Shattered Part I (Completed)

36.

Austin places his hand on my back as we make our way towards the house. He opens the door and waits for me to enter the house first.

As soon as I step into the house I'm engulfed in a hug from Beverley. She has a smile on her face when she pulls back. "It's so good to see you again, Eliza. I was hoping someday my son would come back home and sweep you off your feet. It looks like he's done that."

"Do you need any help with dinner?" I ask her.

"That would be nice." She turns her attention to Austin and says. "Your father is in his study. Go have a drink with him. I'm sure he wants to catch up."

Beverley and I head towards the kitchen leaving Austin in the entryway. She stops in the middle of the open spaced kitchen and turns towards me. "How have you been, Eliza? I know it's been months since we last saw each other."

Taking the peeler from her I start peeling carrots. "I've been good. Just working at the club with Dad and helping him out with the books."

She nods. "I've been hearing that some family wants to buy the businesses on your side of the town to build a mall or something."

"I have no idea what they're going to do with it, but we're not going to sell the club." I start grating the carrots and put it in the salad. After the salad is done we start setting up the table for dinner.

After placing the serviettes and cutlery around the table I walk back to the kitchen and see Beverly pulling the roast out of the oven.

She turns towards me and says. "Can you go to the study and get my husband and son? Tell them that dinner is ready."

"Okay," walking out of the kitchen I head down the hall past rows of family photos of Austin and his parents. I stop at one that has me in it and a smile spreads across my face.

I remember that day perfectly.

*Flashback*

It was during the summer holidays before both Austin and my sixteenth Birthday and he asked his parents if we could go to the lake. They agreed and we went together. Austin and I hired some jet ski's and took it out on the water.

We raced each other across the water and on the way back to shore a boat moved into my area and I fell off the ski, landing in the water.

Austin stopped his boat and helped me out of the water. It didn't take too long for us to get my ski and I climbed onto it. When we got back to shore Beverly was standing on the dock and she took a photo of us when I jumped onto Austin's back and he carried me to the car.

*End Flashback*

As I get closer to the study door I hear what Mr Wilde says to his son. "What are you doing, Austin? Bringing that girl to our house."

"I love her, Dad."

"Yeah, right. The last thing you said was that you weren't going to forgive her ever for ruining your life and the plans that you had for the future."

"I know I said that, Dad. But, that was a long time ago. I was hurt that she chose to stay here and look after her mother instead of coming with me to University."

"If your mother was in the same position as Eliza's would you have stayed home, or go on with the plans you had?"

Austin's quiet for a moment and then he says. "I would have left to live my life. That's what Mom and you would have wanted from me."

"That's the difference between Eliza and you. She put her life on hold because she loves her mother and at the time she needed help and Eliza was the one that was able to be there for Amadene, while her husband was busy running a business. Eliza was there to take care of her mother and take her to appointments. She also had two younger sisters that needed structure and rules to follow while all this stuff was happening. The only person that was able to do this was her. The rest of her siblings had families and lives in the City that they couldn't put on hold to stay in this town. That girl has been put through a hard time and she still comes out of it smiling."

"I know, Dad. That's why I love her. I was thinking that I could give her Grandma's ring?"

"Austin, I'm not going to give the ring until I know that you're intentions are pure, because if they're not there's going to be hell to pay and I won't be forgiving you that easily for hurting, Eliza. She's a good girl with a big heart.

"You're telling me stuff I already know, Dad."

Knocking on the door I wait for someone to answer it. Mr Wilde opens the door and a smile spreads across his. "Hello, Eliza. How are you?"

"I'm good." Hugging him I say. "Beverly wanted me to tell you that dinner was ready."

Mr Wilde steps around me and heads to the kitchen,

Austin is leaning against the wall with his arms folded. He looks me up and down before licking his lips. "If we didn't have to eat I'd take you upstairs to my room and fuck you."

Shaking my head I say. "Austin, I don't want to just have a physical relationship with you. I want to talk with you and hear about how your day was and everything that a normal couple would do."

He walks forward and drapes an arm around my shoulder. "You can talk and I'll listen. I love hearing your voice." Lowering his voice he adds. "How much of the conversation with Dad, did you overhear?"

"Nothing, Austin. You know those doors are soundproof."

I hope he believes my little lie.

He doesn't need to know that I heard a lot of it.

When we get to the dining room the roast has been carved and gravy is sitting on the table with pumpkin, potatoes, salad and garlic bread. "This looks great, Beverly."

A smile spreads across her face and it reaches her eyes. "Thanks, Liz. It's been a long time since I've been able to cook something like this since my son left home." she looks at Austin and adds. "I want you to come home more often, Austin."

Austin grabs his mother's hand and says. "You'll see me more often because Eliza's going to want to see her family."

Beverly looks between us. "What do you mean Eliza would want to see her family? She lives in town with her parents."

"Actually." Grabbing Austin's hand I say. "Austin asked me to move to the City with him and I said "Yes,"

Beverly screams. "I knew it." she moves over to me and hugs me. "I knew you were going to be part of this family one day. I'm looking forward to calling you, my daughter-in-law."