Mend My Heart

Chapter 28

Maya’s P.O.V

It had been three days; I repeat, three days since Yolanda had shown up here at the infamous Ice Castle, yet nothing major had transpired. For starters, whenever I was around, she’d just act like I wasn’t there and focused on everyone else but me. I’m not sure if I was relieved or offended by this; she could at least give me some form of acknowledgement when I greeted her every other hour. 

I was very glad that I wasn’t the only one who had taken a disliking to her; it seemed the twins weren’t too fond of her either. Despite all her efforts to suck up to them, and even buying them stuff, they’d been giving her the cold shoulder. All that Yolanda could do was whine about it to Theodore, but as usual, he was flippant about it. Whenever his offspring were concerned, he turned a blind eye. And just this once, I was grateful for it.

Meredith was her personal minion during her stay, and along with Ms. Duke, the unholy trio spent almost every moment together whenever she was actually around. Apparently, she’d come here for a photo shoot for Rolls-Royce. It was highly expected as Yolanda’s basically a supermodel and I bet many top tier companies wanted her on their ads, billboards and the like.

The only time I felt sort of happy was when Theodore would return in the wee hours of the night, and we’d chatter whilst he had dinner and I’d sip on some coffee or tea. Increasingly, I was finding it very comfortable to be around him although he still pretty much kept his guard up most of the time. I, on the other hand, was like a rambling teenager, opening up to him about almost every detail of my life; subliminal or not. And when he’d send me off to bed with a goodnight kiss, I’d become so giddy I almost didn’t recognise myself.

“I hope she leaves soon because I don’t like the way she looks at daddy. It’s disgusting,” Brianna sniffed with her nose scrunched and I giggled at her bluntness. See what I mean by saying that they don’t like her?

Aiden continued to peruse the tv channels as he continued to search for something to watch. We were currently in the screening room late in the afternoon, just killing some time before supper was ready. It’s odd how I’ve been here for a little over a month and a half, and yet I was already starting to behave like a Brit. Even my diction had changed; hell, I didn’t even sound like an American anymore. It was odd to say the least. 

He scoffed, blowing out his cheeks in indignation. “Yeah, she’s so bothersome. And the way she tries to fit in with us? Unbelievable,” he breathed, his face mirroring his sister’s. I bet they both wanted to look completely serious but they just ended up looking so damn cute. I just wanted to pinch their cheeks.

“Well, she is your father’s friend and her being nice to you is only the right thing to do. Why don’t you give her chance,” I drawled half-heartedly? Who am I kidding, these kids are so right about her. The wise did always say that children, and dogs, were excellent judges of character. 

Both of the turned to me with a look of incredulity. “Are you mad?” the both shrieked simultaneously. It was both cool and creepy, not going to lie. 

I shrugged nonchalantly. “What? She likes you guys…or seems to pretend to do so,” I mumbled the last part to myself but they heard it anyways.

“She doesn’t like us; she’s pretending just like you said. She just wants to get close to daddy, and win him over and then he’ll forget about us…about mum and ruin our lives by sending us off to boarding school!” Aiden burst in rage, his chest heaving in and out. I really did not know how to react to that, because he all sounded so accurate. That was her mission, I presumed and as much as I’d like to play off, I just couldn’t. 

The twins still had hope that Theodore and their mother would get back together and one day, they’d be one big, happy family. They really had no clue that their father wanted absolutely nothing to do with her, from what I’ve observed and telling them that would only make them hate me. That, and the fact that you yourself are trying to worm your way into their father’s heart. I can only imagine how pissed they would be if they came to knew about our clandestine affair…oh the horror.