Family Is Family

Apparently, Zak found out that Annie had a talk with me and that didn’t land well with Zak. Shortly afterwards, Zak relocated to South Africa, where he alternated between his stay there and other fashion capital cities in Europe where he continued working on his movies, arts, and fashion. Not surprisingly, I never heard from Annie again and if we had any interactions, it was only because it was absolutely necessary.

“What did she tell you?” Zak asked through the phone. His tone was quite emotionless, but I could tell immediately that he was angry.

It had been less than two days since I had that talk with Annie over afternoon tea. Of course, I never told Zak about it so he must have found out from Annie. I didn’t want to even imagine how he got her to confess.

“We talked about a couple of things…” I said vaguely. What’s the point of asking? I was sure that Zak knew the most of it already.

“I’m truly sorry that you had to go through that, Natalia…” Zak apologized, sounding very serious.

“Oh no…it’s cool. She asked me some questions and I just answered her. It’s not a big deal…I may have said somethings that I shouldn’t have too…” I said, truthfully as I tried to laugh it all away.

“She won’t go anywhere near you again. There’s nothing for you to worry about, ok?” Zak said confidently.

Annie definitely got an earful from Zak. I sighed softly to myself thinking that their relationship probably went from bad to worse. Poor Annie…

“Is…everything ok with Annie?” I asked with my fingers crossed.

“Sure. There’s nothing to worry about. Just let me know at once if she ever approaches you again…”

Zak said, his tone solemn.

“Ok…” I hesitantly agreed.

“Oh…I’ve decided to relocate to South Africa. I mean, I’ll be there and flying around here and there, especially in Europe too…” Zak said, and I could sense his excitement a little.

“I see. Sounds amazing. I hope you have fun!” I said, happily. Perhaps Zak was finding his own calling even if it was far away from me.

“You sound so happy that I’m moving away…” Zak grumbled.

“You know it’s not like that…I just think it’s wonderful that you’re devoting yourself to your dreams,” I said honestly.

“Will you be there to send me off?” Zak asked, half-jokingly.

“I definitely will,” I replied, completely serious.

…

I was busy clearing up some work along with some team members early in the evening when Edward called. I had hoped that we wouldn’t have to stay overtime but the client had brought the timeline of the project forward and everything was very hectic as a result of that.

“Natalia, where are you?” Edward asked, through the phone.

“I’m still at work. What’s the matter?” I asked, catching on to the slight dissatisfaction in his voice.

“Lucien is here. He decided to drop by for dinner,” Edward said with a depressed sigh. He never liked it when Lucien came over.

“Lucien?” I said in surprise. He didn’t tell me that he would be dropping by.

“Yeah. He’s obviously here to see you and the kids and not me. So, when do you think you’ll be back?”

Edward asked, sounding very irritated.

“I can leave in less than ten minutes. We’re almost done,” I replied.

“Great. I’ll wait for you…” Edward said lazily.

“Ok…” I said and hung up.

Lucien…decided to stop by for dinner? Since I gave birth to Ryder, Lucien has been around a lot more than before and even more so after I gave birth to the twins. When I married Edward, things got very complicated between Lucien and me and I couldn’t face him directly like before. Perhaps, I just felt too guilty to face him. However, I never imagined that having the children would bring Lucien and I back together.

“This baby looks nothing like you, Edward…” Lucien said as he held baby Ryder in his arms and looked down at his cute little face adoringly.

Lucien laughed so hard at Edward that the baby looked confused. Edward just glared back at his older brother. Those two just didn’t seem to get along. Lucien visited us often to see me and the baby after he had gotten over his initial shock of seeing that baby Ryder didn’t resemble Edward at all. Now, it was just a big joke to Lucien.

I was sure that Lucien knew who Ryder’s biological father was. He would have to be pretty blind not to see the resemblance, after all. We never spoke about it but there was a sense of mutual understanding.

“Shut up. Ryder is my son…” Edward muttered in annoyance.

“It’s best that he’s your son. Even I have to agree to that…” Lucien said as he looked down at smiled at Ryder.

By the time that I arrived home, the children have eaten, and it was almost time for them to prepare for bed. I met Edward, Lucien and the kids in the living room where they were relaxing on the sofa.

“Sorry, I’m late. I didn’t know that you were going to come over,” I said to Lucien as I sat down.

“It wouldn’t be a surprise visit if you knew in advance, right?” Lucien teased.

“Have you guys been good to Uncle Lucien?” I asked as I smiled at the children.

Yes, Lucien had opted for the title of uncle rather than the title of grandfather. Edward and I readily agreed with his proposal because we didn’t want the burden of explaining to the children that Lucien is my stepfather. That would be a story that we would save for a much further date down the road.

Not surprisingly, Lucien loves the children, and they love him as well. While Edward and I are trying to raise them up to be sensible people, Lucien can’t stop himself from spoiling them rotten. Even I don’t remember him spoiling me this much when I was younger.

Angela never came over with Lucien although technically they were still married. Apparently, the business deal with Angela’s father went too well that the man was able to convince Lucien to stay married to his daughter, at least on paper. He helped the Rosenhall company a lot during the turmoil from the exposure of Madame Francesca’s crimes.

I haven’t seen Angela in years, and I bet Lucien hasn’t seen much of her either. Angela moved out of Lucien’s mansion a few months after I married Edward and they have been estranged since then. I heard that she went back to live with one of her lovers, but I wasn’t sure if that was true, or if it was just one of those rumors. Lucien never talked about it, and I didn’t dare to ask.

--To be continued…