Her Father's Expectations by Chevel Grant (classic children's novels .TXT) 📕

he entered. His father was drinking a glass of brandy and smoking a cigar when he entered. "Father" Lorenzo said. "Son" he replied as he set the brandy down. "It's nice to have you back" his father continued.
Flashback: "Again with this Mia?!" his father shouted at his eldest sister. "Richard. Leave her be" his mother had pleaded. Richard had slapped his mother across the face to shut her up. Reina who was five at the time started crying. Lorenzo rushed over to the five year old and hugged her hiding her from the abuse their mother and sister were getting. Mia, their eldest sister, was fifteen at the time. "I gave you everything! Anything you wanted I gave it to you! You ungrateful bitch!" Lorenzo hid his face in Reina's hair as he heard the slaps his mother and sister were getting. He looked up into Mia's eyes. Her cheeks were red and her nose was bleeding but she still managed to smile at him. "Take Reina out of this room" she mouthed to him. He nodded and lifted Reina up and left the room. "Lorenzo? Why was daddy hitting mommy and Mia?" Reina had asked. "Because he thinks they were bad" he had replied when he tucked her in. Lorenzo went back to his room and fell asleep. He felt someone waking him in the middle of the night, it was Mia and his mother. "Lorenzo, hijo. We are leaving" his mother had whispered. "I will go get, Reina. We will leave together" Lorenzo told them. They both shook their heads. "Where we are going, sweetheart you cannot come. Your father took care of all the finances so we only have enough money for two. Please forgive me, Lorenzo. Tell Reina we love her" his mother had said when she kissed his head. "We cannot contact you when we reach our destination but Lorenzo I promise you, we will meet again, little brother" Mia told him as she hugged him. "Protect Reina" they both said as they left.
The next morning his father looked fit to kill when he found out his daughter and wife left him. Little Reina had come downstairs while he was angry, he took out his anger on the five year old. Reina was in the hospital for a week! It was then Lorenzo confided in Antonio and Gertrude, their servants. He begged them to protect Reina whenever he was away. His father was one horrible man. He told people that Reina had fallen down the stairs and had threatened to kill her if Lorenzo breathed a word to the police when they had come to investigate the incident. Flashback end.
"Are you listening to me, Lorenzo?" his father asked him. "I am sorry. What did you say?" Lorenzo asked. "I said I want you to convince your sister that marrying Malik is GOOD thing" he told Lorenzo. "I am sorry, father but I cannot. I know the sort of man Malik is and I do not approve of the marriage, should there ever be one" Lorenzo told him. "It is not your place to approve the marriage or not and I say there will be a marriage. I just want Reina to see what type of man Demetrius Vassaliadas is so her stupid infatuation towards him will stop" his father told him. "Demetrius is a good man" Lorenzo told him.

"So what time are we going shopping tomorrow?" Carly asked Reina. "I was thinking around noon" I replied. "That's great. I knew some really great boutiques we can go to.
An hour later
Lorenzo came into Reina's room practically fuming. "What is wrong, Lorenzo?" Reina asked him. "Nothing to worry about, Reinabella. I just came to say goodbye before I left" he told me. "Will you be the one taking us to the Lavender Charity Ball?" Carly asked. Lorenzo nodded. "We will be going with Demetrius and his date" Lorenzo said as he turned to look at Reina. Reina shook her head. "I would rather walk" Reina told him. "Not an option. It's that or father forces you to make Malik be your escort" Lorenzo told her. No point arguing- Reina thought to herself. "Fine" she sighed. Then she had an idea. "Are you going with a date, Lorenzo?" Reina asked. Not good- Lorenzo thought. He knew Reina was up to no good from the way she was smiling. "No. I don't have a date" he replied. "Good! Would you mind taking Carly as your date?" Reina asked. Lorenzo heard Carly gasp. He turned to look at her, her entire face was red. "Would you mind accompanying me to the ball?" Lorenzo asked her. Carly couldn't make words so she nodded. "Great! It's settled! See you tomorrow night, big brother" Reina told him. "Good night, Reinabella. Carly" he said as he left.
Reina turned to look at her friend who was in a state of utter shock. "Your welcome" Reina smiled as she sat beside her. "I-I don't know if I can do this" Carly stuttered. "You've been on dates before, Carly so what's so different?" I asked her. "None of them were half the man Lorenzo Cortes is" she replied. Reina grinned. They got ready for bed and soon the lights were out.
BEFORE the Lavender Ball

On the day of the Lavender Charity Ball, Reina and Carly had to wake up early to get things in place. They were driving out to go to the boutiques when Reina's phone rang. "Can you get that for me?" Reina asked Carly. She took out the phone and said "It's Demetrius, calling". "Tell him I don't want to talk to him" I told her. "Maybe you should hear him out" Carly told me. "No" I replied as the phone kept ringing. "She doesn't want to talk to you, Demetrius" Carly told him. "This time I won't take no for an answer. Give her the phone, Carly" Demetrius told her. "She- "Damn it Carly! Give Reina the fucking phone!" Demetrius shouted. He heard her gasp. "What did you say to Carly?" Reina asked obvious anger in her voice. "I will apologize to her later. Right now I want to talk about us" Demetrius said no longer angry. "What us, Demetrius? There isn't an us!" Reina told him. "Reina, sweetheart. Don't be mad at me" Demetrius told her. "Why do you think I am angry with you, Demetrius? It is because of what happened at your parents house? Or is it because the next day you threw your mistress in my face? You figure it out" Reina told him. "Is that it? Reina is that why you are angry, bella?" Demetrius asked. "I have to get things in place for the Charity ball. Goodbye" Reina snapped her phone shut. "Are you alright?" I asked Carly. She nodded. "I-I never heard him raise his voice before. He must really care about you" Carly said as she shuffled in her seat. And I care about him- Reina thought to herself.
"Reina! Sweetheart!" Kimberly, her friend and boutique owner said. "Hey Kimberly. We need two beautiful gowns for the Lavender Charity Ball tonight" I told her. "I have just the thing!" she beamed as she went in back. Carly and I sat down as Kimberly sought out two gowns for us. She came back minutes later with two of the most beautiful gowns Reina had ever seen! "Nothing but the best!" Kimberly told her. "I chose the blue one for Carly to accentuate her beautiful baby blues and I chose this white one for you because I thought it would fit your curves perfectly!" she told us. "Now go try them on!" she continued. We did just that. When we came back out Kimberly was all but crying. "Beautiful!" she cried. We smiled at her.
After purchasing the gowns, Kimberly sought out the perfect stilettos to go with the gowns and then the perfect accessories.
"Thank you so much for your help, Kimberly!" I told her as I hugged her. She smiled at us. "Nothing but the best for my favorite customer" she told me. "Bye, Kimberly" I told her as we left.
After all that we went to the salon. It was after five when everything was finish. Reina had chosen to leave her hair down. Carly had made the stylist pile her hair on the top of her head. I smiled when I came out of the bathroom and saw Carly putting the finishing touches on her dress. "You look gorgeous! You're going to knock Lorenzo's socks off!" I winked.
Gertrude came into the room and smiled at us. "Linda!" Gertrude screamed in Spanish. "Thank you" we replied.
"Demetrius is going to think you are so beautiful, Reina" Gertrude smiled. At that moment Reina's phone rang. "The limo is downstairs, we are waiting" Lorenzo said over the phone. "We will be right down" I told him as I hung up. I smiled at Carly. "Let's go" I told her. "Have a wonderful night!" Gertrude called after us as we left.

The Lavender Charity Ball

The limo driver opened the door and we stepped in. Cybil was sitting beside Demetrius. Her eyes were on my dress and then she scoffed obviously not liking it. Lorenzo whispered something in Carly's ear that made her giggle. I sighed and sat back in the car. "You look beautiful, Reina" Lorenzo told me. I smiled at him. "Thank you" I replied. Cybil scoffed again. Reina looked up at Demetrius through thick lashes to see he was looking at her. Reina immediately averted her gaze. Cybil started talking to Demetrius and started pushing closer to him. If she were any closer she would be on his lap- Reina thought. Carly put her hand over mine and smiled at me.
When they arrived at the ball they all got out. Demetrius came to stand beside me, he put his arm around my waist making me jump. Obviously Cybil didn't like that because she came and stood in front of Reina when they photographers were taking the picture. I shook my head as I unwound Demetrius's arm from around my waist and walked to stand beside Carly and Lorenzo who were busy taking pictures. "She has nothing on you" Lorenzo whispered. I nodded. "Ms. Cortes, are you proud of what you have accomplished in the community?" the news reporter asked. "My best friend Carly