"We should take a picture," Lloyd beamed after we finished our dessert, "to mark our families' first meeting, Rhett. The first of many!"
He talks like a politician, cute, "Mum?"
The hope in his eyes made me bend, and I'm not really a fan of taking pictures of myself, when I do is of him, of the environment, of books, or of my mum, she loves the camera, "Alright." Mum will like to have a picture of this moment, my first meeting with my son's best friend's family.
"Yes! I love pictures!" Leah beamed, sounding softly drunk, just enough to loosen up more than normal. "Come on," she grabbed her iPhone and handed to her husband, "let's take the first one in the table."
"Pose it up," he exclaimed, extending his long arm up to capture all of us in the picture and I leaned closer, tilting my shoulder and trying to look pretty but sensual. He took about ten pictures like that.
I couldn't help smiling when I saw my son trying to look cool and mysterious, reaching out to mess his hair, and he broke his serious gaze to whine about it, "Mum, don't do that. My haaair."
"Your hair remains perfect, love," I giggled.
"You messed it up," he pouted.
"You look more charming like this," I winked.
"Now up and together," Neville said and we were all on our feet, gathering around one another, then he picked one of the girls in one arm and Leah picked the other, while Lloyd and Rhett stood between us. "Say dumbarse," that got a genuine smile from our kids.
I grinned, acting like being under a camera was natural for me, when it ain't.
Neville took many like that too, then Lloyd asked to pose solely with Rhett, then the two of them with the twins, each in one of their arms, and then just them with me and Leah, then Leah took one of Neville holding each of the boys in one of his arms mimicking a superhero, some solely of me with Leah, and lastly all of us together, which one of their staff took so it wouldn't be a selfie.
"That's enough, right?" Me and Rhett said at the same time.
They all giggled, "Like mum, like son," Neville said.
"Drained already?" Lloyd asked mischievously.
"Mate, I've been drained an hour ago," Rhett cried.
"Awww, you hang up for me," Lloyd played.
My son rolled his eyes, "You're so annoying."
"And you're so uptight and troublesome."
"Better than being annoying," my son scoffed.
"At least you didn't deny it," he giggled.
"I'm not uptight, I'm disgustingly educated!"
"You're uptight," Lloyd poked him.
"Do you even know what uptight means?"
"Of course, it means Rhett Vaughan!"
My son rolled his eyes, "You are profoundly annoying."
"And you adore me," he giggled. "I'm amazing."
"Amazingly annoying."
"You agree that I'm amazing?" Lloyd grinned.
"I'm doomed," he passed a hand over his hair.
"Doomed to eternity as my best friend!"
"Doomed still," he groaned. "Mum!"
"You found him on your own, deal with it," I looked away.
"Mum," he cried exasperated and I chuckled softly.
But before I could even say anything, Leah did, "Can we talk, Ruby?" I blinked at her, chills down my spine, knowing exactly what she wanted to talk to me about. "In private," she added. "About details of our trip to the highlands."
That's a lie. "Sure," I stood up and turned to my son, who was looking at me curiously, probably because he's smart enough to know that we are not going to talk about the trip, but about his father, and the fact that I might have gotten the bloody twin wrong this whole time. "Play with Lloyd, we're here for you two, yeah?" I said softly, smiling so he wouldn't worry so much, and caressing his hair, and he blushed.
"Yes, mum," he smiled and I winked at him.
"I'll put the girls to sleep," Neville said at last, carrying each in one of his strong arms. "Take the pretty boy to your room, son, show him what you got there, you've always dreamed of bringing a friend there, it's your chance."
"What's in your room?" Rhett asked him.
"Oh, mate, you won't believe me," Lloyd giggled mischievously, grabbed my son by the hand and ran up the stairs, disappearing from our sight in a second.
"Ah, the energy of those boys," Neville purred and turned to me. "You did an stellar job raising him on your own, Ruby, he's an incredible kid."
I swallowed, "I had my mum with me."
"But you were the only parent," he said, "and if it was hard to take care of ours with both me and my darling here, I can't imagine how it was for you. You earned this compliment. Now, I'll leave you two to catch up," then he kissed her lips softly, her forehead, and left up the stairs with the sleeping twins in his arms.
"He's the best father and husband I could have asked for," she said, smiling at where he left, then our eyes met and we both tensed. "Come on, let's go to the private living room."
Not knowing what else to say, I nodded, stood up, grabbed my handbag, the glass of scotch they had served me during dessert that was still half way down, and followed her inside, looking around. "I forgot to ask what you work with."
"I work with event planning, as in, big scale old money events, both for the sake of it and for charity too. Like I said, I love planning. Neville gave me the option of staying as a trophy wife or working in something I loved, not for money but because I loved the idea of doing it. You know he's a billionaire, right?" I nodded. "He's involved in many events, because of his work, and as his wife, I would be too, so, he happily helped me out on it. After my first ten events were successful, I got a nice reputation between the high society, and now I'm an elite planner."
"That actually suits you," I said as we got to the private living room, where she closed the doors and took me to a set of bordo leather couches, and we sat in opposite sides. "You have that class, the vibe of a socialite who takes care of those kind of events, I hope the dress I got you will be suitable for one of those."
"Oh, it will. I'll already use it on the next Saturday, we'll have an afternoon tea party, just between the richest women in London, the most classy, and all old money born or married to old money," she clapped her hands excitedly.
I blinked, "In Mayfair?"
"Yes! How did you know?"
"My mum was talking about it, I didn't know it was your planning, though. Ryacinth Vaughan, with an R instead of an H. She goes by Cinthya too, but only with her closest acquaintances. I got my introvert personality from her dad, mum and my dad were both extroverted, hence while Cole came out that way. She's didn't have much power in the US, but she has a ton here in London."
Her jaw dropped, "The Ryacinth is your mum?"
A nod, "You know her?"
"Of bloody course, I know her," she gasped. "She is the socialite of the socialites in here, one of my events sponsors, and she's really bloody rich, as in eleven figures bank account. Everyone knows The Ryacinth, she's an icon."
"I would call her eccentric instead," I chuckled.
"Shite, I can't believe you're her daughter. What the hell happened even? I never understood why you lived with Cassiano Sinnott and your mum was nowhere to be seen, Cole never spoke about her, at all, the simple mention of mums near him, would make him bitter."
Sigh, "Dad cheated on mum with Helaena, his current wife, with whom he had my three younger half-siblings. My mum was absolutely in love with dad, she would have burned the world for him, and he went there, cheated on her with someone 20 years younger, and married the mistress. The divorce broke mum's heart, and they fought for our guardianship, but since mum had more power here in London and dad overpowered here in Massachusetts, he bribed the judge to get our guards."
"What a cunt," she gasped.