Chapter 295: Chapter 295

The room plunged into silence after that. Geneva wished in her heart that what was in her mind was not what her husband wanted to talk about. She met his eyes and raised her brow, but Alex looked down, cutting their gazes.

This apprehension made her miss why Katie appeared reluctant to leave the room when she had been asked to. Geneva was too preoccupied and missed the small but obvious things.

Geneva sighed, ’I knew this time would come one day, but why now? And why both of our sons?’

She also lowered her eyes and let Alex take the lead, but as Alex started to talk, she felt her palms start to sweat profusely. For the second time that day, Geneva felt her confidence shatter with no outlet for her emotions.

Alex got up from the chair that was opposite that of Geneva and sat by her, taking her fidgety hands in his. He smoothened her palm and intertwined their fingers. Alex leaned over and kissed Geneva’s temple.

"I’m sorry, dear. I promised not to talk about it, but this move by my sister has made me think that it’s best to lay out all our cards and let the kids choose what is best for them."

Geneva leaned into him, closed her eyes and then nodded.

Alex opened his mouth, and then his eyes took on a faraway look as if he were looking at a scene in a movie that only he could see. His strong, authoritative voice resonated in the silent room and his voice softened, a gentle tremor betraying the depth of his emotions.

His eyes appeared glazed over, no longer focused on the present. Occasionally, they would regain some focus, but it seemed like his wife was the only person he could see. It was as if he was drifting back in time to a place that existed only in his memories, only occasionally returning to the present.

Ian took this scene in rather calmly as if it were just one of the boring meetings he usually had in the office, but he firmly stayed out of his father’s thoughts.

Brad was different, though. He wondered why his father was acting so strange.

"I still remember the first day that I lay eyes on my betrothed, Geneva. It was one evening and at the end of the planting season.

It was an ordinary day with nothing remarkable about it, but she made that day the best day of my very existence, even though she never knew that..." He began with a wistful smile tugging at his lips.

"I had just returned from the fields and was all sweaty and stinky. I had intentionally not showered when I heard that Geneva and her family were visiting that evening. I was in my late twenties, had never dated, was not interested in it and all my mind was on managing the family vineyards.

We had been engaged from childhood, but I had never really met her. Geneva’s family believed in keeping women from the eyes of society and reserving for the eyes of their husbands only. Our parents had arranged this marriage when we were in our teens or even earlier, and I was in my rebellious phase, so I shunned the arranged match.

However, when I saw Geneva, that fateful day, I knocked myself on the head, criticizing myself for delaying the first meeting.

The memory of even the fresh air mixed with the light disturbed earthy smell imprinted on me..... Everything felt so much alive and I never wanted that moment to ever end."

"Dad! Why are you telling us all these things?! They are so cringy! I don’t want to know how my parents met or how... how... you did ... that!" Brad interrupted the mood, but Alex only focused on his younger son for a while, and went to view the scene that he was the only one seeing. As if he had not heard his son, he continued,

"She stood under the old tree, the light filtering through the leaves and catching in her hair. She looked like she was glowing, you know?" he smiled at the memory.

Brad gawked and Geneva sighed.

Alex paused as if savouring the image, his gaze still far away.

"We were like kids, naïve in the art of love and commitment, barely old enough, society-wise to understand what love even was. "But when I looked at her, everything seemed so clear. She had this way of smiling, as if she knew all my secrets but loved me anyway. It was the kind of smile that made you feel seen, truly seen, for the first time in your life."

Alex’s hands moved, massaging some points in Geneva’s palms. He knew what to do even without looking. It was a habit that had been around for years.

"For me, it was love at first sight, but it was different for your mother. I had forgotten that she was a few years younger than me, and she must have been going through a rebellious phase like me. I walked up to her as our parents talked, but she wouldn’t even spare me a glance.

It took me a while .... Weeks of pursuance before she opened up to me. This was because she was in love with another, but her parents did not know of this."

Alex brought his attention back to the present and took Geneva’s other palm,

"I did not give up, though. She wanted to break the engagement, but I blamed myself. Because I had been so adamant about breaking the engagement, she had sought refuge in the arms of another. Despite this, I would find every way to talk for hours about everything and nothing. I just wanted to be near her when I could, but those times with her at the beginning were limited.

"Time ceased to exist when I was with Geneva then. I could see that she was sad and almost heartbroken. I loved her too much to let her go. She started indulging me, but she was not herself when she was with me. Her mind was with the other. I thought that I could live with it until I stumbled on them in the woods one day.

I can still hear her laughter, light and musical, like it was yesterday. There was a purity to those moments, a kind of magic that only first love can bring. It felt like the whole world was just them, and nothing else mattered. It shattered my soul."

He dropped Geneva’s hand and patted it.

Alex exhaled a sound that conveyed both contentment and longing as if the memories brought both comfort and a gentle ache.

"Years have passed since then, and I never knew that life would take us down this blissful path that we have now. This path was never an option for us then. I couldn’t bear to see her sad, and I was ready to let her go.

I was ready to talk to my parents, but then life has ways of making us do exactly what it wants. I am and will always be that young man again, standing under that tree and falling in love for the very first and last time in my life."

Alex did not say anything for a long while and Brad could not understand what was going on. He looked from his mother to his father and then his older brother and still could not piece together what warranted this conversation.

’What has it got to do with me if Mum had a first love that was not Dad? They got married at the end of the day so...’

"Am I missing something here, dad? Don’t keep me in suspense! What do you want to say?"

It took Brad only a few seconds from then to piece together a theory, but he did not dare speculate because it was a far-fetched theory in his mind.

’So, Dad was engaged to Mum, and he fell for her after refusing for years to see her. By the time he came around, she already had someone in his heart... so that means....’

"No way! Mum! Do you have another child? That’s so badass! Do we have an elder brother or sister somewhere? Do you want to bring the person back?"

Alex smiled. A sorrowful smile that spoke a lot without saying anything.

"I know I went back on my word, but this is your secret to tell, and I know that they are way past the age to know this...."

Geneva let out another heavy sigh and then, took over the conversation,

"You are right ... and wrong...."

"Ian is your half-brother. His father is not Alex, but my first love, as your father had just stated."

Ian still remained indifferent as if this was not affecting him in the bit. He already knew this, but he had always wondered of the story behind it. The fact that his parents had decided to bring it up was what was unexpected for Ian but not the revelation itself.

"NO WAY!!!!!" Brad shouted and then looked from his parent’s peculiar expressions to Ian’s indifference.

He stood up abruptly.

"You guys are serious? It’s not a prank?" Brad paced around the room and then came to an abrupt stop,

"Does that mean that I am the first Thornston child? No way! I don’t want to be responsible for all those first child crap. No way! Take your words back! He-"

"IAN IS YOUR SON, old man! Do not make any insinuations about that!" Brad raised his hands and cried out in frustration.

"Just when I think that life is going smooth, then all this happens." He lamented.

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