Chapter 17

"You may break, you may shatter the vase if you will, But the scent of the roses will hang round it still. - Thomas Moore Katrina took out a key and let herself inside. The heavy black door that matched the pillars and the mansion's tiled roof swung open. She took a step into the foyer and looked around. Ahead of her was a flight of stairs. To her right, the foyer opened into a front parlor and on the left was the living room. Everything was just as she had left it. The cream walls with light grey pillars, the black leather sofas including the dark velvet curtains that grazed the white tiled floor. Everything was the same as she had left it and still spotless. The cleaning lady and the housekeeper were doing a great job of keeping the house clean. It was a shame though because it would not remain the same after she was done taking it apart. Katrina looked around one more time, her thoughts heavy with memories of days that she had spent alone in this very mansion. The very spot that she was standing on right now being the very same that Ryan had dropped on after carrying her oh so graciously into their new home. It was the same place that her delusions of a happily ever after had also come to halt. How she had begged, cried as he walked away to move his things from the master bedroom into one of the guest bedrooms, one that was farthest away from her, and in one evening, in one fell swoop her perfectly ordered life had come crashing down. What a shock it had been, for all along he had acted like he had been very much for the idea of their union. He had smiled, acted gentle, and even complimented her in a way that made her heart flutter. Acting like the perfect fiance he had fooled, but now that she thought about it, all that had only happened in public, the only place he had ever been seen with her all through their courtship. She had thought that he was being thoughtful. Thoughtful of her by staying away like a proper groom throughout their wedding planning. On the wedding day, he had beamed at her like a bedazzled groom very much in love with his princess who was then walking down the aisle. The chaste kiss that she received on her forehead making her think of how considerate he was of her virtue and more so of the older generation that was assembled there that would never be comfortable with a public display of affection. How foolish she had been not to see it. All the anger and vehemence that he had bottled in deep inside those deep blue eyes of his. Not until it was too late that is and she had nowhere else to run to. Not to her friends or her family who would never believe her considering how good of an act Ryan had put before them. Hadn't she already been advised that marriages were hard work and that a woman should work through all the problems with perseverance? They had called her lucky. To have such an attentive fiance despite their arranged marriage. How wrong those people and even she had been. That day, she had spent her night in tears. Those same tears became her food for every day. The accompanying dessert for every meal that she made only to eat alone or have it for thrown down the drain or out with the trash. As if that was not enough, her husband was turning into a perpetual drunk. The only way he got to look at her being through the heavy veil of drunkenness and to avoid interacting, he would either stay out for long hours or sleeping in. Going out one afternoon and coming back the very next morning hammered before waking up again to repeat the same cycle with any words traded between them being insults and the tears that gave way when he glared away. This behavior change had confused Katrina to no end even as she tried to figure out what she had done wrong and why he was behaving that way. Hadn't they already broken up? Sure, Malisha had been her friend but she had known him longer. According to her grandmother, she and Ryan had been engaged since she was a teenager and despite how abrupt it had all seemed, her father's reassurances and Ryan's sweet caring had won her heart over. So now what had gone wrong? What had she said or expressed that had changed him almost instantly? She would find out one day after her friends had abandoned her. Ryan in his drunken state had called her out on her hypocrisy. He had told her of Malisha's pregnancy and how he was threatened to end things with her so that he could marry her, Katrina. "Oh little princess, everything should always happen your way. Right? Doom on us peasants for trying to be happy. You're are all so spoilt for good things weren't all your toys good enough you had to add our human lives to that collection?" Ryan had told, so drunk, he was hardly standing up. That was when it had dawned on her that Malisha and he had not broken up and somehow she had been the reason why he was not with his child right now. What more Malisha was missing and no one knew anything about her or her family or where she had even come from. In her, guilt Katrina had resulted in staying alone. She deserved it, she had told herself and even accepted Ryan's mistreatment as retribution for her past sins. After all, who could she now tell? Her in-laws were aware of it but still, they did nothing to aid her and her pride as a Maracheli could not allow her to speak to her family. They would never believe her anyway, those had been Marcus's words, her father-in-law, seeing that his son Ryan continued to maintain a facade and the perfect image of being the ever-doting husband to her. She shook the thoughts away. She had finally reached her limit and there were certain things that she could no longer continue to allow now that she was pregnant and having this child. "May be I should just grant him that divorce. Then, he can finally be free of me and I will no longer be the monster that wrecked his life and is now paying for having him chained to me." Katrina placed the last of the items to be auctioned in a box and brought them down to the ground floor. Everything was gone. She had left the bed though, the one thing that she could hold on to and the bedroom furniture that she would need in the next couple of weeks. Everything else was going out to an auction and with the proceeds that she got from that she would remodel the house to suit, her new tastes and evolving situation. For one, she was going to turn the room next door into a nursery. She would build an adjoining door in addition to fixing it. The nursery furniture she would make herself, at the workshop that is, that was running in back in her new countryside home. Yes...that cot would be perfect. She may have not used it as a child but she would make sure to complete it in time for this baby to use. As the last of the boxes left with the auction's crewmen Katrina looked around and smiled at the space. An empty canvas that was waiting for her to fill in. What colors would she go with? She had always loved neutral colors but with the baby now on the way she suddenly felt a need for a warmer atmosphere. Where black had reigned supreme she would fill it with earthen tones, with gold and soft colors that would appeal to their soul. The foyer would need to be yellow. A light soft yellow that would glow in the light of the huge crystal chandelier above her. The grilling would also be golden and the panels rich honey that was closer to oak than it was to yellow. Yes, she could now see it. The citrus colors in the bathrooms, the cream, and the black kitchen, with the highlight of it all being the soft yellow, gold, and black living room. It would be perfect just like her new shop now was with all those pastels that were now gracing its walls that were not covered with glass. As she turned to walk back into her room, the doorbell rang and she moved back to open it. "Alice?" She gasped in pleasant surprise. "What are you doing here?" "Can't I just drop in to say hi? Anyway where is my greeting?" Her stepmother beamed at her. "Mom." Katrina laughed as she walked into her waiting embrace, "but really what are you doing here. Does dad even know that you are here?" She asked as she stepped from their embrace. "That old man? He doesn't faze me." she joked. "I was in town so I decided to drop by and say hi. Apparently, you are not as excited to see me and I see that you don't even have seat to offer me. What have you done or are doing with this place anyway?" She said taking in the emptied space. "Mom...That's not the case." She laughed. "and it's not like you to sulk." "What choice do I have when you up and leave and do not even bother to stay in touch?"  Her eyes were still roving and running all over the place. "Did dad send you to spy on me?" This time, her eyes stopped their wondering and turned to face her, squinting as she thought hard on the question that Katrina had just asked her. "I am sure he knows that I am here and hopes that I will pull some strings to his advantage but no, I have come here on my own terms and with a business proposition in tow. Anyway, where can we sit down and actually talk business?" "Okay..." Katrina said taken aback by her sudden forwardness. "The lawn chairs are still there so we can use that." She said leading past the foyer and through a corridor that was hidden behind the staircase. "I hope that you don't mind being outdoors though. That's about all I can offer at this point." She added as she opened the door that was leading out into the backyard. "No not at all. Any place will do for what I have to speak to you about. So, I went past the location and I love what you are doing with the place." "You know about the place?" Katrina asked, surprised that her stepmother was familiar with the location of her new shop. "Even without the benefit of your father's snooping and your grandmother's snitching I bet you, I could have found out all that on my own. Someone can just look up your website and find all the details. It is not like you are really doing a very serious job of keeping things private." "No, I actually want people like you to find out." "People like me?" Alice smiled. "Grand mother told me. Congratulations by the way. When should I expect my baby brother or baby sister to come by?" "Some few weeks after you I think. Actually that was one of the reasons I came by. I would like you to custom make a nursery set for this little one. The beddings too and tapestries. You make that too, don't you?" "I do. I now have some seamstresses in addition to the carpenters so that can work marvelously." "Great. The next thing I want to talk with you about is an investment. I know that you have just registered this as a small business and it is lovely that you are starting small. However I am sure that the orders turning into somewhat of a mountain that is impossible for you to keep track right?" Katrina nodded wondering where all this was leading to. " Anyway we were wondering, that is your grandmother and I, if you are willing to make it into a company.  We want to invest in you. Being business women and all we know a good venture when we see it." "I am sure do and I appreciate it. However, what happened to me asking you two not to interfere?" "I know we promised and that's why we are both willing to be silent partners. That is how much we believe in your dreams." She said as she handed her a dark folder. "As the eldest daughter, you are set to automatically inherit twenty percent of the companies assets that are now in trust with your grandmother. She is willing to give them to you now that you have shown initiative so you can have some say in the runnings of Maracheli industries." Alice told her. "But won't that bring down her shares from sixty percent to just forty percent?" "Exactly, so that means that neither your father or grandmother can make decisions about the company alone. Unless they team up together or loop you in to their cause that is." Alice smiled. "And father is actually okay with all of this?" "He doesn't know. Imagine his surprise when he finally finds out." She beamed, her smile growing more diabolical by the minute." You may not want to do anything about all this right now but the shares are already in your name so you can't really refuse. My investment on the other hand is really not a big deal. Compared to all these, it is just a very small part of all that she is now giving you. So, will you consider it?"