Red String of Fate

Mother Dear

Henry was very reluctant to loosen his grip on Lilian, but she gently pushed him back so that she could get a proper look at him. "You're so much taller than me," she pouted, making him laugh loudly. "It simply isn't fair. You need to stop growing!" Henry laughed harder, and Lilian stopped pretending to pout so she could laugh as well. "But you've grown up to be so handsome too," she murmured gently, tapping him on the tip of his nose. Henry blushed and looked down at his feet, shuffling them in embarrassment. As he looked down, Lilian peered around him to get a better look at Pierre, who she'd briefly noticed before embracing her son. "And who's this charming young man?" Lilian asked when her eyes fell on him, a teasing glimmer in her eyes appearing as Henry blushed a little.

Henry cleared his throat and glanced over at Pierre, motioning for him to come closer. Pierre obliged, and Henry slipped his hand into his when he got close enough. Lilian raised an eyebrow slightly, but her curious expression didn't waver and her smile didn't fall. "Mum, this is Pierre, m-my boyfriend." Lilian's eyes softened, and she gave Henry a reassuring smile before turning her kind gaze to Pierre. "Pierre, this...this is my mother, Lilian." He leaned his head on Pierre's arm as he smiled at his mother. "I'm so glad that you two get to meet each other," he murmured happily.

"I am as well," Lilian agreed, holding out a hand to Pierre. "It's a pleasure to meet you Pierre," she said as the teenager shook her hand. Despite how delicate they looked, Pierre was surprised to discover that Lilian's hands were very strong. "You seem like quite the charmer," she teased, letting go of his hand. "I'd really like to hear the story of how you two met and how you won each other over." Henry clapped a hand over his mouth to stifle a giggle, and Pierre felt himself start grinning. Lilian's eyebrow quirked up a little. "Is it a long story, or just a funny one?" Her dark brown eyes flickered back and forth between the boys, amusement dancing in her eyes.

"A little bit of both, actually," Henry chuckled. With an intrigued hum, Lilian guided them to some chairs and the three of them sat down. Henry snuggled into Pierre's side as the taller boy wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "We met at the orphanage, actually," Henry told her. He saw a flicker of worry in his mother's eyes at the mention of the orphanage, but he decided not to pursue that particular subject just yet. It could wait for now. "He came from France about seven years after I'd arrived." He looked up at Pierre, smiling fondly at the memory. "You couldn't speak a lick of English when you first got there."

Pierre rolled his eyes. "And you couldn't speak a lick of French, so neither of us could communicate very well." Lilian laughed a little at this. "We started teaching each other how to speak in each other's language," Pierre went on. "I had to learn English very fast so I could keep up with the other kids." He nuzzled Henry's cheek. "I had Henry help me out with that, though Miss Trelawney did try to help me too. We would speak French together, but if I wanted to practice English she was more than willing to comply."

"I remember Evelyn," Lilian said with a fond smile. "She was so sweet to me when I talked to her... How is she doing now, by the way? I'm sure she must miss you two very much." The atmosphere in the room suddenly went very still and quiet. Lilian's eyebrows furrowed and she glanced between the two of them worriedly. "...What happened to her?" she asked softly, her voice serious and concerned. The two teens shared a quick look, silently debating, before hesitantly retelling the story of the fire in the orphanage. Lilian paled as the story continued, and Henry briefly wondered if she was going to pass out. "I'm so sorry to hear about this," Lilian whispered sadly. "She seemed like an amazing person."

"She was," Henry agreed, snuggling deeper into Pierre's embrace. "She loved all the kids that were brought in. She did everything for us. We were really lucky to have her. And Gil, but he came later." Lilian's eyebrows went up a little, and Henry suddenly realized something very, very important. Lilian still didn't know that it was Gil who had adopted Henry. She might have recognized the name, but he didn't think she'd made the connections that it would have been the Gil she'd known. "Gil, um...well, Gil adopted me after the fire," Henry said. "He's the best dad I could have asked for. Which is kind of funny because, uh..." He chuckled nervously. "We kind of found out that he's actually my biological dad."