Black Castle 🖤 E. Mikaelson

Chapter Forty•One. Bennet & Darcy

Chapter Forty•One. Bennet & Darcy
ELIJAH
{Made For These by Jimmie Allen & Tim McGraw}

🖤
When you're shattered by the fall
When every road you take feels like the long way
Let it make you stronger
And fight a little harder
When you get to where you're goin', then you'll see
Those days were made for these
🖤

Elijah watched Arabella cross the road over to the Mystic Grill with both girls holding her hands. Elijah was discreet even if he didn't look like it. At the same time, Arabella ran into the bar with the girls, it was the same time he stopped at his car and placed his hand in his pocket, at the same time a few women walked passed him, smiling because it was obvious he was dripping in wealth. On top of that, he was incredibly handsome. The long coat with his infamous nine thousand dollar suit underneath accented with a nice pair of designer shoes while standing in front of an expensive vehicle. If he was trying to be discreet without drawing any attention to himself, he was doing an awful job. He just wanted to see his girls off to school without being overbearing, and why he thought Arabella wouldn't allow him to do that was beyond anyone.
Arabella was inside the Mystic Grill because she wanted a decent cup of coffee and even though there was a coffee shop a block away she found their coffee to be disgusting. At least inside the bar, she could get an awesome cup of coffee to go and the girls could get their favorite donuts. They weren't due to the school for another hour so she took her time with what time she had left with the girls until she wouldn't see them again until summer vacation. It was a long while for that so she was taking as much time as possible. Yeah, she thought Elijah should have been there to see them off as well but Arabella wanted Elijah as far away from Alaric as she could get him. Arabella didn't want Elijah doing anything rash to Alaric because the man didn't do anything wrong; but somehow knowing Elijah, he would find a reason to rip Alaric's heart out from his chest. It was something about another man raising his children while he was away that didn't sit right, but Alaric wasn't to blame for that, Arabella was. She invited the man into their lives with no remorse for how Elijah would feel and she knew that his heart must've broken to find that out. But subtract the girls from the equation and Elijah would have thought twice to leave the situation alone.

As Arabella thought about Elijah and his feelings, she looked up after exiting the establishment, coffee in hand while the girls behind her enjoyed their sugary treats in their finely ironed school uniforms. He was standing less than two hundred feet away. His expression was unmoved, his posture was straight, and he didn't look at anyone but Arabella.
"Girls, your father is here." Arabella didn't look down to tell the girls. She continued her staring contest with Elijah hoping that he would break first, and he did when they both ran to the end of the sidewalk, looked both ways for cars, and then darted in the direction of their father. He pulled his hands out of his pockets and knelt a little bit so that the girls could hug him comfortably. Arabella took a moment, breathed deeply, and made her way across the street as well. She was hoping her day was going to go well because she wasn't going to see Elijah but that quickly changed because there he was. He called more than he should have, he was always calling her phone to video chat with the girls and she grew tired of that so she ended up getting them phones, and it wasn't like she didn't enjoy him getting to know his girls since he missed out on almost six years, she just didn't have anything to say to him, she didn't want to talk to him or see his face. So him being there in the flesh, kind of threw off her mood because she loved Elijah, deeply, ardently, but she didn't want to fall into the same routine every time Elijah looked at her. That was the sole reason for her avoidance. She didn't want her knees to weaken every time he was near, she didn't want her heart nearly beating out of her chest like it was doing the moment she stepped foot on the same sidewalk as him. He could hear her heart and that was why he looked up at her. "What are you doing here?"
He stared at her just to see if she was sad that she had to drop the girls back off at school. It wasn't until seconds later that it wasn't that at all. He didn't want to seem self-absorbed because he wasn't like that at all, but when he noticed how her heart was racing while being close to him, she took a step back to try and slow it down even though it didn't work.
"Same as you, I've come to see the girls off since I won't see them till summer break."
"Yeah, but who told you to come?" She wasn't upset, she was genuinely curious because she didn't tell anyone the exact date they were due back at school.
"We did Mommy," Elise glanced up and took Elijah's hand. Arielle did the same. Arabella should have known that it would happen though, she knew the girls were going to want Elijah involved, so she swallowed her pride and didn't scold the girls. He was their father anyway, there wasn't much she could keep him away from.
"Fair enough," Arabella dropped it quickly, she glanced down at the watch on her left wrist. She looked only to see how much time they would have before they left and there wasn't enough time at all to try and break free and leave Elijah there by himself. She knew he would catch up regardless. "Well, I guess we should get going then."
"Good, I'll drive." He smiled and turned with the girls. Arabella's eyebrows lowered in confusion as they walked back in the direction of his car. Once there, Arabella stopped and rolled her eyes up to Elijah who didn't see the problem she was seeing. He didn't realize she had stopped until he reached the driver's side of the car.
"We can't ride in this." Arabella scoffed, it wasn't because the car wasn't nice because it was, a little flashy for her taste but still, it was because she didn't consider it to be safe.
"Why not? There's seats in the back." Elijah mentioned as he was well aware the girls could fit in the back, it wasn't a problem, though it was a problem for Arabella. The girls didn't say anything because they were too busy looking at how nice the car was, and silently wondered why their mom didn't have something like it knowing that it suited her and she could very much afford it. That didn't matter anyway, Arabella didn't prefer the same cars Elijah had, she had the SUV that she just adored.
"No. It's not suited for children, you don't even have booster seats for them," She shook her head lightly.