Henry and Michelle, like happy couples do, were having a lovely Sunday-morning breakfast in their dinning room. They had eggs, coffee, variety of sandwiches, and desert all on the small, round table that was covered with an off-white table cloth.

Michelle had made everything.

For the past few days, Henry had been a very good husband. No abuse, no assault, no curses, no punishment from him. Love was the only thing that he showed her.

She had wondered at first if he was okay. But people do change for the good, don't they?

Michelle figured that her husband had changed for the best. He did drink, but not much; not to an extent for him to misbehave— hit her or sleep with her forcefully. 

For being a good husband, she prepared breakfast for him. She didn't specifically make his favorite. She made what her heart told her he was going to love. He did love all of them. Ate most of them.

Henry wiped his mouth with the napkin, smiled briefly. "I have something important to tell you," he said to her.

She waited for him to speak, taking a bite of the meat sandwich, curious.

"I invited Chris over for dinner," he informed her excitedly.

She slowly stopped chewing, with her mouth half full. She wasn't amused about that. She didn't hide it. Henry saw it clearly that she wasn't happy about it.

"Come on, Mitch, I've already told you that Chris is a very pleasant guy. I know him like I know the size of my dick," he  said humorously, causing both of them to giggle. "Give the guy a chance, sweetie, please."

Henry had really changed. First he called her by a nickname, then he called her by a romantic name. That was the man that she had said 'yes I do' to on the alter. That was the man she dreamt of spending her entire life with. Lovely, charming, romantic, and everything a wife craves.

"You really sound sure about this guy," Michelle stated. "Do you know him that much to trust him?" She asked.

Henry chuckled. "Chris is a bit of a lonely guy. His father died in a fire accident when he was only a boy, right in their house near the beach. He stayed with his grandmother since then. He never talked about his mother. I never saw her. Despite all what he was going through, he always attended to me when I needed him. Even when he moved in with his grandmother, he never stopped coming to visit me."

"Then you must really love him," she said in an I-don't-give-a-shit voice, trying to sound interested at the same time.

"I do love him. He's like my brother. The only family I had before meeting you." He sounded emotional. He really meant it. "And I want to make the family complete."

"The only thing this family needs is a child, not another grown man. But I'll be willing  to accept the family member of yours that I know," she said, genuinely, grinning.

Henry understood every bit and piece of the message that she conveyed. He knew exactly what her words meant, each of them.

"Trust me, after having dinner with him, you're surely going to love him," he said, excited that she was giving Chris a chance.

"Not like I love you," Michelle stated.

"Not like you love me," Charles repeated.

"But let's try like first. Love is a big word."

♦️♦️♦️♦️

Harriet was in her office, behind her big ebony desk when a knock came on the door twice, then it opened and Ashley walked in.

The window was opened, allowing the fragrance of the flowers in. The view from the window was just magnificent. Harriet loved being there especially when she was having a problem.

She hadn't been reading the book in her hand, actually. She had only been pronouncing the words without comprehension. Her mind kept drifting off.

Ashley was wearing her usual house-dress. It was a navy blue dress that had strings as its arms, calf-lenth, and silky.

She walked over to her mom, glancing at her with pity.

Harriet's head was out the window. She looked like she was contemplating. She was aware of Ashley's presence but the way she had her head out the window made it appear as if she was lost in her thoughts.

Ashley already knew the answer to the question she was about to ask; however, she needed to hear it come from her mother.

"Are you alright?"

Harriet seemed as if she didn't hear the question Ashley asked her. She still had her head out the window. She was even still wearing her nightgown. 

Slowly, she turned her head to look at Ashley directly. She waited a spell. "Do you trust me, Ashley? Do you believe everything I do is for the good of this family? To keep it in one piece?"

Her face was pale. The paleness didn't hide her beauty. It made her look even more beautiful with her short hair. Thank goodness she had fine bones.

"I trust you mom. If you ask me, I'll say you're infallible." She waited for a minute, seeing how unsure her mother was. "You've never done anything to harm this family, none that I know of."

"I wish your father could say the same thing." Harriet closed the book, put it on the table and walked to the window. She inhaled deeply. "I've never done anything to harm this family. I will never. It took me years, and years, and years of hard work, consistency, and  self-will to build this family. Why would I destroy it now, after all that I went through? Why?" She continued admiring the beauty of nature, even when she spoke with deep emotions. It had a way of keeping her steady.

"Is that what dad thinks? That you're destroying the family?"

"It's what he believes. You heard what happened to James Palmus on the news, right?" She asked, turning away to look at Ashley. Ashley nodded. "He believes I did it," she told Ashley, sitting back down in the black leather chair.

Ashley was surprised that her father would think her mother would do such a thing. Her mother had never hurt anyone. She even helped people. Why would she want to kill James Palmus?

"Why?" Ashley asked, wondering.

"I don't know," Harriet replied. "Your father started behaving strange after your sister's wedding was sabotaged by that woman." She crossed her legs and folded her arms.

"So you think it's because of Rachael's wedding? He too was affected badly by what happened. There were many of his friends there. And now there are so many rumors and speculations. He's prolly stressed," Ashley suggested. 

Harriet shook her head. "Stressed?" She said, chuckling.  "Your father is a politician, Ashley; he deals with stress a lot. Speculations don't bother him. If your dad cared about the speculations, he would have had a press conference. He's not stressed," she said, unfolding her arms. She reclined in the chair.

Ashley had to agree with her mother. She had seen her father deal with situations that men of his rank couldn't handle, calmly. He was a man who rarely panicked.

If her mother knew that her dad wasn't stressed, she had to know why her dad was behaving like he was.

"Do you know why he's behaving like he is?" Ashley asked.

"No, I don't," Harriet replied.

She knew that Ashley didn't believe her. 

Ashley didn't want to push it, too, hard. She didn't want her mom feeling attacked again. She had heard them argue.

She hadn't come to settle their problem. She had come because she had something on her mind. She was bothered. She didn't see it as the right time to tell her mother, but, with the constant fighting, she didn't know when the right time was going to be, before it was too late.

"Mom, I have something to tell you," she said it like a shy little girl who was about to confess her wrong doing to her mother. Her mother gaze told her that she was listening. "I think I'm being followed," she said in a low voice.

"By whom?" Harriet asked her, sitting up in the chair. The way she got up was different from all the moves she had mad. She had done everything slowly and lazily. But when Ashley told her she had been followed, she had moved faster and energetically. 

"I don't know," Ashley retorted, worry evident in her voice. "It's a man, I guess. He's always dressed in all-black. He wears this funny looking hat. He was following me at the mall the day I went shopping with Janice. He was right outside the fence yesterday.  I even saw him leaving the charity program yesterday," she explained to Harriet. "He's stocking me. And that's scaring the shit out of me."

Harriet didn't say anything. She remained quiet. Her eyes went everywhere in the room.

After pondering for a very long time, she came to a final conclusion.

"I will increase your security so you can feel safe. Will that be OK?" She asked Ashley, calming herself back down into the relaxing position.

Ashley shrugged. She wasn't sure if that was going to help.  But that was the best thing she could think about also.

There were thousands of reasons for people to stalk her. She was the daughter of a Senator, which made her a public figure. She was the management director for her father's company, which also made her a public figure. She had a great fan base on social media. She was related to famous people. Friends with famous people. Dated the vice-president's son for a while.

She hadn't offended anyone, but it still made her scared that a weird-looking man who dressed like an assassin followed her every damn place she went.

"Perhaps Rachael knows him," Ashley said. "I saw them both talking yesterday before he left. They were both dressed like they were a duo."

"You sure about that?

Luther walked into the office. He was sweating. He hadn't come from running. He had on long jeans and white round-neck shirt, and a brown African slippers. He had been looking for Thomas all morning.

He stood up, put his hand on his waist and gave himself time to catch his breathe. He stared at the women.

"I checked all his friends' places. He's not there. Jacob's mom had seen him leave their house around midnight," he explained to them. "He's not at any of his classmates. I called his phone but he's not picking up."

"Thomas's missing?" Ashley asked, surprised.

"He got angry and left. He couldn't stand watching us fight," Harriet replied. "He's around. Probably at a hotel."

"You two know how your last baby gets emotional so easily. You shouldn't have done that right in front of him," Ashley said, sounding a bit playful, yet serious.

"You aren't about to blame me again, are you?" Harriet asked Luther just when he was about to blame her.

"You know it's all your fault," Luther told her. "I'll tell the men to search at every possible place in this country. Or we could better still wait for him to return."

Harriet phone began ringing. They stared at the phone together. Harriet went for the phone and answered.

"Dad?"