"Love speaks in flowers. Truth requires thorns." -Leigh Bardugo
"Ryan, your dad-"
"Good afternoon to you too mum." He greeted her, his mother, who was fidgeting with her black gloves and the small handbag gripped tightly in her hands. As usual Mirena Thorpe was looking as exquisite as ever in a black skirt suit and black kitten heels. Black stockings covered the entirety of her legs, from her knees,down her calves all the way to the toes that were peaking out from the little openings at the front of her open toed pumps. Her blonde hair was short, cropped and as yellow as the blonde locks on her son's head and beneath the bangs were a pair of startling blues that Ryan must have inherited.
"I wish we had the luxury of that, but your father-"
"I know mum." Ryan cut her off. "He plans on cutting me off and to be honest, I do not care."
"Don't talk like that! With Lennita in Veterum, you are our only heir and I can't afford to lose you too."
"That would have to be your choice mum. Tell me, do you support him?" He questioned her right there on the doorstep. It seemed that her son was not ready to allow her in.
"I...I..." His mother stuttered.
"I see." She could feel the accusation ridden in his voice and for that she protested.
"Ryan...you don't understand!"
"Then make me." His mother fumbled for words and for a moment Ryan almost felt like he had to cut in again. That is until she opened her mouth in the most unexpected of fashions.
"Don't you care about your son? I thought you said that you loved her?"
"And why does that matter anyhow? Why now? Aren't you tired of making me make a fool of myself? I for one, I am." He retaliated with the same fire she had attacked with. "It's rather disappointing though that you would rather support your husband on this, even when you know that he is wrong."
"Ryan! He's your father too."
"And I am grateful for the life he gave me, but it is time I behaved like a man and a father too. Not that he is any of that."
"Ryan!" His mother gasped at his upazard commentary.
"I won't fault you for marrying him, but in the same way, you must learn to respect my decisions. Let him cut me off if he wants to. I think it is time I stand on my own any way."
"Surely, you don't mean that?"
"I do and I intend to work things out with Katrina. As for Malisha-"
"You mean that Veterum General's daughter?"
"The same one. Now, I do not intend to start a war between our two countries. So I would advice you to advice dad to stop pushing me on this matter."
"What of your son? Plus you know that when your father sets his mind on something he never listens to anybody."
"This time he better. She is not just a General's daughter."
"What do you mean? What else did you withhold?"
"Lennita didn't tell you?" Ryan laughed. "She must resent you that much, as much as I do then. I guess, she never really got over that arranged marriage you forced her into."
"Don't be absurd. We never really got down to talking-"
"So you tell yourself. Anyway, if that is all mum...I have to go. I have a guest to attend to." His mother hesitated for a moment then turned around to walk back to her waiting car. She had hoped to warn her son and in doing so, gain his favour, but as things had turned out,the boy was rather adamant. Then there was that thing about his sister. Was she really that mad at her? At her own mother?
"What did I do?" Hot tears dripped down her rosy cheeks. Her family was in shambles and it seemed that things were about to get much worse. First the Maracheli's then this and Lennita, why was she so quiet? Had she truly wronged her daughter so much? But what could she have done differently? She, like the others had just followed her husband's bidding and it seemed now that that same bidding was wrecking everything and every meaningful relationship in her own life. What more, she was lonely in her own marriage. Not that her husband really cheated, for his affairs were beyond that of other women. His was an affair with power,the mistress that even she, the beautiful Mirena, the most attractive and influencial socialite of her time could not compete with.
No. She would not let him ruin her and the only meaningful relationships she had left in her life. She had lost friendships because of him,including Alice her best friend due to her son's treatment of the woman's stepdaughter. It became worse when Marcus sent Ryan to Veterum and the family took Katrina away. What she wouldn't give to be happy again and now to learn that all along Lennita had been resentful of her? What kind of a mother was she? She berated herself. She wished she could do something. Go back, turn the hands of time and maybe chose a different husband. Or maybe what she had needed to do was to have been firmer about their children. Didn't he marry her for her influence? Hadn't he used the same influence to incite a relationship with the Maracheli's? Mirena sniffed. Wiping away the tears that were now staining her face.
Her life was so full of regrets and she found herself wondering if there was anything that she could do to remedy them. As she thought about her own life, her mind went back Ryan and the words he had just spoken to her. What did he mean by a war? Surely her grand son's family was not that powerful? Maybe it was, but to go to war over such a matter? She shook her head. Either the boy was delusional or there was something he was still not telling them. Yea, that was the most probable thing seeing how he had deflected it with that issue of Lennita. Yes...that boy was sneaky. "And I really have to stop referring to him that way." Mirena thought even as she directed her driver to drive back to her son's house.
Katrina's thoughts churned at what her ears had heard. She did not know what to make of it. One thing was clear though that Ryan's family was as messed up as hers, if not worse. Did he mean what she had heard him say? Was he giving up on that boy? She did not know much about the Phaedras of Veterum, but they were a ruthless lot. How Malisha got entangled with one, she did not know,but who was she to judge her when her own father and father in law were not any better?
Did Ryan giving his son up make him a coward? She could not decide especially after learning that his parents had been the ones to push him. Did that mean that he was sincere? Was she being cruel, selfish by wishing that he had only eyes for a child? Did it make her a terrible person for being glad that he would no longer go after her?
She had been her friend and she Katrina had betrayed her, but Malisha was now happy. Didn't she Katrina deserve the same?
"What am I even thinking?" Katrina shook her head to rid herself of the thoughts even as she descended down the stairs to join Ryan in the kitchen now that his mother was gone. He would not like it, she knew that. If he had his way he would have her confined to bed and with nothing to do,but she refused to live like an invalid. He would protest she knew also, but gone were the days when she allowed others to dictate her life for her. She was now living her own life and to its fullest at that.
As she crossed the hallway into the living room the doorbell sounded and Katrina smiled as she heard Ryan grumbling to himself in the kitchen.
"I will get it." She told him even as she moved towards the said door. A round of protests followed from the kitchen, the banging of a pan,then footsteps at which she bolted towards the door before he could stop her.
"Katrina!"
"Too late." She laughed even as she swung the door open to reveal the shocked face of her mother in law.