Juliet had been sulking since her little disagreement with Smith. She understood that he was not over his emotional hurt yet. Still, she had felt like a cypher when he shun her out in that manner. Since then Juliet had ignored her brother as she got herself busy on her phone.
"What if I make it up to you, by taking you out?"
Smith did not want to feel out of place, going out to the hospital alone to check on Mary. Should his plan of making a pretense to visit his cousin failed, Juliet would be a good cover up. So, he had come to the conclusion that going with her would give him a win win situation; to pacify his sister and roll out a good plan with Mary. Though Smith could still not get over the idea of caring for Mary. He had wondered on few occasions why he paid attention to every detail concerning her.
In truth, he was in need of a nanny but who cares about their nanny's personal life if it wouldn't bring any harm to them. Smith had been having this back and forth argument within himself.
"Dad!" Ella shouted excitedly, hoping towards Smith while James trailed after her.
She had gone out with him early that morning when James was visiting his family. She had grown fond of them during her few holidays and that had become Ella's routine, spending most of her time with the kids. She had come home from one of of such visit, when she told Smith, how much she would love to have siblings like her friend Joe. Smith's had almost choked on his food that day as it caught him unprepared. He had to smartly divert her attention from that line of discussion.
"Come here", Smith opened his arms for a hug when Ella sighted Juliet in a corner beaming at her.
Ella immediately ditched her father as she ran towards her Aunt. Juliet welcomed her in a warm embrace, giving Smith a smirk just above Ella's head.
Juliet was the only family, Smith allowed himself to inform about his daughter. He had kept it a secret from his mother, simply because she would have raised dust about it.
"Would you believe me if I said it escaped my mind?"
Seeing the look of disbelief on Juliet's face, Smith shook his head, resigning to his fate
"I didn't think so either but if you don't mind, allow me make it up to you little sister" Smith said with a wink.
"I won't go easy on you this time", Juliet replied with a wicked grin.
"Okay, let's hang out then but firstly, I need to get somewhere first." He said before directing his attention to his daughter.
"Baby, Juliet will help you with a change of clothes. Go with her".
He gently pushed Ella and Juliet towards the stairs. Giving a curious Juliet a knowing smile, before mouthing
"I'll feed you on it later".
Satisfied, Juliet went with Ella obediently to do her brother's bidding.
Smith followed suit to get his Nike sports shoes and a baseball cap. He would not want news of his visit to town flying around like a wildfire.
James drove them to the county hospital. Smith had given Juliet a brief on his mission to the hospital and what their presence would represent. He had explained to her that since Mary would soon be Ella's nanny, he was only looking out to see if she had a clean bill and not any of the silly ideas Juliet had in her head.
"And visiting her sick mother at a hospital is also your way of ensuring that?" Juliet had countered
"One never knows. I think we are here" Smith announced, not waiting for James to open his door, as he stepped out of the car.
Juliet helped Ella out, as the three walked into the reception.
The reception area was not crowded as only three persons were seated few distance apart, and two nurses stood behind the counter. One of the two nurses instinctively raised her head up when she sensed a figure approaching. To say she was dumbfounded would have been an understatement, as she continued to gape at Smith. Her colleague, who had been calling out to her, lifted her gaze to see her attention completely arrested.
"Hello ladies", Smith had walked to them, as he greeted
The first nurse, Clara, was completely enchanted by Smith's charm that she became speechless. Tamara, however quickly snapped out of her reverie, putting her sexiness to work. She stepped away from the counter, swinging her hips lasciviously, in her very fitted uniform as she came to stand directly in front of Smith.
"You're welcome to the County hospital sir. Please, how may I be of help?" Tamara said, pronouncing each syllable as though they were her favorite candy flavor.
No one was able to reveal Smith's identity. They were only smitten by the fine specimen that stood before them. He looked exceptional in his Prada track pants and T-shirt. He had his hands tucked casually in his pants pockets. His baseball cap, added to his bad boy figure.
Tamara swallowed hard, taking every details in. Her mind racing fast when she saw Smith's hand raised towards her. She envisaged having a feel of his skin on her own, rubbing affectionately. She felt a pang of disappointment however, when her imagination was short-lived as Smith dragged his sister closer to divert the ladies attention from him. His presence had proven to be enough to get the information they would require.
Clara finally found her voice when she saw a woman standing very close to the man she had taken a fancy to. She cleared her throat, trying to capture Smith's attention to herself.
"Hi", Juliet said with a smile, adjusted her glasses. "Would you mind showing us the..."
"Excuse me sir?"
Juliet stopped mid-sentence as she stared at a familiar figure. She couldn't say exactly where she had met her but she seemed to know her brother as the lady was actually calling out to Smith, who rather than get worried for being spotted by a known figure, was actually relieved.
"Mary, what are you doing here?" Smith asked feigning ignorance.
It didn't take Juliet a moment to put things in perspective. She understood why she had looked familiar to her. She had seen her picture from her brother's phone.
"I wasn't sure it was you but then I thought I would know that scent anywhere", Mary said, oblivious to the fact that she had just made a slip of how well she had been paying attention to Smith.
"Oh, I should count myself lucky then" Smith replied, with his boyish smile
"Excuse me?" Mary didn't quite catch his word.
"What brought you here beautiful?"
Smith replied instead, slightly pushing Mary to the direction of the hospital lobby. He had hoped that would buy them sometime before she would come to question his presence there.
Juliet and Ella followed, leaving some distance between them.
"My mom is here on bed rest. I've been staying with her", Mary answered as they continued climbing the stairs.
"Oh, sorry to hear that. How is she feeling now?" Smith had asked with her best interest at heart.
That did not however, go down well with Mary as his question only served as a reminder of how her mother came to be in that pitiable state. She stopped in her track, forcing Smith to do same, as she looked directly into his eyes.
"I know this may not seem right but I didn't expect to run into you here. I am indebted to you once again. Thank you for your help", she said with all seriousness.
"Okay".
Smith could hear the gratification in her voice but he could also hear a note of anger. He knew she wasn't done with her statement yet, so he motioned for her to continue.
"Though I would appreciate if you asked me about personal information, rather than throwing your influence in my face", She said with a fake smile plastered on her face. "As agreed, I would be at your office tomorrow to have the NDA signed and also submit my mother's letter of approval. I would leave you alone now, as I have an errand to run"
Mary made to walk away from Smith but he just held her wrist, roughly dragging her up the flight of stairs, to a corridor that seemed to provide a bit of privacy for him. He was sick of getting same attitude from her everytime he tried to get close or show some care. It would have been comprehensible if she reacted same way with others but he had seen how well she relates with people, even strangers, all of which were captured on camera. He feels her bitterness towards him was a personal issue and if money wasn't the matter, or better put if she didn't value her mother's life more than her integrity, he suspected she would not even be standing there with him.
Juliet, seeing all the drama that enfold, had taken Ella with her outside to sit in the car.
"You will tell me what is eating you up or I promise you, I will take you away from here, to a more reserved area".
Mary folded her arms stubbornly, her eyes blazing as she glared at Smith
"You'll have to carry me".
"Gladly. On my shoulder, if I have to". Smith retorted, matching Mary's glare, his eyes unwavering.
"It's of no use".
"What?"
"I'm not telling you anything. Unless that's another criteria you are planning to add to be qualified for the job".
"Don't tempt me to"
"I would not be surprised if you try"
A ghost of a smile crept to Smith's lips. He had never come across a woman that is as stubborn as Mary. She made him all hot and cold at the same time. One minute, he was feeling like dragging the whole place down. Another minute, he just want to take her in his arms and assure all would be well. Giving her the shoulder she needed to lean on as he made her warm in all the nice ways he could think of.
But how the hell do you do that when she keeps pushing you away! Smith thought within himself, fighting the will to control himself.
He felt drawn to her. Her angry features, now relaxed, seeing the smile on his face. She looked so beautiful even in her natural state. The curve of her lips beckoning to him to have a taste of its fullness.