~Stranger~: :~ Discontinued
dark_jean:
“Cynthia,” said Jack, irritated, “What has happened that you had to disturb my meeting with the Slaters?”
“I apologise, sir. But it was very urgent,” replied Cynthia, Jack’s personal assistant, nervously and pointed towards Jack’s office, “Miss Mason, from Silver Herald newspaper is here. I couldn’t avoid her; she was threatening to damage your image and attracting a lot of attention in the lobby.”
Jack looked at his office and saw she was sitting there, looking through some papers. He was very angry and irritated. Deborah Mason was the last person he wanted to see right now.
“I’ll handle it, but next time, be sure that she is nowhere near my office or both you and your receptionist friend will be out of Silverdawn before you say ‘sorry’,” replied Jack, vehemently and stormed into his office.
“I don’t like you anywhere around me,” snapped Jack at Deborah, entering his office, “Get out of here before I need to call the security.”
Deborah got up from the chair and smiled mockingly at Jack.
“Try not to get the idea that I like being around you, Jack Winter,” retorted Deborah, “I’ll rather die than do that, but I’m here to congratulate you actually.”
Jack smirked at her and settled on the sofa as her eyes followed him. “Congratulate me? What did I do to deserve this honour, Deborah?” said Jack, maliciously.
“It’s for the publicity stunt which you carried out so expertly last week,” said Deborah, glaring at Jack, “I believe you are now trying to create a sympathetic, cheated husband’s image to gain your supporters' votes, isn’t it?”
Jack sneered at her and said, “Come on, Deborah! Look at me; don’t I look like I was cheated? Well! At least, I can say all the credit goes to your friend, won’t you agree with me?”
“Just shut up, Jack!” roared Deborah, “How dare you suggest something as cheap as that about Emily? You know perfectly well, how loyal she was to you even if you didn’t care about her. She was always faithful to you, Jack.”
“Oh my! I don’t believe I’m listening to the crap you are saying,” jeered Jack, as Deborah continued to glower at him, “don’t tell me your friend didn’t tell you about her and Alex? I believe you know him as well, don’t you?”
“There was nothing between Emily and Alex,” snarled Deborah, “They were friends and nothing more than that. And you know that they were close, which is why you are telling all these things publicly.”
“I have proof of their affair you know, want to see them?”
Deborah curled her lip and looked away from him. Jack seemed confident about what he was saying, it enraged Deborah even more. The assistant outside the office was trying to make out whatever was happening in the office, but Jack’s office was sound-proof.
“And what kind of proofs have you manipulated this time?”
“I didn’t need to manipulate anything,” replied Jack, calmly, “but if you insist, I must tell you about the plane fares, which needed some manipulation to get the information. And right now, I don’t have the photographs; I might post them to you if you want.”
“What? Explain yourself, please,” asked Deborah, confused.
“Alexander Gates left for Mexico two months ago; I think you already know that,” informed Jack, looking at Deborah, “Four days before he left, your friend had purchased tickets for Mexico as well for herself. Police Commissioner Bentley will provide you with the rest of the details, which he got from Alex’s office about his so called work there and from Emily's travel agent. Then you can be sure of what your good friend and my cheating wife had been capable of.”
Deborah was still not looking at Jack but she was thinking. Jack knew that she still did not believe a single word he had said.
“Can you leave now? Because I have to get...” and before Jack could finish, she interfered.
“You know, I believe you Winters are capable of anything,” said Deborah, “I want Emily, Jack. I don’t know how you will do it, I just want her in Silverdawn.”
“You are the journalist here, Debbie, you should...”
“Don’t call me Debbie,” snarled Deborah, “But I believe, asking your precious grandmother where Emily and Alex really is, might do as well, don't you agree with me? She’ll definitely be knowing everything.”
“Don’t you dare involve my grandmother in this, Deborah Mason,” growled Jack, pointing at her, “That might be the last thing you do in this city, remember that. And get out of here right now.”
“I can see you’re still the favourite puppet,” scoffed Deborah, smiling, “But you remember this Jack, I want Emily. And if you don’t find her soon, I’ll make you very, veryunhappy.”
“I’m already unhappy,” replied Jack, and Deborah stormed out of his office without looking back.
Zorom:
The Plot Thickens! :eek:
Deborah is very pretty! :)
dark_jean:
Thanks Zorom...I'm glad you liked the update...and Deborah too!!!!!!! ;D
dark_jean:
“I don’t know, Lily,” said Francesca Rosswell, Emily’s grandmother, “I believe you are not thinking about it.”
“No!” retorted Emily, merrily as she kept looking at the stairwell, “I know what I’m doing, granny. Believe me; he is the right one for me.”
She smiled at her grandmother. Francesca was very unsure.
“It has only been two months,” she said, “Your grandfather and I decided to marry after eight years of knowing each other, when we were ready. You’re rushing things.”
Emily looked at her grandmother and smiled, then she said, “I know I am rushing things, but they can help you with your medications, granny.”
Francesca looked indignant and replied hotly, “If you think I will take their money to stay alive. Lily, you are very wrong. I never want to live when I know you are not happy.”
“Why do you have so much grudge against them, granny?” asked Emily, seriously.
Francesca Rosswell looked away from her granddaughter. All her friends at the Oakville old-age home were dressed up nicely, since the Winters were coming to pay a visit to them. Francesca had a bad feeling about it and she had the same feeling before her son and his wife died in an accident ten years ago. She would not risk losing Emily too.
“You wanted to see me getting married, didn’t you, granny? Now, I have found the right groom for me and he is going to make our lives better, you’ll see.”
“The Winters don’t exactly have a good past, Emily,” answered Francesca, firmly, “Their family has a scandalous past. I am not sure I want you to go into that family. Don’t you see, Silverdawn city sits and stands on their orders?”
“Past is past, we need to look into the future. Just meet them, I’m sure you’ll like them,” said Emily.
“Oh my goodness! The Mayor is so stylishly on time,” exclaimed Bertha, Francesca’s friend, “I am going to vote for her surely. And Jack is so devilishly handsome, Emily. I envy you, child.”
Emily and Francesca saw Silverdawn’s most likely mayor-to-be, Rosemary Winter and her grandson, Jack Winter slowly descending the stairs with majesty as they greeted and wished as many people on their way as possible.
“She’s won this election already, you know,” said Francesca, as Rosemary and Jack greeted and shook hands with most of the residents of Oakville old-age home, but Emily was not listening to her as she was very excited.
“Mrs. Rosswell, it is a pleasure meeting you,” greeted Rosemary Winter, honey dripping from her voice, “This is Jack Winter, my grandson and I believe I do not need to elaborate any further about him and Emily.” And she giggled very unnaturally.
“Greetings, Mrs. Rosswell! I have heard so much about you from Emily,” said Jack, shaking hands with her, “I think she forgot to mention to me that she has inherited your beauty.”
Emily laughed. Francesca smiled in reply and did not say anything. Rosemary sensed something was wrong and immediately said, “Emily, why don’t you go and introduce Jack to everybody, who love you so much around here? Jack was looking forward to meet them, you know?”
“Sure, why not? Come, Jack! They were so excited you know, when I told them you were coming to visit us...” and Emily took Jack away to introduce him to everybody who lived there. Francesca and Rosemary were left alone together.
“She looks so happy with him, doesn’t she?” asked Rosemary, calmly, “they make a great couple and she’s going to be very happy with Jack.”
“Convince me, Mrs. Winter, why I shouldn’t believe that your grandson wants to marry a dying old woman’s granddaughter for you to become the mayor?” asked Francesca directly without any hesitation, “Especially with the media covering this news so prominently that your opponent does not even look like he stands a chance.”
Rosemary smirked and pointed towards Emily and Jack. “All right then! I’ll drop the act. I have agreed to pay for your medications, Francesca, if I can call you by your first name,” she said, softly, “My doctors say that you don’t have more than a year left to live. I know it is hard to accept but it is the truth, which is ugly and you know that too. And I believe you love your granddaughter, don’t you?”
Francesca did not reply but stared at Emily in silence.
“I take that as a yes, you love her very much,” continued Rosemary, after a minute, “My grandson likes Emily if that is what you want to know. And he was the one, who brought your condition to my notice. If helping you is going to help me win this election, Francesca, why shouldn’t we just agree to this marriage? I must tell you that Emily has refused to take any help as an act of charity or sympathy. Only if she is getting married to Jack, then she'll agree to take our help to make you live longer, that is for a year maybe.”
“I don’t want Emily to be played with by your family,” whispered Francesca.
“Emily will be treated lavishly when she is married into our family,” said Rosemary, and pointed again towards Jack and Emily, “After you die, I’m sorry to say this, but do you want Emily to recover on her own or you want her to be a part of a family who can help her move on? And from what I have heard, Emily is very sensitive, is it? Your death might strike her very harshly, do you know that?”
Francesca looked at her granddaughter. She looked so happy, in fact it has been long since, she looked so happy and relieved. Jack was holding her tightly in his arms as if he is already taking care of her. But it was happening so quickly, Francesca was continuously succumbing to her bad feelings about the entire thing.
“We have not told her about your condition, Francesca,” said Rosemary, “We are not going to tell her anything at all. So, for Emily's sake, please agree to this marraige.”
“Will she be happy?” stuttered Francesca after a very long silence and on the verge of tears.
“Of course, she will be,” said Rosemary, lightly, “Please don’t worry about her. Her life just couldn’t get any better.”
dark_jean:
“So what, Esther? It won’t hurt taking a look in his room, you know?” exclaimed Shannon, the new house-maid, cutting bread for the Winter’s breakfast, “I’d just peep in and nobody will notice, I promise.”
“Then its better if you just quit,” replied Esther, the Winter’s cook, “There’s a lot of people out there who would replace you in one hour’s notice, trust me.”
“What is wrong with you? Don’t you want to know what happened to her?” retorted Shannon, wiping her sweat as it was hot in the kitchen, “I mean it could be so scandalous. Do you know how much the paper-people are going to pay if we can give them some inside information?”
“Yes, we know that, Shannon,” answered Jeremiah, putting the grocery in the fridge, “but we have been through the thick and thin of this family and will do anything in our possible way to keep it away from them.”
“I’ve been working in this family too long for this kind of situation, girly,” snapped Esther, waving the cooking spoon at Shannon, “The last maid got herself fired because she became a detective for one of those paper-people you just mentioned and she lost her job and her landlady suddenly didn’t want her in her house anymore. I hope you don’t want to follow her foot-steps.”
“These are powerful people, Shannon,” reasoned Jeremiah, calmly with her, “You just don’t want to be in their bad books. Esther and I have known that too well for us to stick around for so long in this house. They don’t like outsiders like us interfering, it’s very simple.”
“But that woman has been missing for too long, if you haven’t noticed,” Shannon argued back, getting tremendously excited now, “Emily’s disappearance is just not making any sense. And there is this guy from this paper who offered me two hundred bucks for just getting him something good. How can I say no to him? And he was kinda cute, not that I want to date him or anything.”
“Who’s getting two hundred bucks?”
Everybody turned around. Beth Winter walked into the kitchen as usual to check on the breakfast, like every day. Jeremiah smiled and wished her before bowing himself out of the kitchen and went to set the table. Shannon was so horrified as her appearance, that she turned bright red and grinned widely at her and almost ran out of the kitchen after Jeremiah. Beth wished Jeremiah and smiled back at Shannon, surprised. Then she went to the stove to check on the tomato soup.
Beth Winter was Rosemary Winter’s son, Dennis Winter’s widow and Jack’s mother. She was too simple for the Winter family’s grandeur and her down-to-earth attitude made her stay away from the media most of her life. Even when her husband died in a terrible car accident twelve years ago, she was so afraid to face the media that she did not attend his funeral. And people had talked a lot about it then and they said she did not fit into the Winter family at all. But she loved her family very much. When Emily got married to Jack, she was overwhelmed with joy for the first time in many years and immediately took Emily as her daughter than daughter-in-law. So, Emily’s leaving them so unexpectedly had struck her very hard. She did not talk to anybody for weeks and stayed locked up in her room for most of the time crying. Jeremiah had told Esther that he had heard Beth crying in her room at nights. And it was almost after a month after the incident, she started coming out of her room for a change.
“So how are you today, Beth?” asked Esther, looking directly at her and the look on her face was so rigid that Beth smiled at her.
Esther had been doing that every time whenever Beth came into the kitchen and since they were on good terms with each other, Beth always looked up to Esther as her elder sister. Esther was the one who made her feel at home when Beth got married to Dennis Winter. The house had seemed to be too empty at that time and though she came from a well-to-do family still she had found it difficult to settle down initially. But Esther had been her friend and companion throughout all these years.
“You know, Esther, we are still trying to cope up with the situation,” she replied, her voice quavering with emotion, Esther noticed that and patted her shoulder, “I just cannot believe Emily’s not around. She used to keep the environment so pleasant and full of joy. This house doesn’t feel the same anymore to me. I don’t like it here anymore.”
“Don’t say like that,” said Esther, massaging Beth’s shoulder, “we don’t know what was behind that innocent face of hers, Beth. Maybe it is true, she ran away with her lover. She wasn’t exactly happy with Jack; you know that, so does everybody. She had made it public so many times, embarrassing your family.”
“I'm just bringing myself to believe something like that, Esther,” said Beth, looking away from her, “But I don’t like being here. I feel like there is this huge hole punched right through my heart and...”
Beth looked away and wiped her tears. Then Esther, holding Beth by the arms, said, “You still have your family, Beth. You have to take care of them now, be strong. Even if Jack puts up this strong attitude of his, acting as if he doesn’t care, but he does, you know that? He needs you by his side now.”
Beth smiled weakly and released herself from Esther’s grip and asked her to send her breakfast to her room. She said she suddenly was not feeling well and wanted to lie down.
After reaching her room, Beth started sobbing very hard and she looked at her wedding picture, by the side of her bed, and said to her husband’s picture, “Oh Dennis! I’m so sorry; I couldn’t keep my promise to you. Please forgive me!”
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