A Piece Of Me

Chapter 25 "A Sensible Talk"

Luke P.O.V

It was past eight when we reached William's house. Due to the heavy traffic on the way, we waited inside the car for an hour waiting for the other cars to move forward. It was then when Rhel decided to call his dad and told him that we are going to be late for the dinner.  I was expecting that William would get angry but then his calm and patient voice against the line made me exhaled in relief. Just walking towards the door at his house made me felt uneasy. For the first time, butterflies slowly creeping their way to my stomach. Of course, who wouldn't feel nervous when you get to meet the father of the woman you love the most.

I held Rhel's hand under the table and squeezed it as we waited for William to descend. She squeezed mine back and gave me a reassuring smile. I smiled and felt the uneasiness slowly fading. It was amazing how this little gesture really helped me in a situation like this. While waiting for Megan to return from the kitchen and his dad, I focused my attention back to Rhel. I studied her features like I always did and brought her hand against my lips.

"You're so beautiful!", I contemplated.

"Wow! That's the fifth time you said those words to me. Won't you get tired of saying that?", she chuckled.

"No baby. Ever. I wouldn't get tired even if I would say those words every second of every day." She smacked me on the arm and laughed.

"You're exaggerating!", she said. Our little sweet moment was interrupted when someone cleared his throat. Rhel looked past through me and I turned my gaze away from her and looked at to where she's looking. Standing there was William leaning on the door frame with a sharp look. 

This is bad! How come I didn't notice him.

Rhel cleared her throat and stood up and I did the same. William walked towards us still looking glaring. 

"Dad..." Rhel wrapped her arms around him and kissed her cheek. She then backed a little and looked at me then back to his dad.

"Dad this is Luke, my boyfriend!" 

"Ah, good evening Mr. Forbes...", I said while extending my hand. He took my hand still glaring daggers at me. We stood there in an awkward silence still not letting my hand go. I was about to say something when he instantly pulled me into a hug. It was so sudden that I didn't even notice that he was laughing at the same time. He let me go and smacked me in my arm.

"Son, you should see the look on your face. It was hilarious!", he said still laughing. I turned to look at Rhel who was also laughing. When she saw me looking she just shook her head and shrugged. 

Okay, what just happened?

After the laughter died down, we sat on our seats and soon Megan joined us after he phoned Edward. 

"So Luke, where did you meet my daughter?", William asked breaking the silence.

"Um, actually it was kind of unexpected. I was driving to work when I saw her car. I was pretty pissed back then when her car didn't move at green light. So, I got out and approached her car and... that's when I saw her for the first time." I skipped the part where we had our little argument at that time and turned to look at William and Megan who both looked so interested. When they were still hooked by it, I glanced at Rhel unsure of what I would say next. She glanced at the two and cleared her throat before she say something but was unable to when her dad cut her.

"That's it? So what happened next?", William asked impatiently.

"Dad, you're not planning to listen to our story for the whole dinner are you?", Rhel asked raising her questioning eyebrow. 

"I'm so sorry darling. It's just that Luke here...", he pointed at me, "-left us hanging. It was interesting, right Megan?", he gestured to Megan.

"Definitely Dad!", she said while nodding. I chuckled at how they easily they agreed on one another. I grabbed my glass and sipped the wine before I continued telling their our story. Never I imagined that this night would be so interesting as I thought that Rhel's family was beyond strict. The whole time I've been storytelling, little by little, I got comfortable sharing everything to them. I was beyond amazed as I felt at home when I was with them. 

After an hour of talks and laughter, I was standing in the garden at the back of William's mansion with him. He asked if I could spare a little time to talk to him while the ladies were in the kitchen making desserts. We watched as the flowers danced to the rhythm of the wind. The most abundant flowers that made up the entire garden were the red roses then followed by different shades of it. I turned to my side when I heard him sighed deeply.

"You know what Luke...this was my wife's garden. She offered most of her time taking care of these and they bloomed beautifully."

"If I may ask...what happened to her?" I knew it was a dumb question and I expected him to not answer the question but then he surprised me.

"She died!" I could tell a trail of sadness in his voice. He gulped down his glass of wine and stayed quiet for a while. 

"I'm so sorry."  I zoomed back to the flowers and then brought my gaze to the statue surrounded by lovely red roses.

"It's beautiful!", I complimented. He nodded as if he knew what I was referring to.

"It took me six months to finish that." I instantly looked at him, surprised.

"You m-made it?", I asked unsure of what I just heard. He nodded and flashed his genuine smile as if it was the most amazing thing he had done.

"There are a lot of things that the people don't know about me Luke and I intend to keep it that way." My respect for this man grew more just talking to him in this short pace of time and I could tell that he was a very brilliant man. Unlike me, all I did was taking things lightly without knowing their importance.

"That statue-", he said bringing me back to my senses. "-was the only thing I could think of to honor her. She was the most beautiful and loving wife that I ever loved and losing her really broke my heart. It was hard for me to live the life without her each day but I never thought I did because of my lovely daughters." He brought the empty glass to his left hand and shifted his body to face me. I did the same and eager to listen what he had to say next.

"The reason why I wanted Rhel to bring you is that...I wanted to see personally the man who made my daughter alive again. You must know by now how much I love my daughters and just seeing the men they're going out with is one way of protecting them. You see Luke, I can read what kind of person  a man is just by looking at him, how he... brings himself. And I can tell what kind of a man you are." I gulped down the anxiety that I felt and braced myself for the possibility of William not liking me for his daughter.

"I knew you are a very rich and a famous player who loves to have a one night with every woman that you meet and as much as I hate you for that I couldn't and wouldn't be able to break the two of you apart because right now...the man standing in front of me...is a man who loves my daughter very much. And that's enough for me to let you be with my daughter." I let out a deep breath that I've bee holding since and chuckled.

"I-I don't know what to say. T-Thank you Mr. Forbes." I stuttered because of the happiness I was feeling. 

"Please just call me William, you're making me a decade older than my age right now when you call me that."

"Thank you Mr. Fo-...William!"

"Desserts are ready!", Rhel hollered. We walked back to the kitchen and saw Rhel leaning on the door frame. William saw and he nodded before he went his way to the living room. Rhel wrapped her arm around my lower back and I did the same around her shoulders. 

"So? How was it?", she asked curiously.

"Everything's perfect baby." I kissed her temple and we made our way to the living room.