Chapter 62

"Hi Alex," Elaine greeted and her eyes widened in surprise upon seeing her drenched daughter. "Viola, what happened?"

"Sorry, Elaine. The girls decided to have a dip in the lake," Alex explained.

"Did Viola insist? You know, this girl could be very persistent."

"Oh no! It's my fault. I asked her to swim," said Sasha. "She swam really good and-"

Alex gave her a warning glare as Sasha was about to tell what happened there in the lake.

Sasha took the hint and pursed her lips.

"And?" asked Elaine waiting for the next words.

"Sasha was great, too. She swam towards me," Viola added.

"Oh! That's great. But I hope next time you tell me, honey, that you want to swim so I could have put you in your swimsuit."

"It's okay, Elaine. It was a quick dip anyway. The girls want to have fun before they separate."

"About that... I really wanted for us to stay close, Alex. Do you mind if I get your number?"

Alex didn't want to be rude so she gave her number to Elaine as the latter typed it on her phone.

"We would be renting a beach house near the camp. Maybe about two hours away, in Villa Carolina."

"Villa Carolina? We live five miles from it. Well, technically, Robbie's house is," Alex supplied.

"Really? Oh, so that would be fun to be close by. We wanted to swim at the beach and enjoy the sun. It would be hard in the fall since it's cold. I hope you don't mind if the girls play sometimes. We can either drop by or you can drop by to ours."

Alex forced a smile. As much as she liked the two girls to play, there was still a part of her that doubted Elaine. She was still uncomfortable of how nice she was to her. It felt as if she was still trying to hide her true self.

'I guess, I have to get used to this new Elaine somehow,' she thought to herself while she heard the girls shouted in glee.

"Yehey!" The girls screamed together in delight.

"Finally we can play again," Viola said. "You got to see my LOL dolls."

Sasha laughed. "So you love LOL?"

"Yes. They're all so pretty and I got the sports car, too. Do you have one?"

"I'm not really into dolls a lot."

"I see. Then what do you like to do?"

"Dance."

Viola's eyes lit up.

"You love to dance too?"

"Yes. Do you?"

"Yes. I want to do tiktok."

"So let's do that then."

"I did not bring a lot of toys."

"That's okay. We can swim, too. Dad has the biggest pool in our house."

"Okay, girls. I think that is enough for now. You both need to change and Sasha needs to pack up," Elaine interrupted them as both girls frowned.

"So, we will see you then?" said Viola.

"Yes," replied Sasha and the girls hugged each other.

"Bye, Sasha. I'll see you soon."

"Bye, Viola," and she waved her hand to her as they pulled herself away from her.

"Thanks, Alex. I'll call you," Elaine said.

"You're welcome. See you," and Alex smiled at her before walking back towards the path to their cabin.

"Mom," Sasha called when they were far away from the Crainshaw's RV. "How do you know that I am dad's daughter?"

Alex stopped and looked at her daughter.

'Where did she get this idea from?' she wondered.

"Why are you asking me this, Sasha? You know by now that YOU are your dad's daughter," Alex told her daughter.

"Sorry, Mom. I just thought of what Viola said."

"Why? What did she say?"

"She said she might be adopted."

Alex's eyes widened in surprise. Did the girl know about Miguel?

"Why did she think that?"

"She said she doesn't look like her dad at all."

Alex's eyebrows furrowed.

"I told her I don't look like my dad, too, and that she's lucky she had a dad eversince while I haven't met my dad until now."

"Did she say anything else?"

"She said she met a friend of her mom's, and gives her stuff."

"Did she say who?"

"She said it's Tito Miguel."

Alex froze. Did Elaine introduce Miguel to Viola then? She remembered Elaine telling her she was still meeting Miguel but never mentioned that the girl had met him.

Was that why the girl was thinking she was adopted? Could she be thinking Miguel was actually her real father?

Alex was so deep in thought that she got startled as a sudden rustling of feet came towards them.

"Hey girls! What are you doing out here?" It was Robbie who walked towards them. Alex did not know what to tell Robbie as the memory of Elaine's confession came back to her.

"Hey love! Are you okay?" He asked and approached her to give her a kiss on her forehead.

"Yeah. I'm fine," she lied. "We have to get ready."

"I know..." then he turned towards Sasha. "What happened to you, princess?"

Sasha smiled. "I swim in the lake."

"I figured."

"No, Daddy! I actually swim. As in swim in the water."

"Really? That's great. But who taught you?"

"Kellan."

Robbie raised a teasing eyebrow.

"Kellan, huh? That boy surely teaches you a lot of things. I guess, I'll invite him more over."

Sasha smiled widely.

"My little princess is now growing up to be a lady," Robbie teased.

"Daddy!" and the girl blushed.

Robbie laughed. "Very well, let's all get ourselves ready to go home."

They walked back inside the cabin.

***********

Robbie reached out to Alex's hand as she looked outside the car window. It had been an hour since they left the camp and now they're on their way home.

"What's bothering you, Alex?" he asked.

"N-Nothing."

"Is it Mom?"

She lowered her eyes. She could not tell him the real reason as she promised Elaine.

"Alex," he called again and she looked at him. "It's going to be okay. I'm sure Mom would be delighted."

How can she tell this man that it was not the reason? Although she knew it was nothing even if Robbie would know, but there was still a part of her that felt nervous.

The reason, she did not know why.

She forced a smile to Robbie. Right now, she could handle her soon mother-in-law. But Elaine was a different story.

"By the way, I moved the engagement party sooner than planned."

"Wait! How soon?"

"In two weeks."

"What? I thought we have at least a month."

"Why wait a month? Besides, I wanted everyone to see who my fianceé is."

"Well... wasn't it too soon?"

"Alex, we postponed it once already, and I think this would be the perfect opportuniy to tell everyone we are getting married. Also, the collaboration will be after our honeymoon which we might cut short as well."

"I see.... I don't mind cutting our honeymoon for that."

"What? You're okay with shortened honeymoon?"

Alex chuckled.

"Why not? You've got a business to run, my love. Like I said, we can always do the honeymoon anytime you want and anywhere," and she smiled as her eyes teased him.

"Sht!" Robbie muttered underneath his breath as Alex squeezed his hand. An image of her naked suddenly crossed his mind and quickly he reminded himself that they were on the road. He never wanted to be in an accident especially if his girls were with him.

Alex laughed as Robbie gripped the steering wheel. For several days they had been in camp, all they did was make love like there was no tomorrow. Funny how they somehow just craved each other no matter what and never get tired of it.

But he knew he got some real business to attend to on top of all the other arrangements they would do once they have gone home.

Soon after a long drive, they came into the beach mansion as the servants stood by the door, awaiting their arrival, while her mother walked towards them with an air within her.

An air so tight that gripped his throat as he brought his whole family with him towards her.

How would his mom handle this?

A thought he sure dreaded to hear the answer for.