| Issues.|
Duke and Thomas were having so much fun, more fun than Duke had ever had since he was a little child. Ridding horses, driving go-carts and playing mini golf was all therapy that he needed after a tiresome week dealing with annoying diplomats.
They also got to play chess and puzzles which were some of Thomas' favourite pass times and Duke found himself wishing that his father had been half as attentive to him, growing up, but that had not been the case. Maxwell Carlisle had only been interested in power and an heir who would take over after him
Duke's phone beeped and he swiped the screen to receive the call from Malisha.
"Hello my love, we've only been gone one day and you already miss us?" He asked cheekily.
"Ha! Ha! So, how are you guys doing?" She pretended to laugh at his joke.
"We are great! We are having so much fun you would be jealous." Duke told her.
"Is that so?"
"Yea, so what's up?" He confirmed, then asked.
"Mmm... " she said sounding anxious.
"What is it Lisha?" Duke was now beginning to get alarmed.
"Ryan called. I was dozing. My phone rang.I thought it was you guys, so I picked it up. But it was him. Ryan." She said way too fast and Duke struggled to catch up.
"Lisha, calm down. What did he want?" He asked wheels turning in his head.
"To talk. I think. I did not get more. I kind of panicked and hang up."
"It's okay." He said scratching his head, "I guess we will talk about it when we come back?"
"Okay... Can I talk to Thomas?"
Duke laughed.Thomas was pulling at his leg and it was like he had sensed his mother on the other side of the phone.
Duke handed the phone over to him and watched as he spoke to his mother.
"Hello mamma."
"Hello baby. Are you having fun?" He heard her ask.
"Yea, papa and I played puzzles, rode little horses..."
"That's nice..." Malisha said grinning."sweetheart, will you hand over the phone to him, please?"
"Yes mum." Thomas told her.
"Bye honey."
"Bye Mummy."
Duke took the phone back from the little boy and watched him as he ran back to the carts.
"Have you ever considered getting him a pony?" He asked Thomas' mother.
"Papa?!" Lisha asked incredulously.
"That." Duke bit his lip. "Is it a problem?"
Malisha paused for a while before replying.
"No, not really. It just caught me by surprise. I guess it's okay, considering that we are going to be a family and all." She told him, but Duke was not completely convinced.
"Lisha,I know you well enough to know that it is always more than that."
"Fine, when did this happen!" she snapped.
"Actually he started calling me that this weekend. I think it is all the time we've been spending together. I was going to tell you when we got back, but Tommy boy here, let the cat out of the bag."
"Tommy boy?" She questioned and Duke groaned. Things were not going well.
"Lisha...You are killing me!"
Malisha chuckled and Duke frowned, not sure if he had heard her right.
"Did you just chuckle?" He finally asked her.
"You asked for it." She riposted. "But seriously, I do have more pressing issues than Thomas calling you papa or you calling him Tommy boy. Honestly, right now I don't care what you two do as long as he is safe and happy."
Duke breathed out a sigh of relief.
"Fine, so what will you do?"
"Again, I do not know."
He nodded.
"Whatever you decide, I'm with you. Just keep me posted and make use of Nelly or your friends and your sisters, okay?"
Malisha remained quiet and Duke guessed correctly that she was turning it over in her mind.
"Please..." he added.
"Okay." she finally said and he let out another sigh of relief.
♧
The next call from 'it' came the very next day. It is on a sunday and Duke and Thomas had not yet come back from their weekend retreat.
Malisha considered ignoring 'it' and letting the call go to straight to voicemail, but she knew that 'it' would only keep calling until she gave him an audience.
"Thank God, You picked up."
'It' said.
"What do you want Ryan?" She snapped back.
"First, I want to apologise for yesterday. I was a little bit tipsy--"
That irked her.
"I can recall a time when you were tipsy. That didn't end up well either." She told him.
"Look Lisha, I'm sorry. Please give me a chance to make it up to you." he begged.
"Don't you think it's a little too late for that?"
"It is never too late to make amends. If anything for our baby's sake."
She mulled it over.
"Maybe I can do this. For Thomas' sake. So that in future he can have choice and a chance to know his biological father?" She thought.
"You know what. Let me think about it?" She finally told him.
"Lisha..."
"Don't push!" She yelled and hanged up, again.
Her hone rang again and she stared at the number unable to place it.She considered ignoring it, but her curiosity won over.
"Hallo?"
"Hallo Malisha?" A strong feminine voice replied. It sounded vaguely familiar and she tried to connect it to her remaining friends and acquintances back from campus, but came up empty.
"Yes, this is she..."
"I know you are wondering who i am. Well, my name is Lennita."
"Lennita? Do I know you from somewhere?" she asked after a moment of thinking and Lennita hesitated before answering.
"I don't think so, but you dated my brother Ryan, a few years back."
"No wonder I couldn't place her. She sounds so much like her brother." Malisha thought.
"What do you want?" she snapped beginning to grow hostile.
"Look, I am calling on behalf of my brother---"
"Couldn't he pick up the phone and call himself?"
"He tried, but your father---"
Malisha remembered what Duke told her, about the calls that her father had intercepted. She was still not sure wether to be grateful or annoyed for it.
"--and then there is yesterday and just now." Lennita finished.
"Mmm..." was Malisha's reply.
"I was hoping we could meet,talk..."
"Seriously? What's there to talk about? Your brother, went and got me pregnant, abandoned me and married someone else, all before my baby was even born!" she yelled.
"Lisha..."
"No! You don't get to call me that!"
Lennita paused and for a moment Malisha thought she had hanged up.
"Fine, I guess you do have a point, but what about your baby?"
"I don't know what it is about this woman, but she seems to know how to press all my wrong buttons." Malisha fumed.
"She's Ryan's sister and that whole topic on Ryan is a really huge, fat red, wrong button for you." Her inner voice told her and she had to agree.
"Why now? After almost five years, why now?"
"Believe me, we've searched everywhere for you, but you kind of disappeared."
"Isn't that what Ryan wanted? For me to disappear." she asked her.
"I doubt it, but that is something he should explain to you himself."
She was baiting her and Malisha knew it. However, she was curious and wanted to be done with the issue once and for all.
"Fine, let me think about it." she conceded.
"Maybe you could have your assistant email me, when you do make up your mind." Lennita suggested.
Malisha had a feeling that she would not let it go and would keep pestering her about it until she agreed to it. How she even knew that Malisha had an assistant was something else, but the future Domina was not about to start asking her those questions. She just wanted some peace back in her life, or any semblance of it.
"Fine, I'll do it . I'll consult my schedule and have my assistant get back to you on the date."
With that she hang up.
"I know it is rude, but we've already established that I don't care much for propriety, especially when it comes to those two."
Her inner voice chuckled and the two went back to lounging lazily by the pool.