SPECIAL GUESTS

The front hall was well decorated with expensive, beautiful materials. A lot of balloons were carefully and creatively arranged. When the decorators were done, they asked Tessa to call in the woman of the house so that she could see if she needed any changes made.

Mrs Pinkerton walked slowly and looked around the room. She liked the decorations.

"Is she up yet?" she asked Tessa.

"No ma'am, the last time I checked she was still fast asleep." Tessa responded.

"Good. That gives us a bit more time before she comes down. Just go and check on her. Make sure that she does not come down until the guests are here, and also after you get a signal from the head chef."

"Yes ma'am," Tessa responded and headed towards Kiara's room. The latter had just woken up and was fumbling in her bag as she looked for her diary.

When she heard a soft knock, she quickly threw back the diary and looked at the door. Tessa came in.

"Good morning ma'am. I brought you some breakfast. If there's anything in the tray that you don't like, I can always return it to the chefs and ask them to replace it with foods of your choice."

"Good morning to you too Tessa; and for the umpteenth time, please don't call me ma'am. My name is Kiara."

"That can never happen, ma'am. On the day that I choose to call you by your first name, I will kiss my job goodbye." Tessa laughed.

Kiara shrugged and said, "So be it, then. Thanks for the food but I am not hungry."

"Is there anything that you would like me to help you with, ma'am? Like doing your hair, helping you with your bath, filing your nails or anything at all?"

Kiara widened her eyes in shock. She had never thought that she might ever need help with any of those. Of course Jeremy always did such staff for her, but she had never imagined that in some households a maid was actually hired to carry out such duties.

"Not at the moment. If I ever need such help I will inform you," she smiled.

She soaked herself in the bathtub, not that she was enjoying it, but because while she was inside, her thoughts trailed off until she was far far away. Only her body remained in the Pinkerton home, her mind was wondering miles away.

When she finally came out of the water, Kiara dressed up and sat on the corner of her bed. It was time to update her diary, yet the moment she touched it, Tessa came in.

"They're asking you to come downstairs, ma'am."

"Who is asking me to come?" Kiara asked, her voice sounding a bit rough.

"Lady Pinkerton. There are special guests waiting for you downstairs."

"What? Who? No; I am not in the mood to be meeting any visitors."

"The visitors are special, ma'am. You will be happy to meet them, trust me." Tessa smiled.

"Who are they?" Kiara asked.

"Just come with me, please."

After taking her time fixing her hair, Kiara reluctantly followed Tessa downstairs.

As soon as she set foot on the last step, she raised her eyes only to meet her mother's.

"Mamma!" Kiara screamed and despite her very big belly, she ran towards her mother and hugged her tight, both of them breaking into tears.

"My child," Aletha kissed her daughter on the forehead and made her sit next to her.

Travis was sitting on the same couch, so Kiara sat in the middle.

"Mamma, how are you? I thought about you every single day, and although I haven't seen you in only a few days, it sure feels like I haven't seen you in a decade," she wiped off some tears.

"Me too, my child." Aletha smiled at her daughter.

It took a while for Kiara to realise that they were not alone in the room. Not that she had not seen the other people in the room at all. Out of the corner of her eye she did see them, but at that moment they all ceased to matter as she concentrated on her mother.

She turned to greet her dad and then said good morning to Vine's grandparents. Then to her shock, the door was opened and in came Gareth, followed by none other than Vine himself.

Dressed in an immaculate white suit, the man had on a black shirt and a matching tie. He smiled briefly before saying, "Hallo Kiara."

Startled, Kiara looked down but did not respond.

"Greet your husband," Travis nudged his daughter, but the latter did not say a word.

Everyone took their seats and they started talking.

"As I was saying, Mrs Noels…" Mrs Pinkerton started to say.

"Please, just call me Aletha."

The old lady laughed and said, "Ok Aletha, I was saying, as we all know, the wedding is tomorrow, Monday. Seeing that Kiara likes purple, I ordered for the hall to be decorated using a touch of silver and lilac. The main color is white. The outfits for you to wear at the wedding will be delivered to your home this afternoon."

"Yes, thank you," Aletha said.

They spoke at length before Mrs Pinkerton suddenly said, "Well, Vine, are you not going to say anything to your wife here?"

"My wife?" Vine retorted. "She's not my wife yet. And besides, I greeted her but she didn't respond."

"We should give them some time alone," the old lady giggled.

"Sure, but before you do, may I have some time alone with my daughter here, please?" Aletha asked politely.

The three of them, Travis too, were taken to a small but very neat room with a table and six chairs.

The moment the maid left the room, Aletha hugged her child and asked, "are you well?"

"I don't know, mum. I guess I am fine," she said.

"Listen Kiara, you should respect your husband. He greeted you but you…"

"Dad! Please take time to look at things from all angles. The Pinkertons are literally controlling us in everything. Don't you see it, dad?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The wedding, dad. The wedding. The lady made all preparations, the decoration colors, the clothes, venue and dresses, everything...she did it all without consulting you. I did not even know that I was getting married on Monday. I wouldn't have known until now, was it not for Tessa who mentioned it in passing."

"You didn't know?" Aletha asked in shock.

"Does it matter?" came Travis' voice. "The Pinkertons updated us. On the morning following the night that you came here, they did tell us everything about the wedding, and we agreed."

"Stop saying that Travis! It's not like they had a meeting with us to hear how we would have wanted things to be done. They just gave us orders, and because I was scared of them and you were to eager to agree to everything they said, we ended up agreeing to everything."

The arguments went on and on between Aletha and Travis, while Kiara watched and listened to it all in silence.

"Listen, Aletha. I am going back to sit in the lounge. I can't be here arguing with you," Travis finally said before he left.

"How is Jeremy?" Kiara asked the minute her father left the room.

"Apparently he is missing. No-one knows where he is." Aletha looked around, as if she was checking to make sure that no-one was eavesdropping on them, then she whispered,

"Some think that he left the country. You know, after the break up and all…it must have hit him really hard."

"No! No mamma, he can't be missing! Was a report made to the police?"

"Yes, shh, lower your voice. A report was made, but they haven't found him yet."

"No! Where did he go? Where is he?"

"Kiara, lower your voice! We must go and join the others now. And you have to do your best to act normal."

***.

There was a lot of food at the table. It was a special breakfast made to welcome Travis and Aletha. Everyone was talking and laughing, except of course Vine and Kiara. The two kept to themselves, eating in silence.

When it was already towards mid-day, Travis and Aletha bid their farewells and left the mansion. Kiara stated that she needed some time alone, so she went to her room. Vine followed her.

"I thought I had stated clearly that I would like to be alone," she said.

"Come on. I just have a few questions for you," Vine said.

"What?" she asked with a frown.

The man standing in front of her smirked. Something about him made him intimidating. His look was piercing, and although she had once spent an evening with him, drinking some exorbitant wines together, it somehow felt like she was meeting him for the first time.

"Is the child mine?" Vine asked in a serious tone.

"I…yes…I mean, there is a 50% chance that the child is yours." Kiara lowered her eyes, feeling seriously embarrassed.

"I will have a DNA test done, you do know that, don't you?"

"I know. I have nothing to hide. I told your family from the first day that there is a possibility that the child is not yours."

Vine laughed a bit and said, "Sit down."

Kiara wanted to object. She could not remember anyone treating her in such a way. Vine was literally ordering her to sit down. Sitting down, she told herself that the Vine from Two-Sons Hotel was way sweeter than the Vine standing in front of her at that moment.

She did not like the new Vine, the one who was cold and spoke with a mocking tone. She concluded in her mind that maybe Vine was nicer when drunk, and unaccommodating when sober.