The One Winged Raven

Part 7

"Francis?" Henry asks, coming into the foyer, watching his fair haired son see three police officers and two detectives to the door. Once the door closes, the young man turned from the glass and French iron door and over towards his father. He walks as he does in the office, a straight back with his hands knotted behind him. For the first time since Mary's rape, his son looks professional. He and Sebastian had spent the day in the offices, while Mary had taken the day to travel to Bordeaux and Lile to tend to some of her maternal family businesses. Francis wears a black suit with shiny, professional shoes, a white button down shirt. His tie is long since disregarded, the expensive outfit made less formal by the top few buttons remaining undone. Much to Catherine's delight, his hair is brushed out and lays over his shoulders in waves. "What are the police doing here? And our detective team?" the elder finishes.

"It's nothing, father." Francis says. "With those fuckers being transferred from wherever the fuck they were and to a more secure location in Avignon, they needed another statement from Mary, nothing more." he finishes.

"Mary's here?" Henry asks. "I thought she was in Bordeaux for the weekend."

"Yeah, she got shit done earlier than she thought, and her uncle thought it be best if she took Olivier back here, not to keep the team waiting." they begin to walk.

"Has anything else happened?" Henry asks. "It's been quite a while since Severin and those bastards were taken into custody, and with you and Mary starting to get back to work, things seem-" he trails off.

"Things seem what?"

"Uncomfortably normal." the patriarch of the de Valois-Angouleme clan states. "It wasn't all that long ago where your wife was as skittish as a mouse, where she had nightmares every night. But to see you now, getting back to work, planning a holiday a couple days after the wedding, I don't know, it just seems-"

"Dad, we're starting to get back on track." Francis says. "It's a good thing, it really is. Physically, Mary's healed from the ordeal, she doesn't really get nightmares anymore. It has been months, after all. She doesn't jerk away from my touch anymore, she lets me kiss her. She goes to Victoria for therapy every little while, and Stephane and James are building a massive case against those fuckers that hurt her. She's healing, father. This is a good thing." he insists. "Would you like her to be messed up and traumatised for the rest of her life?"

"Of course not, Francis. You know I love that girl just as much as any of your sisters. I don't know, I wasn't the man your mother needed me to be when she was raped young in her life. I didn't help her in the way she needed to be helped, she healed by herself. I don't know the right cause of action to help a woman who-"

"There is no right way to handle it, dad. I took mothers' advice, I was there for her whenever she needed me. However she needed me to be. That's all I could have done, and it has been over six months." he says. "Time heals all wounds, you know what they say."

"Look at you, not even thirty and already wiser than your father." Henry chuckles. Francis smiles bashfully. "How did you get so mature?"

He shrugs. "I don't know, does it matter?"

"I guess not." Henry says. "How are you feeling about your brother?"

Francis frowns. "Which one? And what should I feel?"

"Bash." Henry states. Francis freezes. "It wasn't all that long ago when the two of you were beating the shit out of each other because Kenna got pregnant. Then you two had a ton of time from each other, I don't know how you are around each other. And with the wedding in two months, I'd hate to have any animosity."

The blonde sighs. "I don't know." he says. "I'm not angry with him, not anymore." Francis begins. "I mean, the baby wasn't planned, I know that. And they wouldn't hurt Mary and I like that deliberately. It was just fucked up timing." he says. "But there's still a little part of me that hates it, how messed up is that? That I resent an innocent little baby just because it exists and Mary and I don't have any children? Each and every time I or Mary sees Kenna or Bash, they're just a reminder of what we don't have, and will possibly never have.  It was different at the start, when they told us. She wasn't showing at all, but she's so far gone now that it makes it impossible to miss. The baby kicks, she has all the symptoms with a huge bump." Francis sighs. "Mary's had two miscarriages, father. I don't know if she's too scared to try again. And seeing him, to elated to be a father for a baby that they didn't plan on having, I just-" Francis trails off.