With a vicious slam of her car door, Niara stormed into the house. Elora's words had upset her. Leia had gotten engaged? And she didn't know?
She found her husband in the kitchen making dinner. These days, he took delight in cooking meals that seemed a bit too much for both of them. Maybe he had forgotten that they were the only ones left in the house now that Leia had gone.
"We need to talk Cade." Niara said when she stepped into the kitchen, tossing her bag unto the kitchen island.
"Oh. You're back." Mr Sanders looked up from the vegetables he was slicing. "How was work today?" He asked with a smile.
On she didn't bother to return. "Nothing that beats the matter at hand right now." He noticed that she looked slightly red in the face.
Mr Sanders seemed a bit worried. His wife was pacing and combing her fingers through her hair like a crazy lady. The last time he had seen her like this was five years ago when she lost a case.
"Fine, what do we have to talk about?" He asked his wife.
Niara stopped moving. "Leia is engaged. To a Sterling."
Cadence blinked. "Yeah. She is."
Mrs Sanders eyes narrowed at that.
"You've known about this?"
Cadence sighed tiredly. He knew what was coming. He carried the chicken he had dressed and put it in the oven before turning to face his wife.
"Yes, I have. It's been on the news since three days ago."
"And you didn't think to tell me?" Niara asked accusingly. "If Elora knows, that means everyone else in the family knows. You were hiding this from me?"
His jaw tensed. "I didn't want to hide this from you."
"But you did anyway. Why Cade?" She asked cooly. But her husband knew better. This was the calm before the storm.
"Because of what you're doing right now, Nia. You're throwing a fit." Cadence stated. He moved closer to his wife in an attempt to calm her down.
"What else am I supposed to do?"
"You could be happy for Leia?" Mr. Sanders asked incredulously. "She's engaged and will soon be marrying a man from a good family."
Niara scoffed at her husband's words.
"Sure, I'll be happy for her. Who knows the dubious things she must have done to get engaged to a Sterling."
Cadence rolled his eyes heavenwards in exasperation.
"Dubious? What are you suggesting? That she seduced him?" he asked.
Niara shrugged. "I was going to say blackmail of some sort but that also works too."
He gripped his wife's shoulder and gave her a shake. "Niara." He said, enunciating every syllable. "Get a grip. There is no way our daughter would do such a thing."
She just swatted his hands away.
"What? I can't put it past her."
"You know Ethan Sterling doesn't look like the type to be lured in and swayed by women. We all know his reputation is unscathed." Cadence tried to reason.
Niara didn't want to admit it but her husband was right. Ethan Sterling did have a perfect track record when it came to women. So how was it that Leia managed to get his attention, let alone get him to agree to marry her.
"Listen Nia," Mr Sanders said, getting his wife's attention. "I don't know what you're thinking right now. But the least you could do is to be happy for Leia. As her mother."
But Niara couldn't care less. She grabbed her purse from the kitchen counter top and stormed off.
Mr Sanders knew better than to go after her. He would wait until she had cooled off. As he continued to slice the vegetables he had left off, he wondered why the mother and daughter couldn't get along. They both had the same stubborn and short tempered nature.
* * *
In her study, Niara ignored the case files she was supposed to be working on and stayed up all night searching the internet for all the details of Leia's engagement to Ethan Sterling.
There didn't seem to be any link to their relationship prior to the photo of her that Ethan had posted on his social media about a week ago.
There was a lot of speculation on who the woman in the post was to him because there was no caption, just bit of an intimate picture. The way he held Leia's hair in his hands did see loving, was he really in love with her?
After the photo came a video of the school play Leia had hosted. Niara wondered how she managed to get even the mayor in attendance. Maybe she had underestimated her daughter. She was truly a cunning one.
She listened in to Leia's appreciation speech after the play. The way, she looked to the side with a smile in her eyes before she announced that Ethan Sterling was her fiance. There was no doubt that Ethan was standing by the sidelines.
Maybe he had always been present in Leia's life. She sure was good at keeping secrets.
He had supported the play, he had bought the school property when the Evers wanted to sell it off. The things one would do for love, Niara scoffed.
She laid back on her swivel chair and turned from side to side. Was it because of him that Leia bragged she could live without her parents, that she left home? She could have possibly gotten the invite to the Clayton's gala due to his influence, after all, his father had sponsored the gala this year.
Niara smirked.
Oh Leia, you are really just like your mother. All you had to do was find yourself a rich man to solve your problems huh? Well, let's see how far that gets you.