Tied

Chapter 7

After forty-five minutes Mia began to come out of her stupor, she heard Grant praising her as he gently stroked her back and head. She realized she was wrapped in his arms, and she felt more content than she had in a very long time. And as much as she would love to stay like this for the rest of the night, they had not talked about the length of aftercare, and she did not want to impose upon Grant, so she opened her eyes and smiled at him.

The look of peace and contentment on her face made Grant both happy and proud, he smiled back at her and said, "You were wonderful tonight. Do you feel better?" Mia laughed and said, "Honestly I have not felt this good in a long time, thank you." Grant hugged her and said, "We did not talk about aftercare and such and I have no problem if we stay like this for the night, but I am not sure you came prepared for that." Mia shook her head and said, "I would not mind staying either, but I am not prepared, and I have to work tomorrow." Nodding Grant eased out of bed and walked to the door and opened it and retrieved her clothes and brought them to her, then he began to pick up his clothes and dress as well.

When they were both dressed, they walked upstairs to the kitchen where Grant asked if she would sit down for a few minutes. He got a couple of bottles of water from the fridge, and gave her one, and then said, "Would you be comfortable staying over at least Saturday nights? I understand it is harder on weeknights, but I would like to extend at least one night a week." Mia replied, "I think that would be fine. We can try it and if it feels odd or awkward, we can adjust until it works." Grant smiled and said, "I was not able to get the first pass at a contract, can we meet one night this week for you to review it." Mia nodded and said, "This week may be rough, I am going to be working some at Jasmine's café to help her out because she is shorthanded. I know I am helping her Wednesday and Thursday nights."

Grant proposed stopping by the café closer to closing time and they could discuss it then, and he would make any changes after they talked. Mia agreed and gathered her things and headed home, where she fell into bed exhausted but so happy.

Waking up the next morning was surprisingly easy, Mia felt rested and relaxed when she jumped into the shower. She dressed, fixed her lunch and a large travel cup of coffee and headed to work, where she had a very slow day. Last week they had been crazy getting everything done, and this week it was very quiet because a lot of people were taking time off because Friday was Good Friday. Work being slow was not a bad thing, but after seeing her sister yesterday it gave Mia way too much time to think.

Mia had tried when she was younger to fit in and be like her brothers and sisters, but it never worked, she was never good enough for her mother, well the woman she thought was her mother. Before her grandmother died, Mia was treated somewhat like family, she was included at least, but when her grandmother died that all changed. That is when Mia learned the truth, that she was the illegitimate daughter of her father and not related at all to her mother. Her grandmother left a trust for Mia with a significant amount of money in it, and her mother went nuts.

Remembering that time was hard for Mia, she learned the woman she thought was her mother was not, and she learned it because her "mother" screamed at her that she did not deserve an inheritance because she was some slut's bastard child. She learned her father got another woman pregnant and when she died, she left Mia in her will to him. Now her biological mother knew that they would dump her given the chance so she put in the will that if they did not acknowledge Mia and take her into their family, friends would release Mia's identity and story to the press. Since Mia's father was an elected official that would have ruined him.

Once her grandmother died, then she basically lived on her own inside their big house. They went on vacation and left her with the housekeeper, which did not bother Mia, she liked Mrs. Harrison. Her father just ignored the situation and acted like nothing was wrong, her brothers and sisters pretty much did the same, they did not mistreat her, they just ignored her. But her mother took every opportunity to hurt and humiliate Mia until she learned to fight back.