A Teacher's Heart

Chapter Seven

"Alfred!~"

"Mattie!~"

"Francis!~"

"Olivia...."

Francis watched Olivia enter the house carefully, prepared to stand his ground if she made even one wrong move.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" Francis asked his ex-wife, making Olivia's smug grin widen immediately.

"I actually have a surprise for Matthew~" she replied.

"A surprise?~" Matthew awed, clearly excited. "For me?~"

"Yes~" Olivia nodded. "I'm going on a business trip for a few weeks, and I couldn't find a babysitter in time, so I decided that it was a good idea for Alfred to stay with you while I'm gone!~ I even enrolled him in the same daycare as you!~ Your teacher is a very charming man, by the way~"

"Oui, Mister Kirkland is the best!~" Matthew agreed. "Well, besides papa, that is!~"

"Oui, he certainly is~" Francis smiled at his son. "I'm sure Alfred will like him, too~"

"I'm just excited to be with you guys again!~" Alfred told them. "We're going to have SO MUCH FUN!~"

A car horn interrupted the conversation, and Olivia looked at her watch.

"Well, that's my driver~" she replied, kissing Alfred's head sweetly. "Goodbye, sweetheart~ Have fun, and be good while I'm gone, okay?~"

"Okay!~" Alfred agreed. "Bye, mom!~"

"Goodbye~" Olivia repeated, walking out of the house and closing the door behind her.

Olivia was a lawyer, and a very good one at that, so she was just as wealthy as Francis was.

Maybe even more, in her opinion.

"Well, what would you boys like to do first?" Francis asked them. "Alfred, are you hungry?"

"Yeah!~" Alfred nodded. "Is breakfast ready?~"

"Mhmm," Francis hummed with a nod. "Follow me. I'll get you boys some plates."

The twins did just that, and Alfred immediately began to eat his crepes when Francis put his plate down.

"Alfred, slow down," Francis warned his son calmly. "You'll get sick if you eat your food too fast, and there's plenty of crepes left. No one will take all of them. I promise."

"Oh, sorry, dad...." Alfred apologized awkwardly. "It's just...mom and I got up pretty early, so...I'm really hungry."

Francis squinted his eyes at Alfred, but he quickly shooed his sinister thoughts away.

Olivia may be cold-hearted, he told himself, but she wouldn't go so far as to starve Alfred. Would she....?

"I understand," Francis nodded, "but just slow down. Crepes are your favorite, right? So you should enjoy them."

"Okay, dad!~" Alfred agreed happily. "Whatever you say!~"

~~~~

"Ah, it's such a pleasure to finally meet you, Alfred!~" Arthur told the young boy the next morning. "Matthew won't stop talking about you, you know!~"

"Well, we are the best brothers in the whole world, Mister Kirkland!~" Alfred answered proudly. "So of course Mattie talks about me!~"

Arthur laughed softly, and Francis couldn't help but smile himself.

"You boys have a good day today, okay?" Francis replied. "I'll be back in the evening, I promise."