Entrance Part 1

Three days later, still nothing. Whatever he was doing, wherever it was, held him there. Harry had taken a few days off. Cairo wondered at the ease she felt in the man's absence. She'd had two mandatory therapy sessions this week and was diagnosed with PTSD. Harriet had told her Mr Vargar insisted she see a therapist to ensure her complete, holistic recovery and as much as she hated another bill added onto the pile, she accepted it. It was the right thing to do, and it took the burden of her finding someone, back in the city, off her shoulders. While she was in the country, she would see Dr Stevens twice a week, then once she was back in the city, once every two weeks.
The panic attacks and nightmares were still there, but she was already coping with them better.
She took to the house staff effortlessly. It was strange how easy it was for them all to get along as well as they did. Cairo boiled it down to the fact that their work wasn't very far removed from her own. They fell just as hard for her. She was funny, charming and sympathetic.
On Friday afternoon, Cairo was invited for lunch in the kitchen with Kelby, Inez, the cook, Armel the steward, Kyra, Inez's assistant, and Lorrie, who helped with the cleaning. After taking her new favourite seat near the old wood-burning stove, Inez handed her a cup of Spanish coffee and three saucer-sized chocolate chip cookies.
'Thank you,' said Cairo, giving Inez a wink. 'So, what's going on, guys? She asked, nibbling a biscuit.
'Well, Cairo,' said Armel, French accenting his English. 'Monsieur Vargar and the Madam are going through a custody battle for the children. We were guessing what the outcome will be.'
'That's not lekker!' she said sadly. The room went dead silent. Everyone stared at her, confused, waiting for her to clarify. It took her a minute to realise that she had spoken Afrikaans. 'Erm, sorry. I meant not good!' she said awkwardly, dropping her eyes to her plate.
'Oh!' they all said in chorus.
'Personally, I think Mr Vargar should win,' said Kelby.
Of course, you should! You work for him, thought Cairo. But she knew it was unfair of her to make assumptions, so she asked why. She didn't really want to poke for details. This wasn't her business. Her curiosity got the better of her. Nevertheless, she had eight lives to spare.
'Well, the Senora had many affairs,' said Inez. ' Three in the last nine months. She brought them over to the house in the city or here whenever Señor Vargar was away.'
'How long has it been happening?' Cairo asked, biting her lip, chagrined.
'Three years or so,' stated Kyra matter-of-factly.
Kelby gasped, 'So long?' She was clearly new to the family.
'Snap! She did the nasty with other men in her husband's bed? Yoh!' Cairo could say no more. Wow! That was contradictory to the impassioned speech she'd given last Monday, about having loved ONLY Vikram. People like that, in Cairo's opinion, turned good people bad.
'Does Mr Vargar know? Kelby asked.
'Oui,' said Armel.
'How did he find out?' asked Cairo, past feeling bad.
'That, my dear, is still a mystery none of us had the answer to,' said Kyra, one of the maids.
'When did everything change?' asked Cairo, something just occurring to her.
'The day after his birthday party, actually. He had your room changed and sent the children with his sister to his house in Delhi.' Kelby answered. 'It's like he planned it because he had all of your things brought here by Wednesday morning.'
'Why do you ask?' enquired Inez, turning to attend to the dishes in the sink.
'Just curious,' she said, not meeting any of their curious glances. She knew exactly who had told him, or more suiting, how he'd found out. It was the night of his birthday party. He'd caught his wife in the act at the back of their limo. 'Thanks for lunch, guys,' she said, making her way back to her sanctuary. He had actually prepared for her arrival.
How had she missed it? All of the subtle hints had been staring her in the face the whole time. She'd just put it down to a coincidence that the room happened to be a far more polished version of her flat in town. The colour scheme was a lot richer and darker than the rest of the house. This disconcerted her. Somehow it became obvious to her that she was not supposed to say a word, except to him. She was worried that he was going to interrogate her, and that was the actual reason behind this mysterious arrangement.
She was probably more clueless about what had transpired between his wife and Vikram than he was. A man like him could get absolutely anything he wanted. She had firsthand experience with the rich and famous. They were the gods of this plain, wielding power and influence over the most important to the least acknowledged of the world. She hated the sycophantic behaviour her colleagues showered them with. Her employers always pressed the same kind of behaviour from her.
'I don't see the necessity, given my impeccable service,' was always her cheeky answer. She could never suck up to anyone, no matter how rich, famous, talented or beautiful they were.
Lunch had been a stunning revelation to her. Now, instead of looking forward to Mr Vargar's return, she dreaded it. She wished she could draw out the days so she didn't have to face him at all. She laughed at herself blackly as five days suddenly didn't seem long enough.


After breakfast the next morning, she decided to take a walk outside. She pulled on her jacket and Wellington boots and headed into the beautiful garden. It felt wonderful to stretch her legs after almost three weeks indoors. The cold, damp air didn't bother her as much as she had expected. To say the garden would be spectacular in the spring was an understatement. The tall trees surrounding the property gave her the feeling of being surrounded by a forest. She hadn't checked the time, but she was sure it was pretty early because the only people around were the groundsmen.
Cairo's feet took her to the fringe of trees at the edge of the garden. She leaned against a tree to keep from falling over, not realising how inactivity would make such a short walk leave her breathless.
Out of nowhere, she felt something soft falling onto her shoulders.