Cade woke up to the vibration of his phone on the nightstand, he groaned as he struggled to pick up the phone. Living this long had taught him never to answer the phone without first checking the caller. He picked up the phone before closing his eyes.
“Come to the study immediately” the line cut dead. Cade stayed still for a few more seconds on the bed before he pushed himself off the bed into a sitting position. It was not a new thing to him for his grandfather to call him into the study sometimes to discuss a range of things.
“Where are you going?” Ophelia asked as she thought of the possibility that Harper was still in the house and they had agreed to meet up. She wondered if he would go running when she called. She also wondered what his family would say. Would they be glad that there was a loophole in their marriage and that Harper could help them wreck their marriage?
“My grandfather called for me” Cade said before whispering “Did I wake you?”
“I have been awake for a while now” she replied turning in the bed so she would face him. His back was to her and that was not what she expected at all but his hair from back was still the same way she remembered it from the honeymoon. “Should I come with you to say hello to him?” she asked sitting too.
“You can come but he called me to talk to me about something”
“About what?”
“I won’t know until I get there,” Cade said and she nodded.
“Just let me throw on something suitable and we can be on our way. I am sure that if I go there with you it will send him the right signal.
“Okay then,” Cade said. After a while Ophelia had managed to tame her hair into a bun behind her head and they were on their way out.
“Hello” Frances said rushing to them as she saw them. “Love Birds” she added as they stopped to greet her.
“Good morning” they somehow chroused.
“Oh my, talking in unison. It has to be love on another level to be able to do this” Frances said, they just smiled. Ophelia could not wait to be out of here and stop the pretence she had been on since yesterday. “Did you sleep well?” she asked.
“Like a baby” Ophelia added. “I have to say you have been a wonderful host” she added, Frances looked like someone who depended on compliments and would shuffle to get it any way she could because her face lit up to hear Ophelia say that about her.
“It is just the bare minimum. Are you on your way somewhere?” she asked when it finally dawned on her the direction they were facing.
“To say Hello to grandfather” Cade replied this time. He had remembered Ophelia’s complaint the night before and he knew that he had to step up and say something or else she might pick offence again.
“Oh he does not like anyone coming to him in the morning” Frances said with a smug expression. She was glad that she had tried this when she first came to the house. She tried to go there every morning to say hello but Charles had told her not to try it ever again. “If he doesn’t call for you he will not like you to go there” she added feeling good to know that information.
“Well, he called for us” Ophelia responded feeling good. She so desperately wanted to see her reaction and Frances did not disappoint. Maybe she forgot for a second that she was being a good host because she looked like she had eaten something sour.
“Oh” she said forcing herself to smile even though it looked like a robot being made to experience human emotions. “If that is the vase then I better not hold you up”
“Yeah,” Ophelia replied as she moved aside for them to pass through.
“I hope you can join us down for breakfast before you go. It is a full house. Cael’s cousins are around” Frances added talking to them from behind. “And Cade’s old friend? Harper too” Frances added.
Ophelia hated the interaction but she knew there was nothing she could do. It was like she wanted to end the game Fraces seemed to play a card that made her go to the top once again.
“Of course, having breakfast with the family, we sure can’t miss that for the world” Ophelia said turning to her briefly and giving her a smile. Unlike Frances Ophelia could control her facial expression to make sure that no one knew that she was affected by what she was saying.
“See you soon,” Frances said before walking away. As she walked away she praised herself for asking Harper to stay the night, she had painted a picture that it was too late to go back all by herself even though Hsarper had convinced her to go. “Who knew that she could be used this morning?” Frances asked herself as she turned the corner into Cael’s room.
“Your cousins?” Ophelia asked as they went up to the next floor.
“Yeah, my uncle’s children. They are barely with us. Luckily for them, their father was wise enough to put aside money before he died and made them get ordinary office jobs which is surprisingly flexible because of their status”
“So that means that you do not have to worry about them in this inheritance scruffle?”
“Well they still have a right to claim so I won’t be too relaxed if I were you”
“Oh my god, your family is so complicated,” Ophelia said.
Cade suddenly stopped walking and turned to the door. “This i what we can do. He wants to talk to me about the office so just say hello and then go downstairs to help out with breakfast and I will see you there” he said and she nodded.
She only came here because she thought it would look good on them and it did because they met with Frances on the way. She was sure the news would spread quickly around and everyone would know that Charles favoured them.