Love, Helena

Chapter 2

"This house is still as... put-together as always," Zach commented when she seated herself on the sofa opposite where he sat with Amber and the assistant. Alessandro took his mother's hand in his, settling to her right.

She could not unhear the implications of her husband's comment...

This house is as put-together as always.

This house is as boring and stagnant as ever. 

This house... Helena's only safe haven.

She smiled absently. It once used to be the house that will be their forever home.

Why do people bother promising forever?

"Say mom, how have you been? Are Len and Philly giving you trouble?" Ales asked, disrupting her thoughts.

"I am well. They are both very energetic, but well behaved nontheless." she chuckled, "Len is helpful and responsible, and Ophelia is very much attached to him."

Zach cleared his throat looking out the windows to the back garden. "Why are they still out? Do they not want to spend time with us?"

Wren held back her retort, biting the inside of her cheek to not start an argument in front of their children, let alone the haughty assistant blatantly leaning on the arm rest of the sofa where Zach stretched his arm in contact with her bare thigh. "They'll have plenty of time to spend with you, I'm sure."

"Amber, you've been quiet. How is college?" Wren asked quickly, changing the subject to take her mind off unwanted thoughts and feelings.

Amber shrugged, "It's alright, I guess." She turned to her dad with enthusiasm, "Actually dad, remember that director you contacted last semester? He put me on the merit list. I did not think he could do that."

"Oh I heard. I told you I'll take care of that my love, don't you underestimate your dad." Zach chuckled, patting her knee.

"Ironic really," Alessandro muttered, fixing his twin with a stern gaze, "People work their way into the merit list, Amber Rose. I wonder if it actually feels like an accomplishment to bribe your way through instead."

"Alesso!" Wren chided with a whisper, squeezing his hand. She was very much oblivious to Zachary's involvement in Amber's life. She regrettably watched her eldest daughter grow more distanced from her as years went by, and nothing she tried to change that fact ever worked. Amber, unlike Alessandro, rarely ever called or updated her on her life and accomplishments, not even when Wren asked repeatedly. She was resolutely shut from from Amber's personal life. Needless to say, she was appalled to hear that Zach would go as far as to bribe his daughter's way in academics. What kind of father does that make him? She couldn't now bring herself to look at their faces, swallowing down the admonishment bubbling in her throat. 

Amber rolled her eyes at her brother and looked away from him.

"Loosen up, son," Zach chuckled, "Your self-righteousness is admirable, but it won't get you places in our world."

Wren raised her brow at her husband's statement. Alessandro didn't share his dad's amusement, "I can very much make a way for my righteous self, and I can actually find pride in it. I'm not sure that can be said for people in your world."

Zach's smile fell as he watched his son with a calculating gaze, trying to contain his temper. Wren's heart swelled with pride of her son. She was glad of the person he'd become, glad he was her own. Yet, she could not fight off the ache in her chest for whatever her husband's been feeding her daughter's mind. Looking at him, she was sure he was probably thinking the same, blaming her for her children's contrary thoughts to him and his ways. She wondered if he thought that she was delibrately turning his children against him... Something she could never bring herself to do.