7 yrs, Gone and Forgotten

Chapter 5: Mildred

      On our way to the mansion everyone was extremely quiet, Scott was driving and so tense his knuckles were white gripping the steering wheel, Theo spent his time looking through a stack of files, Mandy was busy on her phone with her social media apps, and me, well I found myself staring outside thinking about all the events of the day.

       We had managed to sneak out and back in without anyone knowing about it, which made it easier to deal with Scott as he seemed to still be angry with me. Evidently the news of the fight at the pavilion had gotten out, because I even caught Lance, Lane and Theo talking about it, and like Mandy said, they were all about finding the girl that could take down a guy twice her size without messing her hair up. I sighed a breath of relief when no one seemed to be able to give a description of either the girl or the guy except the girl was small and dainty and the guy was huge.

     What felt even more strange to me, and I couldn’t seem to figure out was the fact, that I never once broke a sweat. I didn’t tremble in fear or adrenaline, it didn’t even seem to phase me that I had been attacked. I could still feel the way my muscles moved as if from memory with each block and blow, the guy’s face was etched in my memory and no matter how much I tried to shake it, I couldn’t let go of the feeling that I knew him from somewhere, and that what he did was nothing more than challenge me to a match. And I dared to say to anyone else, but it felt like we were playing for fun, and admitting to myself, it felt right, it felt like something I wanted to do.

       “We’re here.” Scott grunted as him and Theo climbed out and opened the doors for me and Mandy.

       We walked around the front of the vehicle and I wrapped my arm in Scott’s arm and caused him to look down at me while I smiled up at him. “I know you are mad at me, but you really need to let it go. I am not in the wrong here and it would be best if you remember that when you’re around me. I love you like a brother and you should never expect me to bow down to anyone when I am not in the wrong.” I tiptoed and kissed his cheek, “I will go to that dinner, I will set things straight and, in the end, you will get that contract, I promise. Because after all why would they want to work with a weak-minded company that will just bow down because someone says so?”

       “We will talk about this later,” he growled lowly at me.

      I smiled and unwrapped my arm as I walked toward the mansion, I stopped and turned over my shoulder, “Nope topic closed, facts stated and now we will drop it and have dinner.”

      Theo caught up with me and I looped my arm around his as we marched to the doors, looking at this place it wasn’t your normal mansion, it felt more like an armored bunker, and not homey at all with it’s dimly lit barred windows, ugly grey concrete walls and no personal touch to the exterior decoration at all, but to each their own, I guess.

       Swinging the large steel door open we were greeted by the bottled blond stepmother Mildred, with her fifty layers of make-up, twenty pounds of jewelry, and I am sure five-thousand-dollar gown. She wrapped her arm around me and pulled me away from Theo as she led us into the den.

     “Hello child, how are you?” She led me to a chair and motioned for me to sit. “Why don’t you guys go see your father while Lee and I chat waiting for dinner.” She pointed toward the study for the others to go that way. And I was rather disappointed when Mandy followed them instead of rescuing me.

         Mildred was nice I guess, after all she did help me out in a rather difficult situation with the hospital and everything, and she was even the one who helped get me the documents with my new identity. I never spent much time with her in seven years, maybe a total of ten hours, but every time I was around her all she wanted to do was talk about my past, a past I didn’t know anything about, and she followed me around like a lost puppy while doing it. I wanted to believe she truly cared, but I was pretty good at reading people and something about her told me she was not sincere at all and had alternative motives.

        “So, tell me Lee, how are things, is your brain working, how is work, have you made any new friends, any special men in your life, you know the usual?” She rambled as she poured herself a glass of water and took a seat opposite of me.

        “No ma’am.”

       “Now nonsense, call me mom, or Mildred, or Milly, enough of that ma’am stuff, you are part of the family, a very special part. A gift really.” Something about her words struck a nerve deep in me, and the stranger’s words from earlier ran through my mine, you are amongst the enemy.

       I shuddered at the word mom, something felt so wrong about it, and no way would I ever call her that. “I am sorry, how about Mrs. Mildred. And no nothing new. Business is going good, maybe making some new connections in the states.”

     “Oh really, that’s nice. The states are beautiful and much different than here.” I breathed out a small breath of relief when she didn’t push the mom thing.

     A spark of curiosity raised within me that I couldn’t refrain from, “Have you been to the states?”

    She was silent for a minute like she was trying to figure out how to answer it, before she finally sighed and looked out the large picture window into the darkness. “I have. Actually, I am from there, married the love of my life, then he died, then married my best friend, he died, and finally I moved here, met Arthur and his boys after his wife was killed in a car accident and well here, I am now.”

      “Oh, I am so sorry to hear about your loss, I didn’t mean to pry.” I apologized, even though for reasons unknown to me, I didn’t feel sorry for her at all.

     “It’s okay dear, it was a long time ago. You know I actually have children. A stepson, stepdaughter, and twins of my own from my first marriage.”

     Again, that curiosity hit me, “Really? Where are they now, I would love to meet them.” I had never heard Scott and Theo talk about having step siblings.

     “Long story, but to make it short, my stepson ran away when he was sixteen and haven’t seen him since. My stepdaughter got into some trouble and was shipped off and I heard she was killed a few years ago. And well the twins, they were taken from me by family of my first husband. I was at a breaking point really with so much loss, I didn’t even have the will to live until I came here.”

     “Dinner’s ready,” Scott announced as they stepped out of the study and headed toward the dining room.

      “Enough talk, let’s go.” Mildred huffed as she stood, and I followed silently behind her while letting her words set in. Four kids, two husbands and they were all gone, I mean really how much bad luck could one person have in their life.