Chapter 13 #2
I press my lips closed and give her a nasty look. Her eyes have already swiveled back to James, and she smiles sweetly and pats him on the chest.
“You’ll stay here in Glasgow with me, won’t you? I know that Keir will run back to Drumman Castle in the name of being with his child. But you won’t leave me, will you?”
James grabs her hand and kisses the back of it. “Mother, I would never leave. You know me too well for that.” I roll my eyes.
“You are such a suck up. Honestly, maybe you are meant to be the politician of the family.”
Defiance sparks in his eyes and he lifts his chin.
“Mum, you should meet Ella. She was a ballet dancer in New York. And then she broke her femur while dancing. So now she is a beautiful broken doll that Keir brought home. It’s charming really, if you ignore the fact that Keir left his perfectly functional family to pursue his “new life”. ”
“Fuck off,” I snap. “Seriously, you can get fucked.”
“Just like Ella did after the gala in New York City?” He says with a smirk.
My jaw clenches and my hands tighten into fists. I start towards him, but my mother puts up a hand to stop me. It’s always been like this, my brother launching missiles and my mom keeping me from killing him. I grimace and show him just a hint of my teeth.
That’s when my father wanders over, his arms folded across his chest. “I want to meet this girl. You said she was a ballerina?”
"She’s just here to look after Isla. You remember that I have a child, don’t you?”
He looks over to where Ella is sitting, apparently completely ignoring my question. He beckons to her, raising his voice. “You! Come here.”
Ella looks like a trapped wild animal. Her eyes go wide and she swallows hard as she stands up.
Her fists bunch at her sides and she looks at me questioningly, as she slowly makes her way over.
Mum and Dad look at her with condescension already painted on their faces.
She hasn’t even opened her mouth but I can feel them bristling, ready to attack at any moment.
I swing my head around, looking for Natasha with a keen sort of desperation. No such luck, of course.
“Do you really need to question my au pair about her purpose in being here?” I demand.
My mom gives me a cool smile. “You sound as if you think she won’t hold up under questioning.”
My eyes tighten on her face. In reality, I don’t want Ella questioned. Probably because she is not a fucking nanny. She’s just a former ballerina looking for anyone to hire her for any job.
Ella approaches our little grouping, looking like she is ready to melt into the floor.
Next to all of us, she looks small and dainty, even standing beside my mother who is fairly tall for a woman.
Ella is not just lithe but waif-ish and her short dress shows off one million miles of leg, which is startling in contrast to my elegantly dressed mother and my brother, my father, and myself and our students.
She looks utterly delicious, but her style is certainly a far cry from the stuffy clothes that we usually wear.
I glare at my brother, praying that his taunt about special skills will not be questioned.
I am already certain that he is going to imply that she is a sex worker of some kind and I’m not really interested in defending her from those sorts of charges.
Hell, I’m just lucky that no one in here has even mentioned the fact that her skin is darker than our families.
James opens his mouth to say what he thinks her special skills are. But I cut him off, turning to Ella and sweeping my hand out to include her.
“Ella? Come meet my family. You already know James, unfortunately for you. Meet my mother Maura and my father Beau.”
“It’s nice to meet y’all,” she says. She bows her head but doesn’t otherwise abase herself. She just puts her hands behind her back and looks somehow statuesque despite her short stature.
Mum’s gaze narrows on Ella. “You broke your leg?”
Her gaze zooms in on Ella’s scar and Ella visibly flushes.
“Yes ma’am. About a year ago. It’s all healed up now though.”
Mum presses her lips into a thin line. “And you’re here to get my crazy granddaughter under control? I assume that my son has told you that he can’t keep a nanny or a tutor to save his life?”
There is a brief pause. Ella glances at me and her tongue darts out to wet her lips. “I’m prepared to try. The worst thing that happens is that I fail and then I just go back to New York City.”
Mum looks Ella up and down. Her mouth turns down at the corners and it’s obvious that she disapproves. I step in, clearing my throat.
“Ella, when you are ready, Natasha has a pile of paperwork for you to fill out. I would go find her now and get the process started if I were you.”
“He can’t wait for Mum to quit grilling his girlfriend,” James snipes.
Ella bows her head and turns toward the lobby, starting for a back hallway that she can see from here. Of course, she has no idea where the hallway leads. She probably won’t even find Natasha back there, not that I really need her to anyway.
I just needed to have a reason to get her out of here.
My father puts his hands behind his back and looks at me with a note of disappointment on his face.
“Don’t get carried away with your ballerina, son.
She might be nice to look at. But don’t even think of installing her at Drumman Castle to be your live-in girlfriend.
It’s clear as day that she comes from a different class and a different world than we do.
Don’t make me remind you that I told you this. ”
Squinting hard at my father, I give him a stony look. “Is that all? Am I free to go?”
He rolls his eyes but he doesn’t snap back at me.
“I actually have some business things to talk to you about. I think we are going to make a bigger investment in solar technology in India and Japan. So I just want to clear a few companies with you and talk about the possible strategy of promoting solar energy in those countries through the media outlets that we own.” He looks at his watch.
“There’s probably about thirty or forty five minutes’ worth of ideas to go over. ”
I hate to admit it, but my father has now hit the ball and returned it squarely to my court. In business affairs, I am the puppet master, the lion tamer. I feel comfortable here, whereas talking about my personal life is obviously quite a minefield.
I crack my knuckles and glance at the lobby, which is now fully empty. Ella has obviously escaped somewhere for the time being.
“All right. Let’s do it. Leave Mum and James to fawn over each other while we make the media empire run a little more smoothly.”
With that, my father heads toward the back hallway, content to leave my mother and James behind. And I follow him, giving James one last glare on my way out.