His Maid

Chapter 15

Marley Lea

Rhys was jumping up and down in my arms, digging his feet into my ribs making me wince with each push. "You must visit us more often, darling. Especially now that I have a young grandson and a beautiful mother to that grandson." Julia enunciated and gently pinched Rhys' cheek to which he replied with a giggle. 

"Of course Julia, I promise Damien will not go so long without visiting."

"I want to see you too, dear. Now we won't hold you up any longer, oh Damien before I forget Luke called he told me that he and is father are coming down to visit and they would love it if they could stay here with you." Great another family member to impress. 

"Yes mother, of course they can stay here I haven't seen them in a while since they have been too busy with the company. How long are they staying for?"

"Oh only two weeks." Damien nodded. 

"I will make sure to have two rooms ready for them." I confirmed. I turned to Damien and gave him a pointed glare but he only gave me a cheeky grin. 

"How long until their visit mother?" Damien questioned wrapping and arm around Rhys and I.

"Luke said they will be here by Friday."

"That's two days from now?"

"Yes." 

"That's a short time to prepare but I will see what I can do." We bid our goodbyes to George and Julia, once the door was closed and they had departed from the property I turned to Damien and lifted my free arm as a sign for him to tell me who these people are. 

"Okay, I know you are probably mad that I never told you about Luke, but he and his father are like my second family. James and Luke's mother, Katherine, their marriage wasn't perfect. I have known Luke all of my life Katherine and my mum were best friends and my mum was three months pregnant when Katherine fell pregnant with Luke and we have been inseparable since I can remember. James and my father were best friends so my parents made it their goal to get James and Katherine together as you can tell it worked and they had a joint wedding a year before I was born.

"Around the age of 6 Katherine and James started to have some trouble in their marriage, it was said that James had a lewd affair was a young woman and that was all we ever heard of this woman. That was until we were 11, this said woman had died and she had a child, James child but James had a choice his marriage or the child, he chose the marriage and we never heard of his child again. Katherine died a few years ago and they both buried themselves in the business James owns, which is soon to be handed down to Luke once he marries his fiancé. 

"Look, I haven't seen them in a while and I am sorry I haven't told you about them before, but I didn't know that they were going to be visiting any time soon."

"That is a lot my brain has to process. Did he never contact his child once his wife died?"

"Not that I know of. James knew the woman he had an affair with was pregnant, but he wanted nothing to do with her. He had already ruined his marriage as it is he didn't want to ruin it anymore."

"I feel sorry for the child. What happened to them?"

"I don't know."

"God I wonder how the child felt. Like you know my dad was never in the picture and I hated him for it, but I don't think I would ever want to meet him. I couldn't because he knew my mother was pregnant and he kicked her to the curb and then when she died, I am almost positive that he knew she died and just left me alone to go to the system." I told him honestly. "But I am not mad that your friend and his father are coming here and I won't hate James for what he did. It isn't my place to judge him when he chose his wife over a woman he had an affair with." 

"Are you sure?"

"Of course, these are practically your family and I want them to like me." I smiled. "I also want them to like me as the mother to Rhys."

"Of course they will like you, who wouldn't? You could get anyone to fall in love with you just by looking into those beautiful blue eyes of yours." I blushed. 

"Shut up." I mumbled, slightly embarrassed. 

"I'm not kidding, I fell in love with you just by one look in your eyes. They say your eyes are the windows to your soul, and with one look in your eyes my soul was completely filled and I knew that I loved you. I never loved Louise, I would tell her I did, but I knew she wasn't the one I was just settling because I couldn't wait for you any longer."

"But you was engaged to Louise before I came along." 

"Exactly, I just couldn't wait for you any longer. But when you turned up at my doorstep asking for a job, just one look in your eyes and I knew I needed to have you near me. Why do you think I hired you without looking at your CV or looking at any references? I didn't care if you was qualified because I needed you to be apart of my life. I was just keeping Louise satisfied and close for press reasons, she may have been with me for my money but she did love me as well I just couldn't return the feelings because I was in love with someone else."

"Really?"

"Of course. Marley I have been in love with you for eight years, ever since I was 22 and you was 18, you had captured my heart and had me wrapped around your little finger." He curled his pinky around mine and pulled my hand up to his mouth to place a feather light kiss. "When I found out that you was pregnant with our little boy and I kicked you out, not because I didn't want you both, but because I didn't want to be like my father."

"But I thought you and your father were really close?" He shook his head with a sad smile.

"The only thing my dad was good at was getting me to where I am today, if it wasn't for him I would have never been able to take over his company. I did want to mend my relationship with my father before he died but he was already ill, cancer stage four, he died before I got the chance. But I never wanted kids because I didn't want to be a deadbeat dad, but turning you both away," he sighed, "that made me even worse than my father. I had turned into James and I never wanted to be like him either. Yes he is an amazing father to Luke, but to his other child and to the other woman, he abandoned them without any support, not even child support so he could at least pull his weight some how. But if I had the chance, I would have loved to meet the child and tell them how sorry I am for what James did and that I am sorry for the loss of their mother."

"But it wasn't your fault about what James did, so why do you feel the need to apologise?"

"Because I did it to you." His voice had increased a few octaves. "I abandoned you and Rhys and I will never forgive myself for hurting you like that. I don't know what you went through apart from the fact that you was barely surviving, but I know that it wasn't good and you can tell me about it in your own time. But I promise you that I will never hurt you like that again, and if I do I give you permission to hit me and hate me as much as you want." I laughed. 

"I will not hit you. I am not abusive, I'm sure what it's like for the attacker but I do know that it's not welcoming being on the receiving end." 

"I'm sorry." I smiled up at him and dragged him away to the Kitchen, where I made him sit down on a stool, then I sat Rhys down in his high chair and I sat opposite Damien once I pulled the high chair over to where the stools were.

"You do not need to be sorry at all. Now I am going to tell you a little story about the past two and a half years."