63- Tale As Old As Time - Part 1

Isabella

Waking up the next morning I’m all but greeted by a familiar pair of Hazel blue eyes and brown hair. A soft smile gracing his features as Alex moves to sit beside the bed, Lucus and Tony all but gone from the from, leaving me alone within the huge bed.

“Morning Bambina (Baby)” whispers Alex, watching as I slowly move to sit up, still rubbing sleep from my eyes as I did.

“M-Morning” I yawn, vaguely familiar with what happened last night.

Smiling, Alex moves to kiss me on the forehead once he moves to stand up. “Come Agapi (Love), Breakfast is almost ready and the others are waiting, I’ve been asked to escort you down for it.”

Nodding, I move to climb from the bed, Alex having gone into my closet to find me something to wear only to return with a beautiful green sundress along with a thin gold belt. Taking the dress I moved to inspect it only to see that the dress came with pockets and for that I became excited for who didn’t love a good dress with pockets.

Pockets? Yay! Giggling with excitement, I move to get dressed while Alex moves to grab me a pair of white ballet flats before returning, helping me slide them on before asking if he could brush and style my hair, something I found odd but wasn’t going to say no when he asked so nicely.

Brushing my hair, I continued to sit in utter silence until he was finished. Noticing how he had braided my hair into a beautiful, yet stylish french braid, tiny gold clips adorning the braid as he did.

“I-It’s beautiful” I whisper, admiring the look.

Smiling, Alex moves to set down the brush before moving to offer me his arm, “Not as beautiful as you Agapi Mou (My Love).”

Blushing again, I all but move to take his arm before allowing him to help guide me from the room, both of us now making our way down to breakfast where once there he moves to help me to my chair. Breakfast consisting of the same group of people as the night before, my focus on my bowl of fruit as I move to eat, a maid coming to approach me as I did. Everyone’s attention now on me as I move to accept a small folded up note.

Nervously, I move to open the note, eyes of those within the room still on me as I move to see who it’s from only to see it was from Lucus’s mother, Sophia.

Good Morning Dear Princess,

Sorry I was not there to properly greet you for breakfast, but please once you are finished I would like for you to do me this honor of joining me for morning tea and a friendly chat, there’s much that needs to be discussed in terms of your men.

Sophia

Still holding the note from Sophia, I can’t help but smile. Lucus’s mother being the sweetest woman I could ever hope to meet besides my own mother of course that I can’t help but hold the letter close to my chest, looking forward to seeing her later once breakfast was over with.

“Secret Admirer?” asks Marco with a tease, having seen the way I was acting with the letter, Lucus and the others curious.

“Nope, Just Sophia, she asked if I would meet her for morning tea after breakfast, nothing too special” I move to say, a knowing look on my face as I move to look at Marco who nods.

Finishing up with breakfast does everyone move to stand up, Lucus, Alex, Tony and Grant each moving to kiss me on the forehead before each moving to leave the room. Marco being one of the last to leave, only stopping long enough to give me our secret hand gesture in which I return before he and Mathias move to leave the room as well, the guys following like good little dogs.

Once sure that everyone had left, do I move to slowly make my way towards the parlor rooms, knowing Sophia had to be in one of those for morning tea only to learn she was in a room that was further back on the opposite side of the mansion, a room I had yet to explore and only made me curious as I continued on my way.

Approaching the room, I move to knock softly. A soft “Enter” was eventually heard as I moved to slowly open the door, my eyes taking in the sight of the room. A room decorated in blues and creams gives it that light and airy look to it. The scent of fresh lilies all but hit my nose as I all but enter the room.

“Good Morning my sweet child. Come, sit with me, I promise I won’t bite” chimes Sophia softly, her hand patting a cushion that sat next to her as she did.

Accepting the offer, I move to take my seat next to hers, exchanging pleasantries as we did. Each of us spending the first couple of hours just talking about the other, as if we had been old friends before Sophia moved to get onto business. Having wanted to address the subject of my current living situation here at the mansion as well as how the boys had been treating me. Tears now falling as I all but caved.

Wanting to hear my side of the story, having already heard from her sons, I all but moved to tell her. Explaining to her how I had originally not wanted to be there and how my father had all but sold me off in order to help save his company from going bankrupt. I had even gone as far as to explain about all my mixed feelings for them, choosing to opt out of my “wet dream” only for her to nod and smile when she could, waiting until I was finished before moving to speak to me, taking my hand with hers as she did.

“Well my dear, after everything that you’ve just told me, I would love to share with you a story. It's about my mother and how she met her husband. Not even my own son or his friends know this story. A secret that I will forever keep with me until I die. But you see, my mother, Katlyn, had a very similar life much like your own. My father Quinton was a man, who had all but forced her into a relationship with him. Bare in mind that this was all legal back in the 50’s.”

Nodding, I moved to show her that I was listening, as well as understood the era and waited patiently for her to continue further.

Sighing she does, “Aside from it being in the 50’s, people didn’t have what we do now, no, they didn’t own mansions or castles or giant estates, no, they lived in small town suburban areas and that’s exactly how my parents lived. My mother, who was sixteen at the time, worked at a small town diner to help provide for her family when one day my father, Quinton and a group of his friends had all arrived for lunch. Famished, they moved to sit in her section. My father was 26 at the time too.” adds Sophia, letting it all sink into me slowly before continuing with her family's past.

“Watching the handsome men from afar each day, my mother couldn’t seem to understand why women would always try and throw themselves at each of them every day until it had slowly gotten old. My mother was no longer concerned with them or even curious to find out why those within the small town were so afraid of them either. It just didn’t matter to her.”

“Or at least until one day, the D’Amico family came along and had all but tried to put their charm to good use on my mother. The same charm that I see my sons use on you. Each of us women are but a moth to their flame, unable to resist no matter how hard you try to avoid it. And I know this to be true because like you, I too fell for their charms.”

“You did?” I move to ask softly, glad to know I wasn’t the only one falling for the D’Amico family.

“I did” replies Sophia, her eyes showing nothing but truth.

“Then what happened to your mother?” I ask, curious to hear more.

Smiling, Sophia moves to continue. “Well.. Unlike most days, my father would always move to sit within my mothers section of the diner. Always seeking her out anytime he could, especially if he knew she was working that day. An excuse to openly flirt with, a hopeless romantic to many, but as for my father, he was never shy when it came down to complimenting my mother, no, to him she was his Bambina. His Baby. And like always, mother indulged him.”

“That was until one day, out of the blue, a boy that my mother had gone to school with had magically shown up at the diner one day. Having decided that he was going to confess his love for her by giving her a simple white lily as a gift. A simple gesture that didn’t go unnoticed by my father who all but disapproved of it, for my mother was his and only his.”

“What happened to the boy? Was he okay?” I ask, the need to know rising.

Holding up a hand, she moves to pause my questions, asking to wait until the end.

“According to my mother, the next day when she attended the school the boy who had approached her that day at the diner was nowhere to be seen, which only concerned my mother. By the next day, the boy finally showed up, but not without sporting a black eye as well as a few cuts and scrapes and even a broken arm, for the boy had learnt his lesson the hard way.”

Gasping, I can’t help but feel like this was a very similar situation with me, when my friends Angel and Caleb and how each of the guys had gotten overly possessive of me that day back in the labyrinth. Shaking my head, I moved to shove those thoughts aside before moving to listen to more, knowing there was more than she let on and I needed to know.