Twenty Nine

After experiencing what I would call the longest, most satisfying sleep I have had since Ruby’s breakdown, I slowly stretched my body to a sitting position, yawning loudly at the same time. As my eyes slowly opened, they compassed through the room, taking in the features I had missed the day before.

Taking one more look at the flower field- a wonderful sight to start one’s morning- I got off the bed, the urge to go to the bathroom befalling me immediately. There was just one tiny problem, I have no idea where the bathroom is and… there are two doors in the room.

*I should have followed Dominic to the shower last night. I just had to be lazy.*

As my eyes darted between the door just few metres away from the side of the bed and the one at the far end of the room, my legs immediately rushed towards the closer one. On opening the door, a frown of disappointment covered my face as I had stumbled into what seemed to be a little library with a piano stuffed at the end of the room.

*Damn rich people and their musical instruments!* My legs danced as they found their way towards the other door. Honestly, not being able to relieve oneself has to be one of the worst feeling in the world.

A lot of minutes passed by and I had already taken a good, refreshing bath and I was already dressed for the day. As I walked out of the room, I realized Dominic was yet to show up. Wondering where he could have gone, my thoughts got interrupted by a little ruffle from the kitchen.

“Dominic?” My head pictured me finding him standing over the cooker, dressed in an apron. I chuckled loudly as that would be quite a sight.

“You are finally awake!” Janet’s chirpy voice reached my ears as she came out of the kitchen, a teaspoon in her hand.

A little surprised to see her, my face managing to hide it, I said, “Janet. Good morning.”

She leaned in and planted a kiss on my left cheek. “Morning. I take it you slept well, yeah?”

“Yes I did.” My eyes followed her as she walked back into the kitchen. “Where is Dominic?”

“Oh.” She came out with a tray of what I guessed was our meal. She motioned towards the living room and we both walked there. “He had to go see Pops this morning.” She set the tray down on the table and distributed the two plates of fried egg. After setting up the whole breakfast, she motioned for me to dig in.

“Thank you for this Janet,” I complimented as I took a seat on the soft rug, ready to dig into the meal of pancakes and egg supported by some sweet smelling tea.

“No, thank you. I don’t know how you did it, but getting the ever stubborn Eliot to end his fight with Pops is just…” She gave a relieved sigh. “Thank you so much Grace.”

“I didn’t do shit. I just talked with him and all.” I brought the teacup to my mouth.

“Are you kidding me? They both went fishing this morning. You definitely did shit.” Her hand stretched to cover mine lovingly. “I really appreciate it.”

“Dominic went fishing.” I gave a short laugh. Talk about things you would never expect but you would love to see the classy Dominic Powers doing.

As she downed the piece of food in her mouth, a smile planted itself on her lips as it looked as though she suddenly remembered a good memory. “Strange thing, that is the only aspect of farming he ever enjoyed. He has always preferred sitting by the dock to pulling out grasses.”

“He did mention that farming was never his thing. I have a question though.” I dropped the fork in my hand. “Back at the main house, I noticed the picture of this particular woman. She looks a lot like you, so I guess she is your mother. How come I did not see her at the table?”

“Oh,” Her tongue pushed out the side of her cheek. “She left.”

“Left?” There are many interpretations to that word and that made my reaction a bit difficult.

As though she sensed my confusion, she continued. “She did not die or anything. She left us a long time ago.”

With a little frown, I asked, “Why?”

Her perky eyes were not exactly, well you know… “I wish I knew why she decided to leave Pops after years of marriage and four freaking kids.” Her fork started making little punches on the pancake. “And the note she left behind wasn’t exactly explanatory. Didn’t Eliot tell you about this?”

“No. Not at all.”

“Well, he was a baby when she decided she wasn’t interested anymore.” I could tell how angry she was becoming as she aggressively threw some food into her mouth. “I mean, who freaking does that? Just leave. No explanations.”

“I feel like I shouldn’t have asked a question about her at all.”

She met my caution-filled eyes, her head giving a quick disapproval. “No. You should know this, you are part of our family already.” Her words warmed me. In the past years, apart from Samantha and Kyle, I had no one to really call family. Not even the orphanage I was in. Heck, there was a lot of segregation in that place.

“How did your dad take it?”

“He was hurt. But he had to be strong regardless. He did have four kids to take care of. “

“Do you hate her?”

“Honestly…” There was this look that flashed through her eyes that just reminded me so much of Dominic. “I want to. But Pops has taught us all over the years not to. I mean, how can he not hate her? She left him.”

Even though I knew how rhetorical the question was, I gave an answer anyway. “I guess he still loves her despite what she did. There is this thing with love where it just finds a way to overcome all situations, especially bad situations. It is a crazy thing.”

She sighed. “You have a point.” She motioned to our abandoned meal and we soon resumed eating.

“So, do you own this place?”

“Oh no. Eliot does. I just stay here when I need a quiet time. I am actually based in London where I live with my husband and son. Once in a while, I just feel the need to relax and take a break you know, so I stay here.”

“Quiet times are the best.”

“I know. Oh! I forgot, we are having dinner tonight and you must come. You and Eliot.”

“Okay *ma’am*,” I replied teasingly as I brought the fork to my mouth.

“Good.” And we both sat there eating and chatting away.

**********
“And that is what I call a freaking dinner. Oh my God! Jasmine! You brought pie!” Janet had to be the most excited at the table. “ But I already made one.” She pouted.

“Janet, the kids can have one.” Stephen stopped whatever complaint she was about to spew out.

“Yeah, it is very *appropriate* for you to tell me to shut up.” Janet scowled at her brother as she sat down. Jasmine got up and reached for her pie and began to portion it for everyone.

“Are you good?” Dominic asked as he leaned in, his breath fanning my ear in a way that if it was just the two of us, I would totally… oh you know! I managed a nod as his little fanning got me recalling the day before and the way he handled me. It was just so different from other times. Different in an extremely good way.

“So, Grace tell us a little about you.” Their father finally broke the silence that accompanied Jasmine serving us dessert.

“Uh…” What was there to say? His question is not one I am asked a lot, so I had to take some seconds to reason it out. “I studied Journalism in college. I guess I have always been interested in the world of writing since childhood, so it helped a lot in choosing my career path.
After college, I got a job at this Publishing Company, but I don’t work there anymore for certain reasons. But overall I am doing just fine for myself.” I managed a short smile at my audience before paying attention to the piece of pie in front of me.

“That is wonderful,” the grey haired man said, his smile on full display. “Your parents must be so proud of you, yes?”

“Uh… dad…” I heard Dominic say beside me, but I stopped him with a slight shake of my head.

“They are no more actually.”

His eyes flashed with sympathy. “I am so sorry dear. You must miss them.”

I threw a piece of the delicious pie into my mouth before replying his statement. “Actually I never met them. They died when I was a baby, so I don’t know much about them. All I know is their names and that they have this company, uh… Habits? Yeah, Habits. That’s all I know about them.”

“Your parents are the owners of Habits?” Dominic interrupted his father, his eyes trained intently on me.

“Yes. Actually I think it is my father’s brother that is running the company presently, Stanley…”

“Sands.” He completed, the cutlery in his hand dropping onto the plate loudly. “I know that man,” Dominic was looking so serious, you would think he was sealing a huge business deal. “So, he is your uncle.”

I shrugged, “I guess so.”

“You guess so? Grace, you are meant to be the ownner of that company.”

Slightly surprised at the direction the issue was being stirred, I said with eyes darting across the length of the cozy room, “I don’t want the company.”

“Why not? It is yours obviously. That company is huge Grace and just giving it all to just your uncle is quite... bizarre.”

“I just said I don’t want the company. I don’t want anything to do with it.”

“Dominic, drop it already.” His father cautioned him.

“Sorry dad,” Dominic threw a cautioning hand at his father who did not look any bit taken aback by his son’s motion. “I can’t drop it.” I could see, with my side eyes, Janet shaking her head. Dominic, whose eyes were still bored into my seated self, continued, “Why don’t you want anything to do with a company that is clearly yours?”

“Dominic,” I adjusted in my seat, my eyes meeting his squarely. “That company might be my father’s, but it can never be mine because I did not grow up as my father’s daughter. I was not raised in my father’s environment. Heck!” My hands went up in severe gesticulation. “I have never even met this Stanley of a uncle before.”

“You...”

I immediately gave him a glare. “What do you even expect me to do? Walk into that Tech company and go all; *Hey uncle Stanley, guess who*. *Grace your freaking niece. Yeah, my dad owns this place, so I am back to take back what’s mine*. Who does that?”
I questioned the entire room, catching their gestures to try to keep calm. “I will just appear to be an imposter with a silly claim of being the rightful owner of Habits. So,” My eyes went back to settle on Dominic’s pointed ones. “I don’t want to have anything to do with it.”

The room maintained this prolonged silence coupled with a lot of awkward eye contacts. Not even wanting to think about the issue Dominic had successfully roused, I let out a deep, shaky breath so my entire system could be at peace. ”I am sorry for my sudden outburst,” my apology broke the governing stillness.

“No, it’s fine. Dominic here just tends to be... extra,” his father threw me a soft smile which found a way to warm my heart.

“I am just saying, a DNA test would prove you to…”

Damn it! Pushing back my chair abruptly to get up, I said, “I will like to get some air. Please excuse me.” I did not even spare Dominic a glare. I knew he meant well, just that in this case he was being annoyingly persuasive. It should be safe to say I can relate to his father with whom he was angry with for three years.

As my legs led me into the living room, I suddenly remembered that I needed to call Samantha and since my phone is tucked away in some tech lab back in New York, I have no choice but to get Dominic’s own.

With reluctance, I walked back into the dining room, the voices that were talking before shutting up as I entered. “Do you need something?” Janet asked concernedly.

“Uh… not really.” I faced Dominic. “I just need his phone.” As he handed the device to me, our eyes met, the little anger I had towards disappearing with that little contact. I could have just sat back and continued with my pie, but I had a call to make, so outside I went.

After punching in Samantha’s phone number, the cool breeze of the exceptionally bright night hitting my face continually, I brought the phone to my ears. After the first ring, the call was picked. ‘*Hello?*’

“Hey Sam. It’s me Grace.”

‘*Grace?’*

“Yes, I am the one. So sorry for not…”

‘*Thank God! I have been trying your God damn number!*’

“Why do you sound so distraught?” I asked carefully.

‘*Grace, Ruby has been kidnapped.’*