Taking a break from work

Laura decided to let her agent know that she needed some time to be with her daughter. He would understand what she meant, because he highly valued family life himself. She wanted to

keep a good eye on Monique.

Besides, she had worked relentlessly for months on end and has not taken leave yet.

She told her new housekeeper, Molly, “Please watch Monique very closely when I’m away from home. Don’t tell anybody; but I think that someone might want to abduct her.”

This was something which Molly understood very quickly, because she knew all about children in Africa being abducted for purposes of witchcraft, amongst other things.

Baby and toddler body parts were used to make potions, sometimes, after the children themselves were killed.

She had best not tell her employer about this, or things could go completely crazy. It was best to keep panic and anxiety out of the situation.

Laura only talked about all the delights of shopping in America, when she spoke to Blake.

She told him about how she would really love to work there for a very long time, at some point in the future. She did not tell him about her fears and suspicions.

During that same week, on a Saturday evening, Rene phoned from London.

He frankly asked Laura whether she knew that Blake’s work might involve private investigation in London and Sandton and that this might cause danger for everybody close to him.

“No, I don’t know that,” Laura replied. “All I know is that he is doing some valuable research for Carminda, because she is writing a book. So, she pays him well, because it’s a well-known fact that he is a struggling student as well as a husband and father. She herself on the other hand, is very rich.”

Yet, at the back of her mind Laura knew that she never really was completely at ease with Blake’s definition of his work. She felt that it was his territory though, because this satisfied his desire to be the provider in the home, for a change.

Laura liked his new sense of self confidence. Being a private investigator suited him well for now.

“I suggest you follow him next time he has to come here and I could join you. So we might both be able to keep tabs on him for safety’s sake; that of yours and Monique,” Rene continued.

Laura decided to accept Rene’s advice, because he sounded genuinely concerned for them. She just felt sure in her heart though, that Blake would never betray her trust. She knew him so well. He would not take on undue risks.

“Or had he begun to change without her noticing?” she wondered. Eventually she decided that she might have been too much at ease about the affairs of her married life in recent months.

***

So Laura decided to keep things to herself and to hire a private investigator to track down her suspected stalker. She was not going to leave anything up to chance. Maybe the person was somehow involved with Blake and his bosses, for all she knew.

She decided to let Blake have some indication of her suspicions.

On the Monday after Rene phoned her, Laura decided to surprise Blake by making breakfast. She very rarely cooked lately.

At the table she took in his new hairstyle. His hair was longer now than usual. It hung just above his shoulders in auburn ringlets.

He has definitely changed, she decided to herself. “Have you done much thinking about your job lately, Blake?” Laura asked unexpectedly.

“Why?” Blake asked, clearly preoccupied and quite unconcerned about her question.

“Well, is it always safe, this research and investigating? You know I wasn’t thinking before, but now I realize that doing research can involve all sorts of dangerous situations. What if someone else does not like it? What if you found that you’ve been meddling in somebody’s business?”

Blake looked up from his bowl of strawberry yoghurt in surprise.

“It’s never been dangerous and it never will be,” he replied emphatically. The force with which he said it made Laura feel that Rene’s suspicions might be well founded. She was going to hire that private investigator, she decided.

***

Back at home, Jared was having a considerable amount of trouble trying to convince his parents that he knew what he was doing with his life.

Just to get them out of his hair though, he decided to discuss a job opportunity with Blake and ask him if he could move in with him in his new, comfortable house.

By the looks of it, Blake would soon be able to move to Waterkloof, the suburb of the rich and successful.

After his brief breakfast conversation with Laura, Blake realized that maybe he had cause to start questioning her family priorities. Today was an unusual experience for him; having breakfast together. When they were battling financially they had found enough time to sit down and eat together, as a family. These days it was a rare event.

Lately everyone―even Monique―had appointments to attend to. In this manner they seldom found themselves home at the same time.

At bedtime, everyone was too tired to talk. Blake had long ago learned that one should not attempt to reason with one another under circumstances of mental and physical fatigue.

So he decided that, apart from his work with Carminda and Shannon he was going to attempt to find out what exactly Laura did all day.

In the beginning he had thought that it would be intrusive if he bothered about finding out what exactly she did as a model, but now he realized that his time for doing that was long overdue. He had to do this for the sake of his own future.

Carminda and her sister Shannon were born into a family which was at no point that they could recall, ever affluent. There were always financial shortcomings and the two girls had to do without many of the luxuries which made the lives of other children seem so special.