Rose of Sharon |Courting Trouble BK 2|

Chapter 22 (Part 1)

The red rose whispers of passion, And the white rose breathes of love; O, the red rose is a falcon, And the white rose is a dove.- John Boyle O'Reilly.

"You know, you never quite told me why you finally decided to leave home."

"I am a grown woman now. Isn't that the most logical thing to do at this point in my life? "

Ryan gave her a look and she turned away with a heavy sigh.

"It's a long story okay and I have not yet forgotten that you refused to tell me what that call was about. " she added as he in turn released a heavy sigh. Until now he had focused so much on winning Katrina's that he had overlooked the other things that had been happening in her life.  He was happy that she was doing well. That her business had picked and was now flourishing, but aside from that, the mystery that had shrouded her life was now gnawing at him even as he slowly realised that just like him, Katrina Maracheli,  the princess of Maracheli Industries was also from a broken family.

Was there really any family that was not broken? At this point, he could no longer say? By death or by divorce, by absenteesm in parenthood or by domestic violence all he could see were families that were broken and it made him wonder, if there was really a chance in this whole world that a family could be whole. He had always known that Katrina's mother had died when she was young and that she had had no maternal relatives to speak of,  which he had now found was only true in part as some facts had remained hidden not just to him, but to Katrina as well. It must have been had for her to process that and despite how hard she tried to hide it, he knew that it was bothering her and it worried him how it affected her knowing how he himself had handled his own situation.

The secrets that her father had kept from her were hurting her and even as she mourned the relationships that she could not have due to her father's pride, Katrina's anger was simmering as evidenced by her outburst in that present situation.

Could that be it? The reason why these two could not see eye to eye or was there something more? What he was sure of though was that unlike him and his own father, this father and daughter duo clearly cared deeply for each other, but all the secrets and the pain carried over the years had allowed pride to drive a wedge between a relationship that was once blooming.

"I cannot tell you what the call was about." he finally decided to tell her.  "but all I can say is that I was ordered... no, commanded not say anything, but I guess, there is always another way to find things out."

"Like what?"

"For one, you can try to call him and ask him yourself. "

'Like that is going to happen." She grumbled as she turned away from him and began to walk out of the room. He watched as her back disappeared around the bend that led to the living, but he could still hear her feet as they climbed the stairs, one heavy step after another as she pushed her heavily pregnant body up the inclination that led up to the first floor and to their suite of rooms.

Ryan released another heavy sigh and stood up to walk out into the kitchen.

It was no use going after her.

Walking away was her new way of saying that she did not want to discuss matters farther and he had already promised himself to respect her decisions, but what would finally happen when the man decided showed up? He wondered.

He had tried to call her severally. That was what his father in law had admitted to him. At the moment, he had sounded frantic enough that he seemed concerned about her welfare, but from his own experience, Ryan knew better. He had already seen something similar with his own family and now, he only hoped that there were no other ulterior motives fuelling that concern apart from his own daughter's welfare.