Spitting Image • TFC 3.0 • l.t. au

Chapter Sixty One

61

Louis looked surprised and overwhelmed when we walked in Aunt Cecile's home. She greeted us at the door and immediately engulfed Louis in a motherly hug. I can't help but smile at how welcomed he looked as aunt Cecile did this gesture.

He looked so down on our way here and it's a drastic change from the sulking Louis in the front seat to the Louis in aunt Cecile's arms. He looks like a young boy in his mother's embrace.

"You did the right thing, my love." She tells him and I swear I can see a trickle of tear running down Louis' face.

"It's just a job." He defends himself but we both know it was more than a job for him: it's a big part of his life.

"I think it's much more than that." Aunt Cecile says with a comforting smile. "Dinner's almost here. I ordered a batch of Chinese food for everyone."

Chinese food? Aunt Cecile must have forgotten Summer doesn't like Chinese food— "Don't worry, love. I ordered some pizza as well for the kids." She says. She must have seen the worry on my face. "Come on, let's have a chat outside." She says.

Before I can protest, my aunt is already pulling me out of the house. She closes the door behind us and we're alone now. We can still hear the commotion from inside but it's fainter compared to earlier.

"Is everything okay between you two? You seem awfully distant." She says, crossing her arms.

I shrug and take a deep breath. "We're better now compared to before. There are some things I hope to clear out tonight, though." I tell her. "I'm tired of us fighting all the time, Aunt Cecile. It's not a great way to solve problems and it's not fair to the kids."

She keeps her expression vacant. "Why is that?" She asks.

"I don't know, I just have that image at the back of my mind of mum and dad fighting when I was younger," as I said that, I can imagine it now. "They didn't fight as much as Louis and I but I remember how terrified I was when they do. Maybe I don't want my children to feel the same as I did."

With that being said, aunt Cecile smiles at me. "See, I knew you'd make a lovely mother, Meg." She says.

I chuckled and shook my head. "Yeah, I've messed up a lot, in case you haven't noticed."

"Well no one expects you to be perfect." She assures me. "Important thing is you raised your children the way a parent should. Your children respect you, both of you, and they simply adore you. Your boys are already following in their dad's footsteps, huh?"

I chuckled at how true that is. All Blaine and Seth are on about is football nowadays. "Well, he really left an impression on them. I can't change that." I say, looking down at my fingers. "I just want them to be happy, Aunt Cecile. All of them, even Louis. And if his job doesn't make him happy anymore, I'm fine with that..."

The door behind me swings open and Louis comes into view. "Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt—" he was already stepping inside when aunt Cecile told him to stay. Took some more encouragement but she managed to get him to stay.

"It's nothing private, dear." Aunt Cecile assures him with a light chuckle to keep him from being so tense. "I just told Meg she's doing her job so well."

"Yeah, she's a great special effects person." He says absentmindedly. It's kind of adorable, really. I can't help but laugh. "What?" He asks when he finally caught on.

"I agree with that but by job I meant her motherly duties." Aunt Cecile tells him.

"Oh." He says, his eyes widen. Under the faint light, I can see his cheeks turn red. "Yeah, she's pretty good at that too."