THE UNMARKED GEM; A Girl Nobody Desired

Chapter 27: Puppet Mistress

The miller manor was dull like a haunted house in the middle of a ghosted Town. Rose was seated all alone in the living room, on the clock it was eight and he was till surrounded by employees, no sign of the kids even the equivalent of the furniture Audrey who only left the house for school was not there. To her surprise the employees had told her she left with Ivy in the same car and they were both nicely dressed like they were going for a party. She found it hard to believe that Audrey would go to a party leave alone the fact that she chose to use the range Rover of all the cars in the garage she chose the range Rover that even Rose herself had never used. Once again it was a competition between the two of them one that Audrey was not aware of. For her she was just being her father's daughter and enjoying the things he worked hard for and cherished more than her.

"Good evening baby, it's dull in here" a returning David was back to default settings, he was no longer mad at his lovely wife, he hugged her from behind and kissed her neck.

"Good evening, I'm glad you're back, sit with me"

"Where is everyone?"

"You mean the kids or the staff"

“The kids who the f**k gives a s**t about the staff..."

"Good evening sir what can I get you" the butler said from behind, David almost jumped out of his own skin and Rose was still not sure why her husband was scared of that old man because of one single speech. He was his boss, to hell with age and whatever it was he did for his family back in the days. No one needed him around anymore and she was sure they were just going to be fine without him. It was not like he held the key to the gates of heaven or he controlled the very air they breathed, he was not a celestial being just another old man living on bonus years.

"Oh, Clive. Good evening...a warm glass of milk please. Thank you"

The tone and body posture showed reverence, it crossed the employer-employee line. Looked as though an angry parent was confronting their teenage son for doing drugs a situation which left Rose fizzing with anger.

"Coming right up sir"

Moments after the butler left David picked up where he left, trying to cheer her up with his touch and random kisses except that the zeal to meet him halfway and enjoy his touch had evaporated the very moment he showed respect to a mere butler.

"Come on can't we just vibe without letting external factors get between us?"

"Depends with which factors, you're the head of this family David. He should be afraid of you not the other way around"

"You're wrong" she glared at him, David smiled and kisses her hand, "you hate being wrong, don't you?"

"I just hate hearing that coming from you"

"Anyway..." the butler arrived with the milk on a tray, David zipped as though had been switched off.

"Anything else sir?"

"Nothing, thank you"

"Leave already can't you see we're trying to have a moment here" Rose couldn't just hold on a little longer, it was either that or bursting in anger of seeing their butler who survived on their salary overwrite her and her husband’s authority.

"Okay, dinner will be served at nine thirty"

"Why not nine?"

"I don't want to interrupt a moment you're having. Enjoy" he left with the tray leaving an ashamed Miller and a seething Rose. From her Lenses it was disrespectful from his, the man was just doing his job the best he could. But he was stuck between saving their Friendship because clearly there was a crack and making his wife happy. A happy wife a happy life.

"Crap!"

"What did you say?"

He realized that came out loud.

"Nothing" he said leaning back and taking another sip of his milk. The quote was crap to him. If you asked David whoever said that damn quote forgot a teeny tiny detail about human wants. Scratch that, women wants. They're are by far insatiable. That's what he concluded. He burned a few bridges and ruffled up more feathers than he had ever did to get her life back, faced criticism and had his reputation tainted in the process to give her a second chance. To be with her and fulfill his wife's dying wish David made her the center of his attention, the queen of his empire and home, he gave her everything she ever desired and yet she wanted more, picking fights with the likes of the butler and his daughter just to feel like she was in control. He felt like it was never going to stop, even if he kicked out the butler and shipped his daughter to some fancy boarding school abroad she was still going to ask for more. All he did was give and give yet he didn't complain, and all she did was take and take and still complained of it not being enough.

"How was your day anyway" she noticed David was pissed off. Like a baby who had just been spanked by its mum a few minutes back she knew how to sweet talk him into forgetting the pain, in this case every sensible thing he had thought about in his moment of anger.

"Great" he said coldly, she moved closer and sipped from his glass of milk then kissed him, breastfeeding him with a mouth to mouth, "hmm"

"You like it?"

"I love it…"

She did it again and in no time, they were very cool, David was massaging her feet while they watched TV. She apologized for being uptight most of the time but in her defense, she loved him so much that she felt bad when anyone lost respect for him.

"Where did the kids go?"

"To a party"

"All of them?"

"Including Audrey if that's what you mean with repetition. I'm sure you noticed the range Rover is missing in the parking lot"

"Which Range Rover I have many of them, be a little more specific"

"The gift from Ben Richards"

"Oh"

"Oh!" Rose sat up looking surprised, "I just told you, your daughter left this house to attend a night party I don't know where in a range Rover you let no one drive including me and all you can say is Oh?"

That rant left David frozen and confused. He didn't understand what kind of a chameleon his wife was, one minute they were cool and she was apologizing and the next they were not and she was picking fights with his daughter-who was wrong as far as he was concerned but he knew where it pained Rose. The ranger Rover part. He realized, ironically after more than a decade of marriage that Rose was competing with everyone else in his life. Making him chose between her and them even where it wasn't possible she just didn't care as long as she ended up as the best one. So, David with the wisdom of his biblical son chose to test her. I know you feel it was a useless test because it wasn't going to change anything anyway, Rose was smarter than him and she had him wrapped around her little finger. She was a puppet master, ventriloquist and him a puppet.

"What did you want me to say. Just say it and I'll do it if it makes you happy"

"Very simple, Send the guards to bring that car back here and warn her never to do it again"

"And I thought you cared about my naive daughter attending a night party. Congratulations Rose you just showed me who you are" David left the living room, once again the second night in a row Rose had failed to taint Audrey as a bad daughter to her father. She was very disappointed. Even in a race she was running alone how on earth was she coming second?

David was not the worry, some spine-wrecking s*x was going to fix the petty anger he had, her biggest worry was what if she couldn't win against Audrey? What if she failed to paint her out as the bad guy and instead of costing her a place in his heart, he ended up loving her even more? Rose had given up on living in a world where Audrey and her father were close, as long as they were not it was a perfect world for her. Too bad David was too blind to notice, he should have known how much she had changed. He should have known that snakes just shade their skins and old habits die hard and more importantly, not everyone is worth your sacrifice.

*****

Mason was walking in the parked crowd personally welcoming the guests, ripples of good energy around him and a big smile across his face, shaking their hands and swimming in the glory of their compliments bout how sick the party was. Music and drinks, food and the vibe in the air, the sound system, everything was exquisite.

"He should be here any minute, I have to introduce you guys it's now or never" Audrey said as he got closer to them, in a corner of course close to the aquarium, she had them feeding the fish the entire time.

"Cheer up!" Ivy shook Tina.

"Don't tell me you're still worried about that breakdown, we can drop you off before we go home"

"Okay, I'm okay" she assured.

Tina had joined them late after her car broke down on her way to the party. Although she managed to show up, there was a chance her car wasn't going to start and it seemed to stress her up.

"I need a refill" Ivy said as Mason got closer.

"Don't disappear on me that long like you did earlier" Audrey warned, she just smiled and slithered through the crowd leaving Tina and Audrey anticipating for Mason's arrival. He had still noticed them and he had that look of surprise like everyone else who saw her that evening. In fact, most of them had to look twice before they noticed her, something that was new. And so far, no one had made fun of her or hurled abuses, the worst she had faced tonight was a glaring look from her brother.

"There they are" Mason finally had time for them, his arms we're spread and he walked right to Audrey and hugged her, another attention moment that left people mumbling and Tina standing there confused. A returning Ivy was stuck between standing there like another gate crusher or joining them and risking interrupting that lovely moment.