A proper Apology -part 1

Brother walked in with his two little darlings.

"Bo and bell!"

Mother called as they came and she went on to grab the two girls who were a bit stiff and surprised as they had never seen their grandmother before. "My darlings" she held them with tears in her eyes.

"They've grown this big?"

"And you!" she threw her fingers at him.

"Mother," he called in a honeyed voice and went on to hug her but she resisted. "You stop it there"

"Why? I'm home now."

"After years of abandonment you think it right?" She scolded him.

"Please do forgive me, you can't blame this poor man."

"Only because of the Grace of God, that I will forgive you only for this minute"

She smiled and wrapped him in her arms.

"Eugene, My brother"

We went on to hug.

"How long has it been?"

"Since you stopped visiting me at the university, that was like….. two… three years ago?"

"Oh drop your sarcasm!" He bundled me in another hug.

"You should be careful I'm no longer the little Eugene," I warned when he wanted to ruffle my hair.

He laughed. "Fine, I know you are grown,"

"Yes, very much taller than you"

He laughed and went on to offer greetings to Aunt who was already standing.

The two girls stood looking at us and mostly their gaze settled on me.

"Lovelies,"

I bent towards them.

So vivid it was, their resemblance with their runaway mother. They had her fair hair and innocent blue eyes. Features I know were the ones that bewitched my brother into misery. They both looked like fairies in their fairy-like white gowns.

"Uncle Eugene?"

It came out as a question filled with uncertainty rather than an actual fact.

"Yes, I am Eugene, your uncle, only uncle actually"

They both looked at each other at the same time.

"The owner of Papa's paintings!" They smiled in delight.

Paintings? Now I was confused.

"What paintings?"

"Papa says you are the owner of the artwork in our home!"

Oh! That.

"Yes I am, darlings"

"Ohhh!" They squealed in delight.

"Hug?"

They both jumped into my arms.

When they both left me and went over to Aunt who called them off, that was when I noticed the lady in the room with us. She sat still and as rigid as could be, spying on The door. Any opportunity she was bound to leave.

"Come, come, take your seats," Mother directed with happiness.

Dennis and his children went ahead to take seats as the servants came to take his luggage at the door.

"Excuse me ma'am" she stood.

"No, Mrs Williams." Mother stopped her.

"Dennis," she called to him who was staring at her. I guessed he was lost too. Yes, I had told him of the steward. And now it would dawn on him that I was wrong all along. Was it my fault? Yes and No.

"That is the steward, Mrs Williams"

I opted out and ignored the conversation as best as I could because the next he would attack me with his questioning looks.

"Mrs?" his thin brows squeezed.

"Yes," Mother fixed her look at me. I knew she did but I was too focused on the beer on the table and the chattering children who couldn't keep their excitement about my paintings. They were already asking questions!

"Eugene," his eyes squinted at me but trust me, I was a master at ignorance and acting.

"It's a delight to meet you, Mr Houston," she interjected turning his attention back to her.

A delight! Well, that was prejudice! She didn't say and acted that way towards me. That was biased!

Who cared anyway?

"The same, Mrs Williams." He smiled at her.

She bowed and immediately dismissed herself even though her mother wanted her to stay.

"Eugene!" he screeched.

"What?"

"Now why would you—-"

"Yes, yes, I know. I mistook her for a man. But my mind was simply fixed on the fact that a steward in our home could never be a woman and so I read it all wrong."

He shook his head as he took a sip from the glass in his front as mother and aunt drew him into a conversation, asking about the company and how he had been coping.

He was still handsome and virile, after all, he was only five and twenty but the family issues and the responsibilities he took on before his time made him a little bit more mature. He nodded to their questions fixing his long brown hair which he had grown more than its usual length. It suited him with his kind of hazel eyes. Was he planning on attracting another wife? He surely can't. Not after the hell he came out from and was still facing the consequences. I wonder how he manages the business with his two chatterboxes.

I looked at them who were playing with the ring and watch on my wrist and finger instead of eating the food on the table.

It would have been the best if they resembled him instead of the wretched woman. We could all hope their mother's bad behavior did not rub off on them or cause them concern in the near future.

The first year she left he kept writing letters of agony to me on how the children were reacting to the absence of their mother. All I told him was that they were still young and would forget her sooner enough. Who remembers their parents when they were a year old?

It happened to work because with a new nanny and nursery maid, he got them and all, they managed to forget her. Good. And I would make sure they never even remember the first letter of her name.

"He wrote to me yesterday,"

I returned back to the conversation when he mentioned Mr. Cedric, our uncle and mother's elder brother.

"And how was the factory going?" I joined in.

"Efficiently," he replied.

"Did you inform him to be getting ready to hand it over?"

His expression was masked with a sort of anxiety.

"Did you?"

"Yes, I told him you were done with school, but are you really serious about the company?"

"You think me not capable?"

"Of course you are Eugene," Aunt chipped in.

"But you have no experience,"

"Which is the more reason he should be preparing to hand it over and acquaint me with all the procedures involved. Right Mother?"

I asked Because she had grown silent fiddling with the cup in her hands.

"You should try to relax first of all. You have just graduated."

"And why would that stop me?"

"Don't be in a rush darling."

"Well, I would just keep it low until I want to. It could be tomorrow, next minute, next month, next second, or even now. Just do well Brother to inform him that I would be visiting the company anytime and he should be getting ready."

He raised his hands in surrender and went on with his food giving glances at his girls once in a while. The fatherly love or should I say the love he had for their mother was still there and it seemed to transfer to the beauties.

The back door closed and the black lace drew past. I knew it was her. That door only led to the garden. I think this was my time to finish my mission and clear all misunderstandings.

I excused myself from the lot that was chattering away and moved towards the door.