679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡegg8ULArGY
Rhénee's eyes were really getting heavier and heavier with each passing hour. She knew she should have pulled over somewhere to sleep, but she wanted to reach Madison as soon as possible. But now she regretted not stopping by an inn a few kilometres away from Cottonwood. It was dangerous driving like this. She might even get into an accident and how would her family take it?
For a moment, Rhénee realised that it had been a long time since she came to Madison. Most of the time her parents had always exchanged seats when it was necessary. But now, Rhénee was all alone and Sophie was a cat and couldn't drive. How she wished for a moment that things would have been a bit different.
Anyway, it didn't matter. Rhénee had finally passed a poster which read, "Welcome to Madison." Her heart beat faster now. She was finally here. Her eyes lit up a little and she knew she still had enough energy to drive up to her grandmother's house.
After a few minutes, Rhénee reached a neighbourhood she had known so well. Even though it was dark, Rhénee could still see the houses. Nothing seemed to have changed at all. She reached at the end of the street and took a turn to another road. She drove on straight ahead until she finally saw it. The mansion.
There were a few mansions found in Madison, but Rhénee's late grandmother's was exquisite. There was enough time to look at the white painted mansion, but now, Rhénee just wanted to go inside and sleep.
Sophie's green eyes shown in the the darkness of the car. The cat looked at Rhénee and saw the happiness all over her face.
They reached the black iron gate and on it was the big letter "J". The gate was obviously locked and Rhénee got out of the car. The keys to the gate were also together with the keys to the front door of the mansion.
Rhénee unlocked the gate without any difficulty. She swung the gate open and quickly got back in the car. Sophie meowed at her and Rhénee scratched behind Sophie's ear.
" Home sweet home, Sophie," said Rhénee as the cat purred.
Rhénee drove the car inside and she made sure she got out of the car to the close the gate again. She got back in and drove up to the mansion on the grey stoned path. The white fountain in front of the mansion was still there as she remembered it but there was no water sprouting out of it.
Rhénee turned off the engine of the car and headlights blacked out. She came out of the car and Sophie also followed. When the cat got to the ground, she stretched and took a long look at the dark mansion.
Rhénee walked up to the front door. She slotted the key into the key hole and turned the key. The door clicked open and she grabbed the gold handle and swung it open. Inside was completely dark.
She stood at the door for a moment starring at the darkness. Sophie who was beside Rhénee, looked up at her waiting for her to make the first move.
" Its completely dark in here. Lets see if I could remember where the switch is."
Rhénee felt the wall beside the door frame and found the switch. She flipped it and the lights went on.
The first thing Rhénee looked at was the dark polished marble floor which shone brightly under the light like a precious stone and then to the white painted walls where picture frames stood with colourful paintings in them.
"Oh, my. You see, Sophie. This is place is still as beautiful as I have ever remebered it."
Rhénee closed the door behind her and took farther steps into the mansion. The white marble staircase led up to the rooms above. Some of the ornaments which were meant to be placed under some picture frames were no where to be seen. As far as Rhénee could remember, Emelda had always loved Chinese pottery. Rhénee thought that it must have been kept in the basement.
She passed the doorways which led to the sitting and living rooms and went straight upstairs with Sophie coming right behind her.
Even though Rhénee was excited to be in this place after such a long time, she yawned and realised how tired she was. She looked at her wrist watch and realised that it was one in the morning. She took her phone out and texted her grandmother's lawyer and put her phone on silent so that she wouldn't be disturbed. And she made sure she tripped off the lights downstairs as there was another switch at the top of the stairs.
Out of exhaustion, Rhénee went in to the first room down the hallway. It was dark as usual and the cupboard, the bed and tables in the room were covered by white sheets. She took in a sniff of the air and smelt no dust. The cleaners who came to clean up this place must have cleaned recently.
It didn't matter. Without turning the light on, Rhénee with all the energy she had left, quickly went over the bed and removed the white sheet covering it and flung it to the floor. Thank goodness the bed covers were still on the bed and there were pillows too.
Rhénee threw herself on the bed and realised it was so comfortable. Sophie had taken up a covered up chair next to the cupboard and purred.
Through her drousy eyes, Rhénee looked at the cat and smiled.
"We have a lot of work to do during the day, Sophie. In our new home."
"Meow."
Sophie's eyes soon fell shut and Rhénee's followed suit. She finally relaxed knowing that she was where she was supposed to be.
***
The smell of freshly made pancakes filled the whole house. And as Eugene climbed down the stairs, he went directly to the kitchen. He found his mother putting pancakes on Albert's plate. Albert looked hungrily at the pancakes and looked up at his mother.
"Mmmm. These pancakes look delicious, mum," said Albert. "I bet they taste delicious too."
"Aww. Thank you, honey," smiled Mrs Chamberlin and gave a little kiss on the cheek.
"Is there anything left for me?" Eugene asked.
"Of course there is. Come and take a seat."
Eugene sat across his brother on the table as his mother served him pancakes and a hot cup of coffee. Eugene took in the pancake in his mouth and moaned delightfully.
"You make the best pancakes in the world, mum," said Eugene.
"You're making me blush, Eugene," said Mrs Chamberlin as she poked his shoulder. " You look like one who makes other girls around blush with your sweet talk."
"Its true, mum," said Albert, "Eugene makes girls fall him wherever he goes."
"Albert!" Eugene couldn't believe what he was hearing.
Albert stuffed the remaining pancake in his mouth and ran out of the kitchen.
"We should put duct tape on his mouth," said Eugene.
"Maybe we should. That way he wouldn't be asking too many questions," said Mrs Chamberlin.
Eugene sensed the tension in his mother's voice and looked up at her.
"Don't look at me like that," said his mother as she took a chair and sat next to him. "Do you know what? He came last night."
Eugene grew startled. "He came? Let me guess, you let him in, didn't you?"
"If I didn't he was going to cause a racket. And the two of you were fast asleep. I wasn't going to let him disturb you. What if Albert woke up and saw the condition your father was in? He was going to be terrified."
"You still shouldn't have let him in though. He has caused us enough pain already. What did he tell you?"
" Well, as usual, he came here drunk and he wanted to spend the night."
"And you allowed him." It wasn't a question but a statement.
"What could I do? This is his home too."
"Not anymore, mum. This stopped being his home. He comes and goes whenever he pleases. To him, this house stopped being his home but a hotel."
"Don't say that, Eugene. What if Albert hears you say such things?"
"Isn't it also about time to tell Albert knew the truth? I know that he is still young and still loves dad, but I feel bad keeping him in the dark."
"It will break his heart, Eugene."
"My heart also broke at first, but at least I'm pulling through. Its not right, mum and you know it."
Eugene stood up from the table without finishing his pancakes. He finished his cup of coffee and was heading right for the door. He stopped on his tracks and turned to face his mother.
"If I manage to see dad around town today, I'm going to tell him to stop coming to the house."
"You're not going to do that," Mrs Chamberlin stood, she looked completely horrified. "You don't know what your father is like."
"I'll take my chances."
Eugene left the kitchen and his mother didn't say anything else. When Eugene got to the living room, he heard the sound of a bus coming. It was the school bus.
"Albert! The school bus is here. You better come down or you will be late!" called out Eugene.
Albert came running down the stairs wearing his sweater and scarf over his clothes due to the cold weather outside.
"Come on," Eugene strapped Albert's bag pack on his back.
"Thanks, Eugene," Albert smiled and quickly went to open the door and rushed outside towards the bus. Eugene stood by the front door to make sure that Albert did get on the bus.
Albert turned to look at Eugene and waved. Eugene waved back and Albert got in the bus. The bus drove off and Eugene closed the door behind him. He had to get ready for work.
As he was going up the stairs, a family picture on the wall took his attention, it always did. Whenever he passes up or down the stairs, he would always look at it.
In the picture was him, Albert, his mother and father. They had taken the picture at the front door of the house and they all smiled happily at the camera. If anyone were to look at the picture, they would think that this was one happy family. But sadly, that wasn't the case.
People in town who knew the Chamberlins already knew that the family wasn't in their happy state. Ever since Mr Chamberlin became a total drunkard, the happiness completely faded.
Sometimes thinking of the past hurts and it did for Eugene. Thinking of all the happy times, made his heart ache hoping that he could have all those memories back.
The sound of a car's horn outside bought Eugene back to his senses. His best friend Miguel had come to pick him up for work. Miguel has been Eugene's best friend ever since they were little. They had both been to kindergarten, high school and unversity together and the two were more like brothers.
Eugene quickly went upstairs to his room to get his laptop bag. When he came down the stairs, he found his mother looking at him. She had been crying again.
"Eugene, please don't talk to your father. I'm scared of what he might do to you."
"If I don't knock some sense into him, who will? I'm giving him a piece of my mind and he is going to listen."
"But-"
"I will see you later. I'm running late."
Eugene quickly rushed out of the house and found Miguel's grey BMW outside the house. He quickly got in the car.
"Hey, Eugene. You seem grumpy today," said Miguel.
"Its my mum."
"As usual. What did she say now?"
"Just drive, please. She doesn't want me to talk to my dad. I want him to never come to our house again."
Miguel drove the car as Eugene explained to Miguel what happened.
"If I were you, I would take this matter to court. He has ruined your lives more than enough. This has gone too far," said Miguel.
"My mum is too naive. She always thinks that my dad would change, but so far he hasn't."
"I know you have tried persuading her but is there anyway to convince her?"
"I don't know. My mum is stubborn. I wonder why she still cares about that crazy man. Speaking of crazy, how is your grandma doing?"
"She's fine. Ever since she came back from the hospital she is acting more like a normal person. Until last night."
"What happened?"
"It was around one in the morning. She was in her room and she woke up screaming and throwing stuff around. When we came to see what was going on, she told us to check out of the window towards the late Emelda's house."
"What was there? Did she see anything?"
"Ya. She said she saw lights at the house and because of her poor eyesight, she couldn't tell. But she said she saw the lights of the house downstairs switch on. We checked and the mansion was dark as usual. She said Emelda had come back to take her rightful place."
"Rightful place? What did she mean?"
"I don't know. She is crazy. But in the morning as I passed by the mansion, I saw a car in front of the mansion."
"Really? Are you sure?"
"Of course I am. Grandma must have seen the headlights of the car. Looked like she wasn't crazy when she said she saw lights at the mansion."
"But who could've gone to the mansion? I hear only the cleaners go there as instructed by Emelda's lawyer."
"Looks like a fellow relative of hers."
"Really? I hear her family broke ties with her. At the funeral, only her children attended but not any of her grandchildren or anyone close. Why would anyone go at the mansion after all this time, especially if its a relative of hers?"
"Look Emelda had a fortune and left a grand mansion behind. Who wouldn't take it?"
"I don't know. If the family broke ties with her they would've sold the mansion. I wonder who is at that house and why."
"Hey, you can go and ask all your questions to Emelda's lawyer. You do work at the same place with him, right? He would probably give you the answers you're looking for."
"You're right, Miguel. I should probably ask. Because nothing seems to be making sense at all."
***
The rays of the sun hit Rhénee in the eyes. She groaned and turned away from the sun rays. Her eyes suddenly flew open and she realised it was day time. She checked the time on her wrist watch which she didn't remove before sleeping. It was 9:30 A.M. She got up from the bed and realised that she also slept in her clothes. Sophie wasn't on the chair she had slept on. Rhénee figured that the cat was somewhere around the house.
Checking her phone, Rhénee found a number of missed calls and a text message from the lawyer. She found that her mother, Zoey and Ryan had called obviously to check on her. Except her mother had called a dozen times more.
Rolling her eyes at the sight of the call log, Rhénee decided to read the lawyer's message instead.
Hello Rhénee, its good you informed me that you have arrived safely at the mansion. Don't worry, your mother has already been told that you are safe though it would be rather suitable if you talked to her yourself. You should come to my office at 11:30 A.M. I would like to talk about the arrangements of the university application and other financial things. By the way, Miss Griselda will be coming by to help you out with the things at the mansion. She will be delighted to see you.
Mr George Sinclair.
Rhénee couldn't believe what she read. Miss Griselda? She remembered her when she was a kid and Miss Griselda worked here for Emelda. At that time, Miss Griselda was in her late twenties. Rhénee wondered how much she had changed in ten years.
Rhénee went out of the room in search for Sophie. The cat must be hungry because Rhénee had offered the cat some milk on the way and didn't drink it. The cat might have been car sick. Rhénee laughed at the thought as she walked down the stairs.
Suddenly a sweet smell hit her nose as she reached the bottom of the stairs.
"Mmmm. Is that food?"
Rhénee felt her stomach growl. She too was very hungry. By the wall next to the stairs was a door leading to the kitchen. The smell of food was drifting from there.
Rhénee opened the door to the kitchen. The floor tiles were different from the ones around the house. The cream white floors were sparkling clean and the kitchen had the state of the art kitchen ware. The cabinets hung on the walls were filled with speacial wine glasses and expensive china plates and dishes all put together in their own set. The table boards were also covered in black marble including the table in the middle of the kitchen which had a gas stove attached to it at the far end.
On the stoves were pots and pans with food in them. Rhénee couldn't help but lick her lips. She was really hungry.
By the side of the stove, Rhénee saw somewhere bending over the floor. Rhénee walked quietly towards the person.
"Here you go, little kitty. You must be hungry."
Rhénee recognised the voice instantly. After all these years, Rhénee had never thought she could ever get to hear it again.
"Miss Griselda?"
The person stood up and looked at Rhénee. It was Miss Griselda. And to Rhénee, she seemed not to have changed at all. She still had her brown Mexican complexion and her long black hair was tied up in a bun. Her dark brown eyes looked at Rhénee with shock.
"Rhénee, is that really you?" Miss Griselda asked.
"Yes, its me. I know I have changed a lot but don't you recognise me?"
"Of course I do, dear. You look just like your mother."
Miss Griselda hugged Rhénee and tears started to flow down her eyes.
"Why are you crying?" Rhénee asked, when it was pretty obvious.
"I never thought you would come. Its been a really long time since you came here. Your grandmother left you this place and I thought you would never come."
"But I did, didn't I?"
Rhénee looked at Miss Griselda and wiped her tears away with her hand.
"Stop crying, please. You make me also want to cry too."
"Sorry, dear. It's just that I really missed you so much, so did your grandmother. You were so little when I last saw you. And now, you're all grown up."
"And you, Miss Griselda, haven't changed at all."
"Sit down, dear. I'll serve you your breakfast. You must be starving."
"Yes, please." Rhénee smiled at Miss Griselda and sat on the stool.
"I received a call from Mr Sinclair early in the morning. He told me that you had arrived."
"Yes. I came here around one in the morning."
Miss Griselda served Rhénee bacon, eggs and toast bread. Rhénee's eyes were on the plate as Miss Griselda put the plate in front of her.
"You came around one in the morning? You came alone?"
"Sadly, yes. I came alone." Rhénee took a slice of toast and bit into it.
"You must have been tired. Your brother and sister didn't come with you?"
"No. Now that I have left the house, Ryan and Zoey must take care of mum. She loses control of herself sometimes."
"And what about your father?"
"Pfft. Don't remind me. He is on a trip. It was my only chance to get out of that place."
"Your father is horrible. It was bad what he did to you when he decided to stop you from coming to see your grandmother."
"I know. And by the way, thanks for feeding Sophie for me. She was really hungry."
"You're welcome, dear. I found your cat walking around the house. Thought it was a stray cat until I noticed the purple ribbon around its neck."
A meow came from Sophie on the floor. A small bowl was right beside the cat and it was completely empty.
"Want some more, little fella?" Miss Griselda asked Sophie and the cat meowed in approval.
Miss Griselda removed the pot from the stove containing the warm milk and poured some in the bowl for Sophie. The cat started to drink the milk right away and Miss Griselda poured the remaining milk in a mug cup and handled it over to Rhénee.
"Thanks, Miss Griselda." Rhénee took the mug cup and had a sip of the warm milk.
"Mr Sinclair told me that you are supposed to meet him today."
"Yes. At 11:30. I first have to take a bath. Oh my! My luggage is still in the car."
"Don't worry, dear. I'll tell one of the men to bring it in. You just relax. I'll go outside and tell them."
Miss Griselda gave a huge smile to Rhénee before she left the kitchen and it was just Rhénee and Sophie. Rhénee finished her breakfast and Sophie was done with the milk.
"That was a good breakfast. Now, lets take a look around the house, shall we?"
Rhénee got up from the stool and walked out of the kitchen with Sophie behind her. They first went to the sitting room. The furniture were still covered up and Rhénee walked over to a couch and removed the white sheet. The couch was cream white. Her grandmother always liked white.
Next to the sitting room was the living room. The room was much bigger than the sitting room and it had wide glass doors leading to the garden.
Besides the living room, was the dining room. One wall to the right was made of glass and you could see the outside view of the garden.
Rhénee and Sophie went back to the living room and Rhénee slid the glass doors and went outside. The lawn was green and beautiful. There was enough space on the lawn enough to throw a party. There was even swimming pool and it was completely dry and empty.
Rhénee carried Sophie in her arms and they went to the garden where there were beautiful rose bushes and a stone path leading to a green house where Rhénee's grandmother had grown a variety of plants and flowers. The door to the green house was locked so Rhénee and Sophie couldn't go inside. Next to the green house was a garden shed where the garden tools were kept.
Behind the garden was a lovely orchard but Rhénee decided to go there at some other time. She had to prepare herself to go and meet Mr Sinclair.
Turning away from the garden to head back to the house, Rhénee saw a man walking towards her. He wore a white t-shirt and blue overalls. His short black hair stood in spikes and he looked a little older than Rhénee but still in his early twenties.
"Hello, Miss," said the young man.
"Hello," Rhénee replied, "you work here, right?"
"Um, yes. In the garden."
"You've done a really good job taking care of the place. It looks lovely."
"Thank you. Its what I do best."
"Tell me, whats your name?"
"Kevin."
"Nice to meet you, Kevin."
"The pleasure is all mine. I just came to tell you that your luggage is in your room."
"Oh, thank you. You're really helpful."
"Just doing my job. If you need help, I'll be around."
"Thanks."
Kevin passed Rhénee and went to the green house. Rhénee looked at the time and realised that she had an hour to get ready and go and meet Mr Sinclair. Rhénee put Sophie on the ground.
"You can stay and do whatever you want. I'm going to take a shower."
Sophie ran towards some trees to chase a butterfly which was flying around. Rhénee laughed at the sight and went inside. She went upstairs and went into the room where she had first gone in when she arrived. But the room was just the way she left this morning. Her luggage wasn't in here.
"Could Miss Griselda have taken them to another room?"
Rhénee decided to go and check the room she used to sleep in whenever she had come here for the holidays.
She went down the hall, and the bedroom next to her late grandmother's, the door was left open. Rhénee went inside and she remained stunned as she looked around.
The size of the room was slightly bigger than the other room she slept in. The wallpaper loked magnificent. Even if Rhénee had always liked purple, blue was her second favourite colour. The colour of sky blue in her room had a striking appearance. Flowers of purple was also on the wallpaper. The floor was covered by a white carpet and there was a big wooden bookcase to keep her books. Few books already took there their place on the shelves.
A few feet away from the bookcase was a desk and chair. There was a glass door leading to the balcony. What was intriguing was that it had view of the garden and the orchard.
The king sized bed was there as far as Rhénee could remember. The white bed covers and the fluffy white pillows looked comfortable. On the bed was her suitcase and the boxes were all packed near her closet. Beside the closet was the door which led to the bathroom. On the other side of the bedroom was the dressing table with a huge mirror shaped into a heart. Rhénee smiled and knew that her grandmother had done all this for her.
She took a last glimpse of the room and she went to fetch her shower gel and other things for her to use in the shower. She went in the bathroom and for the first time, Rhénee had never felt any happier than she was now.
***
"Come in."
Eugene stepped into Mr Sinclair's office and wondered if what he was doing was right. He thought he could turn around and leave, but his feet kept on dragging him into the lawyer's wide office.
Mr Sinclair was sitted behind his desk, looking at some papers. He looked up at Eugene as he came towards the desk. Mr Sinclair wore spectacles and even though he was old, he looked quite young for his age with his silver grey hair and his kind eyes.
"Hello, Eugene," greeted Mr Sinclair, "what brings you here in my office so early?"
"Hello, Mr Sinclair. I know you're busy and I'm sorry to disturb, but I have a question to ask you."
"Don't you always have a question to ask, Eugene?"
"I know I do, Mr Sinclair. But this is important."
"Take a seat then."
Eugene sat on the chair across Mr Sinclair. He knew he should be in his office working and shouldn't meddle into things that didn't concern him.
"I wanted to ask, is there anyone staying at Emelda's mansion?"
"Oh, that is your question? Yes, Eugene. There is someone at the mansion."
"Wait a minute, is a relative of Emelda at the mansion?"
"Yes."
"Then who could it be then?"
"And why do you want to know?" Mr Sinclair raised an eyebrow.
"I find it a bit strange. As far as everyone knows about the late Emelda, her family broke ties with her. Why should anyone of her relatives stay there instead of selling the house?"
"That question has a long complicated answer to it, Eugene. A lot had happened between Emelda and her family and sadly nothing can be done about it."
"Oh, really? Emelda was a good woman, Mr Sinclair. She was heart broken and sad because her family never loved her anymore. But still she continued to leave her life and then she died. And afterwards someone takes her house. To make it worse, its a relative of hers which I doubt nobody knows about."
"Eugene, I know you had cared about Emelda a lot. And she had done a lot of things for you and other people too. She was a good woman and no matter the circumstances she had been facing, she still loved her family. And in her will, she gave away her mansion to one of her family members."
"But why didn't the person just sell the mansion and keep the fortune?"
"Even though I have the answer to that, I'm afraid I don't have to tell you. You should ask the new owner of the mansion."
"And who is this person anyway?" Eugene had a curious look on his face.
"Emelda's precious granddaughter," replied Mr Sinclair. "Rhénee Johnson."679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXd6wOSB11a
