47 Who Sent The Flower?
Hector arrived at the Mystic Bay Twin Tower. He went straight to the master's bedroom. His wife was not there. "Wife, where are you!?" he calls out for her.
He spends the next few minutes checking the whole place but he can't find her. A nagging suspicion was already swirling his mind. He went back inside the master's bedroom and checked the closet, that's when he found out that Clara's clothes and the traveling bag were no longer inside the closet cabinet.
She's gone!
Where the hell did she go?
Then he remembered that she mentioned going abroad for a while after discovering Susan's presence in their lives which upsets her very much.
He reached for his phone in the pocket of his trousers and called his wife's number. Clara's phone number can not be reached no matter how many times he tried calling her phone.
Frustrated, he called his son instead.
"Hello, Dad..." John said on the other line.
"Son, did your mother Clara contacted you?" Hector asked.
"No, Dad. I'm trying to contact her several times in the last few hours but her phone says...the number you dialed can not be reached," John explained. "Why? She's not home, Dad?"
"Yes, son. She's gone, along with her traveling bag and clothes. I'm deeply worried about your mother's whereabouts," Hector said. "The last time we talked, she mentioned going abroad for a while. At first, I did not believe that she was serious about leaving the country. I thought she wants to say it just to vent her anger on me because she's very upset. I wasn't expecting she will be serious about it. It looks like she is indeed serious in wanting to put a distance between us."
John groaned at the other end. "Please don't worry, Dad. Catherine and I have been trying to reach her through her social media account messaging app. I will inform you if we can finally get hold of her," he said.
"Okay, son. I will wait for your call," Hector said gloomily.
Hector sat down on the edge of the bed and shut his eyes in pain. He got to find his wife no matter where she is hiding right now. If he had to spend the rest of his life asking forgiveness and apologizing to her, he will do just that. He will follow her to the ends of the earth.
"Wife, where are you?" he called out for her name in the palpable silence of the room.
Hector lies down on the bed. He was a fool to believe that some secrets can be kept a secret forever. He enjoyed many years of peaceful and blessed marriage with Clara only for it to be ripped apart when he crossed path with Susan again.
He shut his eyes trying to bear the pounding headache that's causing his eyes to welled tears. It's all his fault. He just hopes that his wife can learn to forgive him one day.
~~~o0o~~~
Caroline's cellphone starts ringing. She placed baby Cathy in the bed and answered the call. The caller was Clara.
"Hello Auntie," she said.
"Caroline, how are you and my granddaughter?" Clara asked.
"We're both doing fine, Auntie. Baby Cathy is a good baby. I have no problem with her," she replied.
"That's good. I'm glad you and baby Cathy are doing fine. I will be out of the country for a few months, please take care of yourself and the baby," Clara said.
"Oh, where are you going, Auntie?" Caroline asked curiously. It's puzzling that Clara goes out of the country without seeing her granddaughter first and saying goodbye.
"I'm going to have a vacation in Thailand," Clara answered.
"Wow, that is nice! Are you going with Uncle Hector?" Caroline inquired.
"No. I'm alone. Listen...I can no longer talk to you because it's the last call for my flight. I will call you some other day to check on you and baby Cathy. Bye Caroline, take care of yourself and my granddaughter. Give my regards to your mother Thelma," Clara said.
"Bye Auntie! Enjoy your vacation, have fun!" Caroline said.
"I will. Bye...I'm leaving now," Clara said and ended the call.
The line went dead.
Caroline stared at her cellphone. "Why does Aunt Clara go to Thailand alone? All of a sudden without-Uncle Hector?" she asked herself in a loud voice.
She finds it weird.
Anyways, time for baby Cathy's bath. She settled her daughter inside the crib and prepared her bath in the bathroom. Done preparing the bath, she went back to the crib and picked up baby Cathy for her bath.
A few minutes later.
Done bathing, Caroline put her daughter in the bed and reached for her phone. She placed a call for her cousin Grace.
"Cousin, how are you?" she greeted.
"I'm fine. Wazzup?" Grace asked.
"Can you come here this weekend? I want to go to a beauty salon and pamper myself. I want to treat you to a foot and body massage," she said.
"Wow! That would be nice!" Grace exclaimed.
"Can you come here on Saturday? You can sleepover here and then just go home the next day," she suggested.
"Sure, no problem. I will be there," Grace answered.
"Okay, see you on Saturday, cousin!" Caroline said excitedly.
"I can't wait!" Grace gushes.
"Bye, for now, cousin," Caroline said and ended the call.
She placed another call to Catherine.
"Hell...sis!" Caroline said the moment she heard her sister's voice over the phone.
"Caroline, I was about to call you. Mother Clara is missing, I just want to ask if she was able to call you today?" Catherine asked with urgency in her voice.
"Yes. She called me a while ago..."
"What did she tell you?"
"She informed me that she will be going to Thailand for a vacation. She told me that she will call me again after a few days..."
"Thank God she's safe and okay! We've been looking for her the whole afternoon, we can't locate her, she's not answering our calls," explained Catherine in an agitated voice.
Caroline was confused, a line appeared between her brows. "Wait... sister, I don't understand what's going on? Does something happened that I didn't know?"
"Yes, something happened. But I can't talk to you right now. I will tell you one day, just not right now, until this whole problem can be resolved it's better that I kept my mouth shut," Catherine replied.
"Ah, okay. So, just tell me when you are ready. Just so you know, Auntie Clara was probably already boarding the plane that would take her to Thailand as of this moment," Caroline said.
"Thanks for the info, sis! I will call you tomorrow, and please let me know if she contacted you again, okay?"
"Sure, sis!"
"Bye Car," said Catherine.
"Bye Cath," Caroline responded.
Their conversation finally ended with Caroline feeling more confused about what's happening on the other side.
Hmm, it looks like a family problem is brewing on John's side. She will just wait until her twin sister will tell her everything. If Clara calls her again she will avoid asking any personal question so that she won't be caught in their family feud.
...
Caroline placed baby Cathy in her portable bassinet and went down the stairs to join her family in the living room. Lily and Jacob love to hang out in the living room because they love watching kids educational shows on the flat-screen TV.
She opted not to put a TV in their room because her mother Thelma doesn't want the kids watching TV until midnight inside the room.
Caroline's feet finally landed on the floor. She walked towards the living room area and placed the portable bassinet in the round center table.
It was already 5:00 in the afternoon.
The sun already set on the horizon.
"Lily, can you watch over baby Cathy for a while because I will water the plants in the lawn?" Caroline said.
"Okie Dokie," Lily answered cheerfully.
Caroline went outside stepping into the front lawn.
Tomorrow, their housemaid will finally arrive at their home. For now, she has to water the plants and clean the lawn. It's not much hard work because the lawn is clean and the flowers were blossoming and there are only a few withered leaves scattered around. She sweeps the dried leaves using the broom and dustpan then put the garbage in the rubbish bin.
She picked up the water hose and began watering the green Bermuda grass.
A few minutes later.
Done cleaning the lawn she set aside the broom and dustpan in the corner.
She was about to go back inside the house when a motorcycle stopped and parked in front of the house.
"Is this the house of Caroline Ramirez?" asked the driver. "I have a delivery for Miss Ramirez," the guy said.
Huh? Frowning, Caroline opened the gate. She wasn't expecting any delivery today.
The guy placed a bouquet in her hands and a box of chocolates wrapped in transparent cellophane. "Ma'am, can you please sign your signature here verifying that you accepted the parcel?" the guy said.
"Sure," Caroline signed her signature on the phone.
"Thank you, Ma'am," the guy revived the engine of his motorcycle and left the place.
Caroline read the short message written on the small card attached to the bouquet.
'How are you, Caroline?'
That's all.
That's the only words written on the card, it was stylishly handwritten. But she is not familiar with the handwritten. Since there was no name of the sender, she had no idea who sent her the flower.
The flower sender is a big mystery to her.
Who is the sender?
She locked the gate and went inside the house. She placed the bouquet which consists of fresh white and pink roses in the empty flower vase in the living room.
She brought the flower vase upstairs in her bedroom and then went back downstairs to get her daughter.
Back in her room.
She settled the portable bassinet in the bed.
Caroline stared at the flowers with a mixture of confusion and wonderment glowing in her eyes.
Who is the sender of the flower?
