The Awakening (3 page)

Drat
, Laura thought. Instead of letting it drop, Peggy pulled open a drawer by the sink and grabbed her day timer. Laura wished Andy were anywhere but there. He said nothing, which added to her humiliation.

“No, he won’t be back this week.” Laura nibbled on her lip, feeling her face heat.

Peggy dropped her pen and sighed, letting Laura know she was irritated. “You do realize you still have to pay for the week. So you may as well let him come. You were given our outlined policy when you enrolled here. We have a very strict cancellation policy…”

Laura cut her off. “You will be paid, but Gabriel won’t be coming. Come on, honey. Let’s go.” She glanced at Gabriel and started toward the door, refusing to look at Andy.

“How much does she owe?” Andy asked in a tone she’d heard him use many a time on the phone.

Laura’s jaw dropped. She couldn’t believe this was happening. She stared as Andy unzipped his black coat and yanked out his wallet. She wanted to yell and protest when he pulled several hundred dollars out and handed them to Peggy. The woman gaped, her round cheeks flushing as she took the money.

“And—Mr. Friessen, I can pay my own way.” Laura caught herself when she almost used his first name. She’d never addressed him at all, only ever responding to his orders. She, unlike the rest of the staff, never addressed him, period, and she went out of her way to avoid him. So, of course, she was stumped on what to call him.

“Let’s go.” He ignored her and opened the door. Peggy watched in a way that made Laura know she’d be the flavor of the week on the gossip vine. She could just imagine the tale she’d tell, too, how Andy Friessen was paying her way and she wasn’t a wet-behind-the-ears, naïve teenager anymore. Laura had heard the talk—she knew darn well how the Friessen men used women, and she didn’t want to be tarred with that brush.

She said nothing as they hurried out to his truck. She lifted her son in her arms when Andy yanked open the passenger door. He slid her seat forward and pulled something in the seat down, opening it into a car seat.

He reached for Gabriel, and that was when she tightened her hold on her son.

“I’m not going to hurt him, Laura. Let me fasten him in.”

Laura glanced at her son, wondering if he’d let Andy touch him. She started to lift him to Andy, and Andy took it from there, reaching for Gabriel. The boy’s eyes went wide, and he whined, reaching for Laura as Andy fastened him in.

“It’s okay, honey. Mommy’s here,” she said. He never looked at Andy, and, thankfully, Andy said nothing as he slid the seat back and Laura jumped in, reaching over the seat and touching her son’s shoulder, his cheek. “It’s okay, sweetie.”

Gabriel continued to whine, gripping her finger with his tiny little ones. Andy slid in under the wheel and glanced at Gabriel. Laura fumbled her seatbelt, trying to latch it one handed. She feared what her son would do if she pulled away. After how long he had cried when he first went to daycare with Peggy, she was sure he could cry for weeks.

Andy pushed her hand aside and finished buckling her seatbelt. He started the truck and backed out. “Which way?”

Laura pointed, swallowing the lump, dreading the fact that he was driving her home. “Turn right and left at the four-way stop.

Chapter Three

Andy drove slower than necessary on his way back to the estate. He was truly confounded by Laura, and he didn’t miss the flush of embarrassment when she had him stop in front of a rundown older home. A chain-link fence was rusted and falling down in parts, and an overgrown yard looked as if it had never been kept up. A rotted-out sofa sat on the front porch, torn, with the stuffing pulled out. It hadn’t fit his image of Laura, not that he knew what that was. But then, for a single mother, it had to have been difficult for her to keep up. Why wouldn’t she live in some apartment? After all, wouldn’t that have been easier?

When he parked, she jumped out so fast, moving the seat forward and lifting her son in her arms. The boy hadn’t talked and had whined as if terrified of Andy, even though he wouldn’t look at him. Andy didn’t know how old he was, but he didn’t miss Laura’s worried glances back to the boy and her reassurances that it was okay, they were almost home.

When Andy came around the truck, she’d shut her door and thanked him for the ride. She insisted on paying him back for the daycare and then hurried off as if she couldn’t get away from him fast enough, up the cracked concrete steps. As Andy climbed behind the wheel, he noticed that she glanced his way before darting around the side of the house. He sat there for a minute, staring at the dilapidated house, wondering about this big-eyed young lady and what her story was.

He’d seen her embarrassment with Peggy, who owned the daycare, and he knew enough about Peggy to know that she talked about everyone. He had seen the way she looked at Andy with Laura, not having the decency to discuss the payment arrangements at another time. Andy understood good business, but how she’d talked down to Laura had set his teeth on edge, and that was the only reason he’d opened his wallet and tossed her five hundred dollars. Laura hadn’t deserved to lose her job over a stupid Christmas tree.

He wondered what her story was. He didn’t miss how pale she had gotten when he asked about family or even a boyfriend. Andy was good at reading people, so what he knew was that she was alone with a child who couldn’t talk. He was curious as to where she came from and wondered how long she’d been working at the estate. When he got home, he planned to get some answers from Jules.

It didn’t take Andy long to track down Jules in the kitchen with the cook, tasting a spicy sauce that the cook was stirring on the stove. Both women stared at him, and their eyes widened. He looked behind him to see if there was a problem.

“Jules, I need to speak with you.” He knew he sounded irritated.

She dropped the spoon on the smooth counter. The cook was still staring at him, holding the wooden spoon in her wrinkled hand. He couldn’t remember if he’d ever spoken to the cook—he didn’t know what her name was.

“Certainly, Mr. Friessen. Would you like to speak with me in the hallway?” She motioned toward the door.

“No, here’s fine.” Andy crossed his arms and didn’t miss the way the cook’s wrinkled face tightened. She banged a pot with a spoon, making an awful racket, and then opened the fridge, pulling out a large pan with a hunk of beef that was marinating and setting it on the counter with a clatter. Andy frowned, not missing the old woman’s irritation.

“Jules, about Laura, what can you tell me about her?”

Jules had run this household of servants since Andy was a child. She was a large older woman, and her double chin wobbled when she spoke. “Well, not much. She’s young. She always came to work, did her job. I’m not sure what it is you’d like to know about her?”

A loud clatter had them both staring at the cook. “Pot slipped,” the cook snapped, glaring at Andy with icy eyes.

Jules glanced at the ceiling and back at Andy. “Sir, why don’t we step out of the kitchen and maybe into the library, where you’d be more comfortable.”

“I want to know who hired Laura, how long she’s been working here, where she came from.” He didn’t move but watched the cook, who glared at him with a look that was pure venom.

Jules cleared her throat roughly. “Sir, I hired her. She’s been here since the spring…”

The cook grunted in disgust, interrupting Jules.

“Aida, enough. Stir your sauce!” Jules shouted at the cook.

Andy stepped closer to the cook and stopped when she appeared to squeeze the wooden spoon handle in a way that made him think it’d snap in two. With the way she glared at him, her tightly pursed lips trembling, he was positive she wanted to cosh him over the head.

“Aida, is it?” Andy didn’t wait for her to respond. “Is there something you want to say?”

“No, sir, she has nothing to say. She has a dinner to prepare, so please, sir, if we could step out…”

Andy cut her off before she could finish. “No, I want to hear what the cook here has to say.”

“You’re a pig!” She spit the words at him.

“Oh, Aida!” Jules groaned behind him. “Sir, she didn’t mean a word. Please don’t fire her. Your mother has five dinner guests arriving this evening, and there is no one to cook dinner if you fire her. Now, Aida, get back to the stove and mind your tongue.” Jules clapped her hands.

But Andy was still staring at the tiny old woman, who stared at him as if he were the devil incarnate. “Jules, would you shut up? Now, Aida, you’re obviously upset with something I’ve done, so I would like to hear it.” Andy glanced sharply at Jules before she could protest any further. “Jules, I want to hear this. Obviously, there is a problem.”

The cook stepped closer to Andy and held the wooden spoon up in front of her face. “You sir stay away from that girl. She doesn’t need the likes of you making things any more difficult for her. And she’s a good girl, she is. She caused no trouble, worked hard, was never late. She asks nothing of no one. She didn’t deserve to get fired, and I told Jules just that. If it wasn’t for you and your temper, carrying on like you were, the tree would still be standing now. She will not be your plaything. You stay away from her and her child.”

Andy was startled. No one had ever spoken to him that way, and he rather admired this old woman’s gumption, standing up to him, not tiptoeing around him as everyone did. “I am not interested in making her my plaything…”

The old woman shrieked and cut him off. “Bullshit! Don’t think I haven’t seen both you and your dad eyeing up that poor girl every time she bent over, knelt down as if you were imagining all kinds of lewd things to do to her, and with your dad’s reputation with bedding women, and yours not much better. Stay away from her.”

Andy blinked and didn’t have a chance to respond before she started shouting again.

“I brought the girl here. She has more hard-working gumption in her little finger than you, and she struggles to give that little boy everything. How is she supposed to feed her child and keep a roof over her head now?” The cook untied her apron and yanked off the net on her head, tossing it on the roast on the counter.

“Aida, where are you going?” Jules asked as the cook brushed past her, yanking open a cupboard door and pulling out her purse and coat.

“I quit.”

“Mr. Friessen, stop her. Your mother has guests arriving in two hours, and I’ll not be the one telling her the cook quit!” Jules was wringing her hands frantically.

“Aida, wait.” Andy followed the cook out the back door, where she was walking with her head high toward the stables, where the staff parked their cars out of sight. She ignored Andy, and he was surprised at the elderly lady’s speed.

“You ever stop to think of the repercussions before you do something, Andy Friessen? Your father doesn’t.”

Several of the hired hands lingered outside and turned their heads as Aida’s loud voice carried.

“Aida, please stop. You’re right.” For some reason Andy couldn’t explain, he didn’t want this old woman to hate him, and when she stared at him with bloodshot brown eyes, that was exactly what he saw. “Don’t quit. The reason I came back to talk to Jules about Laura is because I picked her up on the side of the road while she was walking, and I drove her and her son home. She didn’t deserve to get fired, and I told my mother that.”

The cook stopped, clutching her purse and coat primly. She stared up at Andy. A short, squat woman just over five feet tall, she didn’t come close to topping his chest, but, for the first time, Andy truly felt threatened.

“Laura should have her job back. Get it for her, and I’ll come back.”

Andy blew out a sharp breath. “I’ll find her another job, somewhere else. She shouldn’t work for my mother. She’s not a nice woman.”

Aida glared at him. “And where would she find this other job? On her back?”

“No. I’ll find her a decent job in town. I don’t know where yet, but I will, I promise. Just please stay.”

“And you’ll stay away from her?” Aida asked.

“I am not my father, and I already told you I wouldn’t mistreat Laura. She didn’t deserve what happened this morning.” Andy knew he hadn’t answered her question, and by the way she watched him and then ran her sharp gaze down his chest and back up to his face, he knew she was deciding.

“Fine. By the end of the day, you have a job for her.” The cook stalked back toward the house. “And don’t think I don’t know you didn’t agree to stay away from Laura. But heed me: If I hear you’re trying to play with that girl, I will call you out.” The cook never looked back.

“Aida,” Andy said, and she stopped and glanced over her shoulder. “Thank you.”

She grunted and stomped back into the house.

Chapter Four

Andy couldn’t believe he was at the airport, picking up Alexis. He could have refused and not shown up, but that was not only poor manners but poor business. Although Andy didn’t much like the senator, he definitely wasn’t in the mood to spend any time with a spoiled rich girl. Andy was not a man who could be guided around by his nose hairs, which was exactly what his mother was doing by having him pick up Alexis. For the first time ever, he was actually following through. Usually, Andy would have no problem not picking up this rich, prissy thing, and he wouldn’t have really cared what people would think. The only reason he was there now was because of Jed.