Finding Love

Chapter 21: An Unwelcome Visitor

The next morning was the first day of Thanksgiving holidays for the boys. After a wonderful breakfast, the four of us sat around the sitting area for a game of cards. Jack was definitely the best followed by Lisa and me. Michel was quite distracted. He had been during breakfast as well. He'd completely avoided talking to me and kept glancing towards the door, almost as if it were a habit. After Jack's 16th win, the bell rang just as Lisa began to deal the cards for the next round.

"I'll get it," I said before dropping my cards on the table and heading towards the door. Outside was a middle-aged man of his late 30s with dark blue eyes and wisps of grey running through his hair. I realized with shock that it was the man Michel had been talking to at the party. Before either of us could even open our mouths, Michel stepped in front of me out of nowhere, pushing me slightly behind him.

"What brings you here," asked Michel in an artificially cheery voice.

"What, I can't see my son during Thanksgiving?"

I gasped and looked between the 2 of them, noting the obvious similarities in their features I had failed to notice before. The same dark blue eyes were the most prominent common trait followed by their leanly muscled builds and high cheekbones. They were currently locked in an intense stare down so I decided to intercede.

"Perhaps you gentlemen can carry on this conversation in the sitting room," I said gesturing to the one on the left.

"Why thank you dear," said Michel's dad before heading into the room. Michel's body was tense with anger as he followed him inside.

"I thought you said he disappeared," I said as I felt Lisa come up behind me followed by Jack, both seeming as confused as me.

After a couple of minutes, it wasn't hard to listen in to their conversation. Both of them were shouting at each other, completely unaware that the three of us were in the next room.

"I don't want to keep providing for you. It's supposed to be the other way around, don't you see that," screamed Michel.

"Are you denying your father money Michel, your own family?"

"These people are my family, you walked out of my life way before you even began to understand what that meant."

"All of them Michel? Even the girl?"

"That's none of your business," said Michel in a low tone that seemed to disguise an underlying threat.

"You think you can marry her? You think she'll want you after she discovers your troubled past?"

Blood rushed to my head and I clenched my fists in anger as I realized that this was why Michel had kept this from me, because he thought I'd reject him. Without thinking, I walked into the sitting room. The tension in the air was almost stifling. Michel's father was leaning against the wall, watching his son with a slightly amused expression. Everything about him disgusted me and I could barely look at him. I turned to Michel who had seated himself in the armchair with a broken expression on his face. It was shocking just how easily he'd believed his father and questioned the depth of my affection towards him. Maybe I didn't love him yet but he had to know I would never reject him, or anyone due to the events of their past.

"I think you should leave now," I said, turning to face Michel's father. He seemed shocked at first but it quickly shifted into anger as he moved towards me. In a flash, Michel had placed himself between us, placing a hand on his father's chest to stop him from advancing any further.

"She's right, and don't come back or expect any more money from me ever again," he said, his dark blue eyes flashing dangerously.

"You're going to regret this," his father said as he pinned me down with his dark blue eyes. How did I manage to love those same blue eyes on someone else?

"Leave," Michel's voice boomed and I place one hand over his tightly clenched fists. They relaxed fractionally but he only relaxed them completely after his father had left the house.