I never heard my father give me love or relationship advice. When I had my boyfriends before, he was adamant about kicking them out of the house or out of my life. Well in those cases, I was still in school. I was speechless at his advice.
"Did William come to talk to you after what you heard this morning?" he asked after a short silence when I stayed quiet.
"Ah, yes. We talked for a while," I stuttered in reply.
"And?" he probed when I didn't continue.
"Oh … he told me he was sorry for what he did and told me his reasons for doing so … but, I can't really wrap my head around it just yet," I replied while I was in deep thought.
"I understand your reaction to the situation, peanut. Just take your time and think. I think William will understand."
I raised my eyebrow at him and grimaced. "I can't believe I never talked to you about things like this before."
"Well, I wouldn't be saying the same thing to you then, since you were still in school and the guys you dated didn't pass my standards," he reminded with a toothy grin, which made his sickly face brighten a little.
I grinned. "You have a standard for men I date?"
"Yes. You are my only child. You should have the best and the most respected man to look after you. No more, no less," he replied proudly.
I chuckled at his admission and steered the conversation into a lighter topic. I stayed with him most of the morning until Terry made a surprise visit. I couldn't help but give him a bear hug as he entered the room. After greeting my father, I asked him to come with me to get some coffee and chat.
"So, how was your date with Mr. Mogul?" he asked cheekily, his smile was from ear to ear.
"Don't make me start. I have something to tell you, and you might not like it," I whispered, my heart racing again as I started to tell him the story of what I just told my dad.
Half an hour later, we were sitting at a nearby coffee shop and taking small sips of our hot espresso. Terry's eyebrows were crunched together after I finished telling him what had happened this morning until the part where Alexandra called me for lunch later.
"You're going, for real? If I were you, I would have punched those Maxwells for toying with you. I don't care if they owned half the damn city or the world," he hissed in anger.
"I knew you'd say that about Alexandra but I haven't really heard her side yet, and William … " I trailed off with a sigh.
"I didn't know you were gracious, Andy. I'm glad you aren't completely taken over by the dark side yet," Terry chided with a sigh.
I chuckled and shook my head. "I'm not that angelic. I'm still angry and hell knows how deep my hatred is." I admitted.
"Good. Use some hatred when you face those Maxwells again and if you need some help, you can always call Andrew and me for backup. But I doubt that Andrew would comply. He'll just stare at Alexandra and gawk at William the whole time," he inferred in jest
"Probably … " I laughed at the idea. I could almost imagine what the scene would be like if that were to happen.
After telling the people whose opinion matter to me, I felt slightly relieved. At least I knew that they'd always support me on the decision I'll make. It also gave me other perspectives on the situation, but I was not ready to forgive anyone right now. Though, I'll still listen to them and give them a chance to reason out. Terry was right. I do have some good in me.
When we finished our chat and coffee, we went back to the hospital. Terry stayed with my father and me for a while before he left since he had something planned for lunch with Andrew. After he had left the room, I felt nervous as I thought of the upcoming lunch I'll have with Alexandra in a few short minutes.
I started to feel like backing out when my phone buzzed. I looked for it in my purse. It was a message from an unknown number and I opened it out of curiosity.
‘Ms. Peterson. This is Kevin. Ms. Maxwell gave me your number to contact you. I'm already downstairs in the lobby. I shall wait here until you finish with your visit. Please, there is no need to rush. Take your time. Have a nice day.'
My eyes widened after I read it. I glared at my father who was preoccupied by the show on the overhead television. I gulped down the saliva that was stuck on my throat as my heart started to beat. Am I going to go along with this or not?
Thirty-Five
"Dad, I'm going to eat my lunch now. I'll be back this afternoon."
"Okay. I'll be here when you get back," he replied cheekily.
I chuckled at his light joke and got up from my chair to give him a light kiss on his forehead. I didn't prolong the moment and got out of the room, walking at a fast pace towards the elevator, but the nurse on my father's floor stopped me.
"Ms. Peterson, can I talk to you for a minute?" she called.
"Sure. Is there something wrong?" I asked as I approached her, hoping that it wasn't about his hospital bills or another medication that I had to pay.
"It's nothing. You don't have to worry Ms. Peterson. I'm here to talk about your father's progress and possible release," she replied with a light smile.
"Oh! He can go home? I thought that … " I trailed off, speechless about this sudden news.
"It's not sure yet, but the doctor has been talking about it," she whispered in excitement.
I watched her in awe as I continued to stand there for a few seconds. "When would he be out?"
"Next week at most, if he continues to get good results," she confided with a beaming smile.
"That's excellent!" I exclaimed in excitement. The thought of home suddenly crossed my mind. Can we go back there and start all over?
When the nurse excused herself, I gave her a short farewell before skipping towards the elevator. I tried to clear my mind as the lift descended. When the elevator dinged, signaling the arrival of the floor, I took a steady breath and walked out. It took me a while to look for Kevin. When I saw his face, I smiled as I remembered our last meeting.
"Good morning, Ms. Peterson. It's nice to see you again. The car is this way," he greeted and gestured towards the main exit.
"Hey," I nodded in greeting and allowed him to escort me out.
He told me to wait for a while as he got the car. I insisted to go with him rather than to wait for him to pick me up in front of the hospital, but he was adamant on doing his job perfectly, which I didn't notice from our last meeting.
The drive to the restaurant that Alexandra and I were meeting at was silent. It took thirty minutes to arrive at a stately looking street. The building around us was designed mostly in glass and fancy brick walls. Kevin made a turn as he drove away from those fancy buildings, making me question my decision to go with him. A few blocks from that street, miles of green grass greeted us. I eyed the scenery in confusion.
"Where are we going?" I asked out of curiosity.
"We are going to Kingston Country Club, Ms. Peterson," Kevin replied directly.
"Oh." I pretended to know where that was. Though, at the moment, I had no idea where we were. Why did rich people like going to closed-off secluded places?
After driving a very long driveway, we finally reached a huge mansion that was mostly made of stones and glass. It had a similar design to the Maxwell Mansion. If Kevin told me that the Maxwells owned this place, I wouldn't be surprised. Yet, I knew they didn't since the name itself wasn't under them but you can't be too sure. I might be right.
Kevin parked the car in front of the mansion, where a man in a pastel yellow polo stood by the podium. When he saw our car approaching, he quickly walked down a few steps of stairs. He opened the door for me as the car stopped.
"Good day, Ma'am. Do you have any reservations today?" he asked with a big smile.
"Yes. I'm here to meet Ms. Maxwell," I replied, giving him a soft, friendly smile.
"Oh... Ms. Peterson. She is waiting for you. This way please," he lightly gasped in surprise, but gathered himself as he turned his work smile back on. Then, he gestured me towards the entrance.
I allowed him to escort me inside. He led me to a small glass room that had few seats and coffee tables spread around the room neatly. I glanced around and saw that it was empty until he opened another glass sliding door, which led to an outdoor veranda, where you can see a vast open field of nothing but green grass.
I was too preoccupied to notice Alexandra sitting a few meters to my right. I snapped out of my trance when I heard a familiar voice yell from that direction.
"What are you doing here?" William shouted in surprise.
I turned towards the voice, a little shocked myself. "What..." I trailed off in silence when my eyes landed on the only occupied table.
Alexandra sat at the head of the table with her fiancé, Michael Hamilton, by her left side. On her right side sat William with Maggie beside him. I continued to assess the small group from where I stood until Alexandra greeted me.