Vine was fast asleep in his room when a maid knocked on the door and informed him that his grandmother was calling for him.
"What does she want?" he complained, not really expecting an answer from the maid.
"I am not sure," the lady answered politely before leaving the room.
It was almost one and half hours later, when Vine appeared in front of his grandmother.
"Tell me, does it take you that long to walk from your bedroom to here, after I have called you?" she asked in disappointment.
"I'm sorry," Vine threw himself onto a couch and started to scroll on his phone.
"Put that phone away, Vine, and look at me when I am talking to you!"
Vine reluctantly put his phone aside, and looked at his grandmother. His eyes were red.
"You're drunk again!" the old lady complained.
"I'm not." He snapped.
"Vine, there is great news. You are going to be a father." The lady went straight to the point. "The son of my son, is going to be a father. I never thought I was going to live long enough to see this day. Oh, I am among the blessed! I had my only son in my old age. When I had my son, I had long lost hope of ever becoming a mother, but I was blessed with a son. And when he died, all hope was not lost, for he left me a son, my dear grandson Vine. Today I live to see yet another generation from the fruit of my womb! Vine, I never thought I was ever going to see your own son…."
"Son? Is my child also a son?" Vine laughed in disbelief. "First I wasn't even aware that I had a child, and now you're telling me that it's a son! Where is this son of mine, and why do I not know anything about him?"
"I don't know, Vine. All I know is you're going to be a father soon. I already love that child with my whole heart."
"And this child of mine…where is he or she? Who is the mother?" Vine could not help but laugh.
Vine shook his head and was about to pick up his phone when his grandmother said,
"Leave that phone now Vine. Give me your phone. This is a special moment."
The old lady went on to explain everything concerning Kiara and the pregnancy. Vine listened carefully to every word, and the story made him sober. He could not believe what he was hearing.
"She doesn't love me?" Vine asked painfully when his grandmother was done.
"Don't worry about that. She must have seen you drunk. I've told you many times not to drink that much. You now need to behave yourself better, and be responsible. Your son or daughter needs someone to look up to, and you need to be a good role model, Vine. You should also be good to your wife and show her love and respect."
"Wife! Grandma, I don't have a wife!" Vine laughed out loud.
"Yes, your wife! Come here, my dear!" she spread out her arms to embrace Vine.
"It sounds weird. I'm not ready to have a wife," Vine chuckled.
"Stop saying that! You will break her heart if she ever hears you saying that. Remember we don't want to scare her off. You don't know her reasons for hiding the truth all this time. She might be scared of us, many people are scared of the Pinkertons, you know that."
"Grandma, I'm not ready to get married." Vine ran his fingers through his hair.
"You have to. Give me that phone, let me see. Are there any pictures of nude girls in that phone? Delete them before Kiara comes home. I think you will need a new phone, new friends, a new character!"
"Grandma!"
"Yes, you need a new everything! Oh Vine, I am very excited about the news! After I see the child that Kiara is carrying, I can rest well. My soul will rest. I want her to come, and I will personally train her on how to take care of the business."
"If the child is mine, I will take care of the child and love him or her with my whole heart. I will not do anything like my father." Vine stated.
"And the child's mother?"
Vine thought about it for a while and then said, "all this is based on a rumour. That dude Kevin is just taking chances trying to get some money out of us. Forget about it all, grandma."
"No Vine, please don't burst the bubble. Do you think the waiter is brave enough to lie to us? I can sense that it is true. We will have to take Kiara in and show her some love. I'm sure that she too loves you, but she is just scared. And even if she does not love you, she must come here, because she is carrying a Pinkerton. Our family rule is everything that belongs to the Pinkertons will stay with the Pinkertons."
"We will see, grandma," Vine sighed.
***.
When the receptionist at Two-Sons Hotel received a call asking for one Kiara, she checked the staff register and found no one by that name. She could have easily transferred the call to the right department, but since the call was coming from the Pinkerton residence, the receptionist chose to do anything in order to find favour with the family.
"We don't have a Kiara, sir," she updated Gareth.
Gareth explained that the girl was waitressing on the day that the Pinkertons went to Two-Sons, and he gave the receptionist a date. She pulled out on her screen the staff log in and log out register to check on the names of the staff that worked on that day. Three waitresses were there, and she called them one by one.
The first two said they were not the ones who served the Pinkertons. The last name on the list was not Kiara's, but rather Lee-Annes. Since Kiara only came in at the last minute, her name had not been entered on the staff attendance list for the said day. And she had not even properly logged in, for one of the front desk staff used his staff card to open for her.
The receptionist, desiring to be fast and please the Pinkertons, quickly called Lee-Anne to confirm with her if she had served the Pinkertons.
"Yes I was the one…" Lee-Anne was going to say "I was the one who was supposed to serve them, but I took the evening off. However, the receptionist did not give her a chance to finish her sentence. She quickly said thank you and ended the call.
She called Gareth back, and informed him that she had found the girl.
When Gareth told lady Pinkerton, she smiled and said, "get in touch with her, I want you to check if she is free tomorrow might. Get her new clothes and anything she may need. She needs to look her best, for she is dining with us tomorrow night."
"Noted," the man said with a bow.
Lee-Anne was still trying to figure out what was happening when her phone rang,
"I am Gareth, calling from the Pinkerton mansion," a male voice said.
"From the Pinkerton mansion? Are you calling for me?" Lee-Anne thought there was a mistake.
"Yes, for you. Are you busy tomorrow? If you had other plans, you need to clear your schedule. Tomorrow you shall be here with the Pinkertons. I will send a lady to come and pick you so that you may go for your make up…." The man continued to give instructions.
When the call ended, Lee-Anne clutched her phone in her hands, and failed to believe what she had just heard.
On the following day, Lee-Anne found herself being chauffeured around the city centre, moving from one classy boutique to the other. The driver of her car never said a word to her, she did not even ask what her name was. Lee-Anne had already updated her parents on everything, and both of them were not sure how to take the news. They were afraid, for the Pinkertons were a bit shady. All sorts of news circulated around concerning them. Some people said they were ruthless, some disputed that. The truth was only a few people knew the real Pinkertons. The other versions were just made in people's minds. However, Lee-Anne's mother, after thinking about it for a while, started to become happy.
"Go, my child. Who knows why they called you? They probably saw you and they liked you, I mean, maybe that young heir liked you." she said.
"But I have never met him before," Lee-Anne told her mother.
"It doesn't matter. Just go. You don't have a boyfriend. You always have bad taste in boyfriends, anyway. So I guess that Pinkerton boy will be good for you," she smiled.
In the luxurious car, Lee-Anne was treated like a princess.
She got her make-up done, together with her manicure and pedicure. Everything was extremely good, it made her feel like a princess in a movie. She loved every moment of it.
She was dressed in a very lovely gown, which was pale gold in colour. Rich gold jewellery graced her neck, ears and wrists; her shoes and bag were also a great match.
When she finally arrived at the Pinkerton mansion, she started to become a bit scared, but she fought hard to control herself.
A number of maids welcomed her and took her inside to a beautiful room.
"Take a seat here, I will call the Lady in," one of the women said.
Lee-Anne sat down and looked around fearfully.
The woman who had asked her to sit down headed towards Lady Pinkerton's room, and she knocked. No-one answered. She could hear voices speaking loudly from inside. It sounded as if the voice owners were very excited about whatever it is that they were talking about. It was Mr and Mrs Pinkerton going on and on about Kiara.
At that moment, the maid who was standing outside knocked at the door, and peeped in to announce the arrival of the guest.
Vine, who was also in the room, walked out, leaving his grandparents in their room.
Vine had mixed emotions with regards to seeing the beauty from Two-Sons Hotel, worse after knowing that she was said to be carrying his child? He did remember her beautiful face, but he was not sure if he wanted anything to do with her. He had many questions, wondering why the girl had not bothered to inform him about the child that she was carrying.
Vine walked slowly to the room where the guest was, and when he set his eyes on Lee-Anne, he frowned.
"Who are you?" he asked rudely.
Lee-Anne stood up and smiled nervously. "I….I was invited."
"Grandma must be joking!" Vine snapped before leaving the room instantly.
He almost bumped into his grandmother, who was also headed towards the main lounge. Without excusing himself, Vine said, "You must be joking!" and he walked off angrily.
Confused, lady Pinkerton called out after him, "come back here and behave yourself!"
She proceeded to the room, and when she saw Lee-Anne standing with her lower lip hanging low, she gasped. Although the image of Kiara was not very clear in the old lady's mind, she was certain that the woman standing before her was not Kiara. There was no way! The beauty had diminished a thousand times, and the woman was way taller than the Kiara that lady Pinkerton remembered from the Two-Sons Hotel. She asked the chief maid, "where is the girl!"
"There she is, ma'am." The chief maid pointed at Lee-Anne.
"Call Gareth now. He is to urgently return this girl from wherever he picked her. He brought the wrong girl. Tell him to do a thorough job if he still values his paycheck." The old lady turned around, held onto her walking stick and angrily disappeared into the huge rooms of the mansion.