The Billionaire's Housekeeper: A Marriage of Convenience Romance for Adults (4 page)

“
I’ll try, Maman. Thanks
for always being here.”

“
If only I could be there for
you in person. But I know we’ll see each other soon
.”

“
Maman…” Rita bit
her lip. She was already emotional, and a lump developed in a deep
part of her throat. She wouldn’t cry on her own, but she felt
that saying what she was about to say would break the proverbial
levies. “Do you think I’ll be able to come back from
this?”

“
I believe so more than you
know
,” Aurelie said without skipping a beat. She knew what
Rita was talking about. A mother always knew.

Even though she wasn’t sure she
believed it, Rita gave a sigh of relief anyway. Those were the words
she needed to hear. Her mother would always have her back and be on
her side. And everything that happened before Rita left could have
put her mother at risk. Rita didn’t want to admit it, but she
also constantly called her mother to ensure that she was still safe
where she was. Aurelie didn’t like that Rita was worried about
her. Nothing had gone wrong in over 3 years. She wanted Rita to let
go, and to move forward with her life without worry.

“
It’s very difficult
keeping this. There were paparazzi outside of the mansion today.”
Rita told her mother.

“
That’s nothing to be
worried about. Isn’t there always paparazzi there
?”
Aurelie replied. Rita couldn’t see, but her mother shrugged her
shoulders.

“
It was different this time.
This time they wanted to speak to
me
,” Rita sounded
exasperated. “What if they know the reason why I’m here?
How would I explain that to Mr. Ainsworth or anyone else?”

“
It’s not like you’re
wanted for murder, Marguerite. You did what you needed to do
.”

“
And what if Mr. Ainsworth finds
out that I’m here illegally? I’m a black woman and I
already have a different accent from everyone here. Times are so
strange now. Any little thing can get someone sent back home.”

Rita couldn’t hold back the
tears any longer. They fell gently down her face, but she clenched
her teeth down to keep from sobbing. She was frustrated, and all she
wanted was to hug her mother and know that everything was going to be
alright.

She kept thinking of Mr. Ainsworth.
She would hate to leave him, especially now that he was in such a
vulnerable state. She wanted to be there for him the way he had been
there for her over the last three years, and the way he so gallantly
tried to diffuse the situation that morning.

“
Firstly, my darling, are you
even sure that they know about you? Do you know for sure that that
was the reason why they are there
?” Aurelie was the voice
of reason. Rita had always been a strong pragmatic soul, but
something had changed in her over the last few years. Rita became
more concerned about what others thought of her than what she thought
of herself.

“
No,” Rita sighed finally.
She wasn’t at all sure, but her anxiety flared up nevertheless.

“
Then it’s time to
think with a clear mind. Keep working and doing all that you can. In
time you’ll know the reason they are there, and by that time,
you would have figured out a plan of action
,” Aurelie said.

“
You’re right. I can’t
jump to conclusions and respond in the first negative way I can think
of. I’ll just try to sort out my mind. I don’t want
anyone finding out that I’m in the country illegally. If anyone
finds out…” Rita’s voice trailed off. She wiped
her tears and closed her eyes. She didn’t want to think about
it anymore.

“
What…the hell?”

Rita was so frightened by the voice
that she leapt out of her skin and dropped the phone. She whipped her
head around, her eyes wide, and her heart racing wildly inside her.

By the open door of her cottage stood
a very shocked and a very angry George Ainsworth.

“
Mr. Ainsworth,” Rita
squeaked. She picked up the phone and placed it back down on the
receiver. She wasn’t thinking, and didn’t even remember
that her mother was on the other line. She’d call her back
later. Right now she was too worried about George and what it was
that he could have heard.

“
What was that all about, Rita?”
his voice was raised slightly and he was glaring at her. Rita
recognized that tone for whenever he had gotten in a spat with his
now ex-wife Julie.

“
I was just talking to my mom.
How did you get in here?”

“
The door was open. I came here
to see if you were feeling better than this morning, but clearly I
stumbled on something else, didn’t I?” George squared his
shoulders and clenched his jaw. Even in anger he appeared to be
regal.

Rita didn’t know what to say.
She wasn’t sure everything that he had heard, but it was enough
to make him upset. In just a matter of hours, her world was crashing
down around her. Mr. Ainsworth would more than likely call the
authorities and she would have to go back to Montreal; the one place
she was afraid to go back to.

“
Have you nothing to say to me?”
George said with his teeth still clenched. Rita’s mouth opened
and closed. She didn’t know where to begin. She could either
come clean now or continue with her ruse. She would be found out
sooner or later. It was best, she felt, for her to be honest with
him.

“
I’m not really sure what
it is that I can say, Mr. Ainsworth,” Rita said. She stood and
faced him, but her gaze met the floor. She was silly to think that
she could try to be friends with him. They were from completely
separate worlds. He was practically royalty, and she was just the
housekeeper.

“
Well from what I gather, you’re
in this country illegally. Is that true?” George said. His
voice hadn’t softened at all. His temper was flaring, but he
was trying to hold it together. Rita already looked ashamed, and he
didn’t want to frighten her. He just wanted to know the truth.

Rita nodded.

“
I see. Well, you know you won’t
be able to stay here any longer Rita.”

Rita’s eyes widened when she
finally looked up at him. There was no chance to plead her case or to
explain what was happening. He was so willing to just let her go.

Tears formed in Rita’s big brown
eyes. George looked away. If he looked at her then he would have
backed down.

“
You’ve been lying to me
for three years. You’ve been in my house, and I’ve let
you live on our property. What’s going to happen to me when
people find out? Is that why the paparazzi was outside today?”
George asked.

“
I don’t know,” Rita
found her voice finally. A few tears streamed down her cheeks, but
she brushed them away with the tips of her fingers. “I only
guessed that was why they could have been outside today. I panicked
and just needed to call my mom.”

“
What would have happened if you
had been caught? The authorities would have gotten a hold of you.
They would no doubt ask me questions about harboring you, and I would
have no answers for them. It’s too risky. The shares in my
company are already going down, and I’ve been getting negative
publicity because of the divorce,” George said. He was beside
himself. He was pacing back and forth and appeared to be talking more
to himself than to Rita. She watched him in her peripheral without
actually taking a proper look at him. She didn’t want to be
fired. She had nowhere else to go.

“
Wait, does Julie know?”
George stopped suddenly. The thought had just occurred to him. When
it came to their duties as husband and wife, Julie had been in charge
of everyone they had hired, and was responsible for their wages also.
If Julie had been the one to pay, then she must have known about
Rita’s situation.

“
Yes and no,” Rita said.
She didn’t feel like explaining further, but she knew she had
too. She was already fired according to him anyways. “She knew
I wasn’t a citizen and that I couldn’t pay taxes. She’s
been paying me with cash since. She didn’t ask any questions
because I’m good at my job.”

“
And what was it that brought
you here?”

“
I just had to leave…”
Rita replied. Her eyes were once again brimming with tears.

“
You don’t have to be
afraid, Rita. I don’t think that you hurt anyone. Look at you,
you couldn’t hurt a fly. Can you tell me why you had to leave?”
George had calmed down just a bit. He hated making anyone cry. Even
when Julie cried, her tears were his kryptonite. He wanted to find
rational ways of solving the issues without harsh words, tears, and
certainly not violence. He was a businessman even in his regular
life.

Rita released her words the same way
she had let out her tears. There were moments when she allowed them
to flow freely, and then times when she held back what she wanted to
say. In her mind, she was juggling between letting him know the full
story, or telling him the bare minimum.

“
When I was 21 I got into a
really terrible relationship,” she started. She looked up to
search George’s face. He moved a few steps forward and nodded
for her to continue.

“
He was a few years older than
me, and I was so excited to have him. He was my first proper
boyfriend. It was after school, and he had opened up to me right
away. My mother never liked him. She was right all along not to trust
him.”

The tears started again, but Rita
shook them away and stood even more boldly upright. Now that she had
a chance to tell the full story, she wanted to show that she was
braver now than when she was younger.

“
We eventually moved in
together. My mother didn’t approve, and my friends hated him.
He was always so snarky, and telling me when I could go out or who it
was that I could see. He wanted me with him all the time. And if I
wasn’t with him, he wanted me to be doing things for him. I
felt like a prisoner in our little apartment.”

George’s eyebrows raised and
then scrunched together. He was getting upset again, but it was clear
that he wasn’t getting upset with Rita.

“
If there were times I left when
he wasn’t there, there would always be someone to report back
to him. I felt like I belonged to him. My mother and my friends
begged me to leave him, but I didn’t know what to do. At that
time I thought I was in love with him. Even after the first time he
hit me…”

Rita’s words got tangled in her
throat when she started to talk about the abuse. Her tears had turned
into full blown sobs. George walked across the room and over to her.
He took Rita in his arms and embraced her. He could feel the pounding
of her heart against him.

“
You don’t have to say
anything else. I understand why you did what you had to do,”
George said. He could feel that it was uncomfortable for Rita to talk
about her past. That was why she had managed to keep it a secret for
so long.

She had managed to stop crying, but
her shoulders still shook. George didn’t let her go. He pulled
her away from him just enough for him to look into her eyes.

“
Don’t worry, Rita. I’m
sorry I snapped at you.”

“
No, I understand. You didn’t
know,” she walked away from him to get a paper towel from the
kitchen. She wiped away her tears before collapsing onto the couch.
It had been an exhausting day for her. She had her usual work to do,
but she had spent a lot of that day over thinking and crying. She
didn’t know where she was going to be tomorrow.

George perked up suddenly. Rita eyed
him. Why was he getting so cheery all of a sudden? She could
practically see the wheels turning in his head.

“
Rita…what if I told you
that I knew a way for you to stay in America?”

*****

“
Married?!” Jose and Rita
were in the family room of the mansion the next morning. Jose wasn’t
scheduled to work that day, but Rita had called him with some very
interesting news.

“
That’s what he said,”
Rita replied. She was taking the curtains off of the rods. She needed
to climb on a ladder to get to them. Jose was down below and taking
the curtains from her once she was able to maneuver and bring them
down.

Rita told Jose about the night before.
After she had finished crying, George Ainsworth had proposed an
idea…and that meant proposing to her.

‘
It’ll make everyone
happy,’ he had said. Proposing to her meant that she would be
able to get a green card and legally stay in the country. It also
meant the press would have their juicy gossip without trying to sniff
around too much. He hadn’t worked out all of the details, but
he assured her that she shouldn’t worry.

George had left earlier that day to
get in touch with some very important officials. It would mean their
marriage would be quick, legal, and very hush hush until they were
ready to go public.

Rita explained all of this to him once
she got off the ladder and dragged it to another side of the room in
order to get the last set of curtains.

“
So you’ll just be
married?” Jose said with a bit of an exasperated huff. He was
still floored by the news.