Unchained Hearts (Baxter Family Saga) (2 page)

Milly explained the routine to Virgilia and apprised her that while they were permitted to wear regular clothes, during special functions, like the one coming up, uniforms were required. Milly looked her up and down and took note of her size. One of the uniforms would have to be taken in.

Virgilia caught the look in Milly’s eyes and could see the green in them. She smiled and began her day.

***

True to her word, Virgilia was a quick study, and in a few days, the routine was learned. Mrs. Baxter seemed quite impressed with her efficiency, despite herself. The two-story house had six bedrooms, six and a half bathrooms, along with a kitchen, two dining rooms, a study, and a pool. For two housekeepers, it was a daily grind. Milly was a live-in, so she had no choice but to stay there, and she was a little annoyed that Virgilia would not do the same.

She was the new face that the rest of the Baxter family ignored. There was the son with the black hair which was always fuzzy looking and the head man himself who lived with his head stuck in some paper. Joan and her husband rarely talked, it seemed, and led separate lives. She wondered if they even shared the same bed. No matter. Virgilia was polite and did what she was paid to do. This was a job, nothing more. 

More than a few times, Milly tried to guilt Virgilia into staying longer, but Virgilia was firm and left Milly in an annoyed state. Her first encounter with Joan came when she got ready to leave at exactly five-thirty. Joan attempted to deride Virgilia about not getting to work on time, but leaving on the dot. From the corner of her eye, she saw Milly grin.

Joan stood with her arms crossed. “You were late this morning and now you’re leaving without fulfilling your full day’s work. I don’t see why you should be paid for today.”

Virgilia trained her sight on her boss, not blinking and walked closer to her. “Who do you think got your husband’s breakfast ready before eight-thirty this morning? Milly was busy and Mr. Baxter was just about to come downstairs at eight-twenty-five, which is five minutes before I was supposed to be here.”

Joan scoffed.

“If you don’t believe me, feel free to check with him as I met him in his library, handed him his morning paper, which I picked up from the lawn and commented on a story I read on the way here.”

Joan unfolded her arms and clenched her jaw.

“So by my calculation, I should be paid for the extra time I worked today. Shouldn’t I?”

Joan angrily grabbed her purse and handed the money to Virgilia. Virgilia counted it and looked at Joan steadily, unblinking. After a moment, Mrs. Baxter opened her purse and gave her the rest. She then turned on her heel and walked out of the kitchen. In her triumph, Virgilia turned to Milly, who looked shocked, grabbed her own purse and left.

***

Not two weeks after starting, the Baxters had their first formal party. It was going to be a small get-together of some of the influential Gables elite, such as politicians and other local business owners. It was also a welcome home for the son, Newton, who had just finished his second year at Cornell. From the little pieces of conversation she overheard, Newton was the heir apparent to Baxter Chemicals. His father, Julian, who was rarely home, was looking forward to seeing his favorite son. Newton was the second born behind Grayson, who was more interested in spending the family fortune than helping to build it. 

Gray, as his friends called him, was more of a playboy who loved his place in society, like his mother, who constantly coddled him and made excuses for him to his father. Anything that wasn’t the right shade of blue blood wasn’t worth Gray’s attention or care. Virgilia had a few encounters with him and his veiled attempt to condescend to her was glaringly apparent. She found him less than charming and ignored him more than the others. 

Quinn was their only girl, and at the age of thirteen, she was used to being ignored by everyone. Virgilia would often find her in the library with her nose stuck in some book. Despite herself, she smiled at this forgotten Baxter child who loved the world of her imagination more than her real life. 

She first saw Quinn in the library, nose-deep in Tolstoy.

“Quinn, I need to vacuum here, so you may want to go into the other room for a while.”

“Happy families are all alike,” the teenager mused.

Virgilia smiled. “And each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

Quinn slowly lowered the book, revealing narrowed eyes. “
You
know Tolstoy?”

“Yes, I have read Anna Karenina as well as another short story of his. I like him better than Dostoyevsky. He seems to get to the point in a more fun way.”

Virgilia grinned at the expression in Quinn’s eyes. “I’ll stay,” she muttered.

“Suit yourself,” Virgilia said.

She vacuumed the carpet and dusted while fielding clandestine questions from Quinn, who tested her on the story and other works of literature. Eventually, Virgilia learned that Quinn wanted to be an actress on Broadway. She was already heavily involved in the drama club at school, but no one had really seen her act except for her older brother, Newton. He would come to her plays whenever he could and then take her out for ice cream afterward. 

In spite of Virgilia’s best efforts, she liked the girl. Quinn reminded her of herself when she was her age. She would sometimes take a little longer cleaning the library.

One day, Milly overheard the two talking and laughing. She decided to take matters into her own hands later that evening in the kitchen.

“I hear you talkin’ all familiar with Quinn. Like you’re her equal.” Milly’s hand was on her hip and she leaned against the counter.

“She is a smart young girl and we talk. So what?”

“All you young people want all that history to go flyin’ out the window because some people stayed on the bus too long or marched with their fists in the air. It ain’t that easy to forget what it was like when a mere look meant some poor Negro was hanging from a tree. This may be a new decade, but the same rules apply. That girl is a Baxter. She is your boss, not your friend.”

“She’s thirteen, Milly. All she wanted to do was talk about literature and acting.”

Milly snorted, “So you figure that because you’re educated, you’re qualified to talk to her any which way?”

Virgilia turned to Milly, mirroring her stance. “Milly, you and I live in two different worlds, and I can’t help that. But what I do know is that this is a job to me, nothing more. I read, I write, I have my own thoughts and I don’t know if you hate that I can think or just that I refuse to think like you.”

The older woman seemed taken aback by Virgilia’s summation and felt a bit contrite. “I don’t hate you, Virgilia,” she said, “but I feel like you need to remember your place.”

“You mean at the back of the bus?” Virgilia said, as she softly laughed. “Milly, at some point, we just have to give ourselves permission to own the bus.”

Milly shook her head and sighed heavily. There was no getting through to this girl, she thought and just said, “Your uniform is ready for the party on Sunday. Be here at nine A.M. and we’ll get everything started.”

With that Virgilia left. She had a full day of classes tomorrow and two days to get her projects done before Sunday. 

She worked her way through those two days, surviving on little sleep and managed to get her projects done early. As a reward, she decided to treat herself to a matinee movie on Saturday. She’d heard of a movie about a shark from some friends. They said it was scary, but good. She decided to check it out. 

At the theater, the line was a bit long and everybody was gearing up to see the shark movie. Must be good, she thought.

When she finally got her ticket, she stood at the door, digging through her purse. Just as she reached for the handle, her hand touched someone else’s. She looked up at him and a sudden jolt flashed through her body. Their eyes locked for what seemed like an eternity. 

Virgilia was suddenly lost in his warm emerald green eyes. He looked at her brown eyes and caught his breath. 

“After you,” he said, as she suddenly remembered where she was and why.

“Thank you,” she managed to get out as she walked through the door he held open.

Neither of them had ever felt that way before and didn’t know what to make of it. Was it a case of static? It was a little too good to be just a random shock.

Virgilia tried to shake it off as she made her way into the theater. It was packed and she craned her head to find a possible seat. There were a couple of vacancies close to the front. Virgilia hated being that close to the screen, but as the saying goes, beggars can’t be choosers. She found a seat and relaxed a bit. Not long after, her green-eyed doorman sat next to her. 

“I’m not following you,” he said, grinning at the look of surprise on her face. “This is just the only seat which seems to be left.”

“Don’t worry. I didn’t think you were following me.”

“Why not? Aren’t you worth following?” He flashed Virgilia a devastating smile which made her blush. Before she could even think of an answer, the lights dimmed.

He leaned into her. “We will continue this discussion later.” Her stomach shivered as she cleared her throat and focused on the screen.

Throughout the movie, the audience’s reaction just heightened the tension of the scenes. Virgilia had no idea how big this shark was, but she knew the next time she decided to go to the beach, she would definitely rethink it.

A couple of times, the movie made her jump, much to the amusement of her doorman.

“Don’t worry, Precious,” he whispered. “I’ll protect you.”

The pit of Virgilia’s stomach fluttered when he called her “precious.” If it were any other man, she would have been offended, even threatened. With him, it felt natural to hear him call her that and she didn’t even know his name. 

When the movie ended, she stared at the screen, reading the credits. When she turned to glance at him, he was gone. Virgilia experienced a pang of disappointment.

As she exited the theater, she sensed a presence behind her. She turned to see him smiling at her.

“You never did answer my question. Don’t you think you’re worth following?”

“I will only answer questions from men whose names I know.”

“Fair enough,” he said, extending his hand. “My friends call me Cass.”

“I’m Virgilia,” she replied, shaking his hand.

“That’s quite a name. I think I’ll call you ‘Lila’ for short.”

Normally, she hated it when people called her by some modification of her name, but this one seemed different. “Do you often change the name of the people you meet to suit yourself?”

“Only the special ones.”

Virgilia’s cheeks got hot and her stomach did backflips. No stranger had ever made her feel so at ease.

For his part, Cass was fascinated by this vision he saw before him. There was something about this woman, a light, a fire which drew him in and made him want to lose himself in those gorgeous brown eyes. He’d never felt anything like it before and was not going to let this opportunity pass him by.

“Yes,” Virgilia said, suddenly.

“Yes, to Lila?”

“That too, but I meant the answer to your question.” Cass looked a little lost and then she said, “I am worth following.”

Cass heart flipped as he grinned. “Shall we?” he said, offering his arm. 

They walked around and talked for what seemed like minutes, but turned out to be hours as evening turned to dusk. Virgilia’s face hurt from smiling so much; she couldn’t recall the last time she’d had so much fun by herself or with anyone.

Cass found her smart and witty and even more beautiful than when he’d opened the door for her. He had met some stunning women in his life, but tonight, they seemed merely passable compared to Lila.

“It’s getting late,” she said. “I had better get home.”

“I’ll walk you,” he announced.

“No, I don’t live too far from here.”

He held his hand up. “I’m not letting any woman walk alone at night anywhere, no matter how close she lives.”

They’d only just met, but the look on his face said he wasn’t going to take ‘no’ for an answer. She thought better of starting an argument as they slowly made it to the gate of her house.

“Well, this is me,” she said.

He nodded and looked at the house. It was small, modest, and held a bit of charm with the low white fence separating it from the house next door.

“Cass, I had a wonderful time.”

“So did I,” Cass said as his gaze moved from her eyes to her lips. “I want to do it again.”

Virgilia wanted the same, but she had to be practical. “Maybe we should leave it at tonight.”

Cass looked Virgilia straight in the eyes with a determination that came from deep within. He was not used to hearing the word ‘no’ from a woman. But from this woman, the thought of not seeing her after tonight was completely unacceptable. “I don’t believe you believe that. I can see it in your eyes.”

Virgilia looked down for a moment and he gently lifted her chin and guided her gaze back to his. “Look, I don’t care if you’re purple with green polka dots. I know what I’m feeling and I know you feel it too.”