Victoria

Chapter 18

"Gregorio, you must be joking." Frances says.

"No my dear I am not." He assures her. I cannot help but laugh to myself over these two. They are madly in love, but the way they treat each other is as if they were long life friends instead of lovers.

"Gregorio, when you die, which might perhaps be very soon, our son will take this estate and own it. If you do not push him to stop messing around with girls and finally decide to marry, someone else will take this estate! Someone who is not family." She says.

"Fran dear; when in fact I do die, our son will be the only inheritor to this estate. Married or not"-

"But you are missing the point! It will be a colossal outrage!" she says.

"If I might say something..." I bud in. Frances and Gregorio look to me.

"Yes?" Gregorio says.

"Do you have a daughter married?" I ask.

"Our eldest daughter is to be married in nine months." Frances says.

"Well, in England sometimes the daughter's husband takes the possessions when the rightful son cannot because of whatever reason he has. Perhaps your daughter could take it with her husband." I say. They are quiet.

"But I do not want a different family line to take this estate!" Frances says hysterically. Gregorio sighs.

"Fran, I think Evelyn has a point. If you think about it, our son is in no shape to be married. He just won't settle down. He has youth, my dear. And youth in a boy makes him want to see the world."

"He has- twice!"

"Fran, do you really think he is going to stop if he has already seen it twice? Face it, he is not ready to take the responsibility." He says. Frances thinks a moment.

"I have got it! We will say to Claudia that her and her husband will take the estate. And when Mercutio finds out his younger sister will take what he is supposed to have, he will straighten up and do as he is told!"

"Frances, do not trick him."

"Why not, Gregorio; when really he is supposed to have it? We are doing him a favor." She says. Gregorio sighs. "And no, Gregorio, we will not have our cousin Duran take the estate. That was a horrible idea." She says. Gregorio sighs.

"He is blood line related; if Mercutio will not take it, Duran has the same blood line as our son." He says. Frances laughs.

"And so does Felix's father, but we are not asking him, are we? No; because just like Duran Lombardi, Mr. Lombardi the first is a gambler and will lose our beloved estate to...the world!" she says dramatically.

This is the first time I have heard mention of Felix's father. I never even had the thought of him having a father. And since I know he does, he is not only real, but a gambler.

"My father never wanted anything to do with our family anyway, so he wouldn't take this house if you asked him- or even offered to give him money." Felix says bitterly. His tone of voice made me shiver. His remark left everyone quiet.

I jump when I hear a cry. I look around and I see Lynette crying in her crib. I stand and walk to her. When I pick her up and hold her in my arms and begin to rock her back and forth, her cries come to an end.

"There, there..." I whisper. Her head lies on my shoulder and I feel her tears splat down.

"Is she alright?" Felix asks. I look t him and nod; he looks reassured and takes a sip of his coffee.