I woke up a bit earlier than I normally do. Not sure if it was because I went to sleep earlier or if I was just too excited and anxious for the start of our trip or both. I went into the kitchen and found Mom making breakfast. I guess I wasn't the only one.
"Mom, you remember we're having brunch right?" I asked.
"Sure do sweetie. I'm not going to starve until then though." She smiled at me, "I'm just making an omelet we can share."
"I love your omelets!" Okay I pretty much loved all of her cooking but omelets were my favorite breakfast food.
"I know."
"While you're doing that, I'm going to move our bags by the front door. Are yours all ready to go?" She never let me help her make omelets so I stopped asking if I could help years ago.
"Yes, and they're just inside my bedroom door."
I made several trips to get all our luggage. By the time I was done Mom was just finishing putting our omelet halves on plates. She always made them perfectly. When I made them they always fell apart.
"Thanks Mom, you're the best." I kissed her cheek. Then took the plates to the table.
After we ate, I did all the dishes and did a brief round of cleaning so the apartment would be clean when we got home. I loved coming home to a clean house. Not that our apartment every really got messy. I guess that is one bonus of living with my Mom, I still feel like a child who needs to keep everything tidy. It also helps that Mom is home now since she doesn't have to work and helps keep everything clean. I've talked to her about hiring a maid service but she refuses, something about why pay someone to do something we can do ourselves. She taught me the value of money and thinks she still needs to.
Before I knew it, there was a knock at our door and the same two guys from Wednesday, apparently Seth and Adam, were here to pick us up. They carried our luggage to the SUV. I set my home alarm and locked the door. As I walked to the SUV I thought that I could get use to having someone help me carry my luggage.
A half and hour later we were at the mansion again. I'm not sure how I feel about all of this still, other than the fact that they're trying to match me with Ethan, that I feel pretty happy about.
At brunch I met Ethan's younger brother Nathan and my step brother, Keenan. I would have to say that Nathan seemed more welcoming than Keenan. Maybe he was just more social but I think there were some underlying tensions within the family. I'd bet pretty much everything I had that Miranda didn't like me. Maybe it was just Mom and I that was causing the tension in the family, my family? My other family? I don't even know what to call them.
I actually had met Nathan before, at summer camp, but he probably didn't remember me. He attended with Ethan when he was old enough. But since he was so much younger than Ethan he was in a different group than us. Of course sometimes Ethan and I were in different age groups as well due to our age difference, but luckily they had 4 years of kids together so we spent half of the summers in the same group.
I knew very little about Keenan. I had spent some time reading about the family, although most recently the new has been about Charlotte and Ethan's wedding so it was harder to find information about Keenan. Charlotte was a year younger than me and Keenan was 3 years younger than her. Charles and Miranda only had the two children.
It felt weird to think that just three days ago the world was normal and I wasn't some illegitimate daughter of a billionaire. I'm not even sure how to handle that. If it gets out, will I need a bodyguard? Will I have to move to a more secure apartment, I have so many questions that I need answers to but it's all awkward and there's no way I feel comfortable asking all these things. I guess it will depend on the trip I'm taking and how Ethan and I get along. Because if I end up married to him, I'm sure he can help me know what to do and wouldn't make me feel silly or awkward for asking.