Greek Tragedy

EP 03 | REASONS & WRONGS

EPISODE THREE

'reasons & wrongs'

Helen continued to smile, tilting her head. "Whatever do you mean? Is there ever a reason for a mother to visit her son?"

Leon raised an eyebrow, smile wry. "You know you never do. And you hate England."

"My, hate is a strong word!"

"Fine, you seasonably despise the weather, can't stand the drowsiness of the countryside, and are usually, always too cross to eat any local food because it's too bland. If you ever do stay here, you always stay in London, before eventually moving to Paris where you actually spend most of your time while you're in Europe. This is the first time you've been here, and you don't even care about the castle-"

"- Leon," Helen said but Leon continued as if he never heard her.

"- and I know you didn't take a tour of the place. You simply don't care about the castle, so that can't be a reason. Missing me can't be the reason either. I had been here for almost three years, early of that, isolated for the first few months since the court hearing, so I dare say it can't be missing me. Are you curious about Wendy? Possibly, but ever since we sat down, you've offered no actual topic of conversation, or engaged with anything she's commented on or replied to."

My neck felt hot, the grip on my cup tightening. Leon was truly a formidable force once he started, and from Derek who shot a worried but resigned look to his wife, this didn't seem to be a rare occurrence between mother and son.

"So Wendy can't be it." Leon tapped the table, sighing in a mimic of an actor on stage. "The only ones left are Cordelia, grandfather, his company but you don't care about that, so no, or you need this house in some way, but again, no, that can't be it. You've given up on the restoration project as you usually do with your hobbies, and it can't be Cordelia either since she'll do anything you ask. So I'm left with two conclusions- Grandfather had asked you something to ask me, or you have something you want from me."

Leon tilted his head at his mother, assessing her as if she was a puzzle that he found boring. "It can be both if it's the latter, but that's all I've got. Mind you, I still just got back from a long drive and an abruptly halted trip so I might have missed a few things."

Helen released a shaky sigh. "You got all that smart from your father, did you know that?"

I watched, half in fascination, as Leon struggled to keep his face neutral. A twitch. A dark shadow beneath a curled smile that's a thin line from a grimace or an outright hostile downturn of his lips. But he caught himself and tried to exhale.

"As you've said. A million times before."

Leon rarely talked about his father. Only that their mother loved him until she didn't, and knowing her fickle nature, her father, Leon's grandfather, had made the mistake of trying to stop it.

It resulted in two children and no father to speak of.

I do know that he was handsome at least, as Leon said he took a lot of his features in him, but he was never in the picture. Leon's stories about him were few and far between, and usually a side quip to a bigger story, never really lingering.

"Helen..." Derek said, grimacing.

"It's fine, honey, you should be used to this now." Helen's laugh was short and sharp, but she softly caressed Matilda's sleeping face, watching her with a pleased smile. "You know, son, if you had done this with the kids present and awake, this would've gone differently."