Chapter 525 - Family Trouble (1)

31 May, Military Base, City K

Matthew handed Lexi a plate with food on and heard her whisper "You better be ready."

As he started to turn, Phillip said "You have some explaining to do Matthew Rong."

Matthew finished turning and responded, "This is not the time or location."

"No way are you getting around talking to me with that statement. I want, no I deserve an explanation. We all do."

Matthew scanned the faces surrounding them and pulled the nearby chair next to Lexi and sat down before saying "Phillip do I ask you the specifics of what you do, why should you need to know the specifics of what I do." Matthew turned his head to look directly at Sally and said, "And you should also be asking the same questions of your brother, if you want these answers from me."

Sally tensed and said "Do not think that I have forgotten about asking him. But we want an answer, particularly as Lexi…"

"Sally leave me out of this," came Lexi firmly. "It is Matthew's job, no less no more. And that is the same for John, so do not get stressed out. And I suspect if you attempt to interrogate them about it you will get nothing from them." Sally, simply stood there stunned, not knowing how to respond.

Lexi could see Chester looking closely at Lexi and noted the moment he saw something that allowed him to relax. He asked, "You knew?"

Matthew looked at her directly in the eye before saying "She has the right to know the details of my posting and she had the clearance to know that. You only had the right to know certain things until now, and even now your ability to know things is more limited that Lexi's, so leave it alone, and leave her be…"

Chester snapped at Matthew "I was not asking you, so…"

"Chester!" exclaimed Lexi. "Let it be. If I have learnt anything over the last few months, it is his career, his choice, and as he supports me in my choice of career, I will do so for him."

Lexi stopped and held up her uninjured hand motioning to everyone to be quiet. "And none of you should be surprised. I supported him when he made the choice, so why would it be any different?"

Andrew, who had been quiet to now said "Special Forces?"

"It is just a posting, and despite my desire to be in the field in any way, my rank means it is unlikely that I will be deployed. So why are you all so worried."

Matthew paused and looked up, seeing John signal slightly to him from across the room. Leaning over he gave Lexi a brief kiss, before adding "Excuse me, I need to step away."

As he started to leave, Matthew heard Phillip say, "Do not think this gets you out of this discussion?"

Before he could react, Matthew heard Lexi say "Shut it Phillip. In the end, I am the first one he needs to be open and honest with. Then comes Dominic and any children we might have in the future. You, maybe come after that."

As Matthew moved out of earshot, Lexi continued "And lay off him. The lot of you need a reality check. I have always known this, from the moment Matthew enlisted. Serving in the military, ultimately is a dangerous occupation. Logically we all know those who serve ultimately can be called on to make the ultimate sacrifice of their lives. We, their family and friends, to have them in our lives have to accept that choice they have made."

Lexi paused and looked at each of them directly in the eyes before continuing "And honestly we all accepted that in some way. The four of you, when he joined wanted nothing to do with his choice, unlike me. But over time you have all accepted it, because you want the relationsh.i.p.s you have with him. You value the friendship and family connection and accept him for who he is. What has changed? Nothing."

Phillip snapped "How can you be so calm about it?"

"Calm about it." Lexi shook her head, and then continued "Never that. But with what we have been through in the last few months, I have come to understand reality. I realised that the feelings I had for Matthew when we were younger have not gone. My truth is I love him as much now as I did when Dominic was conceived. There are things different about the both of us, but because I want our marriage to succeed, I have to accept not only the things I like about his choices but those that I hate, as they all make him that person."

Shaking his head, Andrew with a sigh said "You idiot. Why are you not seeing what the truth is. His choices are putting you in danger."

Lexi closed her eyes and shook her head before saying "Danger, Andrew. I married Matthew knowing he was a soldier. I accepted that there was danger in that and could understand depending on his posting that could change."

Lexi struggled in that to maintain eye contact with the four of them, but she did it. The last thing, given everything she wanted was the truth about their marriage to be exposed. Because of the law it happened without her knowing that it was happening. If they knew this, the question would be which one, Andrew, Chester or Phillip would try and kill Matthew first.

"Lexi…" angrily responded Chester.

"Chester, before you say something that we all regret, at least with Matthew we have always known about the danger he faced from his decision to join the military, so we have all been prepared for the potential consequence." Lexi turned and looked directly at Sally, and added "Your brother on the other hand, has lied time and time again. Hiding that he joined the police and even what he was doing…"

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