Chapter 55: Chapter 55

"Uncle James!" Carol exclaimed, wondering if she was seeing an apparition.

"Carol my dear. You looked so shocked, why is that?" Mr. James asked, extending his arms for a brief hug, which Carol quickly gave and then pulled back, still surprised. Fast on the heels of her surprise came dismay. She and Sebastian were supposed to be on this vacation together, playing the perfect couple for Mr. James's benefit, but he was not even here.

"Well, I didn't know that you would be here."

"I know. My wife and I wanted to take you and my boy by surprise. Our wedding anniversary is in a week's time, and we wanted to celebrate it with you guys. That was why I asked you to pick where we would vacation." He finished, laughing a little at what he deemed to be his own cleverness.

"Oh." Was all Carol could say.

"Anyway, where is my boy and why did he allow you to come down here all by yourself? What you guys told me was that you were both coming down this yesterday. Is there something I'm missing here?" He asked the inevitable question that Carol had been dreading.

"Um...well, Sebastian got held up with work back home, but he will be here to join me as soon as he's done," Carol informed him, her words sounding defensive even to her ears. Mr. James looked at her with shrewd eyes, smiling a little. Carol looked at him warily. This was surely not the reaction she had thought he would have to the news that Sebastian was not here.

"I knew that no woman could resist my boy." He said, more to himself than to her, nodding and agreeing with himself.

"Huh?" Carol asked, wondering what he was talking about. He looked better than he had last time, although not by much.

"Never mind an old man's ramblings, my dear. I'm just glad that my work here is almost done." He said, smiling at her. Carol who had no idea what on earth he was talking about smiled back as though she did, wondering if his sickness was affecting his brain.

"Come now, my dear. Let us go inside and meet my wife. We've got a whole lot of fun activities planned for the four of us. This will be the best vacation you have ever gone on. Mark my words!"

Carol nodded and obediently took the arm he proffered, allowing him to lead her into the hotel to meet his wife. She was actually glad to see him, considering the fact that she had been feeling somewhat lonely earlier.

"So when did you and Mrs. James get here?" Carol asked as they walked back in companionable silence to the hotel.

"We've been here since two days before I called asking when you both wanted to come over. I guess you can say that I'm a cunning man." He finished, laughing heartily at his own words, and causing a few passersby to turn and glance at them. Carol laughed along with him, not minding one bit. It was refreshing to see a familiar face.

"That's indeed cunning. I give you that." Carol admitted, eliciting another bout of laughter, which almost turned into a coughing bout, but he managed to control it.

"So are you guys staying in this hotel too?"

"When I said cunning, I meant cunning in every sense of the word...maybe I should have added overbearing to it." Mr. James replied.

"What do you mean by that?"

"We're right next door to you and Sebastian. The suite we got for you both is the one next to ours. You could say this is a mixed anniversary for my wife and me and a belated wedding gift for you and Sebastian." He finished looking proud of himself. Carol digested this news slowly, not sure that she liked it one bit. How was she to carry out her plan of having sex with Sebastian if his uncle and his wife were in the other room, no doubt listening, or trying to monitor every single thing they did? This man was insufferable, to be honest.

"You're not happy about that." He stated. "Don't worry, we're going to mind our business, after all, we came here for our anniversary. We just wanted you both to feel included and to spend time with you, as no one knows tomorrow."

Carol, who knew exactly what he meant by that felt a little sorry for him. "It's okay, uncle. I don't mind, really. Only an ingrate would complain about something like that considering you paid for all this out of your own free will."

"You're a sensible girl, my child. You know, every day that passes, I'm grateful to God that it was you I chose for Sebastian. I've made a lot of mistakes in the past, but I know in my heart of hearts that this is one of the best things that I've done. I wouldn't have wanted any other person for him. My only wish now is that you both will stick together even after I'm gone. You're good for each other."

Carol did not know what to say to any of this, so she just kept quiet and let him ramble on.

"How did you know that I was out there anyway?" She finally asked.

"I saw you through the lobby when you went out of the hotel, and after some time, decided to come look for you since it was getting dark and you were alone."

"I'm not a baby." Carol scoffed.

"I know that my dear, but you're still my daughter-in-law, and I have to look out for you. Besides, I wanted to say hi and let you know we were here."

"Okay."

They entered the hotel and met his wife, who was sitting in the lobby and waiting for them. Apparently, they had both been in the lobby of the hotel and had watched Carol go out earlier that evening. The woman hugged Carol tightly, as though she had known her for a very long time. Carol had seen her only twice before, once at the dinner that had been held at her house for Victoria and Sebastian and the other time at the wedding itself. During both times, they had hardly had time to say anything to each other, so she could say that she did not really know the woman well.

"How are you doing, my dear?" The woman asked, holding her at arm's length and looking her over, before nodding in approval. "You look good, although not as good as I would have wanted. When are you going to bless us with a grandchild?"

Carol fought the urge to roll her eyes and give the woman a piece of her mind. What was it with some older people thinking that they had every right to ask someone why they didn't have a child yet, or to tell people when to start having kids?

"Let her be, my love," James warned.

"Alright, alright." The woman said, raising her eyes in mock surrender, and giving Carol such a warm smile that she found it hard not to smile back or warm up to her.

"Happy anniversary in advance, ma'am," Carol said.

"Oh, please. Call me aunty. Thanks, dear. Did Sebastian leave you here all by yourself?"

Oh, no. Tom is somewhere around, although I do not see the point of that."

"Okay. That's good." The woman said, ignoring Carol's last statement. They ordered some food, while Carol opted for only drinks because she had eaten heavily earlier. The three of them sat there in the lobby of the grand hotel talking till late in the night, before retiring to their rooms. That night, Carol called Sebastian and told him about all that had happened. He didn't seem happy at all about the fact that his uncle and aunt were on vacation, but he was glad that she had company and was not all alone by herself. They talked for a while about things that she could not even pinpoint after she cut the call and she slept that night with a huge smile on her face. Just hearing Sebastian's voice made her feel better. She could not wait until he got here.