For the first time in years, she dozed with the image of Mason. She started imagining his well built body and how good he’d look.
“Ma’am, we’ve gotten here.” Nelson said while turning to face his boss dragging out her her sleepiness. She woke up shocked that she had slept off for short time.
Opening her eyes, she turned her eyes stepped out and opened the car door. As she stepped out of the car, the cool breeze hit her face sending her back to reality and fully waking her up. She allowed the cool breeze to blow away the cobwebs lingering in her mind. She needed it. A lot had been on her mind and at times, she’d feel like she was losing it. Her sanity was leaving her. She needed to close the deal to at least get back to normal.
“Would you need anything else tonight ma’am?” Nelson asked looking at his boss.
“No, you can head home now. I’ll be working remotely from tomorrow so you can go on and have a good time with your wife. If I need you, I will let you know” she said while glancing over her children.
“I overheard you telling your wife that you have an appointment later on. Don’t worry, I’m not an eavesdropper. Here’s your golden opportunity to head home. You won’t want to miss out on such moments. Take my word for it.” she chuckled at Nelson while he looked away shyly.
Within a few seconds, Nelson had locked the car, handed over the keys and started heading home. Such a devoted guy.
She was walking towards the elevator when her eyes landed on a battered vehicle parked off farther of her driveway. Who owned such battered vehicle parked in her driveway? If the registration number was an indicator, the car would have been up to seventeen years old. The tarnished paintwork, duck tape bumper and other incomplete parts were evidences that the car had been used for many years.
She kept wondering what such a car was doing in her driveway. She didn’t own such scrap, neither did Stella own such. Ms Baker owned no car that she had knowledge of.
The anger in Kesa didn’t let her think twice about calling the security. This scrap had to be taken out of her sight. She immediately sent a text to the security unit. Their response to her assured that the battered piece of crap would be taken care of soon.
Usually, when she returned home late, the lights were off. Though she’d been so tired, she still noticed something different as she walked in. She wasn’t a perfectionist but she knew when things weren’t in order. She was built to notice even the slightest change.
Before securing the door behind her, she checked in with security to inform that all the doors were locked up. Life had taught her to be a little paranoid, she had held on to that lesson.
The faint sound of the television entered into her ears and she turned to find the television in the living room on. Me Baker couldn’t be awake by this time. It was quite late at night. So it had to be Mason.
Ms Baker had worked like a clockwork, in bed by the end of the day. With her obsession to operas, she would still leave immediately the closing credits finished.
She dropped her case next to the wall. She ran her her hand down her face with the aim of wiping away all tiredness At least she had felt a bit relieved, thanks to the unplanned nap in the car. She felt a bit more energy.
She peered around the edge of the doorframe allowing her lips to form a grin while beholding the sight that greeted her eyes. The lounge space had been open and large,it had been decorated with the kids in mind. They had hoped to have three but Duke left along the way. The walls and furnishings all screamed comfort and homeliness. They had carefully picked the artifacts and furniture for all the rooms.
While she leaned against the doorframe, her weariness lost its space from the front of her mind and moved to the back of her mind. It was replaced with the fresh scent of chocolate that filled the air. Her eyes hovered and stopped on the trio facing the television.
An advert flickered on television screen, a low voice selling a household furniture. The dim lights from the lamps face the room a soft glow. What struck her most was the sight of her children snuggled up in the arms of Mason.
In between the two children was Mason.His head was tilted in an awkward manner against the sofa. He breathed slowly making his nose twitch. His arms were wrapped around each of the children protectively. This reminded her of Duke and the kids, how he’d sleep of most times in the tightest of cuddles with the kids. She was surprised her children had trusted him so quickly. They had been very unwelcoming to other housekeepers, at a point she thought they needed therapy to help them deal with the loss.
No matter how she tried to fill the void of both a father and a mother, she wasn’t able to. There was still something lacking. The last housekeeper was great. She had no criminal records deterring her from keeping her job. The biggest mistake she had made was trying to plot the kidnap of the kids. She wanted a huge payday. She was probably awed by the wealth and riches of Kesa that she wanted a taste of it. Well, she had gotten a taste, but definitely not a taste of what she wanted.
She stepped further into the room. She picked up the remote control and turned off the television. This brought in a deafening silence that she could hear herself breathe too.
Dropping the remote control back on the chair, she looked at her daughter. She had grown so quickly. Her little baby was growing, her first fruit. Debbie frowned a little in her sleep before heaving a sigh.
Her sense of loneliness heightened when she looked at the three humans before her who were so peaceful. They had been unaware of her watchful stare. She could kill to join this perfect moment and feel among them, discarding that feeling of loneliness.
She did not remember the last time they ever had this moment. She hadn’t spent time with her children like this, just sitting together, her arms holding them as they slept. This sad truth hit her hard in the stomach like a punch. The only moment she had experienced such a moment was at the death of Duke. The stubborn Tyler mellowed down when he heard about his father’s death. He allowed her to him, this was her bittersweet moment. That day brought in a lot of horrible memories . She wasn’t about to burst into tears at that moment so she maintained her calm.
She turned her focus to the man in front of her. He oooked troubled even in his sleep. What could be bothering him?Now, she’d have to take responsibility for him because he was working for her. She became quite skeptical especially because she didn’t go through his background information.
“Who are you Mason?” she whispered to herself.
Just a few steps from her briefcase, the answers to her questions were inside. All the answers to all the possible questions she had in her mind about Mason was inside the brown enevelope. Her doubts would be cleared away once she went through it. The fact that her children had trusted Mason and felt so comfortable with him to sleep in his arms spoke louder than whatever the brown envelope had to uncover.
Often times, children seemed to more perceptive than adults gave them credit for. They were able to sense danger most times.If she had listened to her children be fore, maybe she would have been saved from a lot of trouble. The little signs they gave about the last housekeeper went unnoticed before her. Luckily for her, she was able to wade off the danger before it approached to destroy her family. Who could have guessed that such an innocent looking woman had already strategized a kidnap with detailed effort. She was accurate for a lady who seemed like she had just left high school. She heaved a sigh of relief. Grateful that the last was long gone and no one had harmed her kids. Regardless of all the wealth she had acquired, nothing would take the place of her kids in her life.
She carefully scooped her eldest child, Debbie into her arms, cradled her as he stood up from the floor. Her hands were battling half heartedly in the air.Debbie turned her head her head and buried in into her suit while clenching the collar of her blazer.
She went up the stairs to the room and carefully dropped her on the bed. After covering her up with a duvet,she placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. She turned off the lights and left the room. She went ahead to do the same to Tyler who was long gone in his sleep, not aware he was being carried to bed.
Even in his sleep, he wrapped his arms in a chokehold round his mother’s neck. She went on to his room and slid him carefully under the duvet. Before leaving, she gently placed a kiss on his forehead. She made sure he was well settled as well as his sister before heading down the stairs.
She looked at the adult dozing on her sofa no knowing his duties were already tucked in bed. Should she wake him up? That wasn’t part of her employer contract. Besides, he shouldn’t have fallen asleep while he was on duty. While these thought went through her mind, she had already walked towards him. Unknown to her, she had tapped him on his shoulder.
“Mason? Mason?” she called on him in a gentle voice.
He turned his head while muttering some words in his sleep. After some minutes, he went back to brameqthing normally like she hadn’t tapped him. Maybe she should let him just go to bed here. What if he wakes up in the middle of the night and has a scare in this enormous mansion. She went leaned in closer tapping him. Now, the distance between her face and his was so little. Their faces had started coming together. She noticed a stain of Nutella on his cheek and brushed along his face to clean it slowly.
This movement made him start to stir. The distance between them would make him feel uncomfortable if he woke up to see this, she thought. Before she could readjust herself, Mason lashes started flustering and hovering between being asleep and being awake.
She stood still with her hands in the air. She stared at the eyes of the man before her. Suddenly, she felt everything was wrong. This was a bad idea. He was her employee, nothing more to that. None of this mattered to her right now as her eyes didn’t seem to get enough of this beauty. But if he woke up to find her looking at him that way, he would be terrified and get the wrong ideas about her. Were there actually wrong ideas or that is what she wanted to believe?
After what felt like eternity, Mason sighed and turned his head escaping that near contact. If she had moved an inch closer, she’d been able to hear him breathe and the thundering of his heart.
Realizing the breath she hadn’t even realized she had been holding. She didn’t want him to feel her breath on his cheeks so she stood up. Then with caution, she stood up and adjusted her blazer. For a moment there, she had lost herself. She tapped him again, one last time, hoping he’d wake up and go to his room.
Luckily for her, he did. He opened his eyes faintly and realized he had slept off on the couch. With the shock in his eyes, he stood up quickly facing Kesa and said,”Thank you.” He
proceeded to his room not being able to wash away the embarrassment that was written all over his face.
Kesa looked at him as he walked away and started going up the stairs to her room. She was silently grateful to Ms Baker. She had always been in earlier to draw up the curtains and put on the night lights to avoid trips.
She went into her room with all manner of tiredness. She needed to be in bed so she’d be up early the next day. While slowly reminiscing the close contact she had with Mason, she stepped into the bathroom to crashed up. She needed to wash away that lust before it consumed her.
She had to keep it cool and remain in control. This was her only resort to dealing with the situation. It was with these thoughts she retreated to her bed for a restless night of sleep.
