Damian Blackwood patted his daughterʼs head slightly as he stood up.
"Go upstairs, June. I would come see you later." He told her.
June smiled, bade her father goodnight and then went upstairs to her room.
Damian watched his daughter leave, hands in his pocket, he turned around only to find his mother behind him.
He was startled by her presence, he had had no idea that she or anybody was there with them.
"Mother." He gasped in surprise. "I didnʼt know you were here."
"Itʼs a good thing you divorced that woman. come to think of it, the problems she would have caused." Darcy Blackwood said ignoring her sonsʼs comment.
"She is still causing problems even while youʼve divorced her. Removing a child from school a week prior to vacation." She hissed slightly taking a sip of the lemon tea in her mug. "But the next good thing you should do is take custody of your daughter."
Damian shifted slightly, he wasnʼt interested in this discussion. He knew where it was leading to. Every conversation with his mother always trailed back to this one.
This had been going on for years and his mother never failed to talk to him about it. He wasnʼt concerned about whoʼs custody Juniper was in. As far as he knew, his daughter deserved to have both her parents with her but fate couldnʼt allow that.
What he could do was make himself available whenever she needed him and that was exactly what he had been doing since his divorce with Cecilia. He visited her on weekends. They always had fun and they sometimes went out together with the absence of Cecilia of course.
He couldnʼt stand that woman and he could hardly believe that there ever was a time that they both loved each other.
"Your daughter needs her fatherʼs love." Darcy continued forgetting that Juniper also needed a motherʼs carefree . Damian didnʼt bother pointing that out to her, doing that would just make the conversation stretch on and he didnʼt want that. He never took any of his motherʼs so called advice seriously. His life was his life and he made his own decisions which Darcy Blackwood couldnʼt influence.
"...and you heard what your daughter just said." Deep in thoughts, Damian had lost bits and pieces of her narration.
"What is that mother?" Damian asked a bit confused.
Darcy Blackwood placed her mug forcefully on the settee as she faced her son. She could tell when he wasnʼt listening and she couldnʼt condone such.
"You havenʼt been listening, have you?" She queried with an angry look.
Damian placed a hand on his forehead and plastered a false scowl on his face. "Iʼm trying to listen to you but Iʼve been having this headache for a while now. Itʼs getting worse." He lied.
Darcyʼs expression softened for a while as she stared at her son. The look he put in was convincing. Maybe he did have an headache.
"Did you visit the doctor?" She asked with concern. Damian gave a clipped nod.
"Yes. I was just returning from the hospital." He told her.
"What did the doctor say?" "He prescribed rest. Nothing else, mother."
"Okay, maybe you should get some rest." Now, Damian liked where the conversation was leading to. He stood up ready to leave for his room but was surprised when Darcy pulled him back to the seat.
"Where do you think youʼre going?" She asked with the same look of anger from earlier still on her face.
"I thought you said to get some rest." He scowled. Truth be told, he was something of a gentle boy when it came to his mother but with others ,he was the ruthless Damian Blackwood. The cold and calculative CEO of the Blackwood conglomerate.
"Yes but you have to listen to what Iʼm about to say."
"Whatʼs itʼs about?"
"Your daughter." Damian hissed inwardly. He had had enough of this already.
"What about her?" He asked nonchalantly.
"Donʼt you want custody of her, Cecilia isnʼt doing a good job of parenting her. You can use this against her. Besides, you have all the money and power to hire the best lawyers in town. I was also thinking that itʼs time you get yourself a wife."
Damian flinched, not at the whole of her words but the last part. The last thing he wanted was another woman in his life. They were all just after the money.
He had experienced the same with Cecilia and every other woman that was in his life before her. Ceciliaʼs has hit him the worst, majorly because he had been madly in love with her and he had never thought she would do such to him.
Marrying him for his money was probably still acceptable for him but engaging in fraudulent practices to steal his money was on another level. Cecilia was one courageous woman, he would give her that. She was courageous, always had been.
He liked her because of it but it had also been her Waterloo. There was barely enough evidence provided against her for him to be able to sue her but he had somehow managed to pilot his way out of their marriage.
The only good thing he had ever benefited from his marriage to Cecilia was Juniper. He had gotten nothing else from it. Thinking about it now, he realized that even the feelings he had shown Cecilia were unreciprocated. He sighed in vexation, even the thoughts he had just had were enough to give him an headache.
"Have you been listening to me?" Darcy asked in that shrill voice of hers. She had just asked him a question and he had failed to answer. The only response he had given was a blank face which meant he hadnʼt heard her question or everything she had been saying before.
"What are you thinking about, Damian?" His mother asked looking worried. She could be angry or mad at him but one thing was that she always took note of her childʼs feelings no matter what hers were.
"Nothing, mum. Iʼm just tired thatʼs all." He told her.
"Are you sure?" Darcy asked
pressing further.
"I am mum. I would try to do as you have said." With that, he got up from the sofa and trampled up the stairs leaving his mother behind.
Darcy Blackwood leaned back in her chair as her son left. She took her mug from the table and took a sip of the tea that was inside it. It had gotten cold, she placed it down afterwards unable to drink it anymore. She didnʼt like tea except it was warm.
She had been around this morning when Cecilia came to drop Juniper off claiming she was going on a business trip with her boss. Darcy has scoffed inwardly at her for no actual reason, except that she disliked the woman her son had once been married to. Nothing about Cecilia Jones pleased her, she was just a gold digger who had nothing to give anyone else in return.
A scheming hybrid from the demon and angel family. She got her delicate form from her angelic ancestors while her heart belonged to her demon ancestors. She never liked that woman and would never ever like her. She was the reason Damian had stopped having relationships with women.
She had no idea what went on in her sonʼs mind but as his mum it was her concern. When Damian went upstairs, he didnʼt look all too well and she didnʼt know what to do about him.
It wasnʼt long before she came to a decision. Maybe talking to him would work and maybe she could make see reasons why he needed to find love again in another woman.