64

"Did you invite him?" Evangeline asks, looking at Alec.

Felippa and Howard came hurriedly to talk to the couple, stopped to see what was happening.

"What? No... I...”

"I had come to see Alec.” Samuel says, approaching them. "And I met this lady at the main gate.”

"This lady?" Dominique rolls her eyes, visibly offended by that word. "I am a Castello. I am not just anyone.”

"You’re not a Castello, Dominique. Come, come in.”

Alec grabs his mother’s arm and drags her into the house, intending to leave Samuel and Evangeline alone. Felippa and Howard returned to the place they were before.

"If you’re here to talk to Alec, you should come in.”

"No. I don’t..." Samuel chokes on words, in a desperate attempt to get Evangeline to stay there. "I just came to find Alec, so he could give me some advice. About you.”

"Me?”

"Tomorrow is your birthday. I wanted to see you, congratulate you, but..., but I didn’t want to just show up. I just didn’t know there was going to be a party