BEAUTIFULLY UNFINISHED novel Chapter 35

THIRTY-FOUR

"I am seriously nervous." I say as soon as the car was parked right outside their home. I stare at the Tomlinson's mansion and I think my heart is beating louder than I thought it would, that I can even hear my own heart beating right now.

"You'll do great." Louis encourages me. "I'm sure they'll love you. Relax." He adds.

"But do they know about..." I gaze at Ben.

Louis exhales as he rubs my arm, "Yes. And mom said they're excited to meet Ben too. Just take it easy."

Louis stares at Ben, "Ready to meet my family Benedict?"

"You bet'cha!" Ben answers.

I smiled at myself as I stare my hand holding Louis'.

"See? Ben is ready and I'm sure you are too. Let's go." Louis says.

The three of us started heading out of the car and my heart is beating even faster with every step I take. Oh god help me. I wish Louis' family would like me. I wish they will accept Ben. I wish they will accept the fact that a single mom is having a relationship with their son.

We stood before the front door, with our bags on our hands. Louis rings the doorbell and I take a very deep breath in.

I feel Louis squeezing my hand that made me look his way.

He smiles at me. "Relax."

"I'm trying to." I answered.

He smiles.

Finally the door opens, and my eyes dropped when Mrs. Deakin was the one who opened it. My heart rate is beating fast once I saw her by the doorway. She's older and some parts of her hair was getting gray but she still looked beautiful. She smiles at the view of Louis standing before her.

"Louis!" She exclaims and hugged him.

"Hey mum." Louis responded.

She glares at me then at Ben. "You must be Miranda." She pulls herself away from Louis and turned to me.

"Hi Mrs. Deakin. It's very nice to meet you." I say.

All of a sudden she hugged me, as if she had known me ever since. I hugged her back and she quickly stares at Ben.

"And you must be little Benedict. Oh, he's such a handsome boy." Mrs. Deakin complimented while she touches Ben's chin.

"Hello. Good afternoon." Ben greeted.

I smiled at Ben being polite. Of course he knows we're meeting Louis' family and he promised me he'll be a very good boy so Louis' family will love me.

"What a wonderful little boy!" Mrs. Deakin exclaims. "Come in, please do come in. I bet you were dead tired by the flight." She says while opening the front door a little wider.

Louis walked us in while he was still holding my hand and Ben's too. We marched our way along the foyer and I think my hands were cold. Of course I'm nervous, I'm meeting his family and I don't know how to please them knowing that I already have a child and it's not Louis'. You know how family members react to that but I'll still try to win their sympathy. I love Louis, and I'll try my very best for him.

The entire house was really huge, very clean and well arranged. The furnitures looked expensive as hell and the mansion was very lovely. I see their huge family portrait hanging by the wall and Louis looked really handsome on it. He was smiling happily with his chinky eyes.

"I told you mum will love you." Louis says to my ear.

I smiled to him.

"Doris and Ernest are out with Fizzy. She took them out to school. Lottie will be visiting around today once she heard you were coming." Mrs. Deakin narrates.

I hope Louis' sisters will like me. Most especially Lottie, I heard she's so picky whenever it comes to getting along with Louis' past girlfriends.

She faced us. "Oh dear you look nervous as hell. Relax." She holds my hand.

I smiled nervously.

"Ben will be using the guest room which is next to Louis'. Can you wanna sleep all by yourself Benny?" She asked.

"Yes. I'm already a big boy." Ben smiles so proudly.

Mrs. Deakin chuckles. "Oh you remind of Louis when he was your age."

"Really?" Ben chimed.

"Yes. He thinks he's superman when he was young. Brave and strong." Mrs. Deakin winked at Ben.

Louis shies, "Mom come on. Not in front of Miranda."

I smiled while I stare at Louis.

"Oh now you're being shy? Do you even remember not taking off your superman suit for three days after receiving it on your eighth birthday?" Mrs. Deakin blurted.

I chuckle. "Three days?" I asked.

"Yes. He just adored it." Mrs. Deakin answered while grinning.

"Okay mom. Enough embarrassing me. Thank you." Louis' shakes his head.

I kept laughing softly while I watch Louis getting a little blush on his cheeks.

"You know you're cute when you're embarrassed." I tell him.

Louis chuckles against my ear and kissed my temple.

"Can I go check my room please?" Ben asked Mrs. Deakin out of the blue.

"Ben." I hissed.

"Oh. It's okay Miranda." Mrs. Deakin tells us. "I know how little boys act when they're at that age. Let me show you to your room so your mommy and uncle Louis can settle their stuff."

I smiled at her.

"Let's go, love." Louis pulls me.

Both of us headed up the stairs while Ben walks with Mrs. Deakin. I watch as she acts so nice with Ben. She treats him like Ben is his grandchild. Like Ben is Louis' son and I am truly happy to be seeing it.

"Didn't I tell you?" Louis kisses my temple.

"I'm happy your mom loves kids. And I'm thankful she doesn't seem to hate me."

His brows creasing. "How can she hate you? She's been waiting for me to get back into a relationship for years and she's been asking me for a grandkid."

I smile shyly.

"That's why she's so happy you came into my life. She almost thought I was gay." He added and I bursted into laughter.

Louis opens a door and we entered a very homey and spacious room which had marvelous well-carved wooden bed stand. He closes the door and I was left in awe as I take a look around. The cabinets were furnished, there was a small sitting room in the corner and some bookshelves on the walls, next to the bed.

"Wow." I say breathlessly.

"I chose this room cos I know how you love reading so much." He says.

I smiled at him. "Thank you."

Louis begins to put our stuff inside the closet while I walk near bookshelves. I saw tons of great novels worth the read but I think I won't finish the ones that caught my attention.

"You wanna bring some with you when we go back to New York?" Louis calls out.

Lottie stares at me and I smiled at her even though she was acting unfriendly to me. "Hi. It's nice to meet you." I say.

"Yeah. Nice to finally meet you too." She glares at Ben. "And the little kiddo? Who looks exactly like Harry?" She arched an eyebrow at me.

"That's Ben." Louis answered for me.

"My son." I added.

She looks at me and smiled fakely. "A son? And since when did you want to be a father to someone else's son, Louis?"

I grip the hems of my blouse as I glance at Ben who caught my attention. He stopped eating and I'm sure he knows what was going on. I smiled briefly at Ben and he looks so pitiful

Louis stared at Lottie sharply. "Lottie, stop what you're trying to start."

"What?" Lottie arched an eyebrow at me.

"Lottie dear please. Don't." Mrs. Deakin snapped.

Lottie chuckles. "Why are you both so worried? Im just saying what's in my head." She stares at me. "And since you're here, I wanna tell you ahead of time that I don't really like to pretend in front of people so I'll go straight to the point."

The meal was going great until Lottie comes barging inside, trying to ruin this very great moment that I'm having with Louis and his mother.

"I don't like you for my brother." She spit.

"Lottie!" Mrs. Deakin snapped.

"Lottie stop." Louis tries.

"Well I know my mom loves you but I don't. You have a son from another man and it's not good for Louis' image."

"God Lottie if you're forgetting I'm no longer a celebrity might as well check that head of yours to a doctor." Louis spit.

I held Louis' arm to try to calm him down cos his eyes looked mad as hell. I don't want Ben to witness this. I don't want him to see that Louis' sister doesn't like me.

"It's okay Louis. Not all people likes me. It's fine. I understand Lottie. I'm not gonna force myself to her." I say.

"People close to me are the only ones allowed to call me Lottie." Charlotte says.

"Okay that's it." Louis snaps. "That's enough Charlotte. You can't come here just to ruin everything for us." He adds.

"Son please sit back down." Mrs. Deakin begs.

"No. If my woman and Ben aren't welcomed here, then might as well take them with me to my penthouse." Louis stands from the table.

"Louis please. Let's not ruin this great time that we're having." Mrs. Deakin begged.

Louis takes a soft grip on my wrist and pulled me up from my chair.

"I wasn't the one who ruined it." He spit.

Louis stares eagerly at Lottie. "Charlotte did. Thanks for that."

"Ben let's go buddy." Louis calls out to Ben.

"But Louis." I tried to stop him as I gaze at Mrs. Deakin.

"Miranda let's go." He demands.

I stand from my chair and the entire table was quiet. Ben quickly runs to me and holds my other hand. The three of us started marching out of the dining room while I hear Mrs. Deakin having a small fight with Lottie.

I can't blame Lottie for feeling that way. She's just worried for his brother being with a woman who's having a son from another man. But I can't believe she did that. She took it too far.