Page 65 of Divine Sense
This amount of beauty should be illegal. How’d I get so lucky to be able to call you mine?
I wouldn’t call it luck, Jack. I would call it you nearly running me over with your skateboard. Now go and get this meeting done. Maybe I’ll let you take pictures of me doing other things tonight if it goes well
I cleared my throat as I read her message and smoothed my tie down as if doing so would also sooth my now climbing heart rate.
Yes ma’am.
Thirty minutes later,the tires of my SUV grinded against the gravel driveway as I pulled up to the hundred year old home. As I stepped out, closing the door behind me, a familiar face stepped out onto the porch to greet me.
“Well, hello, Ms. Ruthie,” I called up to her, raising a hand to block out the midsummer sun that was hitting its peak in the sky.
“Hello, Mr. Vesey. Welcome back to the Sinclair household. Mrs. Sinclair is just inside waiting for you.” I walked up the front steps and raised my hand for her to shake. She extended her hand and took mine, bowing her head respectfully as she did.
“How are you doin’ today?” I asked the kind woman. She shuffled her feet towards the door and gave it a good push.
“Ahh, I’m alright. Feelin’ a little tired here recently. I’m not as young as I used to be.” Her words were solemn but she smiled through them anyway.
“Maybe it’s time for you to retire then,” I offered. She looked like she could be in her late seventies or even early eighties.“Surely by now you’ve worked enough and have earned the break.”
“Oh, I don’t have that privilege. The Sinclairs have been good to me all these years, letting me live on the grounds and what not. I don’t have a family no more and I owe it to them to work and do my best.” She shook her head tightly and pursed her lips. I started to speak but was interrupted by the shrill sound of Susan Sinclair’s voice cutting through the enormous halls of the house.
“Mr. Vesey, welcome back to our home. I assume you made it okay since you’ve been here so many times before?” The smile on her face looked forced, as if she wanted to be anywhere but here.
“Yes ma’am, I did. Traffic wasn’t too bad either which is always a plus. Will William be joining us?”
“Mr. Sinclair is very busy and is unable to join us today,” she stated through tight lips. The passive aggressive correction of my using William’s first name wasn’t lost on me.
“No problem, you and I can talk about what you will be needing for the fundraiser then.” She waved her arm towards the dining room and I followed behind her.
We sat around the hand-carved oak table which had been set with fine china and finger sandwiches. It was just after lunch, so I wasn’t hungry enough to take any. Susan sat on the opposite side of the table, watching me like a hawk. Her eyes were narrow and her lips pressed together. I looked at her for a moment before pulling my shoulders back and meeting her eyes confidently.
“So the Fourth of July fundraiser will be a big one?” I started, trying to break the tension between us. Something about her demeanor felt off to me. I wasn’t sure if it was because her husband wasn’t here or because it felt like the air conditioning wasn’t working and the heat of the summer was starting to seepin, but the collar of my dress shirt was beginning to stick to my neck.
“Our biggest. We’re partnering with the booster club for it and there will be well over four hundred people here. We will need to make sure we have ample security so nothing goes missing and no one steps out of place.”
“Of course, I’m more than happy to have more of my team here for the event. Can you please remind me one more time of the?—”
“It would be a shame if someone forgot their rightful place and tried to fit in somewhere they don’t belong,” she sneered, interrupting me. Her hands were crossed politely on top of the table but the way her eyes were turned to me was anything but.
“I assure you Mrs. Sinclair, my people will make sure the event goes off without any problems,” I said slowly. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as she tilted her head to one side. The silence between us was deafening—the only sound to be heard was the faint noise of a vacuum being run in some far off room in the house.
“You know what I find utterly disgusting?” she asked in an even tone as she pulled a crystal glass to her mouth. As it caught the sunlight, I could see the frosted family monogram stamped into the base of the fluted glass.
“What’s that?” I offered, trying to choose my words wisely.
“When someone takes advantage of other people’s charity. There is truly no bigger disgrace than that. Don’t you agree?” She sucked in her lips and glared at me, carefully setting the glass down on the table.
“I can’t disagree with you on that Mrs. Sinclair. I also find that to be disappointing.”
“That’s rich coming from you,” she scoffed, twisting her face up in disgust.
“Excuse me?” I felt my brows meet in the middle of my face as I watched this woman and her pearls scowl at me from across the table.
“We welcomed you into our home, hired you to keep us safe, and what did you do in return? You started seeing our daughter behind our backs.” She spat the words at me as if they tasted like poison to her. My heart jolted in my chest as they sank in.
“How do you?—”
“It doesn’t matter how I know. But I do. And here’s what I want you to know.” She wiped her hands on the napkin in her lap and recrossed her legs. “You will stop seeing my daughter immediately. You will no longer be with her as she is destined for far greater things than you. And once my husband gets elected into office, your work with our family will be over.” As she spoke, not an ounce of emotion ran across her face. She simply looked at me with a tight smile and spoke evenly.
