His Hope

Part 13: Siblings

13

"What do you want to know?" Xavier squared his shoulders as if he were facing an opponent. He had a feeling that if he could get Eloise's approval, everyone else would be a little easier.

"Where are you from?" Eloise asked her eyes narrowing in on his own.

"A small city just across the eastern border, in Massachusetts, a few hours away from here." He answered.

"How old are you?" She fired back.

"I'm 30." He said somewhat bashfully and watched for any sign of surprise or disgust but she didn't even flicker. Louisa didn't even know his age and he was nervous to see her reaction.

"So, you're into young girls or what?" Eloise scoffed, easily grabbing the pillow that flew at her a moment after and setting it on the chair beside her.

Louisa started to say something but once again Xavier's fingers touched her skin and she calmed instantly. Somehow she knew he needed to handle this, but she couldn't believe her sister was being so rude. Well, she could believe it, but it still annoyed the heck out of her.

"I'm interested in Louisa, I can promise you it is not a quest of mine to seek out woman younger than me." Xavier actually grimaced at the thought of her being younger than 18. He could admit he was careless in their first interaction.

Eloise bit the inside of her cheek as he gave her a perfectly reasonable answer but still, 30, he was 8 years older than Louisa. She glanced briefly at her sister and really took in the way she looked at him. She looked happy, for lack of a better term, brighter somehow. If Louisa didn't mind the age difference, she figured she just had to deal with it.

"Do you have a job? Need money? Just because she's sold some books doesn't mean you can slack off and not take care of her." Eloise spoke, her anger rising with each word she said. She couldn't help it, Louisa had been taken advantage of enough in her life. They didn't need any more people to disappoint them.

"I have a job, plenty of money and I actually didn't know she was an author until just yesterday. I know she deserves the recognition she has been given though, just from the few things she has shown me so far." Xavier smiled then, catching Eloise off guard. He was incredibly proud of Louisa and all that she had accomplished, just the thought of it brought a smile to his face.

"Well, I-... okay." Eloise was at a loss for words and she didn't like it. Louisa was blushing mad hard and she rolled her eyes and looked away from the couple. What could she say? He seemed genuine and it irked the hell out of her. There was always something, she had learned that from a very young age, something just below the service. She had been searching for his since the moment she walked in the house, but she had also learned how to pick up on people's tells, and so far everything he had said seemed truthful. He spoke again, catching her attention and she faced him, leaning forward so her elbows rested on her knees and her hands clasped together in front of her.

"Look..." he started, sighing, "I understand that you want to protect Louisa from getting hurt and I respect that. I'm happy that she has someone, or multiples someone's to question me until my ears bleed. I am ready to answer every single one as many times as you feel the need to ask. If my words fall on deaf ears, then I'll show you every day that her heart is protected. I have never felt the need or want to do that before, but I can't deny myself or her the chance to do so. Yes, I've only spent a couple of days with her and I can already see that she is going to be someone very important in my life. I only want to nurture that and see how it could grow. Maybe that seems too fast, but if I can speak for both of us, it honestly doesn't feel like it. God help me if I ever did anything to upset her, I would encourage her to come to you. In fact, I give you permission to kick my ass if needed, because the last thing I want is for her to feel pain." Xavier started not sure where he was going, but then the words were out of him.