Chapter 56 - Welcome back Matthew (7)

27 December, Club TJ's, City K

Lexi, having slipped out of the private room to use the toilet, was slightly worried seeing that someone was carefully watching her as she returned to the private room. She wondered what it was about. She had done nothing to offend anyone since she had returned and figured that any conflicts from before she had left would have been forgotten.

Pausing as she was about to enter the room, Lexi wondered how long it would be before she and Matthew had a confrontation. She knew that she had never given him a real explanation for her seeming abandonment of him while he was training and then disappearing for years before returning. When they had consummated their relationship and Dominic was conceived, she knew what she wanted she could not have predicted what her parents would do and how that changed her life.

The only thing she knew was that some good had come from the situation. She had been able to escape from her parent's control and pursue her dream of studying fashion design. That allowed her to create her design house that was totally separate from Jax Corp, which meant that the family could not control her again.

However, for her to do that, she knew that Chester had sacrificed his happiness and stayed in a forced unhappy marriage and it had taken years for him and Phillip to come to the point they are now, partly because of the law but more because of Chester's sacrifice for her. As she pushed open the door and re-entered the room, she was grateful that Matthew had re-joined the poker game. She noticed Chester and Phillip sitting quietly watching the game.

After heading over, she sat down between the two of them, giving them both a kiss, before saying "I have a question. You can tell me to forget it if you want."

Phillip and Chester looked at each other over Lexi's head, realising that they needed her to ask the question, they knew that she would ask eventually. They had talked about how they needed to handle it. She did not need to feel guilty about what happened as all it was for them was a few twists and turns that had taken all of them to get to the position that the were at. Phillip quietly said, "Go ahead Lexi."

"Chester, I know after everything happened with Richard, I simply dumped Dominic on you and ran away. That caused you to stay in that unhappy marriage but damaged your relationship. Do you both blame me for what I did?"

Phillip responded "Lexi, we knew this question was coming. No, we do not blame you. You married Richard, and I suspect that it was your parent's choice not yours, and he died weeks after Dominic was born. No one would have expected you to have been able to cope, and Chester made the decision to take in Dominic to give you the space to deal with everything you needed until you were ready to come back and become his full time parent."

Pausing Phillip could see that Lexi was crying, so he gathered her in his arms and gave her a hug. Once she was a little calmer, he continued "Lexi, we have, despite all the issues the evil witch caused, have come to the point where we always hoped we would be able to with the change in the law. Now all we need to go is get married. Promise us, you will not blame yourself and more importantly that you will design our suits for when we get married."

Seeing the sincerity of his words reflected in Phillips eyes, all Lexi could do was quietly say "Yes."

"Now, Lexi, stop it. You and I have discussed this as well. I do not regret my decision to become Dominic's guardian to allow you to do what you needed. As I told you weeks ago, all you need to promise me is that you will not keep questioning yourself and whether it was the right decision. It was the right decision. Just care for Dominic as you have been both during your frequent visits home and since your permanent return."

Chester moved and gave Lexi another hug, before saying "Now go leave us to spend some time here together and have fun with everyone else."

Realising that Chester was serious, Lexi gave them both a kiss, before she headed over to the poker game, and yelled out "Deal me in you idiots, I need to clean you out."

"In your dreams" responded Joan "I am going to clean everyone out."

"As if Joan" responded Steven, before everyone broke out into laughter.

Watching this, Chester turned to Phillip before saying "It is so good that everyone is back together my love."

Phillip not carrying, simply leant over and gave him a kiss before hearing someone, who he suspected was Paul yell out "Get a room you two."

Chester pulled back and replied with a smile on his face "And let you miss the show."