XIV.

Erik waited outside of Jacques school in his carriage. He wasn't happy that he was doing this. No, he wasn't happy at all. He could remember Malika spending the entire night with Linka as she cried over the possibility that she may never see Jacques again. Well, he wouldn't let that happen. Linka had found someone and he wouldn't let this one thing get in the way of her happiness. And the thing was...he had called Malika a 'whore' when he was still struggling to change. It made him mad with himself that he could have ever said that to her. So he wasn't going to allow some little brat do it to Linka.

Jacques walked out the front entrance of his school. He stopped abruptly when he saw the carriage of Monsieur Garnier. What was he doing here? It was most likely about Linka. However, what did he have to tell him? Oh God, this was not going to be good. He saw Charles in front of the open door of the carriage and a gloved hand beckoning him to enter. He couldn't run, but he was so frightened. Jacques walked up to the carriage and heard a deep voice say, "Get in."

He felt a deep lump in his throat form as he replied, "Yes Monsieur Garnier." He stepped up and entered the carriage. Jacques just hoped to God that he wouldn't be killed as the door shut behind him. He swallowed loudly as he sat across from the menacing man that was Erik Garnier.

"I have come here for a variety of reasons. First, and foremost, what you saw yesterday was a sham. I will explain later but let me make it clear that you will never call my sister-in-law a whore again. Do you understand me?"

Jacques gulped loudly and replied, "Yes Monsieur."

"Good. Now that we have that out of the way, let me tell you a bit about my wife and her family. You see they haven't exactly had a privileged life like you have. Malika and her family are from Hungary. Of course, I am sure you can tell from their accents and beautiful looks." Jacques nodded and let Erik continue. "Their story starts way back in Hungary. In a small village where their father and uncle were raised. Now their father and uncle were raised on a farm and made relatively good money selling vegetables and fruits. They weren't poor, but they weren't rich. Once they grew up, Malika's father decided to stay and continue farming. Not because he had to, but because he wanted to. He loved farming. However, her uncle couldn't stand it and went to Budapest and became a banker."

Jacques nodded again then Erik continued, "It was about the time when Malika was 17 and the twins were 11 when disaster struck the village. No one knows exactly what happened, but the crops started dying and no one could do business with nothing growing. The villagers started to leave and so their family decided to move to Budapest to see if they could get work there or seek help from Malika's uncle. When they got there, they found that most jobs were taken. You basically had to get up early, every day, to get a job if there was one available. They made their home in tent villages where they put up cloth they could spare and use the rest as blankets. They had to sleep together on the ground and bath in streams."

"Oh my God." Jacques interrupted.

"You understand now." He nodded at Erik. "Good. Malika's father got what little jobs he good and when he got money at the end of the day, he would buy what food he could get. When he asked his brother one time for help...he was ignored." Erik gritted his teeth. "Son of a bitch didn't even care. Unfortunately, the seasons waned, and Winter came. Malika's father caught pneumonia and died. So it was up to their mother to get a job. She worked at a sewing factory for a while, before she died of bronchitis. Malika had to protect her siblings and get food, so she started to look for a job, but before she could get one, she and her siblings were enslaved. They were taken away from Budapest and into France."

The younger man's jaw dropped, and he commented, "I can't imagine what they went through."

"No one can. Now, what I tell you next you better take to your grave or I will hunt you down and kill you myself. Do you understand?"

Jaqcues nodded quickly then replied softly, "Yes Monsieur."

"Good." He sighed deeply, then began his story. "When Malika and I first met it wasn't upon the best of circumstances. She was a slave and I, at the time, was still at a bad place. Years earlier I had given everything to a woman and been rejected, so you can guess that I had less than high regards for women afterwards. I found her in a slave market and you can guess how that went. It was probably a week after she had become accumulated to my household that we had a fight. She caught me with my mask off and I got angry with her. We fought with each other and damned if I had never found a woman who could take me on the way she could."

Jacques wanted to laugh at that part but remained silent. He continued to listen to Erik's story. "I gave Malika her freedom. I realized I was in love again and she was in love with me too. We ended up talking about her family and she told me that Linka and Lukcas had been bought by a pedophile. I knew of him and I told her I would buy them. I did buy their freedom and they lived with Malika and myself. No one knows what went on during the time Malika and her siblings were separated. Not even Malika knows what happened fully. We do know that Linka did lose her virginity to that bastard. Linka or Lukcas won't talk about it today. We won't push them and if they ever want to tell us then we can wait. But it must have been horrible for them during that time."

The younger man narrowed his eyes, "Where is this bastard? I'll kill him!"

Erik laughed, "Oh don't worry. He's been dead for years now. I caught him trying to rape her when my wife was being assaulted in another room. Let's just say that he won't be hurting any children anymore."

Jacques nodded, "Good."

"Now, to what you saw yesterday. Remember when I told you about Malika's uncle?"

"Yes Monsieur."

"Well the bastard is here, and he wants to marry her off. The only other option was if she was a mistress to someone. So what does she and Malika do? Linka tells her uncle that she is my mistress. Malika agrees that Linka is and goes along with it. Their uncle tells them that he is going to stay a month just to make sure that we aren't pulling anything. So you can see that I didn't have a choice in this."

Jacques couldn't help but laugh a bit. "I'm sorry. The situation isn't funny, it's only that they are smart women."

Erik smiled despite himself. "Smart and stubborn. Anyway, Linka and I were practicing yesterday. Even though she is an adult, I still see her as a 12-year-old. I can't help feeling that way. We were practicing for when we got a surprise from their uncle."

He shook his head, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions."

"No you shouldn't have. However, you can make it right."

xxxx

Jacques walked into the parlor at the Garnier mansion and awaited Linka. He had a lot of apologizing to do and could not let Linka know that he knew her past. He could let her know that he knew of the uncle and her plan, but otherwise he had to keep everything else to himself. Erik and Malika entered with Linka behind them. "Jacques?" She questioned shyly.

He bowed deeply. "I'm so sorry about yesterday. Please forgive me for everything. Monsieur Garnier told me about your uncle and his dastardly deeds. I assumed too much. Please forgive me."

Linka rushed up and hugged him tightly as he hugged her back. "I forgive you. I just couldn't stand the thought of you thinking bad of me."

"I could never think bad of you. You're such a wonderful person." Jacques replied.

"Why don't you two go for a walk?" Malika suggested.

Linka nodded then led Jacques off towards the garden where the two could catch up. Malika turned to Erik, "I hope you didn't have to threaten him."

"On a few things I did." He responded.

"Well don't threaten him too much. We all make mistakes. Besides, I believe he will be your future brother-in-law."

Erik laughed. "Yes. I will remember that."

"Let's leave them to themselves for a while. It's such a great thing being in love." Malika said then gave Erik a kiss on his cheek.

He kissed her back on her lips then parted and said, "Yes, it is."

Author's Note: Sorry it took me so long to update. I am taking classes at college and am having a shift change at work. This chapter had a bit more of the history of the siblings. So I hope you enjoyed.