She gives me a wobbly smile, and stares around the house. “Your home is quite lovely.”

She says that every time she’s here. It’s like she forgets she’s seen it before. I nod, and turn my attention to Ben. He grins at me, and walks over, clapping me on the shoulder. “Thanks for this. It smells great in here.at s a221;

“The food will be ready soon, so come in, and we’ll take a seat.”

“Aren’t you even going to acknowledge your father, Will?” Dad grunts.

I clench my jaw, and turn to him. “Hello Peter,” I say in a gravelly tone.

“Please,” my mother pleads. “Can we just have a nice day.”

I turn to her, and I lose my scowl. “Of course, Momma. Sorry.”

I turn and walk off before he manages to get another word in. We walk through the halls, and I can feel them staring at my home as we move. I know he’s judging me, looking for something to have a go at me about. That’s the way he works; he enjoys getting to me, he enjoys breaking down my barriers and embarrassing me in front of people, especially the other members of my family.

We reach the dining room, and I show them to their seats, then I nod to George to let him know we are ready to eat. I turn to Ben as soon as we’ve sat down. “Did you get the figures I sent?”

He nods, taking a glass of iced water. “Yeah, I got them.”

“Have enough respect to not talk about business at my birthday dinner,” my father grunts.

I glare at him for a long moment, before turning and looking at my mother.

“What have you been up to, Momma?”

She smiles. “I’ve been knitting.”

“And how is that going for you?”

“It’s going well. I made a scarf the other day.”

I give her another smile. “I’m glad.”

“So, where is our dinner? I’m hungry. I thought you would have had it all ready,” my father asks.

I ignore him, and stare at the door for a second. Come on, girls, come out here and finish this for me. I just want this over and done with. I can’t deal with him here for more than an hour.

~*~*~*

I’m the first to serve, and the moment I step out and see William’s family, my curiosity sparks. Ben grins at me, and I can’t help but flush. He’s got a very charismatic personality. I let my eyes travel over the other man at the table. He’s shorter and rounder than the boys, with greying hair and blue eyes. He doesn’t even look at me.

I settle my gaze on the woman, who looks so tiny at the table it’s almost hard to see her. She also looks very fragile. She’s fumbling her hands together, and her eyes are flickering around the room rather frantically. I watch her, and see where William and Ben get their good looks. I imagine in her day she was extremely stunning.

“Emelyn, good to see you again.”

I turn to Ben, and then I look over my shoulder to see who he is speaking to. He’s looking right at me. Is he confused? Emelyn isn’t my name. Well, at least I don’t think it is. I hear William clear his throat, and I turn to him. He’s watching me, and then he nods at my handful of bread sticks and butter.

Right.

I place the tray down on the table, accidentally knocking a glass of water over as I go. I’m distracted; for some reason the name Emelyn is shoving at something in my mind. I hear a loud curse, and I straighten to see I’ve knocked the glass onto William’s fathers lap. He gets up, shoving at his pants, growling angrily.

“I’m so sorry,” I say frantically.

“If you?I>~*;re going to hire staff, Will,” he snarls at his son, “then at least get smart ones.”

“It was an accident, and my name is William.” William grates out.

“I’m sorry, it was my fault. I didn’t mean to,” I begin lifting a handful of napkins to hand to him.

“Shut up!” his father barks, causing my mouth to snap closed and my hand to drop to my side.

“Don’t speak to my staff like that,” William says, standing.

“Your staff are useless, but it shouldn’t surprise me. Everything you do is half-assed and pointless.”

My mouth drops open. He’s being awful to William because of a spilt glass of water? The fact that anyone could speak to his or her own child like that has my blood boiling. How dare he? William went to so much effort to make this nice, and he’s speaking to him like he’s a dog.

“Go back to the kitchen,” William says to me. “It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay,” his father barks as I turn and hurry off.

I get into the kitchen and press myself against the wall, taking a deep breath.

“Are you okay?” Number Seven asks.

“Yes, I just spilt a drink on his father’s lap. And that man is awful.”

Number Seven is holding their entrees, and at my comment her face pales a little.

“I’ll be fine. Just don’t speak to him.”

She nods, swallows, and then walks out. I prepare the main meals onto plates, feeling my heart pounding. Something is swimming in my mind, desperate to get out, and that, crossed with my mistake of spilling that drink, has me feeling completely on edge. I try to focus on what I’m doing, knowing I don’t have time to worry right now.

By the time mains are ready, I have managed to calm myself a little. I lift the plates, and Number Twelve takes some too. We walk out into the dining room, and place them down. Ben smiles at me when I put his down, and I can’t help but smile back. I place William’s fathers down, and he grunts angrily.