THE FORGOTTEN HEIRESS

"Brother," Eleanor’s voice dropped to almost a whisper as she moved closer to Elvis who was perched on the edge of the chair, his attention fixed on the face that looked so much like his.

"Could he be our father?"

Elvis’s eyes were filled with a mixture of astonishment and curiosity as he nodded.

"You’re right, Eleanor, that’s the same thing I was wondering about. The resemblance is too much."

His little forehead puckered in a frown. "But why has mom never told us about him? Is it because he is a bad guy and Mom is protecting us from him?"

As they watched the news in a state of shock, their minds raced with countless questions about the mysterious connection that might exist between the man in the news and their little family.

This left them with a deep sense of longing and a burning curiosity about the true identity of the man.

Sudden movement from the kitchen alerted them and reminded them that they were yet to freshen up as Mrs Carr had told them to.

Elvis grabbed Eleanor’s hands and they darted upstairs before Mrs Carr found out they were still downstairs.

More importantly, Elvis didn’t want any of the grownups in the family to know they had stumbled on that piece of news until he was through with his own findings.

When they got to the entrance to their room, Eleanor wanted to talk about their discovery but was hushed by Elvis.

"Let’s freshen up first, after dinner tonight we will talk about it."

Eleanor wondered why her brother didn’t want them to talk about such an urgent matter but still nodded in agreement, howbeit, reluctantly.

"Eleanor, please be careful not to mention it to mom or anyone yet, do you understand?"

Elvis’s blue eyes had an imploring look as he stared at Eleanor which caused a slight frown to appear on Eleanor’s face but after a few seconds, she nodded in understanding.

’Mom might be upset if she finds out,’ she analyzed.

They parted ways into their separate rooms after arriving at a tacit understanding to keep everything a secret for the time being.

Elvis freshened up at the speed of light and was surprised when he came downstairs and saw Eleanor, who would always dilly dally at other times already seated at the dining table, a pensive look on her face.

"Eleanor," Elvis called out with a warning tone. His greatest fear now was if Eleanor would be able to abide by their resolution.

Given how suspicious she was behaving he could tell she was in a deep struggle and if care is not taken they would be exposed before he even comes up with a plan.

*****

In the lavish and exclusive setting of The Masters Place, Shawn sat at a well-appointed table, his patience slowly wearing thin.

He had been waiting for an extra five minutes after the agreed time yet Kathleen was yet to show up.

"I don’t want to believe she had stood me up," he muttered to himself, his expression growing dark as he considered that possibility. It will not be strange though, seeing how heartless she had turned these few months.

His anticipation was building as he checked his watch for what felt like the umpteenth time.

It was exactly fifteen minutes after the scheduled time that Kathleen arrived fashionably late.

Her stunning figure and presence commanded the attention of everyone in the room as she gracefully made her way towards Shawn’s conspicuous seat by the window.

A warm smile played on her lips as she approached Shawn, who had been impatiently tapping his fingers on the table.

Shawn raised an eyebrow, a blend of frustration and amusement in his eyes as he said, "Kathleen, you certainly have a way of making an entrance, but I’ve been waiting for quite some time."

Kathleen, knowing she had kept him waiting, but not ready to admit it, sat down stylishly, her tone far from apologetic. "I’m truly sorry, President Hudson. I got held up with a last-minute matter. You know, your order came so suddenly that I couldn’t just abandon what I was doing."

"But I’m here now, so you don’t need to act grumpy, after all, you were not on my schedule for today."

"Neither did I expect to find out that my wife had been playing me for a fool all these while," Shawn snapped back, making no effort to hide the note of disappointment from his voice.

"How did I play you for a fool?" Kathleen blinked with feigned innocence, looking away from Shawn. She knew he was referring to the matter between her and Jason but didn’t want to come out plain about it yet.

Her purple eyes strayed to the table and she saw that he had not ordered anything except for a bottle of table water which was half empty on the table and a glass cup.

"Are you not going to place any order or do you intend to host me with just half a bottle of water?" she smirked.

"Why do I find you more intriguing every time we meet?" Shawn asked.

"Does it bother you? I’ve always been like this, it’s just that you never noticed."

Shawn shook his head in frustration at Kathleen who from all indications was stalling for more time, yet he couldn’t do anything about it.

She is the only person who can take undue advantage of him and go unscathed. ’But not to worry, I have all the time in the world to accompany her,’ Shawn consoled himself.

After finding out that she was the daughter of Director Wyatt and by implication Jason’s sister, his anger had dissipated to a great extent but the major issue now was who was that child that he heard calling her "Mom" on the phone the other day.

In his moments of retrospection, he also remembered that from the words of Optimistic Shawn, his real rival was not Jason but someone else.