The Last Dynasty

Chapter Ten

Laura ran the bristles of a comb down her thick long black weave that radiated under the bright light of morn. She smiled into the mirror and uttered motivational words to herself and the gleaming profile on the glass repeated every word she said. Damian laid amused on the bed revealing only his torso on the black tank top he had on and buried his legs under the coziness of the duvet. Laura turned back sharply when he ruffled his thighs within the sheets and added extra layers of red lipstick on her already baked face.

"Didn't know you were awake," she said smiling at him. "Did you see?"

"All of it," he replied and broke into laughter. Damian hardly laughed. He hardly did anything that involved fun or amusement or even happiness. Perhaps his idea of happiness was different. He worked so hard to relieve himself and his family from the debt of shame their late father passed on. Happiness to him entailed making money, lots of it so his children wouldn't suffer same fate.

Then came Laura, with her beautiful skin, lovely eyes and enchanting smile. She redefined life and gave him a reason to do so. She made him enjoy the littlest things like love and laughter while they last. She taught him from a different script.

"Leave me alone jor! Today is my first day at work. I need to give myself all the boosters I need," she replied patting her puffy cheeks with more powder.

"OK o!" He replied. "Yea that reminds me, have you seen my mini statue of liberty? It's crazy but my dad gave me that when I was ten. It reminded me of how brave I should be. I never really did like my dad, but I liked that."

"No... I haven't," she replied, stuffing a large file into her bag.

"That's strange. I don't lose things and recently I've been losing a lot," he added.

"I'm sure you'll find it somewhere."

"Yea, later I'll look around," Damian replied, getting out from the warm sheets and giving her long kiss on her forehead before she left. It was a ritual.

*****

A knock came on the door in threes and Regina quickly reached to the eye hole carved graciously on the wooden door and peered one eye through while keeping the other shut. She saw a glimpse of Duncan's torso in full build with his face slightly bigger than the rest of his body as viewed from the hole. She exhaled deeply and opened the door so he could walk in. His whole figure came into display and he went right in, flashing the text he received from her to her face.

"I got your text... What do you have to say?" He asked. Regina moved closer to him urging him to sit and offering to get some of her home made food for him, but he declined.

"What about coffee?" She asked again.

"I am not eating anything!" He replied. "Just explain the text so I can leave," he added. She released a weakened sigh and sat on one of the long soft chairs that were in the living room hoping he did the same which he did. He tapped his feet repeatedly on the floor as Regina mustered the courage to tell him all she intended to.

"I know the truth about your real father. I apologize for not being that mother you could be proud of and I promise you, I intend to change only if you let me. Since I was drunk the night of my heated argument with Stephen and lost track of details of that night, I decided to certify if truly Stephen was not your father. I was still able to extract the DNA from one of his personal items I got and with some of your hair strands, I compared them. Stephen was your father! I ran the test again for precision and the result came out positive son," she replied.

"He.. He is?" He asked. His voice broke into uneven parts as he spoke and Regina nodded in response. "What about the illegitimate child Stephen spoke about?" Duncan added.