What Love Sees

Two

Natalie played the piano softly as she launched into a beautiful ballad, the music resonated beautifully throughout the house and filled the evening, everyone knew about Natalie’s music and how beautifully she sounded. Natalie had been doing music for years and many always loved to hear her sing.

When she started therapy, Natalie discovered her love for music and that had started her journey to following her passion for music, she had always loved singing from when she was young and had learned to play the piano, now she worked on perfecting both and her dream was to pursue a career in her music.

Natalie smiled now as she sang, this was one of the things that brought her so much joy and peace, this was where she could lose herself completely and communicate what was in her heart and soul.

The door opened and Elizabeth came in and fell into the chair beside the piano, Natalie continued playing but stopped singing as she turned towards her sister

“What’s the matter? You sound awful” she asked, Elizabeth sighed and looked out of the window

“I didn’t say a word”

“Your silence speaks louder than your voice could ever do” said Natalie and she laughed

Elizabeth frowned as she looked at her sister

“I always wondered how you could tell, you are blind”

Natalie laughed, she stopped playing and turned fully to Elizabeth, “Thanks, I’ve only lost my sight, not my other senses as well, and don’t forget I know you better than anyone. Now tell me, what’s bothering you?”

“Well, it’s something at work, don’t want to bore you with work stuff, look, could I wear your red suit? I need to make an impression on someone tomorrow”, Natalie laughed

“I see, someone new I presume”

Elizabeth smiled as she went through Natalie’s closet

“You can say that again, you should see him, he is so cute, I’ve been trying to get his attention for days now and he’s got to notice me this time, I would ensure he does, what Elizabeth wants, Elizabeth gets” said Elizabeth as she looked at the red suit in the mirror

“Perfect, this will do. All I need is a good night sleep and some time to think of my action plan, good night”

Natalie shakes her head “you’re welcome” she said but Elizabeth was already out of the door, Natalie loved her sister, but she often wondered at how selfish Elizabeth could be. Her sister was amazing at getting what she wanted, not caring how she got it and who it hurt, if she wanted it, she got it. Natalie always tried to talk her out of some of her schemes, but Elizabeth never listened. Sometimes, it got Elizabeth into trouble, but she never learned from her mistakes.

However, a few days later, it was Natalie who was kicking herself for not learning from her past mistakes. Natalie shook her head as if by shaking it hard enough, she could get rid of the memory of the disastrous dinner they just had with her father’s friends. She sighed

“I am sorry; I didn’t mean to ruin dinner” she began softly but calmly

“Well you did any way” her mother replied and Natalie cringed at the biting tone

“Can we just drop it; I don’t want to hear another word about what happened”, although Robert sounded calm, Natalie knew he was mad, if there was anything her family despised the most, it was being embarrassed, they hated pity even more and having a child like her, meant they were often subjected to both. This had always had an impact on Natalie, she knew her parents loved her so much, but they also hated being put in an embarrassing situation and they always tried to avoid this by not including her in the family plans. Over the years, Natalie had made her peace with this, she understood that her parents were held in high esteem, the Stirling name was known for perfection, luxury and elegance and they could not help themselves.

Natalie had also learned to defend herself and to put her foot down when it was absolutely necessary, she refused to let her family bully her because she was not ‘perfect’ or the golden child.

Natalie sighed now just remembering the dinner, it all started perfectly well, everyone in her family’s circle acted differently when she was around and sometimes it amused Natalie and she had even turned it into a game, trying to guess how guests would react when she was introduced to them, some acted as if she was invisible, some were embarrassed, some pitied, and a few were very nice and went out their way to help or include her in the conversation.

One of the nice ones were David Pierce and that was why Natalie had agreed to go with her family to dinner with the Pierces, the conversation always went the same way, business and gossip amongst the women

When Kelly Pierce asked Natalie if she was going to join her father in his business, Natalie was surprised but before she could reply, her father cut in

“Not really, she is quite limited by her disability”, Natalie cringed, she hated it when her father always referred to her like that

“We are considering getting her into a special school to learn something very useful, but she has refused” continued Maybelline,

“Oh my dear, there’s nothing to be ashamed of, lots of people with disability have made something of their lives” said Kelly and Natalie didn’t miss the pity in her voice

“It’s not that…” Natalie started to say but Kelly cut her off

“In fact, I know a very good school, you could learn various special skills…”,

Natalie stood up abruptly and excused herself to go to the ladies but as she turned to leave, she accidentally pulled the tablecloth and the glasses of wine spilled on Kelly

Her mother was mortified

Her father was furious

It was only David Pierce who had told her not to worry that it was a mistake and could have happened to anyone but even that didn’t make Natalie feel any better and that was the end of dinner