Sabine sat over her cup of coffee and the morning paper while Tom busied himself downstairs mixing dough. She got her half an hour break while he worked and then they'd switch. It had been pretty slow lately after school got out. Many of their customers were high school kids. The tourists would be in the swing of things here in a couple weeks. They enjoyed the time to breathe between rushes. It was really the calm before the storm. Sabine smiled to herself Thank goodness we have Marinette.
Sabine had sprawled out the newspaper on the table. When she picked up the entertainment column a little yellow envelope fell on the ground. Her eyebrows knitted and she frowned, "What's this?" She picked it up and held it between her fingers. "Tom?!" she called, "What is this?"
Tom peeked his head into their back room and shrugged, "It was delivered yesterday. I forgot. I think they made a mistake. I meant to return it."
Sabine turns it over and glances at it and the name-Cheng Jia Yin. Tom went back to the kitchen to finish mixing the dough, unaware that his wife had broken into a cold sweat. She tore open the envelope and pulled the little piece of paper out. It was a telegram. Trying to steady her hand, she picked up her coffee cup and took a drink.
Tom heard the sudden clash of a coffee cup breaking in the back room and his wife Sabine cry out, "No, no, no." He found her with her hands clasped to her mouth, tears spilling out of her wide eyes, and a look of horror.
He ran to her and wrapped his arms around her gently. "What is it?"
Sabine shook her head and gasped, "Marinette."
"Marinette?" Tom was confused.
"Li Xiao..." the name fell out of her mouth, barely audible.
"Your father's partner?" Tom was confused, but his wife nodded. Tom held the telegram in his hand, but he couldn't read Chinese. "Sabine? What does he have to do with our daughter?"
"His son," she looked down at the table sadly.
Tom knew immediately what she meant by 'his son.' They'd kept the family history a secret from Marinette, but they knew they'd be found out sooner or later. Sabine, Jia Yin, was a single child, sole heiress, to Cheng Lu. They were one of the most powerful families in China; politically and financially. They sent her to a French finishing school where she met Tom as a teenager. Tom was helping to tutor her in french which is how they fell in love. Jia Yin's family found out about their love affair and came in to steal her away, back to China. Tom had managed to track her down, bust into her hotel room, and carry her off to be legally married. They cut all ties to Sabine's family when they went into hiding after that night. After about five years of searching, Cheng Lu tracked down his daughter, and learned he had a granddaughter, Marinette. They were unaware he'd found them, but after all these years it was evident. Now, there was a rich business partner with a son, nearly seventeen years Marinette's superior, that wished to get married. It was an arranged marriage and they'd just been notified of it. As her parents, they should have a say, but with Sabine's family? It would be tricky. They were powerful, rich, well-connected, and stubborn.
Tom rubbed his wife's back gently, "We'll figure something out."