Seeing you again

Chapter 33

Matt's POV

I call Agatha. I acquired her number with the thought that we'd call and I'd arrange meetings with her and Fran. And to...get to know her I guess as my dead wife's mother and all.

But I'm calling her now for a very different reason.

Confrontation.

Because apparently, unlike what her appearance suggests, she does not have the same manners of the late queen of England.

"Hello?" Agatha answers on the third ring.

"Hi Agatha, I was wondering if we could meet up?"

"Oh" she says "Francisca wants to meet up already! When and where?"

I clear my throat "it's not Francisca...just us this time".

"Oh" she says again, sounding disappointed.

"Is that a problem?" I ask.

"Oh no, not at all" she replies "I'll meet with you at any place you like."

"There is a Café near your house? The one with the red poster with the bird?" I suggest.

"Ah yes I know that one, I'll meet you there in a few."

I see her waiting for me at a table inside the Café when I get there.

She smiles brightly when she sees me but that expression quickly melts off her face once she sees my own.

"Hello Matthew" she greets me and I great her back.

We sit and I order when she starts speaking.

"This seems like it's going to be a serious conversation..." she says, and she'd be right.

I get right into it.

"I had an interesting conversation with Zach earlier" I say and watch as her skin turns pale...well...paler.

"Oh? What about?"

"Nothing much, just about your relationship with Wendy and the kids."

Agatha clears her throat "I already told you that Wendy and I hadn't had the best mother-daughter relationship."

"Yes, but you told me that was because you had trouble understanding her and I got the impression that your personalities and morals...just clashed, but that's not what Zach told me."

She pauses, then "what did he tell you?"

"Some stuff about how exactly you treated your daughter, about how scared Wendy and Zach were that that was going to extend to the kids, especially Fran."

Agatha's face crumpled. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening it back up and looking at me with an expression that looks a lot like guilt.

"I admit that-" she is cut off by her own chocked sob.

I tense. I never meant to make an old lady cry.

"I wasn't...I wasn't a good mother, I was shallow and awful and I hurt my daughter a lot." She takes a deep breath inhaling and exhaling before speaking again. "And now...I can't even make any of it up to her."

She cries and it makes me uncomfortable. I really didn't want to make my mother in law cry.

She manages to pull herself together a little, "but I can try to make it up for my grandchild."

"Grandchildren" I say.

She blinks at me, "what?"

Was she serious?

"Dan and Ivan, they're your grandchildren too that you seem to have forgotten all about."

This time, it isn't guilt or regret that I see on my mother in law's face, it's anger.

"I couldn't Wendy and Zach were perfectly clear that I was to not get near the kids."

"You're trying to get close to Francisca." I point out.

"That's different" she says "Zach isn't her guardian, you are, I have an actual chance to start over with her, she doesn't know about all the horrible history, unlike the boys.."

"Is that what this is about? You don't want to talk with the boys because you think they know the history?"

She stiffens. And I know I hit the nail on the head. This woman wanted a fresh start and Fran was the way to do that. Not the boys when they were present for her searching for their mother, for her visiting the house and not meeting their eyes and speaking with them, because of her fear of what she would see on their faces, looks of disgust by what she believed their father has told them about her and their grandfather.

I sigh "I don't think the twins know anything, I don't think their father told them."

Agatha scoffs at that "you would have me believe that Zach, the man who hated me and my husband's guts, wouldn't tell his kids the reason to stay away from me? To-to drive them away?"

"I really don't think he did..." I say "and by the sound of it he had good reason for his animosity." I glare without meaning too, feeling the need to defend Zach's actions.

Agatha flinches, and I feel like I'm messing this all up. I don't want to keep this old woman away from Fran when she was so happy and excited to see her, and frankly, I feel bad for the woman, she has no family left, and if she's willing to try to be a better person, to not be the person Wendy and Zach feared she would be to Fran and the boys then I think something can be done to make everybody happy.

"Look" I sigh "I can speak to Zach, if you can just sit down and talk, if he sees that you changed or are trying to, then I'm sure he'll consider letting you reconnect with your grandchildren, all of them."

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I talked big game when I was with Agatha, sure that I could convince Zach of letting go of years of animosity and be open to letting a woman he couldn't stand back into his life and the lives of his children.

I think I'm going to need a lot of luck to pull this off.

I say a silent prayer when Zach's office door opens and he smiles at me. I feel bad that I'm about to snuff this smile out. But a father's gotta do what a father's gotta do.

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Hey everyone. I haven't posted since July, so sorry about that.

I'm at my final year at Uni and have a break soon so hopefully the next chapter is gonna come out much sooner than this one.

It's a bit short but I've said all that I wanted in this chapter. Stay tuned for more!

Don't forget to comment and vote!

Also, I feel like my story completely abandoned my original vision of it and not necessarily in a bad way.