for the family. My name is Durian.”
My mum probably smiled at him at that moment as her words convinced me that was what he did. “No problem, Barrister Durian. Of course, her room is here. Let me take you to her.”
Few seconds later, mum popped her head into my bedroom. “Darling, someone is here to see you.” She said and pushed the lawyer before I had the chance to reply.
I almost laughed at her attitude then. She probably thought that I was going to reject the attention of the lawyer and tried to prevent it before I had a choice.
Durian walked in and looked straight at me. I must say that I respected him for being professional and confident though he hadn’t had time to gain his composure after mum pushed him rather unceremoniously into my bedroom. He didn’t, for once, look around the bedroom.
“Good morning.” He began.
I didn’t say anything. I wondered what was good about the morning when they had ruined it for me.
“I’m…”
“Durian, I know.” I interrupted him, grateful to be a werewolf.
I smiled. What would they think if they found out that I was a werewolf? Would they still want me? I thought of shifting and scaring them all off. I knew the idea was a bad one even before I was done with it. I was going to expose the wolves and put us all in danger. The humans would hunt and kill us. There was a reason they had been trying to protect their secrets. There was a reason Albert hadn’t told mum of his identity despite how much he loved her and how much he knew she loved him. He didn’t want her to see him as a monster which was the natural response of the human mind to the supernatural.
He looked shocked that I had known his name but quickly got over it. “I thought you would like to see the draft of your inheritance and all the legal clauses binding it.”
I didn’t even look at him. “I’m not interested so save your breath.”
He nodded. “I understand, Miss. I will drop this anyways.” He dropped the document on the shelf near my bed and walked out of the room.
It wasn’t long that he left that I heard another knock on my door. Oh no! It was a day of never ending visitors in my room. I growled at them for successfully ruining my day.