Fool's Gold

I woke to the sound of people talking in the living room and cool sheets beside me. I frowned when my eyes finally opened. Enola wasn't in the bed with me anymore. I listened closely to see who was in the apartment with us. Of course I heard Enola's soft voice. The other person in the apartment was definitely a woman. She sounded older and...Irish? I quickly got out of bed and got dressed. There was no way that I was going into the living room with just my underwear on. If my assumption as to who was in the apartment was correct, there was no way it was a good idea.
That's who she was talking to on the phone about Thursday. I thought to myself as I pulled on my jeans. We'd spent the whole week pretty much keeping to ourselves. Not really going anywhere. I didn't mind it at all. I loved having her to myself after having to share her with the boys and everyone else during our last visit. But this... this meant something. Me meeting someone much closer to her than Katy. Enola loved Katy for sure but it wasn't the same as the love she felt for her family. Letting me meet her mother, that was huge. She had been cagey and avoiding talking about meeting her until we argued the second night I was in town. I grabbed one of Enola's favorite shirts of mine from my suitcase and pulled it on. As I buttoned the blue, striped shirt, I looked in the mirror. I actually appeared rested for once. As soon as I had my shirt buttoned the way Enola liked, which wasn't very much. I ran my hands through my hair a couple times, smoothing it out a bit but not too much. Enola loved when it was messy and my curls were massive. I inhaled deeply, preparing myself for a meeting that would be nerve-wracking.

I entered the living room to see Enola sitting on the sofa with an older woman, maybe in her fifties. The woman had dark hair and bright blue eyes, much like Enola's. She was a beautiful woman as well. Her smile was vibrant and genuine. She seemed like a lovely woman. But as I looked closer at her I realized that it couldn't be Enola's mother. She and Enola didn't look alike, the only similarity being the color of their eyes.
I was a bit shocked seeing Enola in my t-shirt and what looked like nothing else. She was radiant though. She never was more beautiful than when her hair was tussled waves and she wasn't really wearing any make up and she was in my clothes. I loved when she walked around in my shirts. I don't know why it was so damn sexy to me but it was. It could've been the fact that I knew she loved to smell my cologne on her all day or that she was just to lazy after making love to actually get redressed. I smiled a bit thinking of all the times that she'd slid out of bed after sex and grabbed my shirt before making her way to the kitchen for tea or snacks.
I cleared my throat and tucked my hands in my pockets, nerves were now taking over. Enola looked up at me suddenly and smiled. She quickly got up from the sofa, racing to me. She wrapped her arms around my waist while I kept my hands in my pockets nervously. Enola stood on her tip toes, going in for a kiss. I touched my lips to her sweetly, being careful not to kiss her for too long. Enola pulled back curiously. I nodded toward the sofa where the dark haired woman sat.
"Don't worry, Bear. It's all okay." Enola whispered to calm me. "Hug me." She commanded with a smile. I slowly wound my arms around her. I held her close and my hands traveled up her back, gripping the shirt she wore gently. I buried my face in her neck, inhaling the faint smell of her vanilla body wash and coconut shampoo. Enola backed away after a long moment. "I love you." She murmured.
I kissed her forehead firmly, "I love you." Enola took my hand in hers then dragged me over to the sofa. The dark haired woman stood and smiled warmly at me. "Sorcha, this is Harry." Enola beamed gazing up at me. I loved how shed be introducing me to the people in her life. She had the biggest smile as she said my name and looked at me like I was the only man to ever be in her life. "Harry, this is my step-mom, Sorcha."
I the hand that wasn't wrapped around Enola's out to her, "Lovely to meet you."
"You as well. Enola has said a great many things about you to me in the last couple of hours." Sorcha held her warm smile as she spoke. Couple of hours? How did I not notice Enola had gotten out of bed earlier? "Enola, Harry's awake now, go get dressed, dear." Sorcha instructed.
Enola kissed my cheek, "Be right back, babe." I nodded and released her. She darted back to the bedroom do to as she was told.
Sorcha motioned to the sofa, "Sit with me. Let's have a chat." I agreed by doing as I was told. I sat down on the sofa nervously. I kept my body close to the edge so I could flee if need be. Sorcha sat beside me and placed her hand on my knee. "I don't need to tell you that this is a very hard thing for me to swallow." Sorcha said gesturing between Enola and I. I nodded but stayed silent. "I do not think fondly of these types of things and I'm sure that Enola has told you why."
I nodded again, "She told me that her dad...yes, she told me."
"I honestly...I see how much she loves you and I have been hearing all about how happy she's been since she met you. Gianna calls Lochlan every few days to give him an update on how she is doing. And when she calls she always has this...brightness in her voice." I could only nod. "I've seen the worst that girl can be and I've always thought that I've seen the best but the smile on her face when she told me why I came this morning was..I've never seen her smile like that." I smiled down at my hands. I really brought her that much happiness? "Harry." Sorcha spoke gently, bringing my eyes back to hers. "You better not change your mind on things you want with her. She told me about the conversation about marriage and children. She's always says that she never wants kids. And once she even said that if anything happened to Charles or their marriage, she would never do it again." I gazed at Sorcha shocked. She never told me about not wanting to get remarried. "But she wants it with you. She didn't say it directly but I could see it in her eyes when she spoke of it."
"I'm not going to change my mind. She's what I want. She'll always be the one I want." I replied. "No matter how messy things could get with her divorce or with my career, she's always going to be the one I want." I assured her.
"That better be true. She is risking a lot to be with you. Charles is a deviant and he has the money to get away with it and this is going to put her at odds with her mother and her father. I hate being the one in the middle but I think that right now I am the one who knows her the best." Sorcha smirked a little then said, "Well, beside you anyway." I chuckled and nodded slowly. After a few moments of quiet between us. I processed something that Sorcha had said.
"When you said that she calls, she calls her dad?" I asked. It was weird for her to suddenly want to talk to her dad.
Sorcha shook her head, "No she calls me. Her dad doesn't know about it though. I try not to tell him because he'll just get jealous."
"When did she start calling you regularly?" I inquired not knowing anything about it.
Sorcha seemed surprised, "She didn't tell you about it?" I shook my head quickly. "When she got back from Italy, which I'm told was a trip with you." I nodded, telling her she was right. "When she got home from Italy she started calling me once a week. Sometimes twice. The first time she called I thought she wanted to speak to her father as well. When I said "Hold on hunny, let me get your dad", she panicked and said she didn't want to talk to him. She wanted to talk to me."
"What did she say to you?" I was still astonished.
Sorcha smiled a bit more, "She apologized for being so terrible to me when she was younger. She said that she wasn't being fair to me. She knew what her father had done hurt me and her brothers a lot and she shouldn't have taken her anger with her parents out on us. We didn't do it. She felt really bad about it. She called Kelly once but apparently that was a rocky conversation because she told him she didn't really want anything to do with Daddy." My jaw dropped a little bit. "I'm assuming you and her talked about this while in Italy?"
"We did. Not a whole lot though. She doesn't like to. And when her dad got brought up she always said that she didn't want to talk to him because she didn't really know him." I spoke quietly. I didn't want Enola to get mad at me for sharing.
Sorcha looked taken back, "What? She does too know her father. From the time she was fourteen until she met Charles, she was made to spend summers with us in Ireland." My jaw dropped again.
My face turned red when I heard Enola's soft voice, "Sorcha, I'm dressed now." I looked up to see Enola had a fire in her eyes and not the good kind that I saw the night before. I looked over to see that Sorcha was glaring at Enola a bit.
"Why did you tell him that you didn't know Daddy well enough to speak of him?" Sorcha asked Enola with disappointment and some anger.
"Because the man is a bastard and I don't like him. I'd rather not talk to or about him." Enola replied sharply. I could see the anger and hurt in her eyes. I hated seeing it.
"Baby, you could've just said that. I wouldn't have pushed." I stated with a frown as I looked down at my hands. Enola sat down on my opposite side, away from her step-mom. "I wouldn't make you do anything you don't want to. You know that." I murmured to Enola sadly.
"I know that now. Before it was different." Enola spoke just as softly to me. "I'm sorry lied. We can talk about it later, okay?" I gave a single nod before she pressed her lips to mine lightly, her way of apologizing again. Enola looked over at Sorcha, "Did you want to get lunch? We can do whatever you'd like."
"Are you sure that's a good idea, leaving the house?" Sorcha asked of Enola and I.
I shrugged, "Why wouldn't it be? No one knows that I'm in LA."
Sorcha looked nervous as she said, "Yes but Enola knows many people because of Charles. Is it really a good idea to leave?"
"Sorcha, it'll be fine. Harry and I have been in many major cities together and Charles still doesn't know. We'll be fine." Enola laughed a little.
"Well, we could always go outside the city. Go to the suburbs. Won't have as much trouble out there, right?" I asked of Enola. I wanted to make her step-mom comfortable. But at the same time, Sorcha had a point: we didn't know what could happen if we went out within the city limits.
Enola grinned brightly, "I actually know a really great place to go. If you two don't mind being in the car for a little while." Sorcha and I glanced at each other and shrugged. We turned back to Enola and agreed. She beamed, "Great. Let's get going then."

Notes