The Professor's Daughter

Maria twisted the material of her top back and forth. It really was hot in Leighton’s little car. She unwound the window. The wind blew in, fluttering her hair and she wound the window back up. Too cold and now her hair was mussed up.

She checked it quickly in the wing mirror and patted down the curls that had flown about in the breeze. Better, she smiled. And then smiled again. And once more. Which smile was the right one? Which one gave the best impression? Perhaps a full on grin was a little intimidating but she didn’t want to seem arrogant and rude by not smiling.

“Stop worrying.” Leighton informed her from the driving seat, a smirk pulling on his lips.

“Easy for you to say.” Maria huffed. “You’re not about to intrude on a family gathering.”

“And neither are you, I told you, Dells invited you of her own accord. Family’s important to her and she doesn’t like leaving people out.”

“So she knows I’m staying with you?”

“Yes…”

“And what else?”

“Nothing else really, I told her you were a friend staying for a bit whilst you sorted some things out.”

“So we’re what? Good friends?”

“For now.” Leighton glanced over to check Maria’s reaction. “We agreed on taking it slowly, remember?”

Maria sighed over-dramatically. “I suppose I remember.”

Leighton grinned and focused back on driving. Maria watched as they pulled down a street of tall town houses with perfectly trimmed gardens, bar the occasional overgrown one, and stately front doors. They parked and apprehensively she followed Leighton up to the door.

It always seemed as if he took her places she didn’t particularly want to go. Not that she didn’t want to meet Leighton’s relations, it just seemed a little daunting even if they were only ‘good friends’. Meeting Adele Leighton and her family was like meeting the parents, only she was thirty-seven and had a daughter and son of her own to worry about.

“Does your sister know about our situation?” Maria whispered as they waited.

“No, I didn’t think it best to announce that I’m thinking of being in an illegal relationship.” Leighton smirked.

“Whatever.” Maria shoved him a little and rolled her eyes. “Anyway, you know it wouldn’t actually be illegal.”

Leighton’s smirk faded and he crumpled his eyebrows together. “Really?”

“Really, I’m over eighteen. It just depends on the University’s policy.”

“You’ve been reading up on it?”

“Of course, between cooking your meals and ironing your pants darling.” Maria smiled and fluttered her lashes with a look that appeared innocent if the heavy sarcasm in her voice wasn’t heard.

“Great, now I do owe Mum that tenner.”

“Michael. How’s life?” Leighton asked just as Maria turned her face quickly away from him as the blush crept up her cheeks.

“Joyous.” Michael said in the mocking voice all teenage boys seemed to have. Maria, who had stepped a little further behind Leighton, took in the brazen boy stood in the doorway. Was this really Adele’s son? He only looked a few years younger then herself though still definitely younger then Maria.

“Glad to hear it, this is Maria.” Leighton stepped to one side and Maria simply had to plaster on the biggest, most special-child-looking smile. “Maria, this is my nephew Michael.”

Maria waved her hand and Michael only grinned in response and let them in.

“Mum! Uncle Tom’s here!” He shouted and headed off through to the back of the house.

Maria shut the door behind her as Leighton waited for her.

“You okay?” He asked. She could only nod in response, not even looking at Leighton. He took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. “Everything will be fine.” She nodded again. “You didn’t really iron my pants did you?”

Maria broke her silence by snorting a short laugh and shook her head. “Limits.” She explained and Leighton grinned as he pulled her along and they arrived in the kitchen.

The room was light and airy, just like everything with Leighton seemed to be, with a smart country kitchen theme, painty pictures taped to the fridge and two French doors leading out to the back garden where the sun blazed in. A woman with pushed back blonde hair and skin only a shade darker then Leighton’s pale white, poured something in the sink causing steam to rise up.

“Michael can you run some water over that please.” She called and turned around to her guests. A genuinely huge smile rose on her face as she took in her brother. “Tom.” She cried, wrapping her arms around him and laughing.

Maria recognized the voice immediately and if it hadn’t been obvious before then this was Adele Leighton. Older sister to Thomas Leighton.

“And you must be Maria.”

Maria was pulled into a hug as well and after a brief moment of surprise she tentatively hugged back. Adele drew away after and simply stared at the pair with the same over-happy grin. She sighed, still looking Maria and her brother over and Maria glanced at Leighton not quite understanding what was going on. He looked back as well and shrugged.

Finally, Adele glanced at her son. “Pay up, Mikey boy.”

Michael sighed and dug around in his pocket, placing the note reluctantly in his mothers outstretched hand.

“You realize that’s like the only money I have.”

“Didn’t you ever learn never to bet against your mum?” Leighton teased as he absentmindedly rubbed circles with his thumb on Maria’s hand. “Years of my paperboy wages went into her pocket.”

Adele waved her hand. “I was simply preparing you for the real world little brother.”

“Sure by making me poor.”

Maria observed the family performance before her with a jealous smile. She’d always wanted a brother and sister but had never had one, it had always been just her. Just little Maria.

“Potato, pot-ah-to.” Adele laughed, opening the cupboard doors and producing some glasses. “Drinks?”

“Just an orange for me thanks.” Leighton replied and Maria noted how so very much more relaxed he was surrounded by his family then he had been when they’d first met at the university. They were two utterly different people. “Maria?”

“Hmm?”

“Drink?”

“Water’s good, thanks.”

Adele poured the drinks, nattering on and asking Leighton how everything was going at the University. He stole a secret peek at Maria and replied that actually everything was going great.

They sat down at the kitchen table and Adele, who had in fact noticed how his brother had held this girl’s hand throughout and the way he would glance at her to check she was alright, turned her attention to Maria.

“So, what do you do, Maria? Do you work at the university as well?”

“I, err, I work at the university.” Maria nodded uncertainly, turning to Leighton for a little help.

“Maria’s a research assistant.” He explained coolly.

“Really? How old are you? Oh, sorry, I know it’s rude to ask.”

Maria smiled as he head buzzed for an answer. Just a number, Maria, just one simple number to make up.

“Twenty…five. I’m twenty five.”

Adele took the answer with no question and the conversation continued a little in the same way although Maria lied a little less and relaxed a little more. By the time, lunch was ready they’d covered the basics and she’d met Adele’s five-year-old daughter Jasmine and her husband Paul. Dinner, a seasoned roast chicken with the crispiest roast potatoes Maria had ever eaten, was quite loud as the family laughed and joked with each other.

Maria slotted in at the side, taking it all in as she sat quietly beside Leighton, laughing along at the anecdotes or the way Adele scolded Michael with less anger then a children’s television program.

Leighton nudged her beneath the table and she brought her eyes up to him, feeling his fingers wrap around her own and loving the warm flame ignited where the skin touched. They seemed to do a lot of hand holding that day, it was how Leighton reminded her that he was still there, or how he asked silently if she was still managing to bear his immature family.

And whilst Maria loved the contact between them, she wanted more. For half a week they’d held hands and now she wanted to get closer to him then she already was, so very close that she blushed at the thought. But stealing a glimpse at Leighton she remembered his words from earlier; “taking things slowly”. She didn’t want to rush things straight away, it was simply about taking the next step a little quicker then Leighton had suggested.

Perhaps, however, he was right. He was her professor and she was his student and whilst it wouldn’t be illegal in the eyes of the law, the university would certainly have far more to say. Leighton could lose his job and his whole career could go down the drain if people found out. Adele had no relation to the University and yet they had still lied to her about Maria’s true identity.

Secrecy was key and it dawned on Maria even more then before the risk Leighton was taking even to hold her hand like he was doing now.

Lunch was over and Maria helped wash up, even after Adele ordered her not to. But she didn’t mind, she talked to Michael and they got on surprisingly well. She picked up that he was sixteen, that Paul wasn’t his father and that, whilst he argued with his mother constantly, he was charmingly protective over her and she in return. They came across as a little unit, taking care of each other silently, amongst the rest of their family.

“We should probably head off.” Leighton suggested once everything had been tidied away and the sun was beginning to set. “It was good to see you, Dells.”

Adele embraced her brother again and he went off to the toilet before leaving.

“Great to meet you, Maria.”

“You too.” Maria smiled back at Adele, who had pulled her to one side a little.

“I wanted to say thank you as well.”

“What for?”

Adele dithered a little, fidgeting with her hands. “Thomas isn’t the most sociable of people, even to us, he’s reluctant to visit.”

“But he seemed so comfortable this afternoon.” Maria replied, not quite understanding fully.

“I think that’s down to you. Did you know that I have invited him over almost every Sunday over the years and he’s only said ‘yes’ a few times?”

Maria thought about it a little, most people would stop asking after a while, but Adele hadn’t appeared to. After all, you aren’t supposed to give up on family.

Adele looked a little distant before focusing back. “Today, I think he said ‘yes’ because of you and I wanted to say thank you for bringing him back to me. It means more then you could imagine, believe me.”

Maria blushed at the undeserved praise, not quite seeing what she had done.

“What are you being asked to believe?” Leighton asked curiously as he returned with Maria’s jacket.

“Nothing for you to worry about, as always.” Adele added with a mischievous grin.

They said their goodbyes and Adele waved them off from the door step, watching as her brother headed off the happiest she’d seen him in a long time. And Maria? She seemed like a savior for Adele’s own personal savior but there was something about her that she couldn’t put her finger on.

Adele headed back inside and shut the door with a curious smile.

“What did you think of Maria?” Adele asked her son as she passed him in the hallway.

“She seemed nice, quite young though for Uncle Tom.” He grunted.

“She’s twenty-five, Mikey, I thought anyone over twenty-one was ‘so old’ in your books.”

“Mum if you think she’s twenty-five, then your more gullible then I thought.”

“Oh really?” Adele cried, tweaking her son’s nose and pulling him closer as he batted her away. “Willing to place a bet on that?”