Nora's P.O.V
“Elijah?”
“Mm?” Came a muffled response from the seat next to me. The voice was subtly faint, the kind that drifted and ebbed away as if it was lulling itself into unconsciousness. I almost smiled in awe at the sight beside me. There my boss sat with his head lolling to one side and his hair falling over his eyes. His arms crossed loosely against his chest and one leg crossed against the other as he slowly started to fall asleep. I could see his eyes straining to stay awake, but his breathing was evening out, and this was all because of the early start we had in the morning.
We were finally heading back to New York, our little business trip finally coming to an end, and so our bags had been packed and now loaded into the private jet. To say I was excited was the biggest understatement of the year, it was the feeling of need and want to be back in the comfort of New York’s skyscrapers, the food there, and even the people, especially my family. Elijah and I had entered the aircraft, boarding, and settling ourselves down in the exact same plush seats just like when we flew to Las Vegas. It was the same private jet as last time, with the same security guards, pilots, and air hostesses.
I had finally built up the courage to ask Elijah what had been playing on my mind, but I was slowly chickening out whenever I caught sight of his sleeping form. It felt rude to interrupt him or to distract him when I could see he really needed it, but I was desperate to quench the inquisitiveness that had encapsuled me.
“Do you happen to know Ben Jones, the man that was present at your party back in New York a few months ago?” I asked him as I shifted in my seat and tried get comfortable. I was dressed in loungewear, deciding that business wear was pointless since we’d be going straight home after the flight to recuperate from the trip and anyways the journey wouldn’t be too long but just like Elijah, I was hoping to get some extra hours of sleep before we landed.
“Why do you want to know about Ben?” He breathily replied, his eyes snapping wide open in suspicion as he turned to watch me, and then added, “Is it because the both of you have similar surnames?”
Part of me was plotting ahead of the conversation to weasel out as much information as possible from Elijah, hoping that he would slip up or reveal something in his facial expressions that would help me piece together this confusing situation, “I’m just curious, that’s all, don’t you think it’s weird that we have the same surname?”
Elijah sighed, looked away for a second and ran his hand through his hair before piercing me with that suspicious gaze again, “He’s a close friend of mine, Nora. We grew up together when he moved into my neighbourhood.”
“I didn’t know he lived near you”, I realised with a stunned face. I noted that Elijah was keeping this conversation a little too simple and broad for my liking, as if he was purposefully avoiding the details so I wouldn’t know more about Ben.
An air hostess walked past and smiled in our direction, interrupting us in the most overpolite voice someone could muster. Her smile reached her eyes and the pearly white teeth glistened against the overhead lights, “Hi there, can I get you anything before we take off?”
‘Go away, we’re having a conversation’, I irately huffed, crossing my arms over my chest and trying to give the air hostess to subtle hint to walk away and leave us alone.
“No thank you, I think we’re all good”, Elijah replied to her. Usually he would have fumed at her or scared her away but since our conversation last night I had noticed him act a little calmer and more controlled than usual. He was no longer the fully released devil but the equivalent to a tense chihuahua. The air hostess nodded her head and left us alone, sauntering off to go hassle the security guards behind us.
I took her departure as an opportunity to keep hounding my boss, “Does Ben have any connection with my father?”
“How would I know? I don’t keep tabs on all my friends. Seriously Nora, what is it with all these questions?” Elijah asked me and a small thrill shot up my spine at hearing my name so casually mentioned.
However, I wasn’t sure whether Elijah knew anything about Ben or whether he was just playing me so that I’d drop the conversation. It was annoying me that that mysterious number had sent the photos of Ben and my father together and yet hadn’t bothered to tell me anything more. ‘Could I trust Elijah enough to tell him about the number and the picture or would he panic and somehow shield me from the real truth?’
“Just answer them”, I exasperated in the end, deciding that it would be easier to not tell him of what I already knew. Just because we were on casual terms now didn’t mean I trusted him and he had some explaining to do as well, he wasn’t a saint either and I knew he was involved in some shady stuff like that gun and his conversations with David and Rico and the girl that they had mentioned in the office.
“I’m positive that he’s nobody in relation to you, there’s nothing to worry about alright?”
There it was, that tone and choice of words that made the conversation seem like it had ended but was really just a way of sweeping something under a rug when Elijah didn’t want me prying into it any longer. He was suspicious of me, and I was suspicious of him but neither one of us wanted to state the facts since we were attempting to mend our toxic relationship. Regardless, he would be useless to dig information from, so I gave up and nodded, placing a sweet smile on my face, and acting like alarm bells weren’t ringing in my head.
If Elijah wasn’t going to help me then I had to set up another meeting with Elian so I could finally get the information from him and if that didn’t work my mom was my last option, I was planning on asking her once I’d make it back home.
Elijah seemed to accept my submissiveness because his head fell back against the seat, and he closed his eyes finally having the chance to catch up on the sleep he so desperately craved. Once I was sure his breathing had evened out and he wasn’t going to notice my actions, I took the opportunity to reach for my phone. I was hoping to send a quick message to Elian before we were up in the sky, and I’d lose signal. Since we weren’t able to have the conversation about Ben before the trip to Las Vegas, we’d just have it after the trip instead.
Elian didn’t reply to me by the time we’d lifted off, but I knew he’d get back to me when he could. He was probably working at the office and was too busy to reply to me but that was alright, I’d done what I had to do, I just hoped Elijah wouldn’t find out about any of this. It would be detrimental to our relationship this got out and he knew I was prying at things bets left untouched, but he was keeping things from me, and the mysterious number was only adding to the effect.
The quiet whispers of the security guards mumbling incoherently behind me raised the fine hairs on the back of my neck but when I turned around to eye them, they looked out the window and pretended to be deep in thought. Strangely suspicious of the men I averted my eyes from them, shuffling further into the plush seat in the hopes that I’d be hidden from their weird stares. ‘Could I even trust those men?’ I ended up questioning, anxiety pooling in my veins as the world and its people became snakes to avoid in a thick jungle environment. Another thought flittered across my mind, ‘Had they read my message behind my shoulder?’
I had to snap out of this trance, those kinds of thoughts were like poison, surrounding your every thought and cutting off your air and blood supply. Like Alice in Wonderland I’d end up falling down a rabbit hole unable to crawl back out from the constant looking behind my shoulder and not being able to trust people.
Running from those overbearing thoughts, I peeked out of the window and admired the scenery of a hued yellow sky with streaks of raging orange, simple shaped clouds were mixed with pinks and purples. The sight was strangely optimistic to a situation I was finding myself pessimistically disturbed by more and more. It didn’t help that Elijah had stated he wanted to change, it was surprising, but he stuck true to his words because so far, he hadn’t shown any ill manners or his infamous attitude even his ego had been rescinded to a smaller degree and I wasn’t sure what an appropriate reaction to the behaviour could be. ‘I guess he truly wants to change himself’, I pondered still unsure how long this would happen for before he went back to his usual self, ‘Maybe it's all because of that Emma woman.’
I wasn’t going to assume that this was all for me but rather that he had fallen in love with another woman, and he genuinely wanted to have her reciprocate the feelings. It was a struggle to see that since I had developed such strong feelings for him, and we’d shared some feisty kisses so far, but it seemed that that’s all they were going to be because I wasn’t Emma and Elijah was now a changing man. I respected it though, I wasn’t going to allow anything to happen between us that could jeopardise his relationship with her. With those bustling thoughts still injected in my mind I tried to relax and wash them away hoping that I could gradually lull myself to sleep. I was excited to go home but once that adrenaline warded off and I was left with nerves that boggled my stomach, I realised that sleep would cure everything because this was sleep and it was the greatest medicine in the world. Eventually it worked because after a few minutes I joined Elijah, having a quick nap that seemed to calm some of my nerves.
By the time I had awoken we’d landed at Elijah’s mansion, the security guards still milling around and the air hostesses gently nudging my body till I responded with tired slurring of confused words. The man himself had disappeared the moment the plane touched the ground and I wondered if that was because he was running away from my questions. Either way the excitement from before came back tenfold and it spurred me on to wake fully up. Once I’d stretched, collected my belongings, and thanked the air hostesses for the calm trip I made my way to the entrance of the aircraft. Stepping down the set of stairs of the jet I was met with Fredrik Jeffrey, Elijah’s trusted butler. The last time we had met was when we were heading to Las Vegas, but that felt like ages ago and I almost forgot just how phenomenal his moustache was on his face. Even his Italian language and accent sounded insanely homely and relaxing, automatically easing any tension I held surrounded by the security guards.
Speaking of the security guards, those two buffoons, stood at the sides of the first step with each of the bodies having their arms hanging loosely down and their fingers interlocked like a classic bouncer pose. It was hilarious and yet oddly scary to think just what lay underneath those suits they wore. ‘Could be the hulks, could be a pair of pansy swans.’
“Fredrik!” I greeted enthusiastically, ignoring the security guards, and walking straight up to the butler himself. Fredrik immediately opened his arms wide and let me move into his personal space almost with a fatherly touch that warmed my soul. Dropping my bags, I engulfed Fredrik in a tight vice-like grip.
“I missed you, Elijah was unbearable!” I cried to him dramatically even though it wasn’t entirely true.
The butler huffed at the strength of my hug, clearly taken aback by the force of my arms as he took a step bac before heartily chuckling, “È bello rivederti signora.”
‘Oh how I missed his Italian sentences’, I mused with wonder letting go of him and looking straight up to him with a thankful smile on my face. I didn’t understand a word he was saying but that was alright because he soon switched languages and released me to compose himself and his immaculate suit.
“I’m sure it wasn’t so bad Miss Jones, and anyways Mr Cooper, sent me here to take you home”, he informed me. I was a little stumped at the abruptness of the fast-paced conversation, thinking that somehow Fredrik was going to keep me around and maybe lead me to Elijah where we’d spend some more time together and yet Elijah didn’t want to be near me any longer than he had to. I nodded at that and picked up my bag, only for Fredrik to take it straight out of my reach and head towards the front of the mansion where a nice black Bentley waited patiently for us.
Throughout our journey home Fredrik remained quiet. I’d asked him everything, about his lifestyle, his family, his younger years but the man wasn’t up for conversation. Even after I had questioned him on Elijah’s whereabouts and how he’d handled having some space from Elijah during the trip. The man had simply looked at me, smiled politely, and given me a one sentence reply. I waited for him to ask me how the trip went or what we got up to during the trip, but Fredrik was having none of it. The attempts were as futile as getting snow in certain UK towns during winter.
As we pulled up to my house Fredrik turned around in his driver’s seat, “Miss Jones I apologise for my behaviour, but I assure you that it was for the best. You’re tired and you should rest not force conversations with the likes of someone like me.”
That shocked me to say the least and before I could get a word out to contradict him and oppose to his statements, he spoke once again, “Nora, go home and rest.”
Sighing in defeat I nodded and smiled at him, “Thank you for the lift, Fredrik.”
We exited the car with Fredrik pulling out the suitcases and bags from the trunk and heading back to his seat. Bidding him goodbye we waved at each other before he pulled off the sidewalk and drove back to Elijah’s mansion. ‘What a strangely kind man.’ Turning to face the building where I knew my mother and sister would be inside right now, I sighed in relief, shoulders slumping and eyes fluttering shut for a second, thinking, ‘Home sweet home.’
The place was the same as always, the lights in the living room were on and whilst I couldn’t see my family members, I could hear laughter the closer I got to the front door. Step after step those voices only got louder. I knew Mom had the day off today and Nina was back from school already, yet nobody knew that I had returned, nobody knew that I was less than twenty steps from their presence because in their minds they thought that I was coming back in another two days time.
It made my return the perfect surprise for the both of them and eventually there was only the door between my family and me. The anticipation of finally holding them in my arms and hearing their voices in person was becoming overwhelming, gnawing at my insides, so with that in mind I reached up and gingerly rang the doorbell. The thudding of loud padded feet vibrated around me and the voice of Nina screaming at the top of her voice that she’s got the door was heard. I started to fidget, unsure as to why I was so nervous but so many things had happened throughout the trip that it was becoming harder and harder to hide things from them.
The abrupt swinging of the white door of the house opened and I looked down, seeing my sister’s face. The previous discarded themselves as her features went from mildly annoyed at being interrupted with whatever she was doing to suddenly joyous, her lips widening automatically and her eyes lighting up with a cheery glow.
“Oh my God! MOM NENE’S BACK!”
‘And that’s how I became deaf’, I winced pitifully, reaching up to cover my ears with my hands and then poking a finger inside one of the worse ears to shake out the deafening numbness that had been caused to it.
“Don’t be daft she’s coming back in two days”, was my mother’s reply with disbelief laced in her voice. Nina rolled her eyes and just kept persisting as she opened the door wider and allowed me to shuffle through. Immediately dropping my belongings, I grabbed Nina and hugged her fiercely to me sensing her discomfort and short gasps for air as a response.
“Nope she’s definitely here”, came the mumbling retort from Nina, a little too quiet for mom to hear though.
“Shh, you’re ruining the surprise you twerp.”
“I’ll ruin it even more if you call me that one more time.”
Ruffling Nina’s hair I trudged past her, through the living room to the kitchen, and stopping at the entrance to find my mother with her back to me. She was making cups of tea and quietly ignoring the drama around her. I didn’t even notice the second presence in the kitchen as I made my way over to her and sidled beside her.
“Mind making another for me, I’m parched.”
The clanging of a metal spoon on the countertops rang through the room, mom jumping away from me, eyeing me as if I were a ghost until she registered that I was actually alive. At that point mom covered her agape mouth with her hands, her eyes began to water, and she flung herself at me a second later.
“Oh sweetie, I missed you so much, what happened though, you were supposed to be back later.”
I laughed at that, my own tears springing to life as I clung to her for dear life, “I lied because I wanted to surprise you both.”
An awkward cough rumbled somewhere behind us, and we parted away just to see Arthur Aldrich shuffling awkwardly in his seat at the breakfast bar. The man was wearing casual clothing, simple jeans with a white t-shirt and black trainers, his hair a curly mess. ‘What’s he doing here?’
I wondered, giving my mom some space, and eyeing him with curiosity as Nina joined us in the kitchen. My sister plopped herself down next to Arthur, grabbing an apple to munch on from the breakfast bowl whilst mom shuffled closer to Arthur. Subtly she placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, and I tensed at the movement, confused as to what was going on, but Arthur merely raised his hand and placed it on top of my mothers giving it a small squeeze.
“Hello Nora, how was your journey?” The doctor asked me with a friendly smile. For a few seconds I stood there, looking between the two adults then deciding it was easier to just wait for them to explain things. If things were going nicely between them then they were moving their relationship faster than I thought, they were going to move it. The only downside to the whole thing was that I wanted to spend some family time with my mom and sister after all this time but with the new guest joining us it seemed that we were accommodating him. ‘Would they have told me about Arthur being here if I didn’t show up today? Maybe that’s why he showed up.’
“Hi Dr Arthur, the trip was tiring but pleasant and I’ll tell everyone about it after I make myself a cup of tea.”
It was like a tensed air broke after the comment. Both Arthur and my mom released their held breaths in subtle relief that I wasn’t making a scene or questioning what was going on here. Truth be told if my mom wanted to tell me something she’d tell me when the time was right. I wasn’t going to question her or be rude to the guest in front of me.
“Nonsense dear, I’ll make you one and, in the meantime, I want you all to move to the living room so we can listen to Nora’s retelling of the trip”, was mom’s response as she filed Arthur and Nina out of the kitchen and into the living room. Nina protested though and came barrelling back into the kitchen much to moms despise.
“Wait! Nene did you bring anything back from the trip?” My sister asked me. ‘Shoot, I completely forgot to get something for the family.’
“I’m sorry Nina I didn’t get much time to buy anything, but I have plenty of photo’s if you’d like to see them instead?”
“Okay sure!” Was her disappointed response but it didn’t linger for too long when mom shuffled her out of the kitchen again. I stayed behind however, hoping to have a short conversation, and wondering if mom would let me in on what was going on. Her back was turned to me, her palms resting on the edge of the countertops and her hair hiding her facial expression from me. She turned to the kettle, opened the lid, and moved to the sink to pour some water in before she moved back and turned the kettle on.
“Mom?” I asked her as the room became silent once again. The concern for her was rising in my nerves and I was suddenly worried for what was to come. I started to remember all of the bad things I had done from the moment I was a child to the very last seconds of my life. ‘Had I done something wrong?’
In the meantime the TV was turned on and the news reporter’s voice came tumbling from the speakers loud enough to drown out our hushed tones. The kettle began to gurgle and wheeze from the steam and finally mom turned around and faced me. In all the lifetimes I’d spent around mom I had never seen as vulnerable as I did back when our dad was still in our lives but this moment right here, was a close second to that previous moment. Her eyes were glittering with unshed tears, her voice quivering and shaky breaths being inhaled and exhaled all of which made me want to run straight to her and give her another hug, but her voice stopped me.
“Honey, you know I love you and that you and your sister are the most important things in my life, right?”
“Yes, I know that mom but you’re scaring me, what’s going on?”
It was like time had stopped and the only thing I could do was wait for the beating thrum of my heart to numb my palpitating body. My veins rushed with blood all the way to my head making me drown in dizziness and the clenching of my entire body from stricken nerves was painfully agitating. ‘Seriously, had I done something terrible, did she find some deep dark secret out about our past lives?’ My eyes locked on my mother, afraid of the next words that would come out of her mouth and afraid that this would cause a rift between us. I wasn’t sure whether to run straight to my bedroom or just disappear in a poof to some otherworldly place.
“This will be hard to comprehend but Arthur and I will be dating more intimately now and before you voice your comments understand that I want someone who can keep me happy and stay with me forever”, she finally revealed. I stood there, mouth agape, confused and surprised at the comments only to burst out with laughter and the kind of laughter that reminded one of hyenas in the wild.
“Oh God, I thought you were going to tell me off with something, what made you think I’d oppose to you and Dr Arthur?” I asked her between fits of giggles. My lungs constricted awkwardly, and I gasped for air, forcing myself to calm down whilst failing dramatically.
Mom looked at me with an alien expression before she scrunched her eyebrows up and pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation, “Nora please take this seriously, it’s a big decision for this family.”
That sobered me straight up. I stood tall, my face turning to a business-mode expression whilst I coughed to clear my throat. It was ridiculous to think I’d been worried about such trivial things when I knew full well that something serious was sparking in connection to my mother and Arthur. I knew they had a great bond and that Nina had come out of her shell around him as evident with how she sat next to Arthur like it was the most normal thing in world.
“Does Nina know?” I asked instead, wondering if my little sister would accept having a male figure in her life after her memories with our dad from before were still lingering in her mind like they were for me.
Mom averted her eyes from me, turning back to the kettle to pour another cup of tea, “No.”
A short, timid, and sufficiently explanatory reply to a situation that could affect my little sister in terrible ways. I would admit straight to our mother that this seemed a little too soon and that we still needed some time to adjust from what our father had caused us but as I looked into my mother’s eyes and watched how tired she looked, all those months she’d slaved working at the hospital and dealing with night shifts.
It made me realise just how selfish I was being. She deserved happiness and love, and someone that could genuinely take care of her in ways that my sister and I never could. Eventually we’d move out and go our separate ways, living lives independently and she’d be left all alone, it wouldn’t be right. If Arthur was going to be her last shot at romance, then I knew she had to take it with all her strength to never let go.
“Alright, let me ease the situation up and tell everyone about the trip and then once we’ve all calmed down, we can let Nina in on this slowly and gently, okay?”
The toughest woman in the world nodded, slowly breaking down and slumping into a chair next to the breakfast bar as she shakily laughed. I would never want my mother to be sad and if giving her love was the answer to that then so be it, I would learn to cooperate and hopefully Nina would too. After all, she deserves a bucket of happiness, everyone did in the end.
“Thank you honey.”
“But don’t expect me to call him dad any time soon”, I added as a last thought. Mom laughed at that, raising from the chair, and embracing me tightly before she went back to the cup of tea and finished it off.
Reaching for the cup of tea from mom we both headed over to the living room and sat down, her next to Arthur who looked at her in a devoted way and I next to Nina who eyed me with irritation because she could no longer stretch her legs on the sofa. I smiled at my sister with the sincerest and most sarcastic grin I could muster before turning to the adults in front of me and recapping my story of the trip.
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4750 words