Captive in Plain Sight

Treizecisicinci || Celine

Mother? It has a mother?

What kind of woman could raise a son like Alec?  Mila never imagined him coming from a halfway decent home. She figured he'd had a lonely childhood full of nannies and emotionally unavailable adults.

"I'm right here, actually," said a commanding voice. She had a slight French accent, and was well-dressed, with an 'upscale and worldly' aura about her.  Mila was thankful for the interruption, but also skeptical of this woman's intentions. It was likely she was just as crazy as her son.

"I didn't want to wait any longer to see you mon petit chou." she said, glaring at Olga as she walked past.

Alec's mother had called him 'My little cabbage.' It was a French term of endearment she'd heard before. There was something about it that made her uncomfortable. Like a thought hidden behind a vale she couldn't pull back.

"Mother, what are you doing here?" Alec asked. They exchanged kisses on the cheek, and a stiff hug.

Mila took a deep breath. Clearly, Alec was caught off guard by this visit, and from the looks of it, Olga as well.

Finally, she thought. Some adult supervision. The enemy of her enemy was her friend. If she'd come into the room seconds later, who knows what she would have seen.

"Look at you," his mother said, dodging his question. Tears brimmed her eyes as she felt his biceps. "You've been working out! You look good!"

"Thanks mom." he said, embarrassed.

"And who is this?" she looked at Mila, waiting for an introduction.

"Mother, this is Mila Black, my fiancé."

Like it always did, her heart jolted at the word fiancé. Nope, it still didn't feel real.

Celine gave Alec a wide-eyed looked, that said, 'I can't believe you made me come all the way here to tell me you're engaged.' But she stayed polite. Never the type to let anyone see her lose composure.

"Mila, this is my mother."

"Call me Celine." she said, exchanging kisses with her. When they were eye-to-eye again, Celine looked at her curiously.

Mila became very aware of her appearance and felt like an awkward bumbling fool. Celine was a woman who enjoyed fancy silk scarves, broaches and expensive perfume. There was no way in her current state, Celine would think she was good enough for her son.

Not necessarily a bad thing.

Mila sensed Alec pick up on this as well.

Henderson was pawing at Celine now, and Celine capitalized on his distraction.  "And who is this?" she asked, picking him up and cradling him like a baby.

"Henderson," Mila said.

"He's adorable."

"Mother, I thought you were in Paris until Fall." Alec interrupted.

"It's not sounding like you missed me very much." she said.

"Of course, I did." he replied in a voice higher than usual. "I just thought you were through with me after--"

"We cut you off?" Celine gave Henderson a few pats and put him down. "I guess we shouldn't be surprised you didn't send us an invite to your party. When Salvadore called and asked if we were coming, I didn't know what to say, so booked a flight."

"You said you were done with me."

Celine looked hurt. "It's the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I tried for so long to help you, but my therapist told me we had to cut you off financially because we were enabling your habit. But it seems to have done you some good, look at you! Look at this house! I knew you had it in you mon petit chou. I just knew it."