Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Chapter 3 - The Phone Call

Sometimes there are moments in a person's life where they know that not only will things will never be the same again. . . but that everything they ever knew about their life has changed as well. Jade realized she was having one of those moments as she looked at Miguel and considered his comment. Miguel stretched his hand out, keeping eye contact as he tried to reassure her that it was okay.

“That's right.” he stated as she took a tentative step toward him. “It's okay. Don't worry. It will all be okay.” Jade slowly approached him and stood about two feet away from him. She was wide-eyed and breathing quick, shallow breaths. She felt confused and afraid. Miguel reached out and touched her shoulder and softly said, “Ms. Jade, I have the answers to your questions. Come inside where we can talk.”

Jade hesitated and said, “But Marisol and the rest of the staff. . .”

Miguel smiled, “They already know everything I am about to tell you. Trust me mi pequeña princesa.”

Jade felt calmer when Miguel used the familiar term of endearment. . . “my little princess.” Miguel and all the staff had used the Spanish term when they were alone with Jade, which was quite often. Her parents did not even know that their daughter was regarded with such love and respect. She trailed behind Miguel as he led her through the gardens to the back entrance of the large gray stone mansion. The back entrance was not nearly as formal as the grand front entrance. It was most often used by the staff to come and go to the residence. Miguel most frequently used the back entrance coming to and from the gardens. There was a carriage house located close to the back entrance which housed the tractors and landscaping equipment, and a fleet of cars—including a Bentley Continental GT, a Mercedes Stretch Limousine, Rolls Royce Phantom, and of course a Porsche. Miguel slept in the loft upstairs. It was considered a small servant's living quarters but, in reality, it was spacious and quite capable of holding an entire family in luxury. He shared the space with the chauffeurs—3 pleasant young men all related to Miguel.

Jade was familiar with the back entrance and carriage house area because she had a crush on Raul, who was Miguel's youngest nephew. Raul was busy working most of the time. But Jade would often make excuses to be outside when he was waxing the cars or ask for rides downtown to go shopping in an effort to be around him. Of course that plan backfired sometimes when Miguel insisted he drive her instead. Today, Raul was no where to be seen, but Jade was far too distracted to care. She numbly followed Miguel down the corridor and into a quiet basement room. He shut the door behind them and pulled out a chair for her to sit in. Jade sat down and looked up at him expectantly.

“Miguel what is going on?” she began. He held his hand up and shook his head as he pulled a phone out of his pocket. He dialed a number and said, “I need you to come here. Its time.”

2 comments:

dr.m said...

hey,
this is a good story i wonder what happens to jade and whats rong with her! i look forward to reading the next chapter soon! great start!!!! :)

Laura Jean said...

Hey!!! Whats going on here? I am waiting for the rest of this story