Chapter 5 A marriage contract ( Leo's POV)

She was late, fifteen minutes and twenty-five seconds late and I wondered what was the problem, I had secretly gotten her number from my mom's phone so I decided to give her a call just in case. She picked up after the first ring but it wasn't her voice that came, it was Claude's, my son's.

" Hello?" He answered with his little voice and I caught myself straightening up.

" Yes" I said in my most relaxed voice I could muster as I didn't want to scare him like I had done with his mother when we met few days ago. " It's Leonard on the line, Bonnie's son, is I your mom there with you?" I asked

" Good morning." He greeted before adding. " My mummy is here but she's busy."

" What's she doing." I pried, finding his earlier reply too shallow.

" Fixing my seat." He replied again, another shallow answer and I internally cursed at the fact that he had inherited his speech pattern from me and not his mother.

" I don't understand what you mean by fixing your chair, what sort of chair?"

" Car chair." He replied and internally face palmed, I finally understood what it felt like to be on the receiving end of my wrath and I didn't like it on bit.

" Can you switch to a video call so I can understand what you mean?"

"Sure." He replied as he immediately switched the call, when I picked up, the screen opened to half of his head but he immediately flipped the camera and I saw his mother desperately trying to get the child safety seat to fit into the car.

" Can you take the phone to your mother?"

" Sure." He replied as walked over to her.

" Claude what will we do now? The chair won't fit and nanny Vidalia doesn't return until tomorrow." Clarity complained when she noticed Claude coming her way and I wondered how telling him would better her condition.

" Let's take a taxi." He replied and I was flabbergasted, even I didn't think of that.

" Why didn't you say so since?" She asked with a small smile on her face.

" You didn't ask." He replied and she laughed as she picked him up. " Here." He said, handing the phone over to his mother without even giving me any heads-up.

" Oh hey." She greeted when she realized who it was, she even changed the view so that I could see her too. Her cropped blonde hair was left open and some strands were sticking out of place but she still looked pretty, just like she did yesterday and on that night three years ago.

" Hey, I see you're having issues with fixing Claude's seat."

" Indeed I am, so sorry about being late, we'll just take a taxi."

" There's no need for that, email me your address so I can come there instead." I said firmly so she didn't have any leading to say no but like the stubborn woman she was, she found a way out.

" That's not necessary, we'll just hop on a taxi and get there in no time." She declined but I brought out my big guns.

" I also plan on helping you fix the safety seat so now tell me how that's going to be possible if I don't come over."

" You'll fix the seat?"

" Yeah."

" Do you even know how to work one?" She asked with doubt written all over her face.

" I do, I have a niece."

" Bastian has a child?" She asked and I wondered when Sebastian and her had suddenly moved to the nickname basics.

" No" I replied in monotone.

" Oh"

" She's my stepsister's daughter." I added just so she didn't keep feel bad about my earlier response. " Okay then, don't forget to email me your address ." I concluded before hanging up almost immediately. It was after hanging up that I realized Sebastian was in there the whole time and listening in on our conversation.

" Don't expect your monthly pay if you plan on making any snide remark." I commented and he grumbled.

" You're no fun."

" I'd feel terrible if you said the I was."

*****

Sebastian had successfully persuaded Claude to leave his mother's side and assist him in fixing his safety seat, and the only reason he left was because his mother had assured him that knowing how to install the seat would come in useful when Sebastian was not around. I was beginning to suspect that my son did not trust me with his mother because if he did, he would not cling to her like a human pocketbook.

"I thought he would never agree to leave," I said when Claude finally exited the door.

"He recognizes a good deal when he sees one, and assisting his mother was an excellent one." She responded with a smile, something I observed she did frequently.

"At the very least, he will be a competent businessman, which will benefit me in the long term." I consoled myself, which elicited another smile from her, but this time her dentition was on display, a gleaming white set that was all positioned properly, with the two front teeth seeming longer than the others. It was so addictive, especially now when I had to watch her bite on Doritos, I found the action funny I wanted to use the name bunny on her so bad, a blonde bunny to be precise.

"So, let us get to why we are here." I stated this to break the cheerful atmosphere, because else I would start watching how she swallows.

" Co-parenting." She added but that was far from what I there for.

"You should go through this carefully before drawing any conclusions." I remarked, sliding a brown envelope over to her on the coffee table. She picked it up but her eyes were still trained on mine.

" Go ahead, open it." I encouraged and she did just that. She skimmed through the document in her hands and I sat there watching as the smile left her face but why was she angry?

" What's this?" She asked in a very calm voice, which perplexed me. She is cheerful one minute and furious the next, yet she talks as if everything is OK.

" It's a marriage contract?" I responded with another question: if I believed I was the terror, I was mistaken; I may have just met my match.

" I beg your flamboyant pardon?" She asked still as calmly as earlier and I wished she would just flip over already.

"We could amend the conditions of the contract if you do not like them." I said, trying to figure out where I went wrong.

" What happened to co-parenting, why marriage?" She inquired, and I realized right once that she had no desire for marriage.

" I don't want our son growing up in two different places, it's not always healthy."

"Then we will make it healthy for him." She stated it as quietly as she could, which irritated me; she should learn to express herself; it was clear she wanted to scream her lungs out at me, so what was holding her back? Was she scared our son would panic?

"Let us not make hasty decisions; I will give you time to think it over, okay?"

"You will give me time?" She asked, seeming astonished.

"Obviously, this is a decision that will impact us both in the long run, so we should consider both options carefully before making a choice."

" I would love to say okay but seriously can't, I'm already in a relationship." She replied and I was short of words, she was dating? Why was she dating? And who was she dating, how did he treat my son, and was he the reason Claude was hesitant to leave her alone with me? Whoever he is, he had better be treating her and my son right else he was going to be in for a lot.