CHAPTER 4

"Andrew," Cherry called out to her son. She persuaded him to sit on the stone bench outside the housekeeper's office. She placed both the bags that she had brought along, on the bench next to Andrew. The rest of her belongings, she had left at a small rented place in Sydney before coming to Mayfair's. She prayed that she may earn enough to pay the rent in Sydney. She then told Andrew to sit still, so that she may meet the head housekeeper, as they needed the job very badly. She told him that we are completely penniless because of Henry, and so we have to make our own way. "So hope you understand Andrew I have to work."

"Why couldn't you get a job in Sydney, Mom?" Andrew asked.

"It is so expensive to live in Sydney. Well now please sit quietly, till I am back." Andrew then innocently asked her, "But what happens Mom if you do not get this job?" She replied, "I will get it, but for now you sit still." She then knocked at the head housekeeper's office. There was no reply, but peeping out of the next door was a very young and pretty blonde. The door opened to the kitchen's inside, Cherry noted. The girl told Cherry that the head housekeeper had an off day, and was not there. She would only be back tomorrow. The girl then enquired from Cherry, whether she had come for the dishwasher's job? Cherry nodded back. She thought to herself that Stuart had no shortage of beautiful girls around the estate. But then she rebuked herself, why was she bothered? She had not come here to resume a romantic relationship, after eleven years of separation. But seeing her definitely gave Cherry a complex, as she was full of grime after that dusty truck ride. The girl then extended her hand of friendship and said she was Mary, and Cherry introduced herself too and asked Mary about a hotel or someplace where she could stay the night. Mary said that "I advise you to go over to the other door, pointing to it, and meet the assistant housekeeper, Annie who will meet you there. She would probably find a place for you to sleep at night." Cherry thanked her and went ahead with Andrew. She picked up their belongings and went to the door that was pointed at by Mary. She pitied Andrew, as he had gone through so much since the last one month or so. She wondered had she really fallen in love 11 yrs ago with Henry, or it had been that she was probably searching for a father figure in him. Cherry had lost her father before her birth. But whatever be the case she made a firm resolution, that she would never make Andrew sleep under the bridges or in shelter homes, the way her mother had done to her. She then went up to the path, to the door that Mary had indicated, but astonishingly, she found it open, but the person who was present there was not Annie but the man whose face she had never forgotten she thought, that same blonde hair and hazel eyes that she saw daily in Andrew, his genetic inheritance. His blonde hair was a bit too long though. His finely chiseled face, Cherry had never forgotten.

Stuart Jackson stopped in his tracks, he paused and then sarcastically told her that "I am not surprised seeing you here, Ms. Gold digger!"