[A/N: flashback continues]
The break-up and divorce had been very nasty, and Yvonne was glad that her children were too young to understand what went on between their parents. She looked at the beautiful scenery as well as the sky shade and wished that she felt as bright on the inside. She could still feel that bad ache in her heart from the divorce. She still loved her ex-husband to bits, but she knew that certain decisions were always made for the best.
"Mummy why are you sad?", little Amanda pulled her mother's hand to gain her attention while she stretched her neck to try to see her face.
"I am not sad my princess, let's go," she smiled brightly and shoved the 'bad' thoughts to the back of her mind and skipped with her daughter while they both giggled and enjoyed the time of their lives.
This was the first time in a month she was going to see her husband since they finalized their divorce. Even though she wanted nothing to do with that as***, she also wanted her children to have a semblance of a happy childhood with their father and that was why she had agreed to the visits.
When they arrived, Amanda jumped to hug her dad's legs, where her small arms could reach but the man looked down at her with disdain. It was so fleeting that Yvonne thought that she had imagined it.
"Why would he not like his own daughter?" she scoffed and brushed the thought from her head. In fact, it will be years later that she would come to know that it was not her imagination that day. That day would become one of her saddest days as a mother but alas, there is nothing to be done when the harm has already been caused.
Mitch hugged Amanda briefly and sat down with her while Amanda told him everything he had missed in the time they had been apart. Yvonne could still sense the emotional distance between the father and daughter but thought she was being paranoid. Little did she know that she was spot on.
She surveyed her ex-husband's new home or rather the place he had used for his past escapades. While she lived in an apartment with Amanda, his place was an adrift beach house with large glass windows that gave anyone a one-stop view of the innards of the house even from outside. She had to admit, it was picturesque.
It had a rather large living room where they currently were, which was equipped with a fireplace. Apart from his study, there were four other bedrooms, three were which were on the upper level with balconies overlooking the sunset. The other bedroom was on the lower level and was used by his housekeeper. The lower level also had a kitchen/dining room as well. The living room had a link to a smaller house on the side which he called the 'doll house'. As the name came, it was stacked with life-like dolls as well as miniature ones for little Ella to play with.
A knock interrupted their moments.
"Ah, they are already here," Mitch went to the door to let in the visitors. A thick burly man walked in with a young boy, Eddy. He was twelve years then, and he had visited with his adopted father, Wallace Samuels.
"Good to see you, Mitch,", the man boomed in a loud voice that made the women in the room cringe. Eddy who was used to this smiled as he approached the little girl behind her mother.
"He's loud, isn't he? I'm Eddy. What's your name?"
"Amanda", she replied in her child-like voice.
"Amanda, go play with Eddy and Ella in the room whiles mummy talks to daddy for a bit, okay?"
"Yes, mummy",
"Ella!"
She came running into the living room and jumped into her mother's embrace. "I miss you baby.", Yvonne said with a smile as she kissed Ella into giggles.
"Ella, take your sister and Eddy to your dollhouse to play," Mitch gave out the instructions with his back to the kids.
Ella pulled both in that direction. The mood in the room after the children left became very sombre as the subject matter to be discussed was grave.
Amanda thought back to that day and her impression of Eddy. Even though she was young, she had felt that she had seen the most handsome boy yet. His blond hair was dishevelled but contrary to it, it made him look more charming to little Amanda. When he looked into her eyes, she couldn't look away as he looked so mesmerizing. The two bonded at once and spent most of the time reading books and playing around with Ella of course.
"I am adopted", Eddie proudly told the girls.
"What does that mean?" Ella asked with obvious curiosity on her face.
Amanda stepped in to patiently explain to her sister.
Back in the living room, tensions were high as Mitch and Yvonne were at each other's neck, verbally as they always had done since just before and after the divorce.
"So, Wallace, who is the boy? I've never seen him before and he is too old to be your son, hahaha, I would know if you had a son this old?". Yvonne turned to Wallace and asked him openly but with some tenderness evident in her voice. She asked this to ignore her ex-husband and to lighten the mood in the room as she had felt Wallace begin to get uncomfortable when their discussion was turning more personal.
"You know that I have desired for kids for years but we, unfortunately, have not been blessed with one yet even after all this time. This child is one of the sons of my underlings who unfortunately was unable to take care of all of them. I found Eddy to be hardworking so I have taken him as my own and will assist with the education of the others as well in exchange. I have adopted him officially as my own", he explained proudly.
"He will understudy me in the business along with his schooling as well. My wife is very happy with him and that also takes her mind off the fact that we do not have a child of our own. He's been with us for about three months now and I love how respectful and helpful he is. I am thinking of grooming him to be my successor."
"Wait…, you can't make rash decisions about successions like that Wallace!" Mitch interrupted his friend, but Wallace just smiled.
Eddy had excused himself from the girls to find some water to drink and overhead the conversation between the adults. An interesting and calculating smile appeared on his face and he quickly stepped back before he was seen.